Musical Chairs: August 3

Image:Scooter Braun’s SB Projects company has a new President of Music

Stephen Haddad to head SCA digital

Stephen Haddad will take over as head of technology at Southern Cross Austereo in October. He was previously CIO (Chief Information Officer) at magazine publisher Bauer Media handling its 60 titles for four years. He said it was an opportune time to join SCA (“they have an impressive portfolio of digital and technology assets”) where he will report to COO John Kelly.

Scooter Braun’s SB Projects gets President

Scooter Braun’s SB Projects company has a new President of Music. Allison Kaye, a long time Braun associate, was previously GM at the company. She continues to report to Braun and help run the management and music divisions.

Braun’s management roster boasts Kanye West, Usher, Justin Bieber, Tori Kelly, Martin Garrix, Ariana Grande Black Eyed Peas and Carly Rae Jepsen.

Bruce Mellett retiring

ABC Radio exec of 30 years, Bruce Mellett, retires this month. During his time, he was Regional Manager of ABC Riverland and was dubbed Voice of The Riverland hosting the one-hour morning program.

Music retailer opens new store

Melbourne music retailer of 24 years, Pat Monaghan, has set up a new music store. Rocksteady Records is found at Mitchell House at 358 Lonsdale Street, in the Melbourne CBD.

Editorial changes at Time Out

Publisher Time Out Australia appointed Alyx Gorman as Editorial Director. She was Editor of Time Out Sydney, a role now occupied by Emma Joyce who began the publication’s Lifestyle Editor in January 2013.

Doug Johns does a Double Jump

Games, tech and pop culture specialist marketing and PR agency, Double Jump Communications, appointed industry veteran Doug Johns as Business Director. Based in Sydney, he will work alongside Business Director Paul Houlihan and Managing Director Chris Wright to accelerate the company’s growth. The last 12 months has been a significant growth, with new clients including Wizards of the Coast, HyperX, RTX Sydney and Madman Entertainment.

Nic Christensen translates to Nine

Nic Christensen, Media and Technology Editor at Mumbrella, is leaving to take over this month as Head of Digital Communications for Nine Entertainment Co. After stints at The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, he joined Mumbrella almost four years ago. Among stories he broke were how a dozen staff at media agency Mediacom left the agency after campaign reports to clients were forged.

Anika Moa lands talk show

New Zealand singer songwriter Anika Moa, as much known for her music as her irreverent humour, has landed the gig of a television talk show. Ten half hour episodes of Maori Television’s All Talk With Anika Moa were funded by NZ On Air funding to the tune of $641,549. NZ On Air said the Moa would host an “edgy, entertaining new talk show”. She previously hosted interviews with high profile Kiwis for a web series.

Dionne Warwick begins smoothfm series

US soul icon Dionne Warwick has begun a series of special shows on smoothfm. The 75-year old is touring Australia in November, taking in five cities.

Telstra COO quits after 12 years

Telstra COO Kate McKenzie resigned from the telco after 12 years, after a difficult year during which it had to deal with a series of network outages. She will depart “in the next coming weeks”. McKenzie had senior positions in regulatory, marketing and products before becoming responsible for the telco’s field services, IT and network architecture and operations in 2013.

New show for mix94.5

Sam Longley and Janelle Koenig will host mix94.5 Perth’s new 6 am to 8 am Saturday show The Jam. Longley has been an actor, comedian, writer and director from the nineties, as well as the creator of the popular The Big Hoo-Haa. Koenig began in stand-up comedy 15 years ago. The duo will interview personalities and provide info on what to do around Perth.

New marketing head for NBCUniversal ANZ

Jo McAlister is new Marketing Director of NBCUniversal International ANZ (Australia & New Zealand), effective August 20. She replaces Shannon Most who left after three years to this week begin in its London headquarters as VP of Marketing across the global network. McAlister was previously Head of Group Marketing at SBS over all its platforms. Her key achievements included the rebrand of SBS, launch of the Food Network in 2015 and successful broadcast of Eurovision 2016.

Napalm Records opens London office

Hard rock and metal Napalm Records is this month opening an office in London. It is run by Wally van Middendorp who will sign acts, licence tracks and undertake global initiatives. Van Middendorp was Managing Director of Eleven Seven Music Group Europe and SVP international at Roadrunner Records, where he oversaw global marketing and sales for all ex-North American territories like Australia, and was instrumental in breaking and developing artists such as Trivium, Machine Head, Black Stone Cherry, Airbourne, Alter Bridge and Slash. The Napalm roster includes Alter Bridge, DevilDriver, W.A.S.P, Monster Magnet, Camelot, Hammerfall and Powerwolf.

2GB’s Paul Bowd leaves radio

Former Sydney radio 2GB Sales Director Paul Bowd is moving to the he Royal Agricultural Society as Head of Commercial. He leads the sales and marketing team for the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Brendan Dahill leaves ABC for KEO Films

ABC Television’s Head of Non-Scripted Production, Brendan Dahill, is now Managing Director of KEO Films Australia. He is the lead senior executive for KEO’s television production operation in Australia. KEO produces Bullied for the ABC, Struggle Street for SBS and River Cottage Australia for Foxtel’s LifeStyle Food channel. After starting his career in the UK and Europe, he began six years ago at ABC Television. His roles included being Channel Controller for ABC1 and Head of Programming.

Dahill replaces Leonie Lowe at KEO Films Australia. She set up the Australian operations in 2014, and earlier this year the two dissolved their partnership. Lowe now runs her own Independent production company Lune Media.

New PR head for Crown Resorts

Alexandra Smith, Managing Director of Ogilvy PR Melbourne, leaves late next monrth to become Group General Manager of Public Relations at Crown Resorts.

Clare Todhunter moves south

Clare Todhunter moved from Australian Radio Network Sydney to Melbourne as breakfast journalist on KIIS 101.1 after Krystal Keller moved to The Project.

Samsung Australia loses a VP

Prasad Gokhale, VP of Samsung Australia’s mobile division, is leaving at the end of this week after two years. The decision was his, the company emphasised, as he felt he had achieved the goals he set out when he joined. Gokhale led the launch of numerous flagship Samsung mobile products – Including the Galaxy S7 flagship – as well as new product categories and services such as wearables, virtual reality and mobile payments.