Key radio names make B&T’s Women In Media long list

B&T is preparing to release the 2020 Women in Media Power List, dropping an initial long list featuring a number of familiar faces in radio circles that will be cut down to a final 30.

The winners will be announced at the 2020 B&T Women in Media Awards, and several names from the radio industry have made the initial cut.

Bec Brown, founder and managing director of The Comms Department who handle all communications for the Australian Radio Network, is named on the long list.

Brown just released her first book titled You’ve Got This, a guide for female creatives and professionals to help build their dream career.

She previously held roles at Universal Music Group, Heusler Public Relations and Noble Capital.

NOVA Entertainment CEO Cathy O’Connor is another prominent radio figure named.

She recently joined the EY Change Happens podcast to chat about the challenges of managing one of Australia’s largest radio networks during the coronavirus pandemic.

“As a leader, these are the great opportunities to lead,” she said. “My response to that is to get on the front foot and get communicative. That’s been the underlying theme.”

The head of Hit Network at Southern Cross Austereo, Gemma Fordham, also appears.

Fordham’s latest initiative is a new pop-up radio station for Victorian kids in lockdown called Little Fox, hiring a 12-year-old newsreader.

“I felt like we had a responsibility to do something, and that probably came from being a parent. We have all these amazing tools and assets available to us at SCA,” she told Radio Today.

SCA has two names on the list, with marketing and communications chief Nikki Clarkson. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation chair Ita Buttrose lands on the list too.

Buttrose replaced Justin Milne at the ABC in February of 2019.

Joan Warner, the CEO of peak radio industry body Commercial Radio Australia, also features.

CRA recently unveiled the latest phase of its Radio Alive marketing campaign, aiming to promote the idea that commercial radio can deliver real results at a time when advertisers need it most.

“Radio is a proven medium that delivers results to businesses looking to restart marketing initiatives after a pause, to get the message out there they are open for business,” Warner said.

The full long list for B&T’s 2020 Women in Media Power List can be viewed here.