Matt Thomson, Loren Barry quit Nova

Two staffers from NOVA Entertainment have resigned and are understood to be joining rival Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) as part of a “new show”, according to multiple sources.

Radio Today understands that Nova 969 operations manager Matt Thomson has already departed Nova, and national drive associate producer Loren Barry will finish in December.

Thomson and Barry, say sources, are set to reunite with Marty Sheagrold at SCA next year.

Radio Today reached out to reps from NOVA, who declined to comment, and SCA, who were unavailable at the time of publishing.

Thomson, a journalist who cut his teeth at youth network SYN and also JOY 94.9 in Melbourne, joined Nova 100 as a programming intern in 2014. He elevated to operations manager in 2017, before relocating to Sydney in the same role earlier this year.

Barry has also been with Nova since 2014, first as a Casanova and then moved into a producing role. She was Sheargold’s associate producer on the Kate, Tim & Marty Drive show until he announced his departure from the network in September after a decade on-air.

Sheargold has remained tight-lipped since leaving Nova about his next move.

There are swirling rumours he could be set to join SCA in some capacity next year, on either the Hit or Triple networks, or possibly a podcast with PodcastOne.

As revealed on Radio Today Tonight, SCA’s PodcastOne, ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network, and the recently separated from Nova, Acast, recently denied any podcast deal was in the works.

Radio Today Tonight then explored the other emerging option – that Sheargold will end up co-hosting Triple M Breakfast in Melbourne. But Triple M’s head of content Mike Fitzpatrick told Radio Today in September that suggestion was “fake news”.

In the absence of information, Fitzy said, people make things up, and that there are “no spots available” in the line-up anyway. However, that all changed today when SCA announced that Eddie McGuire and Luke Darcy would not be returning to Triple M Melbourne Breakfast next year.

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