As the Monday Sydney Morning Herald hits the newstands today, one more radio column seems to have disappeared from Australia’s newspapers. With the merger of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Monday Guide and the Sun Herald’s Sunday TV liftout, the radio column has been dropped. The Monday Guide carried a radio column since the 1980s, being written over the years by such people as Heather Chapman, Marius Webb and most recently Sue Javes. Since Sue Javes retired last year the paper did not reappoint a permanent replacement columnist, and this month, as part of the changes, the column was dropped. As newspaper reporting of the radio industry continues to decline, thank goodness for radioinfo.
The Guide, which used to also list all commercial, public and community radio stations in Sydney has now reduced its daily listing section to 5 stations, ABC Classic FM, SBS Radio 2, 2MBS FM, Radio National and ABC Sydney 702. No commercial stations are listed.
The Guide was first published in the Herald on May 3, 1982. Originally printed on white paper, it changed to pink paper in February 1983 as was generally known as The Pink Guide in media circles. It remained pink until October 1995.
Sister paper The Age, publishes a similar Guide every Thursday, which was previously printed on green paper and known as the Green Guide. It carries a Radio column and radio issues are regularly debated by readers who avidly write letters to the editor on many and varied radio topics. It is not known whether changes are also planned to the Age’s Guide.
Ironically, Herald owner Fairfax recently bought back into the radio business, acquiring 2UE, 3AW and other radio assets. There are persistent rumours that the company is looking to offload its radio business if it can get the right price and the company has been in the news recently over cost cutting plans that will outsource the editing process.
In an introduction to the new Guide today, editor Greg Hassall writes: “The new look section brings the expert opinion and analysis for which the Guide is renowned into the convenient format that readers of the Sun-Herald love. Our comprehensive eight day listings cover all 16 free-to-air [TV] stations, with movies and recommended programs clearly marked, while our critics continue to provide the best, most informed reviews available…”
There is no mention of the word ‘radio’ in his introduction.
The newspaper still covers radio stories in its gossip and business pages, and will presumably include radio stories in the guide from time to time if they are big enough, but there is no longer any regular radio presence in the supplement.
Rival publication The Australian publishes a Media Section on a Monday, which does not carry a regular radio column, although Mark Day, a former radio presenter and owner, often talks about radio in his opinion column. The Financial Review also publishes a Media and Marketing section on a Monday, edited by Neil Shoebridge, which also covers radio, but not in a regular column.
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