Managing radio and podcast superstars: Biggest backroom operators revealed

by James Manning

Posted on 30 November 2022

The people helping guide the careers of Kyle, Jackie O, Hamish, Andy, Christian, Ben, Brittany, Josh, Russel, Wippa, Jonesy, Amanda and many more

This week marks the end of the radio survey year for 2022. It is also the time of year podcasters put away their headphones as they too take a summer break.

It is also the time of year that the people managing Australia’s top radio and podcast talent gets a break.

There was less talent movement in the radio market this year than this time in 2021. The biggest changes were the revelation of new 2023 breakfast shows coming for Nova 100 in Melbourne and Triple M in Sydney.

In the podcasting world, the size of audiences is starting to count for more. Initially, podcast platforms wanted to build audiences and almost anyone with a microphone and an idea had a chance to get a tryout. These days number of listeners is more important than ever and has led to a rationalisation of podcast catalogues. That doesn’t mean there’s been a drop in the number of podcasts though.

The latest estimate we have seen is that there are 2.4m podcasts globally.

The growth of podcasting hasn’t harmed the radio business though. Quite the contrary, it seems to have helped secure the future of audio, locking in big audiences.

Just earlier this month Commercial Radio and Audio reported:

The latest GfK Survey 7 revealed 12.14 million people listened to commercial radio each week, beating the all-time high of 12.1 million recorded in GfK Survey 6 released at the end of September. This was the eighth consecutive rise in cumulative audience growth.

Here Mediaweek presents a guide to Australia’s biggest managers of audio talent. While this list has a focus on radio, we have also included some of Australia’s most successful podcasters.

Managing radio and podcast superstars

Profile – Mark Klemens & Melissa Le Gear
Hamish & Andy
Fifi Box
Ed Kavalee
Christian O’Connell
Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli
Russel Howcroft
Dee Dee Dunleavy
Peter Stubbs
Matt & Alex
Ash London*
Joel Creasey
Mel Tracina
Will and Woody
https://www.profiletalent.com.au/

Hamish and Andy and some of the new merch you can buy from their website

RGM – Robyn Gardiner Management
Amanda Keller
Brendan Jones
Jess Eva
Josh Szeps
Roy & HG (John Doyle & Greig Pickhaver)
https://www.rgm.com.au/

Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones

Token – Kevin Whyte
Dave Hughes
Tommy Little
Lewis Hobba
Bryce Mills
Wil Anderson
Dan Illic
Concetta Caristo
https://token.com.au/

Wil Anderson

CMC – Cathy Baker & Claire Savage
Katie ‘Monty‘ Dimond*
Brittany Hockley
Mitch Churi
Mike E & Emma
Veronica Milsom
Sarah Maree Cameron
https://www.cmctalent.com.au/