What's New
BY Sarah Patterson June 18, 2026
What's New January 27, 2026
What Hutchy did next: Nine Radio rumour gathers steam
Reporter
Will SEN boss Craig Hutchison be adding Nine’s radio assets to his burgeoning media empire – and for a bargain price to boot?
The answer could come as early as this week.
Staff at Nine Entertainment are expecting a sale announcement any day now.
According to the The Australian (subscription required), Hutchison’s Sports Entertainment Group (SEG) – up against two rival consortiums – is the frontrunner to snap up Nine’s talk stations, which include Sydney’s 2GB, Melbourne’s 3AW, Brisbane’s 4BC and Perth’s 6PR – and for substantially less than the rumoured $50 million price tag. Try $28 million.
His reported bid partner is Viburnum, which holds a majority stake in the Global Traffic Network, owner of traffic report provider ATN.
In September last year, Hutchison’s Sports Entertainment Group officially completed the acquisition of Melbourne sports station RSN 927.
The deal – worth $3.25 million – made SEN the sole audio broadcaster of racing in Victoria, and added to Hutchison’s stable of AM stations, following the purchase of Brisbane’s 4KQ and Sydney’s 2CH.
Obviously industry speculation is just that, and there are some ownership issues that impact a deal like this. It does, however, demonstrate that Hutchison is a major player with financial clout behind him.
History would tell us that many a media empire was built on less.
Watch this space.
At 28mil l would not be selling if l was Nine Radio management. They would be better to lease the frequencies.
Genuine question. I know that this is still just a rumour, but does anybody know how the company that owns SEN have the funds to look at all the acquisitions they do when their ratings are what they are?
Hurry up and put us out of our misery!
I would have thought Singo’s lot….have the funds and experience with talk back, news and sports
Maybe I’m going against the grain here (and it’s certainly not like this excites me either), but the prospect of SEN buying Nine Radio sounds at least a bit more realistic than earlier predictions of John Singleton buying back his former stations. Let alone Australian Digital Holdings – a company which failed to acquire SCA regional TV assets that collectively, could very well be worth a fraction of just one of 2GB or 3AW as a single entity!
Obviously, SEN would have to sell some stations although I don’t think they’d be too upset to let go of the ACE-operated music stations and RSN in favour of top-rated talkbackers which can allow them to just about dominate commercial AM sports coverage in most metro markets.
Part of me wonders if SEN could also be contemplating the possibility of AM frequency swaps in Sydney & Melbourne. Certainly, a 927/1116 swap in Melbourne was speculated about some time ago, while you’d think it’d also make sense for SEN Sydney to be bumped up to 954AM (not that Macquarie Sports Radio rated much better there…) while Classic Hits move “Back Where They Belong” to 1170AM with a possible relaunch of the 2CH brand.
Will start from nine radio join forces with SEN staff? Will Tony Tadio first sign with SEN before this happens?
Good question Nick ! Talk and sport are positions but to what end ? The music stations have moved into and in some cases dominate 55-64′ I’d imagine thats hurting the talk stations. SydneyCityTV, SEN don’t own the am music stations, 3MP was sold to ACE and 4BH, 2UE and Magic are all leased from Nine. SEN would be the most likely candidate to purchase talk stations IMO, synergy cost savings, better agency packages. Nine may hold the remaining am music stations or renegotiate a buyout with another party.
Nick I have been asking this question forever. Where does the money come from especially to pay all the talking heads on the rock bottom rating SEN stations ? Now he has interests in Nine Radio it needs an investigation by “Radio Today” instead of puff pieces on K & J.
@Roy: I’m well aware that SEN don’t own the music stations – just thinking about a period of transition where 873, 954 and 1170 might temporarily (and again) be under common ownership.
With ACE Radio yet to really position Classic Hits 2UE for a post-J&A brekky landscape (you’d think they should be trying to pick up disgruntled 101.7 listeners), one can’t help but wonder if that station is remaining on autopilot until there’s a bit more certainty around ownership, etc.
Because this comment wasn’t seen before my earlier one was posted…
@Duncan: I could understand John Singleton having been a serious candidate to re-acquire his former stations even 20 years ago. But if I were 84 years of age (as Singo is now), I’d probably sit back and enjoy the millions I’ve got during the time I still have left rather than worrying about getting back into radio ownership.
In addition, it’s really only 2GB and 3AW (because the latter was more or less, left alone) that Singo had success with during those five or so years immediately pre-dating the Nine Radio era. 4BC and 6PR have struggled for decades under various ownership eras while the less that’s said about Talking Lifestyle and Macquarie Sports Radio, the better.