{"id":396056,"date":"2026-01-06T20:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396056\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T20:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:59:10","slug":"stv-officially-launches-new-radio-station-with-star-guests-a-day-before-furious-staff-walk-out-on-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396056\/","title":{"rendered":"STV officially launches new radio station with star guests a day before furious staff walk out on strike"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" data-no-modal=\"true\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/28-03-24-stv-news-890144690.jpg\" alt=\"NINTCHDBPICT000890144690\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15767353\" width=\"4256\" height=\"2832\"  \/>28\/03\/24\u2026.STV NEWS GATHERERS AND O9N SCREEN REPORTERS GO ON STRIKECredit: Les Gallagher<\/p>\n<p>STV has come underfire for launching a star-studded new radio station \u2013 hours before a bitter union walkout.<\/p>\n<p>The Scots station today launched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/stv-group\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">STV<\/a> Radio, featuring Deacon Blue\u2019s\u00a0Ricky Ross\u00a0and new hosts Ewen Cameron\u00a0and\u00a0Cat Harvey.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Entertainment newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Cat Harvey and Ewen Cameron launch the new national radio station STV RadioCredit: STV RADIO \/ Kirsty Anderson<\/p>\n<p>John MacKay and Raman Bhardwaj previously joined colleagues on the picket lineCredit: Les Gallagher<\/p>\n<p>However the new channel comes the day before station staff take to the picket line amid concerns over redundancies and proposed changes to the news service.<\/p>\n<p>The walkouts will affect all of the broadcaster\u2019s newsrooms across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/scotland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scotland<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Insiders claim staff at the station \u2013 which employs news anchor John MacKay and weatherman Sean Batty \u2013 feel deflated over the new venture.<\/p>\n<p>A source said: \u201cIt\u2019s a kick in the teeth to be spending all this money on a new radio station but they can\u2019t even pay their staff a proper wage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"article-readmore__text-anchor-wrap\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/tvandshowbiz\/15702864\/sean-batty-career-shake-up-stv-favourite-new-role\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"240\" width=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/crop-14091604.jpg\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-kicker\">BATTY CHANGE<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-headline\">Sean Batty set for major career shake-up as STV star goes for huge new role<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"article-readmore__text-anchor-wrap\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/tv\/15722381\/stv-staff-strike-radio-channel-launch-redundancies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"240\" width=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MixCollage-23-Dec-2025-02-07-PM-2743_7c691f.jpg\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-kicker\">WALKOUT<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-readmore__text-headline\">STV set for chaos as staff vote to strike day after launch of new radio channel<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile union chiefs blasted the broadcaster and branded station bigwigs as \u201cfoolhardy and damaging to Scottish journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>National Union for Journalists representative Nick McGowan-Lowe said: \u201cToday STV has launched their costly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/radio\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">radio<\/a> station and tomorrow it is faced with a strike from those journalists whose jobs are being axed to pay for it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn Wednesday our members at STV will be standing on picket lines to defend quality local journalism, to stop compulsory redundancies and in opposition to management who want to rip up their public service broadcasting obligations in pursuit of higher profits for shareholders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cViewers, business leaders, politicians and unions all see STV\u2019s plans for what they are: foolhardy and damaging to Scottish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/journalism\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">journalism<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> NUJ members at the broadcaster will carry out industrial action tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>STV Radio was due to go live that day but bosses have moved the launch to today and a spokesperson said that the strike will not impact the new venture.<\/p>\n<p>A previous ballot of members showed 94 per cent in favour of striking, with an 82 per cent turnout.<\/p>\n<p>STV chiefs announced in September that they planned to make\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/money\/15383284\/stv-cut-workers-aberdeen-news-six-axed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">60 staff redundant<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 half of whom would be in news \u2013 following a profits warning in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>It also announced that one of two regional editions of its flagship News at 6 would be scrapped and to drop the current five-minute regional updates for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/glasgow\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Glasgow<\/a>,\u00a0Edinburgh,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/where\/aberdeen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aberdeen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/where\/dundee\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dundee<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>STV has launched a new radio station hours before staff take to the picket lineCredit: Les Gallagher<\/p>\n<p>Those licence changes to its public service broadcasting obligations require regulatory approval from the broadcasting regulator\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thescottishsun.co.uk\/topic\/ofcom\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ofcom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal has seen unprecedented public and political outrage, with all five main party leaders in Scotland uniting to oppose the plans.<\/p>\n<p>An STV spokesperson said: \u201cSTV Radio launched successfully this morning to a great response from listeners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeparately to this, the NUJ\u2019s decision to strike is about changes to our news service and redundancies, both of which are unrelated to radio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NUJ\u2019s action is ill-timed as consultation with unions and colleagues is ongoing and significant progress has been made in reducing the impact on jobs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSTV\u2019s investment in radio will drive profitable revenue for the company, helping to support our Public Service Broadcasting commitments, including our multi-million-pound news operation which is not financially sustainable in its current form and for which we receive no public funding, but which must adapt quickly to rapidly changing viewing habits.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"28\/03\/24\u2026.STV NEWS GATHERERS AND O9N SCREEN REPORTERS GO ON STRIKECredit: Les Gallagher STV has come underfire for launching&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136,211240],"class_list":{"0":"post-396056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-stv-group"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}