Musical Chairs: October 17, 2013

Rhys Holleran re-elected as CRA chair

Southern Cross Austereo CEO Rhys Holleran was re-elected as chair of Commercial Radio Australia’s (CRA) board of directors. He took over the role last year from dmg Radio CEO Cathy O’Connor. After CRA’s AGM in Brisbane, CEO Joan Warner declared the board “united in its view that regulation on commercial radio in this country must be reviewed and reduced in an increasingly competitive media and communications environment.

David Sefton to direct fourth Adelaide Festival

The South Australian Government extended Adelaide Festival’s artistic director David Sefton’s role to four years, keeping him in the seat until 2016. Liverpool-born Sefton, who created London’s Meltdown festival, was contracted to run three festivals from 2013-15. The board said it liked his innovative ideas. This year it drew 327,000 and took $2.6 million at the box office, with 76 sold-out shows.

RED taps Carrabba to head Associated Labels

RED Distribution’s newly created label services operation RED Associated Labels has tapped Tom Carrabba as its Executive Vice President and General Manager. The service provides marketing and radio promotion for selected Sony Music partner releases distributed through RED.

New executive appointment for Kobalt

Kobalt Music Group created a new position of President of Society Relations, to liaise with global performance societies and digital service providers. The role has been taken by Tomas Ericsson; he was deputy CEO of Swedish performance society STIM and before that, MD of ICE, a joint venture between STIM and PRS, for music to create a back-office service for global rights administration.

Wayne Ringrow exits Chapel Lane Studios

Wayne Ringrow exited Adelaide’s Chapel Lane Studios, where he worked on its label and management projects, to focus on his own projects. He joined from Sony Music Entertainment where he worked with Pete Murray, Something For Kate and Augie March. Joshua Neuman remains Chapel Lane’s Director, and Garbriel Agostino head sound engineer.

92.9’s new breakfast team

92.9 Perth has teamed Big Brother evictee Heidi Anderson with comedy duo Will McMahon and Woody Whitelaw for its new breakfast team. They debut on November 11.

Gary Barlow to quit X Factor

After the inevitable denials, Gary Barlow has confirmed he will leave X Factor UK at the end of the current series, after three years as mentor. The former Take That singer is releasing his first solo album in 14 years in November.

Alissa Thibault heads to Nova 969

SCA Brisbane news reader Alissa Thibault has moved over to dmg Radio. She’ll read the news for Nova 969 Sydney and then also Nova Brisbane once she completes her non-compete clause.

4BH drops program director role

As part of an internal review, 4BH Brisbane dropped the role of the Program Director role, making Geoff Harrison redundant. Donna Lynch moves to nights, taking over his shift – Ashley Easter now does weekday mid-dawn.

New additions to Mumbrella

Media and marketing site Mumbrella has announced three new appointments. Former B&T editor Alex Hayes arrives initially to work on projects on sister site The Source and the publication of The Agency Review before joining Mumbrella’s news desk, alongside Editor Tim Burrowes. Miranda Ward (ex-Sky News) arrives as a reporter, Kath Solly takes over as Sales Support Executive. Creative Director Cathie McGinn left the firm last week.