…but what was Singo thinking when he overruled Rob Loewenthal?

Comment from Peter Saxon.

There’s a lot to admire about Ray Hadley. A self-made man who from humble beginnings as a butcher’s son worked tirelessly to become the success he is today.

As far back as the early eighties when he was starting out at 2UE he asked the then king of breakfast radio, Gary O’Callaghan for some fatherly advice. The advice was basic Radio Announcing 101: Be Yourself. “When you get happy, be happy. When you get sad, be sad. When you get angry, be angry. Be yourself son. Be Ray Hadley,” O’Callaghan told him.

Problem is, being Ray Hadley has had a habit of getting him into trouble off air. When he let fly at a hapless 2GB co-worker, Richard Palmer, the other week it was not the first time that he has publicly humiliated a colleague. In a similar incident at the 2004 Olympics, then news director Justin Kelly threatened legal action after he was berated for not leading the news with Ray’s call of an event, playing another event with a different caller instead.

At the time, 2GB Program Director, John Brennan, quickly jumped to Hadley’s defence, saying he is ‘a perfectionist’ who does not ‘suffer fools’ gladly. “The best talk people are the ones who wear their heart on their sleeve. That can make them hard to live with, but that’s what makes them the best. Ray is the best sports’ broadcaster we’ve ever produced in this country.”

While that may be true, times have changed and the phrase “workplace bullying” has taken on new meaning. Ironically the day the news broke of Hadley’s most recent outburst, the Workplace Relations Minister, Bill Shorten, was announcing new measures aimed at clamping down on workplace bullying and providing victims better access to lodge complaints to the Fair Work Commission.

It was perhaps with that in mind that Macquarie Radio Network Managing Director Rob Loewenthal (left) took the decisive step of suspending Hadley for the remainder of the week. After all, the last thing 2GB needs right now is another government authority launching an investigation into its operations. Moreover, the incident had the potential to re-ignite the cyber lynch mobs at sites like change.org who could take up the cudgel against the millionaire presenter along with the station that allegedly condones the bullying of a young, relatively powerless, worker.

It was a wise and timely move by Loewenthal that likely did much to defuse what could have rapidly turned into a very ugly situation reminiscent of last year’s Alan Jones incident where he was caught off-air suggesting that the PM’s father had died of shame. That indiscretion cost the network plenty in lost advertising dollars it can ill-afford to lose again.

Then what on this azure orb we call Earth was MRN’s majority shareholder John Singleton thinking when he overrode Loewenthal’s decision and put Hadley back on air immediately? In one fell swoop, not only did he scuttle all the good work his Managing Director had done, but he undermined his authority thereby establishing one of the announcing staff as higher in the pecking order than the Managing Director.

Now far be it from me to tell Singo how to run a business. He’s made millions from his ventures while I’ve made… well, considerably less than him. And having the majority of shares in his radio business, he can run it any way he wants.

But it seems strange to me that as an owner, you’d let the tail wag the dog. That you’d let an announcer, no matter how senior, who has not been trained in people skills, give staff a public dressing down and reward him for it. Most professional managers have been taught that you praise in public and scold in private. And you criticise the work, not the individual. That’s why most radio workplaces make a clear distinction between the roles of management and talent.

Perhaps it was just a rare lapse… a rush of blood to the head that led Singo to reinstate his old mate when Ray Hadley called him and asked him to intervene, because by Friday common sense had returned to the corridors of power at MRN.

A meeting of all staff had been called where reportedly Hadley made heartfelt apology for his actions to Richard Palmer, in particular, and everyone else he may have abused over the years in general.

To give Hadley his due, as much as he can fly off the handle, he can be genuinely remorseful too. If nothing else, he’s authentic. And while there’s nothing manly about being a bully, it takes a big man to front around 100 people – from the receptionist through to sales people and copywriters – open up and lay bare your feelings and shortcomings.

Ray could do worse than have a chat to Merrick Watts who made a life changing decision a few years back to stop throwing his weight around and become a more decent human being in his relations with fellow workers. Among all the good causes Ray supports, this personal one might be most rewarding.

 Peter Saxon