NASTY TASTE: Alan Jones has been forced to eat some humble pie following his comments about Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s father John Gillard.
SOUTHERN Cross Austereo chief executive officer Rhys Holleran says the company has no immediate plans to reschedule programming following the fallout from Alan Jones’s attack on Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
However, Mr Holleran hasn’t ruled out revisiting the decision based on listener feedback.
Currently, Southern Cross Austereo broadcasts Mr Jones’s radio program through its affiliate stations, which includes 105.1FM 2GZ in Orange, and is aired for an hour on weekdays.
But Mr Jones’s place in regional programming could be in jeopardy following the long-time announcer’s apology for an attack on Ms Gillard at a Sydney University Liberal Club dinner last Saturday following the death of her father.
Mr Jones said at the function Ms Gillard’s father, John, died of shame because of his daughter’s lies.
Mr Holleran said while not supporting the comments made by Mr Jones, Southern Cross Austereo had no plans to dump the program at this stage.
“Southern Cross Austereo does not support the recent comments made by Mr Jones regarding Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s father and such remarks do not reflect our company’s views or opinion,” Mr Holleran said.
“Southern Cross Austereo broadcasts a one hour segment featuring Alan Jones’s show on a limited number of its regional stations.
“The comments made by Mr Jones were done so outside of this segment and not broadcast on our stations.
“At this point there is no intention to amend our current programming.”
At the moment, the show is only broadcast on eight regional stations in Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Griffiths, Wagga, Toowoomba, Maryborough, Mildura and Orange all of which aired Mr Jones’s program yesterday morning.
The Boarder Mail yesterday reported Albury radio station 2AY dumped the former Wallabies and Balmain coach’s show as did the Deniliquin based 2QN.