Macquarie Radio Network’s new General Manager, Louise Barrett, has defended advertising deals such as Telstra’s controversial sponsorship of 2GB’s Alan Jones breakfast show.

In an interview with The Australian’s Lara Sinclair, Barrett says Macquarie will keep pursuing such deals until the rules are changed.

“It is normal practice to have sponsorship of a radio program. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing as long as we can.”

The deal falls outside sections of the Broadcasting Services Act, designed to avoid ‘cash for comment’ situations. (See radioinfo’s story, 20/4/04).

“John Singleton, when Alan Jones came to work here, was very careful about the fact that Alan was not to have any contract outside his contract with 2GB (except) his Channel Nine agreement.”

Barrett, who experienced the original cash for comment scandal in 1999 while at 2UE, says: “decisions by programs such as Media Watch to pursue the story – which it continued to do this week after the official ABA finding was handed down – constitute unfair targeting of talkback stations, despite the ABA’s flagged intention to propose further changes.

“We have never tried to hide the fact that we are a commercial radio station. We’re here to make money.”