Musical Chairs: June 1

Image:Sophie Monk and Matty Acton’sThe Flingis being brought back

Capital Radio UK’s Greg Burns joins Nova 96.9

High profile UK radio presenter and comedian Greg Burns joins Nova 96.9 Sydney in mornings from July. Paul Jackson, Nova Entertainment’s Group PD says, “Greg is one of the outstanding talents in the UK radio industry. I’m thrilled that he is joining the Nova team. His passion for music, his infectious humour and love for Sydney will instantly endear him to our listeners.” Burns’ Capital FM drive show is the highest rating in London in the time slot, with an average audience of 800,000. Before his nine years at Capital, he was on Heart FM and Virgin Radio.

Pandora’s Nicole McInnes resurfaces at eHarmony

Nicole McInnes, who left music streaming company Pandora as Marketing Director just three weeks ago, has popped up in the dating game. She is new Marketing Director at online dating service eHarmony, replacing Lynsey Tomkinson who returned to the UK in late April.

Sewell rides the wave

Chris Sewell begins on June 6 as afternoon presenter and Social Media Manager at Wave FM in Wollongong. He was on Star FM Dubbo’s breakfast show.

Kobalt hires new SVP to develop business

Kobalt appointed Lonny Olinick SVP, Strategic Business Development, based in Los Angeles. Olinick began working for BMG more than 13 years ago and was most recently an executive at on-demand startup Rinse. Kobalt’s founder and CEO, Willard Ahdritz, says Olinick will ensure “Kobalt continues to drive transformational change within the music industry”. He is also responsible for uncovering new opportunities where Kobalt can leverage technology to increase transparency and efficiency for creators and generate impacts.

Lawson gets Fresh

Tony Lawson is new Content Director at EDM radio station Fresh 92.7 Adelaide. He was Image Producer at 2Day FM Sydney and at MRM Audio Productions.

Jason Whittaker back at Crikey

After two years as Managing Editor of The Mandarin, Jason Whittaker is back at Crikey as publisher. He was its Editor before his departure.

New CD for Ballarat festival

Long time arts advocate Fiona Sweet is the new Creative Director of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale in regional Victoria from 2017. She replaces Jeff Moorfoot who founded the event in 2005 to celebrate photography in all forms. Sweet was previously head of design agency Sweet Creative that worked with many state arts organisations. Sweet also served on the boards of the Melbourne Fringe, Chamber Made Opera and Australian Graphic Design Association.

Suha Najjar hosting new SBS show

Entertainment reporter Suha Najjar hosts the new SBS digital radio Arabic24 show Al Bayt Baytak (“feel at home”) which delivers music, entertainment and news to Arabic-speaking Aussies. Before joining SBS, Najjar was Senior Producer on the Arabic version of Entertainment Tonight in the Middle East. The show launched this Monday as a 12-month trial and broadcasts each weekday from 8am to 11am.

Red Engine takes on Nicola Swankie

To help clients with their digital content and social media strategies, creative content agency Red Engine SCC has created a new Melbourne-based post of Head Of Innovation and appointed Nicola Swankie to fill it. She was Managing Director of social agency SOCiETY Social within Mediabrands, running a team of 20 over four states with a number of blue chip brands.

Jonathan Church quits STC

The appointment of the UK’s Jonathan Church as Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company created waves as some grumbled an Australia could well have taken over Andrew Upton’s role. But Church’s sudden departure has created similar waves. Appointed last August, it was agreed upon by Church and the STC that he would continue to work on his other overseas projects. But that seems to have been an issue, and Church quit before announcing the 2017 program.

Hunt for new Editor for Mashable

Mashable Australia is on the search for a new Editor after Founding Editor Jen Ryall moved to the parent company’s New York operations as Senior Producer.

Six new hires at Core Agency

Following the acquisition of new high profile clients and the extension of existing ones, Sydney creative agency The Core Agency (previously Core) announced six new hires to its 20+ staff. Dave Glen joins as Senior Copywriter, Italy-hailed Simone Parravicini as Senior Art Director, New Zealand’s Misa McConnell as Senior Copywriter, Deepali Dabral who’s worked all through Asia as Production Director, Eve Lau as Digital Designer and Amy Barnes as Account Manager

KIIS brings The Fling back

Sophie Monk and Matty Acton’s irreverent music and celeb goss show The Fling which first emerged during the Christmas break, is being brought back from June 27. Australian Radio Network will broadcast it on the Kiis Network in Sydney and Melbourne. ARN recently hired Monk to work on special integration and content projects on KIIS.

Screen NSW promotes Sophia Zachariou

Screen NSW has promoted Sophia Zachariou from production and development executive to Head of Development and Production. In her previous role of Deputy Head of Entertainment at ABC TV, she was in charge of the Gruen series, Kitchen Cabinet with Annabel Crabb, Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey, The Chaser’s Media Circus, The Chaser’s War On Everything, Saturday Night Crack Up, Agony, The Checkout and At the Movies. She also produced iconic short film series Eat Carpet for SBS and Australia’s first short film initiative for smartphones, Micromovies, in 2004.