Musical Chairs: April 20

Image:JB Hi-Fi has announced a restructure for its digital presence

Nova changes CREATE team in Sydney, Melbourne

NOVA Entertainment has made changes to its CREATE team in Sydney and Melbourne. National Commercial Strategy Director Kate Day will lead the CREATE team, responsible for delivering entertainment solutions for brands across all platforms and channels. Day was a co-founding member of the CREATE team when she joined NOVA Entertainment in July 2011 as Melbourne Head of CREATE. She took her current national role last September.

Kim Kerton, Melbourne Agency Group Sales Manager since last February, is promoted to Sydney Head of CREATE. Andy Milne takes over the newly created role of Head of Creative Services. Jaclyn Shaw is now Melbourne Head of CREATE.

Richard Manners exits Warner/Chappell

Warner/Chappell UK’s Managing Director Richard Manners left the company abruptly this week. CEO Jon Platt explained in a staff memo that Manners made the decision after talks the pair had about the UK operations’ “future direction”. Manners was 17 years with W/C and signed Muse, Elbow, Paolo Nutini, Radiohead, Royal Blood and Ben Howard among others.

Margaux Parker fills in at River

Margaux Parker is filling in for a week at River 949 on the breakfast show with Paul ’Campo’ Campion. She’s the latest in a series of step-ins while regular Marnie T is away on maternity leave. Parker is the wife of Broncos captain Corey Parker and, according to Campion, named their three-month old daughter River after the station because they’re fans of its music.

New gig for Foxtel’s Nadine Spencer

Former Foxtel Music Channel producer Nadine Spencer has joined independent creative content agency Now We Collide as Senior Producer. Spencer is also a member of the TEDxSydney Creative Team.

John Woodward exits ABC

John Woodward took a redundancy package from the ABC. His roles over ten years at the broadcaster included GM of Communications and Marketing ABC Commercial and Head of Marketing at ABC Digital. He also spent nine years as Head of Publicity and Promotions at SBS.

Jeremy Erlich joins Interscope

Paris born Jeremy Erlich joined Interscope Geffen A&M as Chief Financial Officer and Executive VP of Business Development. Erlich’s background in finance (as a bank investor), music (he was five years Universal Music Group’s Head of Corporate Development and Strategy) and technology will see him source new technology, platforms and services for the company’s roster.

New EP for 2DAY FM breakfast show

Alex Spurway, Senior Producer at 2DAY FM’s struggling Rove McManus and Sam Frostbreakfast show takes over as Executive Producer while Tim Dunlop becomesExecutive Producer atPrep-Air, which involves training young producers andpreparing nightly and early morning show content for the Hit and Triple M networks.

New executive joins Imagem

Karen Macmillan is new VP of Imagem USA Creative Services, overseeing North American synchronisation for all of its copyrights. With 20 years experience in the biz, Macmillan was most recently Senior Director of Advertising & Branding at Nettwerk Music Group (publishing, label and management) overseeing ad syncs and brand partnerships in North America.

JB Hi Fi restructures for digital presence

As part of a strategy to expand online and digital marketing operations, JB Hi Fi has appointed Ernst & Young partner James Saretta as Strategy and Digital Director and Belinda Minieri is promoted to GM Online and Solutions Operations. Its website draws 2 million weekly and online sales expanded 28% in the company’s last quarter.

In other changes, Merchandise Director Cameron Trainor will take on marketing duties, Gary Siewert becomes General Manager of Marketing, while Solutions Director Tim Carter gets extra duties managing the supply chain.

Hoffman leaves Darwin

HOT 100 FM in Darwin weekday afternoon announcer Brayden Hoffman has left the station, and the city, to return to Queensland.

NZ DJ dumped

Auckland’s 95bFM radio station in New Zealand abruptly dropped a high profile live music identity from his two-hour evening Cheese On Toast Dinner Party radio show after a series of allegations of a sexual nature against him were published in a newspaper. Andrew Tidball runs the Cheeseontoast.co.nz music and events website.Police say they are aware of allegations of historic sexual offending byTidball.

Stassen upped at Music Week

Murray Stassen is promoted to Deputy Editor of London-based trade publication Music Week. He joined in mid-2014 from pro-audio magazine PSNEurope and became senior staff writer three months after.

Disney Australia MD gets global role

Disney Australia & New Zealand’s Managing Director Catherine Powell is leaving her role at the end of May after being promoted by the company to a global role. She takes over in July as President of Euro Disney S.A.S, the management company of many of Disney’s subsidiaries including Disneyland Paris and Disney Cruise Line. Powell has worked all around the world for the company which emphasised her strong leadership qualities.

“Disko” tunes out

Pete “Disko” Diskon officially hung up his headphones (in a full time capacity any way) at Batemans Bay-based 2EC. But after a break, he plans to return as a casual and wants to teach community radio newcomers. Diskon began his radio career 40 years ago, as a cadet at Melbourne’s 3XY before working in other markets including Canberra and Nowra where he was Program Director, and then joined the Tasmanian Broadcast Network before joining 2EC eight years ago.

Dolla Merrillees lands Powerhouse gig

Dolla Merrillees is appointed new Director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, which includes the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. She will lead the controversial much-debated-about relocation of the cultural institution, which has close ties to the music industry, to its new home on the banks of the Parramatta River on the site of the former David Jones car park.

Marilyn Alborough joins RPH

RPH Australia, the peak body for the Radio Reading Network serving people with a print disability, appointed Marilyn Alborough as its first CEO since 2002. The association has 1500 volunteers.

Aaron Michie joins Guardian Labs

Aaron Michie will head up branded content for Guardian Labs, moving over from ZenithOptimedia where he was Chief Innovation Officer.