Hungry Jack and Singo may ‘blow up’ 4BC
Are the adman and fast-food king set to pounce on Nine Radio in a whopper deal? If so, Ray Hadley will be back and plans for 4BC will change.
Jack Cowin, the businessman behind Hungry Jack’s, and former advertising guru John “Singo” Singleton have reportedly sealed a deal to buy the Nine Radio network, which includes Brisbane’s 4BC.
And if it happens, my sources say that the new line-up already announced for 2026 — with Sofie Formica and Dean Miller in Breakfast, Jason Matthews in Mornings and Carla Bignasca in Afternoons — may not be the one that goes to air.
I’m told there will be local voices on the station — it won’t all be broadcast from Sydney — but the hosts will not necessarily be those who’ve been announced.
The Singo rumour has been around for months — I first wrote about it in February — but Annette Sharp, the well-connected Sydney gossip columnist, is now saying it’s a done deal.
And Singleton, who sold the stations to Nine Entertainment in the first place, is said to be paying around $30 million — $20 million less than the price Nine wanted, and far less than the $80 million the TV giant paid him for his share of Macquarie Media back in 2019.
Rumours about the sale of the talk network have become louder since the failure of Nine Entertainment’s broadcasting and streaming boss Amanda Laing to mention them in her plans. It’s been suggested that Nine believes it has better synergy with one of the big FM radio networks — possibly Nova — rather than the talk stations.
Sharp writes that she approached Russell Tate, the former executive chairman of Macquarie Media and “Singleton’s radio go-to man” and he replied that said he’d signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) preventing him from commenting.
As Sharp says, that’s “hardly a denial”.
If Singo has sealed the deal, then benched 2GB Mornings host Ray Hadley is definitely part of his plans. Hadley told The Australian a few weeks ago: “If Singo owns it, I’m back for sure.”
The question then arises: will Hadley want to achieve his long-held ambition to host the Breakfast show on 2GB and, if so, will that show be heard in Brisbane?
Even if brekkie and the other daytime sessions remain local, I’m told that new management will want to run the ruler over the line-up decisions already made. I understand that they may not be onboard with all of the people currently said to locked-in for 2026.
The bigger question is: what’s in this for Singo and Cowin? Do they have a plan to get those advertising dollars rolling back in, or are they more interested in the political and social influence media ownership can bring?
Or is Singo just keen to “do a Kerry Packer”, who famously bought back the Nine network from Alan Bond for a fraction of the amount Bond paid him?
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P.S.
Speaking of 4BC’s 2026 line-up, I’ve been asked on social media about Olympia Kwitowski, the former host of the Weekend Breakfast show who was replaced at the start of this year by fishing and boating bloke Paul Burt, who has since been embroiled in a controversy over his TV show and has had less than stellar ratings on radio.
Kwitowski joined the discussion, saying she was told by current 4BC management that she wouldn’t get another on-air gig because she “wasn’t a household name” in Brisbane.
This is despite her being heard on air in various roles on 4BC over the past decade and spending two years as an on-scree traffic reporter for Nine’s Today show. She has also been heard as a traffic reporter on every commercial radio station in Brisbane.
The explanation doesn’t make a lot of sense, since Kwitowski is better known in Brisbane — and absolutely has a far better knowledge of Brisbane — than Matthews and Bignasca.
Disclosure: Brett Debritz used to work at 4BC and really cares about its future, even though others seem not to.
Excellent analysis Brett.
Kwitowski has been poorly treated by Nine, she’s been known to 4BC audiences for over 15 years.
The client base is small and of low value. 4BC can’t be making a profit.
Rebuilding weekends, starting with Kwitowski would be a good start for a new owner with a new broom.
Wow.