Business of Media
Bruce Gordon retires from WIN as succession questions loom
Bruce Gordon has quietly retired from the boards of his regional broadcaster WIN and private investment firm Birketu in a move that signals he is stepping back from the day-to-day management of the global media and property fortune he has accumulated over the past 60 years, reports Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Filings with the corporate regulator show Gordon retired from the boards of 41 private companies associated with his business early last month. He turned 95 in February and people close to him who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it was only natural he would be pulling back from the detailed operations.
Three members of his exceedingly private family who could soon become major players in Australian media.
There is Judith, his second wife. The 77-year-old sits on the board of WIN and Birketu and is described as intensely loyal, nurturing, and someone with a robust point of view.
Judith and Gordon’s London-born daughter, Genevieve, has spent the past two-and-a-half years running WIN’s two radio stations in Wollongong and Campbelltown as general manager. People who have dealt with her say she is “street smart” and wants more influence.
Then there is Andrew, Gordon’s eldest child, who was born to his first wife, Joan. In the early 2000s, a younger Andrew was often side by side with his father, active in business dealings and a vocal advocate for WIN. Nowadays, the 53-year-old is WIN’s chairman and is listed as a director for many of its entities, but he keeps a low profile.
Mike Sneesby finally torches Nine career after run as CEO
After 3½ years as chief executive of Nine Entertainment – which followed more than six years as boss of the company’s streaming service, Stan – the 50-year-old handed in his ID pass at the front desk of the media giant’s North Sydney compound on Friday, bringing an end to his turbulent tenure at the organisation, report The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth and James Madden.
Before he left, Sneesby sent a farewell email to all staff, thanking them for their “commitment to Nine, for the friendships we’ve built, for the achievements we’ve accomplished and for the adventures we’ve shared over the past decade”.
“Notwithstanding the tough advertising market conditions, Nine is in great shape and placed exceptionally well for the future,” Sneesby wrote.
Last week, Sneesby attended one last meeting of the Nine board, headed by chair Catherine West, before bidding adieu. Nine will throw Sneesby a farewell party in a few weeks, once he returns from a family camping trip.
It’s his ABC: niche in, mainstream out at Kim Williams’ Aunty
If you reckon the ABC has lost its way on the arts and is not meeting its charter; that it’s bland, or woke, or exclusive, trying too hard to be cool, don’t panic – Kim Williams is on it, reports Helen Trinca in The Australian.
“I think,” says the chair of the national broadcaster, “there is always room for significant improvement, right?”
Williams wants bigger, better ideas but he’s also shifting the narrative: the arts are not just a nice-to-have, not just an audience builder, not just a point of difference with commercial outlets, but much more – they are a “fundamental part of the reason for being on the part of the ABC”. “It’s something that the ABC can, in many ways, never derogate from,” Williams says.
It’s a very different way of approaching creativity, one that Williams looks set to back with organisational change to separate the arts from the mass of other operations in the broadcaster’s Content division. “Watch this space,” says Williams when asked about structural change to support his call for more ambitious, bold, confident work from program makers.
Psychological support enlisted for ABC staff ahead of racism review
The ABC is bracing for details of the long-awaited Janke review into racism at the broadcaster, set to be published on Tuesday, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
Before the release of the findings, Dr Terri Janke’s review team has enlisted independent psychological support for ABC staff to help them cope with the report.
ABC boss David Anderson appointed Janke, a Wuthathi, Yadhaighana and Meriam woman and a lawyer, to lead the review, which was commissioned soon after the Voice referendum and was sparked by the treatment of veteran broadcaster Stan Grant, who has since left the broadcaster.
The review’s publication marks almost 12 months of work and examines staff experiences of racism at the broadcaster and the adequacy of systems and processes to support those who have experienced it.
Participants in the review were contacted this week and offered three sessions per person with specialists Psychs for Journalists, funded by the ABC, according to correspondence seen by this masthead. Staff were told they could use the sessions before or after the report’s release.
Who’s who at the AFL commissioner’s lunch
You can’t buy a ticket to Aussie rules’ most exclusive grand final function, so there are few better tests of relevance than trying to score an invitation, reports The AFR’s Rear Window editor Myriam Robin.
As AFL host Hamish McLachlan quipped while reading out the obligatory and (very) long list of dignitaries in attendance, if your name wasn’t on the roll call – meaning you don’t head a state, nation, football club or major AFL sponsor or broadcaster – “should you even be there?”
Prime minister Anthony Albanese sat at the head table, with partner Jodie Haydon, sandwiched between Seven’s Ryan and Claire Stokes and AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon with wife Amanda.
Broadcast partner Seven had the biggest media contingent, led by Kerry Stokes. News Corp Australia sent along executive chairman Michael Miller and Foxtel’s Patrick Delany, Nine sent along newish chairman Catherine West while Telstra was represented by chief executive Vicki Brady.
Of course, one should never overlook the former commissioners, who have a habit of reinventing themselves. Sam Mostyn was in the room as governor-general – though as one of said ex-commissioners she would have been invited in any case. ABC chairman Kim Williams was there, again, for the same reason. He sat not far from ex-ACCC boss Graeme Samuel and philanthropist Peter Scanlon, at a table with former Victorian governor Linda Dessau. Her successor Margaret Gardner was with husband Glyn Davis on the head table.
The Australian’s John Stensholt was also at AFL luncheon on Saturday:
We sidled up to Kerry Stokes just before the match, and with predictions of a ratings bonanza, asked the billionaire who would win. “I will,” he said with a grin. Would Seven Network hit the bumper 4 million viewer mark? “Well, we would if they let us play the game in the twilight,” Stokes added forcefully.
Television
Michael Pell’s new job running US TV therapist Dr Phil’s morning show
Almost one year after his departure from Seven, the next step for former Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell can be revealed, reports News Corp’s Briana Domjen.
The guy once branded a ‘TV wunderkind’ is working for Dr Phil in the US.
After conquering the world of morning television in Australia, Pell now has the US in his sights.
Confidential can exclusively reveal he’s been hired by talk show king Dr Phil to run his national morning show on his new network.
Merit Street is a television network launched by Dr Phil earlier this year that broadcasts on cable and streaming.
Pell was hired several months ago as executive producer of the network’s morning show, Morning On Merit Street.
More than 20 years after Neighbours, Jesse Spencer returns to Australian TV
After 18 years on US network television, where he clocked up 173 episodes on the medical drama House, and then another 205 episodes on Chicago Fire, Jesse Spencer knew he was home in Australia when he turned up for work late one day, and no one blinked, reports Nine Publishing’s Louise Rugendyke.
“In the States, it’s such a factory mindset, and you’ve got to be there on time, and if you’re not on time, they’re calling up the production office, and calls go around if you’re five minutes late and everybody knows,” says Spencer.
The 45-year-old actor was back home for the retro Disney+ series, Last Days of the Space Age. It’s Spencer’s first starring role on Australian television in more than 20 years, where he became a household name in Neighbours as Billy Kennedy, the spunky youngest son of Karl and Susan Kennedy, boyfriend of Anne Wilkinson and all-round teen heart-throb.
“I was looking for an Australian production, probably since 2004,” says Spencer over Zoom from his home in Boston. “We have this hiatus, but network TV, the schedule of it – sometimes I had six weeks off, sometimes a little more – but to make a production work is really difficult. Once you’re in [network TV], it’s very hard to get out of.”
Sports Media
TV and radio personality Ben Dobbin suffers horror injuries in bike crash
Brisbane TV and radio personality Ben “Dobbo” Dobbin has suffered serious injuries after a horrific accident left him in hospital with a broken neck, reports News Corp’s Christine Estera.
The Channel Nine and Triple M presenter says he’s lucky to be alive after he was involved with a pushbike crash, which occurred when he swerved to miss a black snake on the road as he trained for the Noosa Triathlon with cycling coach Cam Hughes.
“My front tyre clipped his back tyre and I lost control, shot across [the road], got spat out and went head first into the one and only steel pole,” he told The Sunday Mail from his hospital bed at Brisbane’s Wesley Hospital.
It was his Triple M Rush Hour co-hosts, Leisel Jones and Liam Flanagan, who first shared the news of the accident on-air last Wednesday, remaining positive as they reassured fans that Dobbin is expected to make a full recovery.
Media merry-go-round: Leigh Matthews latest to go in Nine exodus
Another big footy name is leaving Channel 9, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
Leigh Matthews who joined the network this year to headline the new Sunday night program Footy Furnace, will appear for the final time tonight alongside host Tom Morris and panellist Jimmy Bartel.
Matthews had been lured from Channel 7 where he was commentating on select matches.
His departure is the latest blow for Nine who have just lost Kane Cornes, Caroline Wilson and Craig Hutchison to Channel 7.
Matthews, who presented the Premiership Cup to Lions coach Chris Fagan in emotional scenes on Saturday, had appeared on Seven on and off since the ’90s when he was also a panellist on marquee analysis show Talking Footy.
AFL 360 co-host Robbo to hang up boots
Fox Footy’s Mark Robinson looks set to farewell AFL 360 after 14 years at the helm of the popular show, reports iThe Australian.
News Corp’s chief football writer is expected to front the program for the last time on Monday night for the annual post-grand final episode.
Robinson, affectionately known as “Robbo” by most in the industry, co-hosts AFL 360 alongside the highly respected Gerard Whateley.
Talk of Robbo’s impending exit started to spread among footy media types in the days leading up to Saturday’s grand final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
On Sunday, The Australian called Robinson to ask if Monday night’s episode would be his last but the football guru wasn’t giving anything away, and declined to comment.
Monday Buzz: NRL’s TV ratings off the charts in Melbourne
The television numbers for the Storm v Roosters on Friday night smashed ratings records. Fox Sports and Channel 9 were up 36 per cent on the first grand final qualifier last year, reports News Corp’s Phil Rothfield.
Ratings in Melbourne were off the charts. Fox Sports was up by 425 per cent and Channel 9 by 361 per cent. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo credits the players: “Sports fans are responding to the sensational football from the NRL’s incredible athletes – there is truly nothing else like it.”
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