Launched in Brisbane last year, Mums of Media is a regular meet-up event for women on maternity leave from the fast-paced world of media, to help them stay connected during their time-off.

Sophie Harcombe, Daily Mail Australia’s business development director, said: “I had the idea after I returned to work because I felt too cut off from media when I was on maternity leave and really missed the industry and the people. By meeting regularly, we were able to share industry knowledge, provide an additional level of support, and talk about how we were all adapting to motherhood.”

Mums of Media 2019 members (L-R) Kelly Burnham, Starcom Account Director; Courtney Hastings, Senior Manager Auto & General; Karmen Wellington, Media Manager Auto & General; Elizabeth Burnett, Group Business Director JCDecaux

The Mums of Media group grew to 12 members in 2019 in Brisbane, where Harcombe is based, meeting on Friday mornings in child-friendly cafes to keep in touch with the industry, share ideas and find support from other mothers within media.

While providing a dedicated space for media mums to “talk shop” is core to the group’s mission, attendees said Mums of Media also helped them in more personal ways too.

Digital manager at Starcom Natalie Paraskevas said: “Daily Mail’s Mums in Media is a great initiative, one that I hold very dearly as it helped me through the huge personal change of becoming a mum and being on maternity leave. It was nice to have somewhere to go to every month and feel supported by other mums who were in the same boat.”

Media manager at Auto & General Karmen Wellington said: “It was so great of Daily Mail to start an initiative like this in the industry, definitely something that was lacking. Being on maternity leave it was a great way to reconnect with industry contacts and fellow working mums on a regular basis.”

All bubs in the group also received a custom Daily Mail Australia Paparazzi bib!

Mums of Media is set to expand in 2020, with expressions of interest open for women and men who are due to take parental leave this year in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The group welcomes to expectant mums and dads of all media backgrounds, including those from media and creative agencies, client marketing teams, and other publishers or broadcasters.

If you are interested in joining Mums of Media, or for more details, please contact Daily Mail Australia, Commercial Director Jessica Hunter: [email protected]

At KIIS 106.5 Kyle Sandilands was back from Los Angeles in time for his first show and straight back into the tabloid headlines. Jackie O returned from her traditional Fiji break.

At sister station WSFM Brendan Jones started his 30th year in radio. Over the break Jonesy stayed home as per normal while Amanda went on a safari holiday with the family to Africa.

In Melbourne Christian O’Connell was back after a break in Byron Bay. He and co-host Jack Post interrupted their break with a special bushfire breakfast show earlier this month. Pats went on a family holiday to the USA.

To support the returning stars, ARN has launched new marketing campaigns to kick start the new year for Sydney’s KIIS 1065 and WSFM, Melbourne’s GOLD104.3 plus Jase and PJ at KIIS 101.1, the reformed trio of Robin, Terry and Bob at Brisbane’s 97.3FM, Jodie and Soda at Adelaide’s Mix102.3 (where Erin Phillips is standing in for Jodie at present) and Perth’s 96FM with radio legends Fred Botica and Lisa Shaw.

All campaigns roll out across digital and social channels this week with a staggered outdoor launch across coming weeks in all markets.

Sydney’s #1FM Breakfast Show, The Kyle & Jackie O Show returned on KIIS 1065 with the new brand campaign celebrating Kyle and Jackie O’s successful 20-year partnership on Sydney radio.

A new positioner has been launched for KIIS 101.1’s Jase & PJ in the morning. “They’re always up to something”, aims to capture the authenticity, fun and unpredictability of the show, while Melbourne’s #1FM Station, GOLD104.3 has a new, evolved creative for The Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show.

Following the announcement that Robin Bailey is returning home to Brisbane’s 97.3FM with the reinvigorated Robin, Terry & Bob Breakfast Show, the new campaign celebrates the return of Robin and the team with “Together again for breakfast”.

Returning to air last week, Erin Phillips joined Mark “Soda” Soderstrom as special guest presenter on the Jodie & Soda Breakfast Show on Adelaide’s Mix102.3 while Jodie Oddy is on maternity leave.

The move will see the return to the airwaves of heritage radio brands 2UE 954AM, Magic 1278AM and 4BH 882AM, with each station also featuring live local news, sport and weather. In Perth the station will be branded Magic DAB+ Perth.

The move is bad news for competing AM music stations 2CH, 4KQ and Cruise 1323 in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

“We’re very proud to be bringing back great radio brands like 2UE, Magic and 4BH with a music format that we know will resonate with audiences in each city,” said Tom Malone, Nine’s managing director – radio.

“Until recently Magic and 4BH were successful music stations and our research clearly shows there is a gap in the market for this music format, built around the best of the 70s, 80s and 90s.”

The new stations will have a soft launch on February 2 and will be available in digital quality via online, apps, smart speakers and DAB+.

Penny Kaleta, Nine’s director of sales – radio, said: “For our clients we believe this move to a music format is highly complementary to our existing talk-radio formats and gives the brands who work with us a strong audience combination in terms of what we can offer.”

2UE, Magic, 4BH and Magic DAB+ Perth will replace Macquarie Sports Radio. The stations will continue to honour their existing sports rights contracts with the AFL, NRL and Cricket Australia.

The well-liked comedian is well-known to ABC audiences, where he presents his weekly satirical sketches on ABC TV each Thursday evening, as well as regularly contributing to ABC Radio Melbourne. McMillan told Mediaweek about how he will approach his new role at Breakfast.

As far as McMillan’s comedy career goes, ABC has always been his natural home. “I made a sitcom for ABC with Randy my purple puppet companion five years ago, and since then I’ve started doing more political satire spots,” said McMillan.

Sammy J and Randy

“I’ve dropped in for radio as a guest now and then, so this is very much a step up in terms of actually being employed for the first time and having a desk and having a swipe card – I’ve levelled up!” he laughed.

McMillan said he thinks comedy is always a good fit for any medium, but you have to be very judicious with where you employ it. “When some people have asked me about taking this job, they would say things like ‘oh, gosh, that’s a big change’, but in my head I’m not trying to turn this into a comedy show, I’m trying to do a good breakfast radio show. Yes, that will involve some comedy but there’s also lots of news to deal with and lots of serious things to deal with, so it’s really about wearing several hats at once.”

McMillan said it’s always been more about the audio and words than the visuals when it comes to his comedy. “With radio, I quite enjoy not having the ‘visual thing’ as a distraction or something to focus on. It’s one less thing to worry about in terms of my performance. I can wear a hoodie into work now and just focus on the words. There’s a certain purity to it just being about the words and the listeners are going to fill in the images as they see fit.”

McMillan revealed he didn’t see radio in the big picture. “I thought radio would be something fun to do in the future but it wasn’t part of a grand plan as such. This opportunity came up unexpectedly for me and so I had to get my head around the idea of something that was such a huge commitment.

“Traditionally, I would take jobs or short projects and then move on, but committing to something that is every day at an early hour is a big decision. But the thought of performing every day to thousands of people for several hours is incredibly exciting.”

Former ABC Melbourne breakfast hosts: Jacinta Parsons and Sami Shah

It’s a 3:30am alarm for McMillan with a 4:30am arrival at the office. “It will be brutal but I’m not going to complain because it’s an incredible opportunity. There’s something very romantic about turning up to a completely empty office with a few lights turned on around the breakfast desk,” he laughed. “We’ll be like little wizards gathered around a cauldron – we’ll go through the papers and put a show together.”

McMillan said his good friends (and former presenters of Breakfast) Jacinta Parsons and Sami Shah have both been generous with their advice and have been incredibly supportive. He also explained that the thought of co-hosting for him, personally, is actually more stressful because he feels like he would have to deal with two relationships at once – his co-host and his audience. “I think as a neurotic sort of chap, I don’t think that would necessarily be an easy task for me; whereas in this sense as a performer I get to control the tone, or if I want it to be silent for a while it will be. I’m not daunted by having to speak on my own. I’m just hoping the listeners sort of become quasi-co-host and that they like me enough to call up regularly and then get involved.”

McMillan has revealed his purple puppet pal Randy will sporadically appear on the show. “I won’t give too much away, but Randy is over in America right now doing some amazing shows so he may very well be on the phone line quite regularly.”

Advertising revenue for metropolitan commercial radio stations fell by 6.1% over the 2019 calendar year to $760.799 million, compared to the record high of $810.322 million achieved in 2018, according to data compiled by Deloitte and released today by Commercial Radio Australia.

“The results reflected a challenging end to the year for radio and the media industry as a whole, with weak business confidence and the severity of the bushfire crisis having flow-on effects on ad spend,” CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner said.

December quarter advertising revenue totalled $188.049 million, down 9.4% from the $207.527 million recorded in the same period a year ago.

All markets were lower in the December quarter, with the largest market Melbourne down 10.8% to $60.838 million and Sydney 9.0% lower at $57.119 million. Brisbane declined 6.5% to $30.164 million, Adelaide was 5.1% down to $16.565 million and Perth was 13.2% lower at $23.362 million.

One bit of brighter news perhaps, the December quarter revenue did show a 3.6% increase over the September quarter.

Warner said broadcasters would continue to work towards a return to growth in 2020, with plans to work with major advertisers and media agencies to promote the value of radio advertising, and on the development of the next stage of the whole of industry automated trading platform RadioMATRIX.

The Deloitte figures report actual revenue received by metropolitan commercial radio stations in the five major capital city markets and include agency and direct ad revenue.

The Triple M army have also come out in force this award’s season for the SCA network’s drive show Kennedy Molloy.

The show hosted by Jane Kennedy and Mick Molloy trails some of its FM competitors in the metro markets but to the Triple M audience it is a must-listen.

Ratings at the end of 2019 were mixed with the show perhaps most competitive all people in Brisbane and Perth with good core demo numbers elsewhere. The program has good enough numbers to be the #1 drive show for men 25-54.

The show secured the services of executive producer Jay Mueller in 2019 who has been on his own radio journey recently. He is best known for his work as EP with Melbourne radio’s 3AW and then The Hot Breakfast before more recently working at SEN with Gerard Whateley.

The Kennedy Molloy program will be taking part in the Triple M 40th anniversary celebrations this year. Head of the Triple M network Mike Fitzpatrick said: “We have some exciting plans to celebrate our 40th birthday at Triple M, there will be no mid-life crisis here! We’re embracing 40 and will continue to bring listeners what they know and love. We have a brilliant talent line-up this year and they are what makes Triple M an iconic brand, along with the music and sports coverage that we have become known and loved for.”

Meanwhile the drive show that can claim to be #1 across the metro markets with all people, Nova’s Kate, Tim and Marty, ranked a very close second in our readers’ vote.

Taking third spot was another FM drive staple, Hit Network’s Hughesy and Kate, now rebranded for 2020 as Hughesy and Ed with Ed Kavalee.

Quarter four 2019 saw a decrease of 2.3% on net media revenue year-on-year, posting $269.9 million, slightly down from $276.3 million* for quarter four 2018.

Digital OOH (DOOH) revenue accounts for 55.8% of total net media revenue year-to-date, an increase over the recorded 52.0%* for the same period last year.

“Last year marked our tenth consecutive year of growth – reflecting advertiser trust in the channel and investment into a data-driven digital network. Out of Home has proven to be a true broadcast medium and plays an ever more important role in the community, as seen with OMA members’ support for the bushfire appeal,” said Charmaine Moldrich CEO, OMA.

“The latter part of 2019 was a challenge for the advertising industry as a whole. We are pleased that Out of Home maintained its position as one of a few growing media channels,” Moldrich continued.

“Out of Home has the advantage of being ‘always-on’ and plays an essential role in the media mix. Our relative stability in a difficult market environment reflects our inherent value to advertisers,” added Moldrich.

* Previously released revenue figures have been adjusted to reflect changes in the OMA membership.

Kavanagh steps up from State Manager of Queensland and brings more than 18 years of experience in commercial roles across different states and countries at Isentia. As the new Head of Sales, Kavanagh will lead a team of Business Development Managers and Sales Consultants to further grow the business in Australia.

Kavanagh said: “Unparalleled customer service due to thorough understanding of our clients’ priorities and how they use our services, is what sets Isentia apart. We’re more than just a content platform or app. My focus is to equip and empower our teams to deliver this, along with added value to our clients, all while anticipating their needs and thinking about how we can support them into the future. I am thrilled to share my 18 years’ experience with the commercial team,”

Climent brings over 11 years’ experience in various sales roles across a broad range of media and has been a Client Solutions Director at Isentia over the past six years. In her new role, she is responsible for leading the New Zealand team and strengthening client relationships.

Raquel Climent, New Zealand Country Manager

Climent said: “I’ve been working closely with our key clients in New Zealand and I love watching how they elevate their performance and strategy through media intelligence. We know our data and research make a difference. I’m really looking forward to leading the New Zealand team as we continue to make a significant impact across all market segments.”

Isentia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Russ Horell commented: “Both Patricia and Raquel will be instrumental in supporting the executive leadership team in the delivery of Isentia’s strategy. Patricia has a proven track record across new business of all levels: Client wins, upgrades, multi-market sales and government tenders. She was awarded Isentia Salesperson of the Year twice, including in 2019, and every team she heads up always performs exceptionally.

“Raquel has been the star of the New Zealand business for the past six years. She is also a caring and consistent leader, who builds a strong rapport with her team and helps them to be the best they can be. I know that Raquel has the energy and talent to take the New Zealand business to the next level of success.”

Both Kavanagh and Climent have commenced in their new roles in January 2020.

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Top photo: Patricia Kavanagh, Head of Sales Australia

Naomi Watts returns to Australian television as the narrator of Taronga: Who’s Who In The Zoo. An avid animal lover, the star of Mulholland Drive was named a Centenary Ambassador for Taronga Zoo when it celebrated its one hundredth year in 2016.

As Taronga Zoo completes some of the biggest changes in its history there has never been such an exciting time to show Australia what makes this magical place tick.

No part of Taronga’s sprawling 21 hectares – set on spectacular Sydney Harbour – is off limits in the series which tracks the 240 keepers and vets who care for more than 5000 animals.

The cameras will capture all aspects of zoo life, from celebrating a giant tortoise’s 103rd birthday to the complex logistical task of transporting a platypus to San Francisco Zoo.

Viewers will get up close with the dedicated staff at Taronga who are a rare breed themselves, with their mix of world-class expertise and laidback Australian spirit. They will show exactly what it takes to run one of the greatest conservation success stories in the world.

The follow up to 2003’s Bad Boys II made $5.74m to top last week’s #1 film 1917 which has made $3.56m in its second weekend of release.

The other two new arrivals this week where Robert Downey Jr.’s Dolittle which made $3.38m and Bombshell which stars  Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie making $1.84m in its first week of release.

The films to slide out of the top five this week were #6 Little Women which made $1.42m bringing its three week total to $11.34m, and #7 The Gentlemen which brought its total to $10.38m after making $1.42m.

Other noticeable performances outside of the top five include:

#8 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker made $1.06m as its total of $45.12m seems like it will fall short of the $52.95m needed to top Jurrasic World and enter the top 10 all-time for the Australian box office.
# 11 Frozen 2 which made $702,342 as its total sits at $38.74m  which is within striking distance of the $41m needed to usurp Toy Story 4 which was the highest-grossing animated film of 2019.

It was another solid weekend for Australian theatres with eight films making over $1m to push the Australian box office to an 8% increase with a total of $25.08m. 

#1 Bad Boys For Life $5.74m

The latest film in the franchise has had the highest average per screen in the country this past weekend making $15,563 on 369 screens. 

#2 1917 $3.56m

It has only taken two weeks for the film to amass a total of $10.42m as the film continues to build momentum in the lead up to the Academy Awards. In its second week of release, it only had a decline of 26% on its opening weekend as it averaged $13,912 on 256 screens.

#3 Dolittle $3.38m

Robert Downey Jr.’s first film since the record-breaking Avengers: Endgame has opened in third spot at the Australian box office after averaging $11,502 on 294 screens.

#4 Jumanji: The Next Level $2.36m

After four weeks the action-comedy continues to run wild at the Australian box office after bringing its total to a healthy $41.05m as it now sits among the highest-grossing movies of the past 12 months. This past weekend the film averaged $5,830 on 405 screens.

#5 Bombshell $1.84m

The film based on the true story of several women at Fox News who expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment averaged $8,648 on 213 screens.

Having Ashy Barty playing on the first night of the tournament was warmly welcomed by the audience. Melbourne was most supportive with 265,000 watching to Sydney’s 182,000.

Seven took second place with a Big Bash League double header – one on the east coast and the other on the west coast. The audience peaked at 559,000 watching the end of the Sydney Sixers v Melbourne Stars match before the action switched to Perth.

10 was narrowly ranked #3 all people, yet it had the biggest show post 7pm, I’m A Celebrity on 781,000. That was close to the Monday episode a week ago which did 801,000. The figures from Celebrity mean it won its slot all people and all demos while 10 ranked #1 channel for the night under 50.

The Project had a good audience too without A Current Affair on air with 575,000 after 7pm as Carrie Bickmore returned from her summer break. It was the program’s biggest audience since March 2019.

On the ABC Back Roads did 551,000 as it visited Koroit, while on SBS a repeat of Trust Me, I’m A Doctor was on 176,000.