Morrison exits 2UE

Following a year of declining ratings at 2UE in Sydney, Fairfax Radio has told Drive host Jason Morrison that he will not be part of the station's lineup in 2014.

2UE was relaunched at the start of 2013; at that time the station was rating a 5.6% overall, in the most recent survey 2UE had fallen to 4.6% overall.

As part of the relaunch Morrison was, despite his wishes, replaced on Breakfast by Ian Dickson and Sarah Morice; at the time of that change, the session rating 4.5%, last survey showed it had declined to 3.3%.

In further possible changes for 2UE, mornings host Paul Murray is no certainty to return in 2014, despite having a further two years on his contract.

The moves are the latest in a number of changes at Fairfax Radio, which has seen the departure of 4BC's Gary Hardgrave, Greg Cary and Peter Dick; although Dick's leaving was due to illness, and also the exit of 4BH Program Director Geoff Harrison.

The timing of major changes at 2UE comes at a difficult time for Fairfax as they look to convince Macquarie Radio that they should hold the senior position both in terms of shareholding and management control in a potential merger of the groups.

Investors appear to believe the merger will go through, and will be positive for Macquarie, with the MRN share price jumping from $1.00 to $1.45 in the past three weeks.