Hahn quits as JOY station manager
In a sudden move this week, JOY 94.9FM station manager Stephen Hahn has announced his resignation, effective from the end of this week.
Southern Star spoke to Hahn on Monday amid a shake-up of the gay and lesbian radio station’s management line-up, which included the restructure of the part-time program manager to full-time broadcast manager.
JOY president Stephen Duns confirmed this morning the board had received Hahn’s resignation on Monday night, however, he wouldn’t go into detail about the reasonsfor Hahn’s decision.
-œWhen people resign it’s usually for a number of personal or wor- related reasons, so Stephen would need to go into them, Duns said.
Duns paid tribute to Hahn’s time at the station saying he had taken the station through the difficult move period well and -œre-energised the radiothon with a clear passion for independent broadcasting.
The news comes after volunteer head of engineering Travis Scott stepped down from his role last week, a move Duns said was for external work-related commitments and had -œno connection with Hahn’s departure.
Duns said he could not confirm further rumours that head of music Adam Christo had also resigned.
JOY station management will be placed in the hands of former ABC director of radio Sue Howard, who is a member of the station and has over 20 years radio experience.
Howard will caretake Hahn’s position until a new manager is found.
-œSue will be coming in to provide support to the whole leadership team, including the board and volunteers and we will work out what we do next to move forward, Duns said.
-œ[Her experience] is a positive for us in quite a difficult time.
Hahn told Southern Star this afternoon he made the decision to step down for personal reasons and felt he needed a break.
-œI’m really proud of what we have achieved but I really don’t think I’m right the person to carry the station through to the next stage, whatever that will be, he said.
Hanh said there had been no ill feeling with the board and said he has not ruled out applying for the new broadcast manager position, wanting to focus on broadcasting rather than station management.
its ironic Andie Noonan wrote this….
Lea… well said.. maybe with the new managers unbiased eyes…. they will see the station needs to take a more controlled stance towards the behaviour of certain groups within the JOY volunteers and staff, making it a more pleasent place for everyone, not just certain groups
Brendan… wow… couldnt have said it better…. except for one small thing…. it is in the last two years that that stuff has happened i have found…. but as my wise mother always says… Karma will get them in the end… I predict there will be more leaving..
Its a pity this paper is biased towards JOY or they may have actually reported some of the nasty things that have been going on over the last year or so… but considering the duel connections some have with both It is expected ( just like this not being published will be expected)
Found this on Crikey!
The resignations at JOY Melbourne are part of the ongoing ideological battle within JOY. Until 2001, JOY was a community station both on air and in how it was run — and that’s why it received one of the four permanent licences issued that year. From 2002-7 JOY standards declined with shock-jock and fluff talk and 100% formatted pink-dollar gay-male oriented daytime music based on ideas like “nobody plays more Kylie.” Those who tried to protest the change were booted out and on some occasions expelled as members for merely expressing an opinion. Stephen Hahn’s efforts to turn the station back to a more community-oriented format with a better overall balance have clearly met with resistance from the remnants of the 2002-7 corporate psychopath era.
lets just say that change is sometimes a good thing but our praises should go to all the hard work everyone has done for JOY and that we have such an amazing station in victoria
what ever goes on behind the scenes would be like any other work place Hahn decision to leave,would be his and lets respect that,but as with all the festival organises and work situations people move on,and other people that take up the job bring in new ideas
I would like to compliment Joy on the standard of their programs, which have greatly improved over the years. It is such a shame to see however, that not very much appears to have changed from within over the past ten years … the passing parade of names and faces continues and the dissension and disharmony remains the same.
Such a pity …