A major on-air shake-up at commercial radio station 2DU is continuing with a one-hour reduction in local programming and changes to the breakfast line-up.
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Listeners erupted in outrage at the end of March when the station axed long-time newsreader Angela Clutterbuck and breakfast host Ashley Kennan.
The shock decision coincided with the dropping of live local programming on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.
As a result, popular award-winning local sports coverage with Geoff Mann and the Golden Jukebox weekend afternoon music program are no longer broadcast.
A number of complaints about loss of local content were lodged with station management and Dubbo City Council.
WIN News reported some Dubbo business owners were considering pulling radio advertising in protest.
The station has been “going through changes and there are more to come”, the Daily Liberal was told yesterday. But there was no official word from 2DU management.
After conferring with station owner Bill Caralis, a 2DU spokesman said there would be no comment on the matter.
Mr Caralis, the head of Broadcast Operations Group, operates radio stations in NSW and southern Queensland under the Super Radio Network banner.
In recent weeks the 2DU breakfast program has been presented by a number of announcers, including retired breakfast personality Peter Leslie.
From Monday, 2DU morning host Richard Perno and long-time ZooFM announcer Ken Smith will start broadcasting a joint breakfast program. The networked John Laws program continues in the 9-11am timeslot before Mr Perno returns to the airways from 11am to 1pm.
The popular 2-6pm Mark Lynch afternoon program is now broadcast from 1-5pm.
Metropolitan-based networked programming now starts one hour earlier, from 5pm, and continues overnight until 5.30am.
Broadcast Operations Group was cited in several instances during a September 2001 Senate inquiry into regional radio.
Concerns were raised over loss of localism due to networking of radio stations. Mr Caralis was asked to appear several times at various hearings around the country but did not attend.
In October 2009 the Super Radio Network was named by the ABC television program Media Watch for failing to provide sufficient local content as stipulated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Media Watch identified three stations (2HC Coffs Harbour, 2EL Orange and 2PM Port Macquarie) which all took the Grant Goldman breakfast show feed out of 2SM in Sydney and failed to meet local content conditions.
In response to Media Watch, Mr Caralis stated he believed local news, weather and community announcements played during the Grant Goldman program was sufficient to meet ACMA’s licence conditions.
In September 2009, the Fair Work Ombudsman found Broadcast Operations Group had underpaid a journalist. The company was asked to make a $10,000 back payment.
