Basil and a tale of 2 networks
"I'm not sure they would want me," says Basil Zempilas upon hearing Nine may become his employers.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Potentially caught in the crossfire of Nine’s proposed merger with Fairfax Media is Weekend Sunrise presenter Basil Zempilas, who also co-hosts 6PR breakfast radio.
If the deal proceeds the Macquarie network radio station would fall under the Nine Entertainment empire.
Zempilas, cheekily referred to as a Kerry Stokes-anointed “golden boy,” yesterday he told Peter Ford, “I do still work for Channel Seven, so TV-wise nothing will change. But the reality is, if Channel Nine were the owners of this radio group and therefore this radio station I’m not sure they would want me, would they?”
Nine could potentially own 54% of Macquarie as major shareholders, but if it drives the editorial it could be tricky for the Perth presenter.
“In my mind it would be difficult to work for Channel Seven and for Channel Nine. Does anybody do that now?” he pondered.
Doubtful, but there are a handful of others in a similar boat to Zempilas such as Seven News reporter Nick McCallum at 3AW.
“Having said that, I love working at 6PR and would want to continue at 6PR. It would be my wish to continue at 6PR and I would happily do it. Therefore it would be up to them to say ‘Yes you can stay or no you can’t.'”
But Zempilas can relax. Late yesterday Nine CEO Hugh Marks told 6PR’s Oliver Petersen Zempilas is going nowhere.
“It would be a bit short sighted of me to take a different approach,” he said.
“Macquarie Radio stands as its own business.”
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4 Responses
The few times I have seen this young man…I really liked him…
It’ll be interesting to see if they do keep 6PR separate from Channel 9. At some point there will be bound to be a conflict of interest.
This merger just reaffirms what I’ve suspected anyway about 3AW for some years now, very Nine-centric. Always getting Tony Jones to fill-in, Peter Hitchener, Jo Hall and other Nine personalities as regular guests, Neil Mitchell openly loving Tracy Grimshaw (old mates) and Nine News and Dennis Walter much the same bias. Ross and John are more Seven leaning. Is 2GB similar in Sydney? Odd comment here I know, but hard not to notice as a regular listener to talkback radio.
Neil Mitchell has been a paid contributor to Nine News shows (but if I am not mistaken it was Seven prior to that), Denis Walter a former WIN presenter. Hitch and Phil Brady etc go a long way back. Other than that I think it is more a case of network knowing the value of talkback and pushing their people on. Seven has paid for live news updates, Nick McCallum is a paid presenter etc.