Musical Chairs: Kate Miller-Heidke joins ABC TV show; Fricke dropped from Rolling Stone; Wiesenthal out at WMG; Spotify takes in former Netflix exec

Nova promotes Tamie Williams to head national sales

Nova Entertainment promoted Tamie Williams to National Head of Direct Sales. She continues to oversee the direct sales team in Melbourne, said Group Sales Director Peter Charlton, to whom she reports.

Rob Wiesenthal out at Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group announced changes at the top. Chief Operating Office/Corporate Rob Wiesenthal is leaving for the aviation industry. Michael Nash has been brought back to act as advisor to CEO Stephen Cooper.

Wiesenthal joined Warner in 2012 from Sony/ATV, where he was President of International Business. At Warner he took more of an involvement in its digital business development after he struck deals with Shazam and iHeartMedia on radio royalties. He now focuses on his aviation start-up Blade, described as "Uber for helicopters".

Wind sweeps through 96FM Perth

96FM Perth made some changes in various departments. Drive presenter Darren de Mello lost his job after the slot was taken by Hughesy & Kate’s syndicated KIIS show, but will fill in at 6IX while Gordon O’Byrne is on leave.

Weekend Classic Café’s Fred Botica resigned to be replaced by Gavin Miller.

Sales Director Brooke Timmins was made redundant after a restructure.

David Fricke dropped from Rolling Stone

David Fricke, the most enthusiastic supporter of Australian music in the American media since the 1970s, has lost his job as Senior Writer at Rolling Stone. He was one of senior level staff laid off by Wenner Media as it expands its digital assets, and which also affected Us Weekly and Men's Journal.

Fricke has visited Australia a number of times and was guest of honour at an AMP winner announcement Q&A session. Fricke will write for Rolling Stone in a freelance capacity.

Joint Artistic Directors for Adelaide Cabaret Festival

The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is going for a double whammy, with Ali McGregor and Eddie Perfect taking over from Barry Humphries’ single term this year, The 2015 event posted a 12% rise in box office takings, McGregor and Perfect have performed many times at the festival throughout its 15 years, and say under their reign there’ll be more artist collaborations and new writing.

IAB names Lisa Walsh as Director of Research

Former ABC Head of Insights Lisa Walsh is new Director of Research at digital industry body IAB. Her brief is to expand online and mobile display and simplify online audience and media measurement. Before her 13 years at the ABC, Walsh was ten years at Nielsen in media research and consumer marketing.

Kate Miller-Heidke joins TV’s The Divorce

Brisbane singer songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke is among the cast announced for ABC TV’s new show The Divorce. The show, filmed in Melbourne from July 4, is a “contemporary comedic opera written and designed especially for the screen” about a couple throwing an elaborate party to celebrate their divorce. It is a collaboration between ABC TV Arts, Opera Australia and Princess Pictures.

New venue for Cavern manager

When Adelaide venue operator Teresa Scarcella closed The Cavern after ten years, she announced she was in talks with another venue. It was the Published Arthouse (11 Cannon St) in the Adelaide CBD which launches July 4.

Promotion at Vevo

Vevo promoted Adam Smith to Senior Vice President of National Sales.

Marc McCreadie heads to Canberra

Marc McCreadie, breakfast announcer at 7AD Devonport, heads to Canberra to take over as Program Manager of Capital Radio Network’s Forever Classic 2CA.

Spoonman exits 2UE

Brian Carlton, best known as Spoonman to a generation of Triple M listeners, has departed 2UE Sydney where he served as EP of Justin Smith’s drive show.

Alex Mavroidakis at ITV Studios Australia

Australian reality and light entertainment TV executive Alex Mavroidakis joins ITV Studios Australia in a project-based role as a showrunner and Executive Producer. He was EP on three seasons of Big Brother (2012-2014) and worked on The X Factor, The Apprentice and The Amazing Race.

Spotify takes in former Netflix exec

Spotify has brought on as CFO former Netflix exec Barry McCarthy, effective July 6. He was also CFO at Music Choice, and sat on the board of Pandora for two years and currently on the board of ticketing company Eventbrite.

7digital has new North American GM

7digital promoted James Priestley to GM of North America. From its San Francisco office, he will manage operations and business development in the US, Canada and Latin America. Priestley was previously London-based VP of Business Development.

Competition finds breakfast co-host in Perth

98five Sunshine FM Perth founds its new breakfast co-host, singer Kirste Oates, through a phone audition competition. The station did 140 phone auditions to find a replacement for Polly to team up with Paul ‘Morro’ Morrison.

Rita Ora joins X Factor judging panel

Singer Rita Ora and BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw signed up for the judging panel of the 12th season of The X Factor UK, alongside Simon Cowell and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini. Ora, who was a guest judge on the show in 2012, served as a coach on The Voice UK earlier this year.