TOM MALONE appointed Managing Director of Radio for Nine

Tom Malone has been appointed Managing Director of Radio, ahead of Nine taking over operational control of Macquarie Media on November 8.

For the past four years Malone has served as Nine’s Director of Sport, overseeing the growth of the Wide World of Sports brand and its relationships with major sporting codes, including leading Nine’s switch from cricket to tennis in 2018.

“Tom has a stellar track record as both a content creator and a media executive. For him this is a return to his roots in radio and I am confident he is the right person to lead Nine’s radio division,” said Hugh Marks, CEO of Nine.

“He brings an important skillset as we move forward and look for the opportunities that are created by having powerful radio brands like 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR within the Nine family.”

Malone is a former executive producer of 60 Minutes and the Today Show. He began his career at Radio 2UE as a cadet in the newsroom, before spending two years as a federal political reporter and several years producing breakfast radio.

“I’m excited to be returning to radio,” Malone said. “2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR are all powerful voices in their respective cities with deep connections to their communities, and we will seek to expand on that.

“The move to full ownership of Macquarie opens up real opportunities to build on that foundation and creates new ones to engage with listeners in each state.”

While Malone will have oversight of the radio division, Nine also confirmed that Macquarie’s newsrooms would fall under Darren Wick, Nine’s Director of News and Current Affairs.

In each market, Malone will work closely with Nine’s local managing directors to seek more opportunities for growth and integration across the wider Nine business.

The announcement of the new management structure comes after the recent departures of previous CEO, Adam Lang, along with 3AW Operations Manager, Stephen Beers and 6PR Commercial Director, Gordon Hill.

In a memo sent to staff this morning, Malone congratulated his production team at Wide World Of Sport, for their achievements over the past four years.

“From the outside Wide World of Sports sets the standard in sports broadcasting – the best camera and audio operators bringing the clearest and sharpest pictures and audio into people’s homes.

That’s augmented with great story telling from the best commentators and producers alike, and constant improvements in access and innovation. This team is the best in the business. But it’s not until you get to WWOS that you realise it’s made up of wonderful people on the inside. It is a very special place to work because of you – the people who love sport, love broadcasting and care greatly for each other.

We have done so much together that I am incredibly proud of. We reshaped our cricket coverage in our final two summers, returning to iconic voices and cricket focussed storytelling.

We made the bold call to switch from Cricket to Tennis, knowing that it would be better for our business, and we delivered an outstanding first summer of tennis, giving Nine its strongest start to the year in more than 19 years, and which has us on track to win the ratings year for the first time in 15 years.”

A new Head of Wide World Of Sports will be announced in coming days.