The defection of ABC Radio Sydney
breakfast presenter Angela Catterns to DMG’s new FM station seems to
have passed without the obvious being said.

Under its current
management, the ABC has gone chasing ratings. It has invested in
personalities. Catterns reportedly earned around $200,000 a year. We
understand that other high profile on-air figures like Red Symons and
Richard Stubbs aren’t short of a quid either.

This has caused
considerable angst within the ABC. Wouldn’t the money being squandered
on names be better spent on program making and the broadcaster’s
reputation?

DMG – the company that has successfully created
Nova, the hippest station for the under-40s – thinks the ABC’s
internship is a demographic worth chasing.

Catterns has been
vital to ABC’s rating success, but if DMG pinches more of Catterns’
colleagues, it will shatter the ABC’s dreams of 15% ratings.

Staff
are already concerned. Quality is going in pursuit of audiences and
name presenters. DMG is bidding for those. What will be left?