After its annus horribilis, Southern Cross Austereo has succeeded in luring Hamish Blake and Andy Lee to the national drive-time slot they once dominated. And it is issuing more than $3 million shares in the process, as part of a broader programming shake-up that will see its underperforming Sydney breakfast team replaced by Dan Debuf and Maz Compton.
Southern Cross executive director of metropolitan operations Guy Dobson said Hamish & Andy would “be a great catapult for the rest of 2Day FM” when they returned in mid-2015. While the drive slot does not necessarily lift ratings in other slots, he said Hamish & Andy would.
Shareholders were pleased, pushing up Southern Cross shares 11.66% to 91¢. Directors Leon Pasternak and Max Moore-Wilton, and major shareholders Macquarie and Allan Gray, have each topped up their Southern Cross shares in the past week or so.
But after a tough year of poor TV ratings and patchy radio ratings, the company’s shares still remain down 46 per cent through 2014.
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