Back in November we speculated that it might be time for a changing of the guard at the almighty Triple J.
Now, there’s movement at the station, for word is passing around that Richard Kingsmill, the long-time music director at the J’s, is moving on from his post after nearly 14 years at the helm of the government’s youth radio broadcaster.
In his place, the station has itself a brand-new boss in Nick Findlay, who previously served as Kingsmill’s Assistant Music Director.
The Industry Observer revealed the news this morning, with Findlay becoming just the third Music Director of the station since its inception as Double J back in 1975.
Kingsmill, who still hosts shifts on the station, now steps into a broader overseeing role at the ABC as the Group Music Director, which reportedly involves him leading and managing a team of music directors under the ABC radio umbrella – including those at Triple J, Double J, Triple J Unearthed, and ABC Local Radio.
Findlay joined the youth broadcaster nearly a decade ago and previously served as the Acting Music Director during a period of Kingsmill’s long service leave back in 2012.
Programmer, producer, and presenter Gemma Pike steps into the role vacated by Findlay as the station’s new Assistant Music Director.
Speaking to The Industry Observer, ABC’s Head of Music Chris Scaddan noted that the title changes reflect the way Triple J’s been operating for the past few years:
“This recent change in job titles is a recognition of the way the teams have been working for the past two-three years, since the introduction of Double J and the added responsibility of the team to program music for ABC Local Radio.”
“Richard’s experience and expertise stretches across a broader remit, with Nick taking on more direct responsibility for triple j’s day to day programming.”
So while the visage of Kingsmill still looms large over ABC’s radio operations, and looks like continuing for quite some time, Triple J itself has a new bigg boss which, given the static nature of the position in the past, rates as a fairly historic appointment indeed.
Source: The Industry Observer.
