Australian Radio Network has promoted Brian Blacklock to national sales director for direct, replacing stalwart David Hefter who has left to pursue other interests.
AdNews understands Hefter resigned several weeks ago, although his departure was separate to a wider restructure at ARN. It is not yet clear what his next move will be.
Hefter was a veteran at the network, having started as sales manager for Mix 106.5 in Sydney in 1999, before becoming state sales director in 2002. He was promoted to national sales director for direct in 2007.
Blacklock was formerly Sydney sales director for direct. That role has now been filled by Mix 106.5 general sales manager Ben Gialouris.
As part of a broader restructure at the company, reporting lines within the sales teams have been shuffled. The restructure saw six redundancies, two of which were from sales. ARN has 135 sales staff nationally.
Matthew Granger remains as national sales director for agency and Michael Graham as Sydney sales director for agency. Linda Worthington has been promoted to commercial operations director, overseeing all strategy and integration, campaigns and activations, and trading and inventory.
Blacklock, Granger and Worthington all report directly to chief executive Ciaran Davis.
In a statement earlier this month, ARN said: "ARN has experienced a significant amount of successful change over the past few years and continually reviews its business to ensure it is meeting the needs and expectations of the dynamic marketplace.
"Some structural change has been implemented which unfortunately has meant that six roles are no longer required. ARN are grateful for their immense contributions to the company and wish each of these six people the best in their future careers.
"There will be no further redundancies as part of this review, the result of which has seen a number of new appointments made and additional new roles created with recruitment already underway."
Last week, ARN confirmed controversial 2DayFM duo Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson would leaving Southern Cross Austereo to join ARN's revamped 1065 station next year. Friday was the pair's last day at the station.
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.
Have something to say? Send us your comments using the form below or contact the writer at frankchung@yaffa.com.au
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.