Radio NZ National is reassigning some of its hosts for the New Year.

Current Morning Report co-host Guyon Espiner is stepping down after five years to handle new investigative reporting duties. He will still be part of the show alongside Susie Ferguson pending the selection of a replacement during the holidays.

RNZ news and digital head Glen Scanlon said Espiner’s dedication to accurately informing the audience on the biggest stories of the day was evident on Morning Report and will work wonders for investigative features.

Jim Mora, host of The Panel and Sunday Morning’s Wallace Chapman are trading places, with Chapman going on air at The Panel on January 14, 2019. Mora will start his Sunday Morning run on January 27.

RNZ radio and music chief David Allan said Mora had been discussing the swap for over a year because he wanted a return to long-form interviews.

ABC has unveiled the presenter listings for local radio stations, with Canberra, Perth, Hobart and Darwin receiving major changes.

At ABC Radio Canberra, former Perth Breakfast presenter Paula Kruger is now tackling afternoons while Anna Vidot handles Drive.

At ABC Radio Perth, Barry Nicholls is hosting the early morning statewide show. Russell Woolf and Nadia Mitsopoulos are on breakfast duty and Jessica Strutt is the host of morning show Focus. Gillian O’Shaughnessy’s lunchtime show continues into the afternoon block. Christine Layton moves up from Great Southern Mornings to be the new Saturday Breakfast host.

Darwin will introduce new presenters in all its daytime, evening and weekend slots. Jo Laverty returns home to take over as the station’s new Breakfast presenter and Adam Steer moves into Mornings. Mikaela Simpson is new to Afternoons followed by new Drive presenter, Liz Trevaskis, who takes over the program in March. Georgia Hitch will present Drive for th

Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has elected Southern Cross Austereo CEO Grant Blackley to head the board of directors.

He will succeed Macquarie Media CEO Adam Lang, who stays on in the board as head of the CRA Research Committee. Lang had been in charge of the industry body since 2014, with Blackley joining the following year.

Blackley now leads a board that has Grant Broadcasters CEO Alison Cameron succeeding her brother, Grant, as board member and CRA Regional Committee vice-chairperson. Grant, non-executive chairman at Grant Broadcasters, stepped down after 12 years in the CRA top tier.

Current ARN/HT&E CEO Ciaran Davis is also succeeding outgoing ARN head Rob Atkinson, and joining CFO Michael Harvey at the table.

The other board members are SCA legal/corporate affairs head Tony Hudson, NOVA Entertainment CEO Cathy O’Connor and group GM Peter Colosimo, Macquarie Media CFO/Secretary Lisa Young, Capital Radio Network MD Kevin Blyton, and Super Radio consultant Gr

Television station NITV has bolstered its upper tier with talents of Indigenous descent.

Current NITV media, TV and production specialist Rhanna Collins is now the executive editor, giving her full oversight of digital and on-air content. She had been with parent firm SBS since 2014, handling promos and major shows for both SBS and NITV.

Julie Nimmo and Jack Latimore are the new senior digital editors, with responsibility for the online news and current affairs section. Sporting over 25 years of broadcast experience, Nimmo had been the station’s supervising producer since 2015 and is a Walkley Award honouree. Latimore, who joined the station last month as online news editor, is also writing for the Guardian in Melbourne.

NITV mainstay Adam Manovic steps up to the plate as managing producer for internal productions. He will be in charge of the internal production and promo development teams.

“I’m thrilled that NITV is attracting and retaining such talented journali

Nine’s Pedestrian TV is locked in for a merger with former Fairfax Media specialist publisher Allure Media.

Under the merge, the Pedestrian Group will take over the management of Allure’s publications namely POPSUGAR, Gizmodo, and Kotaku. The Allure Media team will join their new Pedestrian TV colleagues at their Surry Hills office in January 2019.

As a result of the merge, Allure Media CEO Jason Scott is stepping down as his functions will be under Pedestrian Group co-founders Chris Wirasinha and Oscar Martin. They will have Nine group publishing chief Chris Janz as their immediate superior.

“The Allure brands provide global insights combined with highly targeted and loyal local audiences around premium categories including business, technology, gaming, entertainment, fashion and beauty,” said Wirasinha.

“The combination of the brands alongside Pedestrian’s existing commercial relationships that include Tinder and Big Flick Energy, and our new T

Eliza O’Hare has been appointed the new editor of Bauer Media home interior magazine Inside Out.

She is slated to take over at the end of the year from acting editor Victoria Baker, who had been handling affairs since Bauer Media acquired Inside Out and associated titles Homelife and Country Style from NewsCorp Australia a few months ago. O’Hare had previously spent the past three years as associate editor at Harper’s Bazaar.

Bauer Homes editor-in-chief Lisa Green said O’Hare’s long experience in the publishing and media industries — going back around 30 years — will make a difference for InsideOut as the publication heads toward its 15-year anniversary in 2019.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be starting on Inside Out. It’s such a dynamic brand, and readers have a real fondness for it. I love that it is a champion of Australian design. Australians are very good at creating incredible homes, gardens and interiors and we will co

Junkee Media has hired Meisha Hill to be the company’s new general manager.

Mumbrella reported that Hill’s entry is a part of a staff restructuring. She came back to Australia after nearly seven years in the US, where she was AGM of the New York Times’ advertising division, T-Brand Studio, and handled sales and product marketing at Tremor Video. She had previously worked at the Telstra Advertising Network before relocating to the US in 2012.

Junkee Media CEO Neil Ackland said Hill’s experience with T-brand, especially in developing high-quality branded material, will be critical to the company’s growth down the road.

“Junkee is a forward-thinking publisher and agency with incredible momentum and major plans for the future. I’m excited to join the leadership team and to own the operational functions of the business,” said Hill.

Follow Hill on LinkedIn.