Nova Entertainment has revealed changes to the structure of its programming team.
Variety Australia revealed on Thursday all the new head of programming roles will report to Paul Jackson, who was previously the company’s chief programming and marketing officer.
Jackson now serves as chief programming and music content officer for Nova Entertainment.
Ben Latimer now moves into the role of head of programming for Nova 96.9 in Sydney, Nova 919 in Adelaide and national shows. He previously lead programming for Nova in Melbourne (Nova 100), Adelaide (Nova 919) and Perth (Nova 93.7).
Peter Clay, who was the head of programming at Nova 96.9 and for the Smooth Network, will stay on as head of programming for Smooth and is responsible for the radio brand across all markets and platforms.
Andy Ruzgar will report to Latimer as he takes on the double role of executive producer for the Ben and Liam breakfast show on Nova 919 and the program manager for Nova Adelaide.
David McClung is take on responsibility for programming of Nova 100 in Melbourne. He was previously head of programming for Nova Perth (Nova 93.7) and Perth market lead.
Joel Gelding, former panel operator and producer for Kiis’ national drive show Will and Woody at ARN, recently jumped ship jumped to Nova Perth as the Nova 93.7 program manager.
Meanwhile, Brisbane’s group program operations director Brendan Taylor will continue leading programming for Nova 106.9.
Also reporting to Jackson, is Scott Baker-Smith, head of music for the Nova Network, and Kate Mason, head of music for the Smooth Network.
Jackson recently spoke to Mediaweek about SmoothFM’s tenth anniversary. He said: “People in the office have said ‘gosh, is it really 10 years, it feels like only yesterday,’ or ‘I swear, it’s only been three or four years’. Smooth still feels like a newbie to us.”
See also: “The baby on the FM dial”: Nova’s Paul Jackson on 10 years of smoothfm
“It’s evolved a lot from when we started – it was very soft and slow, and coming into a very unique place 10 years ago. It was much more ballad driven and positioned as your easy place to relax. Over time, we slowly pepped it up a bit.
“The wheels have kept turning on it slowly but steadily. The feel and the presenters have stayed the same, and the audience has come along on the journey with us,” he added.
–
Top image: Paul Jackson