Heat on Southern Cross Austereo radio management as crisis over royal hoax ... - The Australian

The chairman of Austereo has written to the British hospital targeted by 2DayFM's radio prank call.

Michael Christian and Mel Greig break down on A Current Affair, in the first interview since the nurse answering their prank call died. Courtesy Nine Network.

Speaking about when they first found out about the tragedy that followed their prank call, the 2Day FM hosts broke down on A Current Affair. Vision courtesy of Channel 9.

• Junior producer 'barked in background'


• Senior managers 'would have vetted call'


• Workers 'frustrated by scandals'

THEY have been compared to the "faceless men'' of the ALP - the senior management group at Southern Cross Austereo shielded by the tears and public torment of Summer Hot30 hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian.

As the crisis over the network's royal hospital radio prank deepened yesterday, the spotlight turned squarely on those who seemingly must be responsible for approving the hoax call controversially broadcast last week.

There were continued attempts to quell the PR crisis by Austereo, with the company confirming it had resumed advertising on 2DayFM, donating profits until the end of this year (a minimum of $500,000) to family of hospital nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who is suspected of taking her life in the wake of the radio prank.

SC Austereo chief executive Rhys Holleran reiterated the company's regret and contrition, in a press release, stating: "We hope that by contributing to a memorial fund we can help to provide the Saldanha family with the support they need at this very difficult time.''

Debate raged over the tragedy, with consensus across social media and international press largely accepting Greig and Christian's plea that "people above us'' were to blame for green-lighting their 'gotcha' call.

During two TV interviews on Monday night, Christian was insistent the pair had no say in the decision to air the phone prank, where Greig posed as the Queen and was connected by Mrs Saldanha to a ward nurse looking after the Duchess of Cambridge.

The new duo's program team, including executive producer Emily Mills and assistant producer, Ben Harlum, had initially identified their roles in the hoax when celebrating the "call coup" on Twitter last week.

Mills, 26, reportedly barked in the background as Greig tricked the ward nurse into giving details of the pregnant royal's condition.

Harlum, thought to be just 21, had also boasted about the gag, renaming himself a "corgi impersonator''.

But radio insiders say the junior staff would have taken the unedited tape recording to more senior managers and legal staff to vet the call for broadcast.

Those in positions to make similar judgements are likely to be Sydney content director Derek Bargwanna and assistant content director Adam Williscroft, as well as one or more of the five in-house lawyers Austereo have on hand to adjudicate on content, from marketing and promotions to programming.

Craig Bruce, seen on Channel 9 footage to be assisting Greig and Christian before their interview with A Current Affair this week, is next in the chain of command as national content director.

Adelaide-based Bruce is believed to have been travelling on the day the prank call was made, but it is unclear whether he was in telephone contact with his Sydney executive team over the incident.

Sydney general manager Jeremy Simpson called an all-personnel meeting at 9am on Monday, where staff across 2Day FM and Triple M were urged to keep working in spite of the tragedy.

It was then he also informed them of the cancellation of the company's staff Xmas party, scheduled for tomorrow night at East Sydney's Oxford Factory nightspot.

The announcement only added to a sombre mood at the World Square headquarters, where one insider said workers were "completely frustrated'' by seemingly persistent scandals.

Guy Dobson, the group head of content and former Austereo CEO, would have vast experience in crisis management having been in senior programming and executive roles responsible for mopping up after Kyle Sandilands and other on-air talent in recent years.

Dobson's $1.08 million gig was seen by some in the industry as a consolation after Holleran seized the top job in the media group's merger last year.

Holleran again made the company's regret and contrition clear, via a press statement.

Now, with Holleran fronting what will go down as the company's greatest shame to date, Dobson must be counting himself lucky to have dodged that bullet.