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Neil McMahon's Daily Top 5 Picks: Monday

1. Here we go. One of the television events of the year is on tonight - but while the ratings will no doubt be huge for the finale of The Voice, the show has its issues. One thing is clear: after enjoying a warm media embrace in its first year, it's been a tougher ride in 2013. And never more so than over the past week, with the somewhat absurd Joel Madden weed controversy prompting a media backlash against the show's judges. Personally I found this modern exhibition of the old cultural cringe excruciating - the greater curiosity being not the joint joust, but how the nation's hacks managed to type so many cranky Twitter missives to Madden and Seal while weighed down by chips on both shoulders. More credibly, Sydney's Daily Telegraph posited a more serious question this morning: in global terms, why does The Voice franchise have such a poor track record of picking winners? The Tele intro: "It's a program built on backstories, but The Voice itself is suffering from its own problematic backstory, with the show yet to spawn a major star in the world despite being one of the biggest new TV brands." After tonight, we will see whether this applies to the Australian version this year.

2. The Sunday People in London scored one of the biggest tabloid shocks of the year with its astonishing weekend pictures of TV food queen Nigella Lawson being physically assaulted in public by her husband, advertising maestro Charles Saatchi. This is one of Britain's - indeed, the world's - great media power couples, but the shocking pictures suggest a union defined by the grotesque rather than the glamourous. Invasion of privacy or necessary press intrusion? You be the judge.

3. In it's decade on top of the ratings tree, Seven's Sunrise hasn't given station bosses much to worry about - but if you were looking for reasons to frown, the failure of Kochie and Mel to conquer Melbourne audiences as completely as they had the rest of the nation had been among the obvious worries. But in one of the year's most notable, yet low-key, strategy shifts, Seven has set about targeting the Melbourne ratings dominance of Nine's Today. What was initially planned as a one-off Friday broadcast from Docklands in early May has now become a semi-regular event for the show - on the back of ratings numbers showing a significant response from Melbourne viewers when the show is done locally and loses its trademark Sydney-centric, Martin Place focus. Expect this to remain a regular thing. There have now been four Friday broadcasts from Docklands and Seven is stoked, citing an average of 113,000 viewers in Melbourne for those episodes. That compares to a typical Melbourne audience this year of 90,000 viewers – meaning relocation delivers a 25.5% increase on the yearly average.

4. Never a dull moment in newspaper land these days. What is going on at News Limited? Last week saw the sudden departures of a bunch of heavy hitters - including the Herald Sun's Phil Gardner, which came a day after the company announced editor Michael Crutcher and editorial director David Fagan were on the way out at News' HQ in Queensland. Who's next?

5. Fresh from its unwanted recent publicity splash courtesy of Eddie McGuire, King Kong - the musical - is today enjoying a burst of attention rather more welcome. After its world premiere on Saturday, the critics are raving. The Age declares: "It's a show that will leave a colossal footprint. You can taste the future in this unique and visionary theatrical event, and it's mind-blowing." The Herald Sun: "When King Kong first emerges from the dim mists of Skull Island, roaring and beating his chest, he has the audience gaping in awe. The six-metre Kong is the runaway star of this new musical and the most fully developed character on stage because of his expressive, almost human face, imposing physicality, majesty and grace." Looks like a sure-fire smash.

Lauren Barripp's Daily Top 5 Picks: Wednesday

1. The 67th annual TONY Awards were held last Sunday in New York’s historical Radio City Music Hall. Hosted this year by Neil Patrick Harris, the awards honour the achievements of Broadway theatre. The big winners of the night included the British musical version of the Roald Dahl children's classic Matilda, which received four awards, and Kinky Boots, the musical adaptation of the 2005 British comedy film, which picked up six trophies.

2. There was controversy on the set of Britain’s Got Talent this week, as viola player Natalie Holt pelted eggs at judge Simon Cowell during the finale of the series. It is believed that Natalie did so in order to take a stand against Cowell’s dreadful influence on the music industry. Cowell later tweeted “I really don’t like eggs”.

3. The MasterChef clan have checked into South Australia’s gorgeous Barossa Valley for the week. But this will be no time for relaxation, the Barossa boot camp has begun and it will be the final few days for 2 of the 21 remaining contestants. Famous foodies Maggie Beer and William Wood feature in this weeks MasterClass.

4. Aussie comedian Rebel Wilson can now add covergirl to her growing list of achievements. The 27 year old has been featured on the cover of UK’s Glamour magazine, posing in a bubble bath dripping in gorgeous jewellery. She later tweeted “Thank you Glamour UK for making me a covergirl . . . My first ever magazine cover.”

5. Actor Vince Vaughn has defended his new movie, The Internship, after it received backlash over claims it is just a 2-hour ad for Google. The Wedding Crashers actor has defended this statement claiming the comedy is deeply rooted in social realism and Google did not give them any money for the brand to be featured in the movie.

Brian Watson's Daily Top 5 Picks: Friday

1. The shockwave that ran through viewers of this week’s episode of Game Of Thrones seemed to me something like the feeling generated by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) when the star was unexpectedly killed off early in the action. The surprise was more shocking than the violence – GoT’s special effects weren’t particularly convincing. Suddenly the show no longer seemed to be about what I though it was about. If you managed to avoid the abundant spoilers that were all over the social media, congratulations. I hope you were as thrilled by the episode as I was, and are looking forward to watching Monday’s season finale for clues about what direction the show will take in season 4.

2. Wrote A Song For Everyone is this week’s new tribute album, this time to John Fogerty. He’s enlisted a lot of big name rock and country stars (Foo Fighters, Keith Urban, Alan Jackson, etc) to join him in remakes of the songs he made famous with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Many of these are over-familiar and the lyrics don’t stand close inspection but he wrote great hooks and here it’s all about the performances. My favourite is “Hot Rod Heart” where he trades licks with guitar virtuoso Brad Paisley.

3. Gatsby was everywhere in the multiplexes last weekend so, looking for something a bit different, I checked out Colin Farrell’s latest role in Dead Man Down. He costars with Noomi Rapace, the original Dragon Tattoo girl, playing neighbours who join forces to pursue their own separate revenge scenarios. It’s a decent enough thriller with an improbably happy ending (should I have warned you of this spoiler?) but the highlight was seeing French superstar Isabelle Huppert, much more interesting than bland Rapace, playing her mother.

4. It’s not a highlight of anyone’s media week when news breaks of the death of a major Hollywood star, especially when it’s one as beloved as Esther Williams was back in the 40s and 50s. On the plus side, it produces a slew of media tributes to remind us of her appeal. You’ve never heard of her? Check this one out here.

5. It seems I can’t leave The Rock out of this column. Last weekend Dwayne Johnson’s latest movie Fast & Furious 6 was #1 again in the US, marking the 15th consecutive week he’s had a movie in the top 10 over there. Of the four movies he’s had released (total domestic grosses are well over US$900m), we’ve seen GI Joe: Retaliation and Snitch, Pain & Gain is coming here in August, and Fast & Furious 6 has just opened, so expect an update next week.

Hansika Bhagani's Daily Top 5 Picks: Thursday

1. Carn the Blues! NSW won the first State of Origin game at Homebush last night, over Queensland 14 - 6. Nine were the real winners of the night though with a ratings share of over 38%. The next game takes place at Suncorp Stadium on the 26th of June.

2. Mystery Road was a great opening night film for the Sydney Film Festival. Ivan Sen's second film played to rapturous applause from the at-capacity State Theatre crowd last night. There's still 11 more days to enjoy the rest of what's on offer.

3. The Voice season 2 is coming to an end with only two episodes to go before a winner is chosen. On Monday the final eight all delivered spectacular performances and it's up to the public to vote in a top 4 by Monday.

4. Vogue Online Shopping Night kicks off in just under two weeks. With designers like Camilla and Marc and Zimmermann already signed up, it's sure to be a veritable shopping heaven!

5. Prevention magazine continues to deliver on informative and entertaining Health information. The July issue (out yesterday) has the list of all-natural pain cures, great workouts and recipes.

Lauren Barripp's Daily Top 5 Picks: Wednesday

1. The staff at Metro St James café in Hyde Park do business a little differently. In the month of June, between 9am and 11am, the café is offering free coffee to couples who show up and have a kiss, aiming to bring old school romance back to Sydney. Some PDA in return for a caffeine fix? I’m sure there are worse things we’ve had to do for a coffee!

2. He’s back at it again! Ben Pobjie from the SMH is entertaining us once again with his hugely hilarious episode re-caps of the new MasterChef series. Following each episode, which airs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, the comedic writer writes a long synopsis of last nights episode which is humorous enough to make the most serious of people laugh out loud at their quiet desk at work. Genius work! Read last night's re-cap here. 

3. Australia’s golden girl Jennifer Hawkins has tied the knot with long time partner, Jake Wall. The pair were married in an extremely private event at a gorgeous Balinese resort late yesterday afternoon. It has been reported that Hawkins signed a three-figure deal with Woman’s Day magazine, where the timing of the wedding was even scheduled to fit in with the magazine’s publishing deadlines.

4. The 2013 CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers, America) fashion awards were held yesterday in New York City. The awards recognise the outstanding contributions made to American fashion by individuals from all areas of the industry.  Designer Vera Wang took home the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to her by Ralph Lauren. Best dressed of the night was Nicole Richie in Marc Jacobs and Sofia Vergara in a stunning emerald dress with Lorraine Schwartz jewellery.

5. It’s coming up to the second weekend in June, and that can only mean one thing… LONG WEEKEND! There are plenty of exciting things to do this 3-day weekend around our gorgeous wintery city, like visiting local markets such as Kiribilli, Bondi, Glebe or Paddington markets, visiting the ever spectacular Vivid Sydney at Circular Quay or Darling Harbour if you haven’t already done so, or having a long lazy lunch by one of our stunning beaches.

 

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Thursday
Feb232012

New roles for Simpson and Thomas at SCA

DateFebruary 23, 2012

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has announced Jeremy Simpson as Sydney General Manager and he will immediately assume the responsibility of running 2Day FM and Triple M.
Transitioning from his role as SCA’s National Sales Director, Simpson brings enormous experience to the key Sydney market having been a critical part of the company for over a decade in a number of prominent sales positions spanning radio and television assets.
Prior to the Southern Cross Media and Austereo merge, Simpson spent 10 years with Southern Cross Media, joining the company in 2002 and leading the radio and TV sales teams nationally. He has robust experience in managing media sales and teams.
SCA Sydney General Manager, Jeremy Simpson said, “I am very excited about the opportunity to take on the General Manager role for Southern Cross Austereo in Sydney. There already exists an excellent culture of openness and cooperation across the company as well as a burning desire to develop the best possible content and ideas by investing in the best talent in the business - both on air and off air. The Sydney leadership team has done an outstanding job of producing media firsts in entertainment and I am thrilled to be part of this group going forward.”
In-line with this move, Cathy Thomas (left) is appointed National Sales Director for SCA. Currently Director of Radio Sales, Thomas has been with the business for 18 years and will now lead SCA’s sales strategy for metro and regional radio and television.
Thomas’ time with the company have seen her spend four years heading up National Sales prior to the merge then fronting SCA’s National Radio Sales function. She has been a leading force in radio sales with a strong focus on delivering firsts for clients across multiple platforms thanks to unique ideas and true national network leadership.
Southern Cross Austereo appointments for Sydney General Manager and National Sales Director are effective immediately.
SCA Chief Executive Officer Rhys Holleran said, “These announcements strengthen what is already an incredibly talented management team and further highlight the benefits of integrating two successful media companies.”
Source: Southern Cross Austereo

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