Public company (ASX: MRN) | |
Industry | Broadcast radio |
Founded | 31 March 2015 |
Headquarters |
Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia |
Key people
|
Adam Lang, Chief Operating Officer |
Parent |
Fairfax Media (54.5%) John Singleton Promotions Pty. Ltd. (45.5%) |
Website | mrn |
Macquarie Media Limited (ASX: MRN) is an Australian media company, operating radio stations nationally in the capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, as well as regional Queensland, it is based in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont. It is a publicly listed company, majority owned by Fairfax Media. It also operates news service Macquarie National News.
2GB, one of Sydney's premier commercial radio stations, was founded by Theosophical Broadcasting Station Pty Ltd. in 1926, broadcasting at 870kHz on the AM band.
In January 1936, in the depths of the Great Depression, 2GB and 2UE formed an alliance, Broadcasting Service Association (BSA), to share production facilities for producing radio drama and other locally produced entertainment, which was hugely popular and in better times highly lucrative. The BSA was under joint management of Alfred Edward Bennett and Cecil Vincent Stevenson, managing directors of 2GB and 2UE respectively. That same year, the controlling interest in 2GB was purchased by Denison Estates Ltd. A new board of directors was appointed under chairman Sir Hugh Denison and included A. E. Bennett, who continued as station manager, and Frederick Daniell.
In early February 1937 A. E. Bennett hosted a peak conference of commercial radio interests of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia with a view to expanding the organisation into an inter-state network to secure additional outlets for their material. Those present included Sir John Butters, chairman of BSA, R. E. Denison and Frederick Daniell, representing Denison Estates Ltd.; V. F. Mitchell of 4BC Brisbane; George Bennett, George Millar and Charles A. Fletcher of 2GB Sydney; C. V. Stevenson and Sydney E. Baume (brother of Eric Baume) of 2UE Sydney; John T. Taylor of 3AW Melbourne; Gordon Marsh of 5DN Adelaide; Clive Ogilvy (often mis-spelled Ogilvie) and A. J. "Jack" Ryan of 2CA Canberra; Russell A. Yeldon of 2WL Wollongong; Eric and O. Robinson of 2HR Hunter River; J. J. Armitage and D. R. Armstrong of Broadcasting Service Association Ltd. In November the same year Bennett was sacked by Denison and Butters from both his managerial position with 2GB and as a director of BSA, though public pronouncements had him resigning voluntarily. Harold Gordon Horner, New South Wales manager for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, was appointed to take his place.