News

‘A disposable dish rag’: Meshel Laurie attacks her treatment by Nova as she starts Kiis show

Laurie:

Meshel Laurie

Melbourne radio host Meshel Laurie has taken aim at her former employer Nova on social media claiming they treated her ” like a disposable dish rag and a fool.”

Laurie, who begins her new show on rival station KiisFM in Melbourne today, last night took to Facebook to take a shot at the media company.

“After 13 years with the Nova radio network, during which I was part of 3 number 1 shows including National drive, and then treated like a disposable rag and a fool, I start a new job tomorrow at KIIS FM 101,” Laurie wrote. 

“My nerves are soothed by the fact that all the best people from Nova are now there too and I’m beyond grateful to them for judging me worthy of a spot on the team.”

Nova's new breakfast team: Chrissie, Sam and Browny

Nova’s new breakfast team: Chrissie, Sam and Browny

Laurie announced she was defecting to Kiis in October as Nova 100 moved to replace her and Tommy Little with a new trio consisting of Chrissie Swan, Sam Pang and Jonathan Brown. Both shows took to the air this morning.

Nova’s chief operating officer Louise Higgins refused to be drawn on Laurie’s “dish rag” remarks.

“From Nova Entertainment’s perspective Meshel is an outstanding broadcaster and we very much wish her all the best for her new breakfast at Kiis,” Higgins told Mumbrella.

“She had an outstanding 13 years with us. I think 13 years broadcasting for one company is an extraordinarily good run. It is a sign of the extraordinary good will and good working relationship we had with her and as she describes it, to win in three timeslots.”

Higgins also pledged to get Nova’s new breakfast show to number one in the Melbourne FM market, a position currently dominated by Fox FM’s Fifi Box and Dave Thornton.

“We really accelerated this show with the work done behind the scenes,” said Higgins. “Meshel and Tommy, the prior breakfast show, were a great show they were very competitive but with Chrissie, Sam and Brownie they will be the number one show in Melbourne.”

The final radio ratings survey of 2016 had Nova 100 on a 5.3 share while Kiis was on a 5.9 share well behind FM leaders FoxFM on 9.2 and TripleM on 8.8.

Asked about what timeframe she believed it would take them to get there she said: “I think it’s an awareness game. I think the quality of the content will absolutely get them to number one and in a city with 4m people… it is very much about awareness and paid marketing as much as earned media.”

Nic Christensen 

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.