It is the deal that all but defined late media mogul Kerry Packer‘s career: selling his prized Nine Network to would-be tycoon Alan Bond for $1.05billion in 1987 – only to buy it back three years later for a mere $250million as the disgraced businessman’s over-extended empire collapsed.
‘You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, and I’ve had mine,’ Packer would later famously say of the multimillion-dollar windfall.
Now, 35 years on, almost-billionaire John Singleton is about to have his own once-in-a-lifetime Bond moment – all thanks to Nine, too.
The 83-year-old offloaded his 32.2 per cent share in the Macquarie Media radio network to the media giant six years ago for $80million… and now he’s looking to buy back the thing for a fraction of the price.
Word is the former adman is leading a consortium hoping to snap up the struggling Nine Radio, which comprises talkback stations 2GB in Sydney, Melbourne’s 3AW, Brisbane’s 4BC and 6PR in Perth, for as little as $25million.
Chump change for someone like Singo, who is said to worth more than $800million.
Word is legendary former adman John Singleton is leading a consortium hoping to buy the struggling Nine Radio. We hear Singo hopes to bring back recently retired morning show stalwart Ray Hadley (right) to replace his successor Mark Levy (left)
What’s more, we hear he doesn’t just want to take over the struggling business; he’s apparently intent on returning it to its former glory.
That’s great news, isn’t it? Well, it depends on who you are and what your job is.
Inside Mail can reveal – and we hope you will pardon the pun because we are going to make it either way – Singo is preparing to go ‘radio-active’ and is already secretly planning to ‘blow up’ the network and usher in his own stable of stars.
That means some people will be hired – or re-hired as the case may be – while other heads will roll.
Indeed, rumour has it Singo has already convinced 2GB’s morning show titan Ray Hadley to come out of retirement just months after hanging up his headphones and stepping away from the mic for (supposedly) the last time on December 13.
Not only that, he apparently has had Hadley working the phone and actively recruiting other key players as part of his plot to reinvigorate the network’s struggling stations.
Of course, word of the masterplan quickly filtered back to us and… it’s a lot to take in. So you might want to sit down for this.
According to the blueprint we’ve seen, in Sydney, high-rating breakfast show host Ben Fordham is just about the only presenter in the current line-up who could consider themselves ‘safe’ under a resurgent Singo.
Rumour has it Nine Radio star Sofie Formica (pictured) is tipped to be replaced by…
…former Olympian Susie O’Neill (pictured), who recently finished up at Nova
In fact, we hear he’s already been worded-up and given a firm undertaking that he would retain his coveted timeslot under the new regime.
Elsewhere, others are looking a little shakier, with Hadley’s replacement, pineapple pizza fan Mark Levy, already earmarked to make way for the return of the king – while afternoon host Michael McLaren and newly installed drive-time presenter Clinton Maynard are also expected to go under the change up.
Former 4BC breakfast and drive-time host-turned-A Current Affair head-kicker Neil Breen is rumoured to be tapped to replace at least one of them, with some suggestion one-time 6PR presenter-cum-Seven Spotlight star Liam Bartlett is in the mix for the other Sydney timeslot.
Up north in Brisbane, just about everyone will walk the proverbial plank, according to our sources, with Fordham and Hadley’s shows to be syndicated in the Sunshine State under the plan, with underperforming breakfast host Peter Fegan and journeyman mornings presenter Bill McDonald both bustled out of the studio.
The line-up would retain a distinct ‘live and local’ flavour after lunch but again that does not necessarily mean any of the incumbents are safe.
One-time Saturday Disney starlet and current 4BC afternoons host Sofie Formica would have an almost unwinnable fight on her hands to hang onto her gig under the ownership change, with Olympic golden girl and former Nova breakfast host Susie O’Neill tipped to be brought in to replace her (whether she’s been asked to do so as yet is another story).
The River City’s current drive-time host, Gary Hardgrave, would also be put out to pasture with former shock jock Peter Gleeson likely to make a triumphant return little more than four months after quitting the station to run the newly formed Queensland Racing Club.
2GB radio presenter Ben Fordham (pictured with wife Jodie Speers) is said to be of the only personalities at Nine deemed to be ‘safe’
(Indeed, quizzical glances have already been exchanged within 4BC’s Cannon Hill studio following Gleeson’s surprise announcement he was unexpectedly stepping down from his new greyhound gig just last week).
Out west, there’s speculation that 6PR could be prised off from the rest of the operation completely and sold off to a local consortium, or local billionaire media magnate Kerry Stokes.
There is a little sunshine, however, in the otherwise overcast and bleak city known as Melbourne, with their solid line-up of on-air talent predicted to survive the purge.
Behind the scenes, meanwhile, the faceless men running the show would be forced to slug it out in a similar Hunger Games-style fight for survival.
Now, it goes without saying, this is all just red-hot rumour and innuendo at the moment – and you know what they say about best laid plans….
So no one can say for sure how Singo’s bold vision to rebuild the radio business will ultimately play out.
We will say this though… the first time Singo bought 2GB in 1996 he quickly set about making it the city’s No. 1 talkback station by (you guessed it) going ‘radio-active’, blowing up the network and ushering in his own stable of stars.
And it worked back then… so why not now?
Read the full edition of INSIDE MAIL tomorrow, exclusively for Mail+ subscribers. Last week’s column can be found here.
Read the full article here
