Suitor for Nine’s talkback radio assets hints at wooing Ray Hadley and cutting administration costs

The head of a company making a bid for Nine’s radio assets suggested he would like to lure Ray Hadley out of retirement and reduce administrative costs, sparking a suggestion the Sydney talkback king would have to be offered a deal rivalling that of Kyle and Jackie O.

Australian Digital Holdings TV chairman Maurice Newman said bringing back the 71-year-old former 2GB mornings star with a multimillion-dollar contract was a possible strategy to drive revenue.

“It’s not mutually exclusive: you can have big names and still cut the costs,” he told The Nightly. “I think there are ways in which you can streamline administration without giving away our secrets.

“There are ways, in our experience anyway, looking at some of these media companies, the methods and processes that they are still adopting are no longer state of the art, no longer up to date.”

Nine is unlikely to decide whether to keep or sell its radio stations by November 7, the date of its annual general meeting. But a decision is likely before Christmas, which would potentially mean a sale in early 2026 to one of at least four potential suitors.

The sale price is expected to be substantially less than the $80 million Nine bought the AM talkback radio assets for six years ago, given fewer young people listen to conservative talkback.

“More and more young people in particular are going online and not going to what we call legacy outlets but there is a market,” Mr Newman said. “We think there’s ability to cut costs and improve revenue.”

ADH TV is facing competition from John Singleton, who sold his 32.2 per cent share in Macquarie Media in 2019 for $80 million, offloading to Nine his interests in Sydney’s 2GB, Melbourne’s 3AW, Brisbane’s 4BC and Perth’s 6PR.

Hadley and Alan Jones both joined 2GB in 2002, defecting from talkback rival 2UE, after Mr Singleton made them offers after their contracts had expired.

Hadley had signed a $10 million deal with 2GB in May 2023 that was to last until 2026, after notching up 148 consecutive ratings survey wins. He presented his last radio show in December 2024, after 160 wins.

Former 2GB broadcaster David Oldfield said the prospective new owner of Nine’s radio assets would have to offer something like $200 million over 10 years, that rivalled what Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson received from the Australian Radio Network to stay with KIIS FM.

“We all understand approximately what it is that Kyle and Jackie O get paid so you would think that Ray would have a very, very serious demand on the pay and he may even want pay that rivals that of Kyle or Jackie O,” he told The Nightly.

“I would think that if the money was right, and Ray got what he wanted, I would be surprised if he didn’t go back.”

Hadley’s former 2GB rival Jones was instrumental in establishing ADH TV in 2021, after Sky News declined to renew his contract.

Given that connection, it’s possible Hadley could be less inclined under ADH to rejoin his old station, where he dominated the ratings from 2002 to 2024.

ADH TV’s deal to buy regional television stations, including in Tasmania, fell through in May, with Southern Cross Media Group instead selling to Seven West Media, the publisher of The Nightly.

Mr Newman downplayed the fact Australian Digital Holdings didn’t have experience running a radio station.

“We’ve run our podcast station, the streaming service. That went very well. I think we’ve got the necessary management,” he said.

The ADH TV team includes former 2GB and 2UE broadcaster Jason Morrison, who is now a director.

“We’ve got other people as you know involved in our camp. We’ve got Jason Morrison and a number of other people who are certainly experienced hands. I think our management team stacks up,” Mr Newman said.

Mr Newman said ADH TV’s bid for Nine’s radio assets wasn’t dependent on convincing Hadley or former 3AW mornings broadcaster Neil Mitchell to rejoin their old stations.

“The organisation is bigger than one person. Depending on whether Ray Hadley came or didn’t come would not be the decision to go or not go. We’d be weighing up a whole lot of other issues, not personalities,” he said.

“Looking at the broader picture as to who might be at the helm, whether it be Hadley or whoever it might be, that’s just one station. There’s more than 2GB in there. The same applies to Neil.”

Nine chief executive Matt Stanton last week told staff the company was still undecided about whether to sell its radio assets as it conducted a review.