Updated: Lawrence Mooney to leave Triple M, calls in lawyers
Updated: This article has been updated since it was originally published.
Triple M Sydney breakfast host, Lawrence ‘Moonman’ Mooney, has engaged employment and media lawyer John Laxon, of Laxon Lex against Southern Cross Austereo (SCA).
SCA issued a statement this morning that the Triple M Sydney breakfast host is leaving the station, with Mark Geyer replacing Mooney in the breakfast line-up.
His departure comes shortly after national drive show host, Mick Molloy quit the station two weeks ago, with an all-local lineup unveiled to replace him on Friday. SCA declined to comment on the reason for his departure.
Laxon said: My client has a contract which runs through to the end of next year, which SCA has brought to an end. The terms of that contract were drafted by SCA and were bargained for and agreed to by my client. He will hold SCA to those terms. All my client asks is that SCA honour the contract and observe the contractual arrangements which they put in place.”
Mooney is host of Moonman In The Morning, alongside Jess Eva and Chris Page on Sydney’s 104.9 Triple M, moving onto the NSW airwaves in 2019 from Triple M Brisbane, with the show this year experiencing a tough run of ratings.
Mooney has been absent from his breakfast show for the past two weeks.
The name of the new show, with Geyer, Eva and Page is to be confirmed, according to SCA. The former NRL player moves from The Rush Hour with Liam Flanagan between 6-7pm.
The network said in its statement: “SCA thanks Mooney for his contribution to the Triple M Network over the past five years.”
Total listener share has been hard to come by in recent surveys for Mooney and Triple M, with the show on an unchanged 4.6% at breakfast in survey seven last week, however the station did grow 0.7 points to 5.4% overall.
Moonman In The Morning begun the year at 6.4% overall in survey one this year, and after a 1.1 point dip in survey four in July, and one point drop the survey prior, the show has remained consistent around the 4.7% mark since.
Mooney’s podcast, which was launched in LiSTNR this year in August, will also be discontinued.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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