ARN Media has added two of Nine’s biggest names, Eddie McGuire and Karl Stefanovic, to its radio stable as it fights to survive $160m in lawsuits from Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson.
The network has hired McGuire and Stefanovic to host a new multi-platform show, The Long Weekend, which will be broadcast live on all Gold stations and streamed on Nine’s 9Now and Stan platforms.
ARN told a shareholder meeting it lost $22m in revenue as companies pulled ads over the raunchy content on the now-cancelled Kyle and Jackie O Show. ARN faces paying millions in compensation to its former stars if it loses the federal court case.
Sandilands and Henderson are taking legal action against the Kiis FM licensee which terminated them both a year after they signed separate 10-year contracts which were supposed to run until 31 December 2035.
McGuire said working with his friend Stefanovic was a “wonderful new chapter”.
“We’re going to bring our audience along to wherever the big news, sport and entertainment is happening, with great music in between. Karl is one of my closest mates in the industry. Now we get to do this together,” he said.
Stefanovic said he has been a student of radio his whole life. “The intimacy of the medium is powerful,” he said. “Working with Eddie makes it even more exciting for me. We’ve been friends for a long time. We are both ready to disrupt the status quo and let me tell you, we’ll have plenty of fun along the way.”
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailThe three-hour show, to run on Fridays between midday and 3pm from 19 June, will cover news, sport and entertainment and is “designed to be full of opinion, energy and perspective”.
ARN Media’s chief executive, Michael Stephenson, said The Long Weekend “is an excellent example of our strategy coming to life, premium audio and video content distributed across every platform”.
ARN said it is to be the first Australian-produced audio and video format with distribution across broadcast radio, live radio streaming, podcast, social, free-to-air streaming (9Now), streaming (Stan), and global distribution across the iHeart network.
McGuire’s production company will also produce a sport podcast for iHeart.
The chief content officer of ARN, Kerri Elstub, said Stefanovic had a unique ability to relate to Australian audiences. “Eddie needs no introduction. His influence and broadcasting prowess is legendary. I can’t wait to show you what they can do together,” Elstub said.
Stefanovic, Nine’s highest-paid journalist as co-host of Today, has struck out as an independent podcaster this year, amassing more than 100,000 subscribers on YouTube alone.
While earning a purported $2.8m as the face of Today, Stefanovic has travelled the country interviewing a slew of rightwing guests including Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce and the Liberal shadow minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
