Cathy O'Connor is an Australian media executive.(8 October 2016
Nova Entertainment CEO Cathy O'Connor inducted into Radio Hall of Fame
Commercial Radio Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2018.

Career

Her radio career began in 1985, when she worked as a sales manager for Sydney radio stations 2GB and 2SM, before moving on to

Austereo Austereo was an Australian mass media company based in Melbourne. It was founded in 1980 by Paul Thompson, and operated 16 radio stations in metropolitan and regional Australia under the Today Network and Triple M brands. In 2011, the compan ...

in the 1990s where she held a number executive positions including Agency Sales Manager, General Sales Manager and General Manager. Since 2006, O'Connor has served on the board at

Commercial Radio Australia Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) is the peak body for the commercial radio broadcasting industry in Australia. CRA was formed in 1930 as the Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters. It provides representation and advocacy on common statuto ...

, of which she was chairperson from 2009 until 2012. She joined

Nova Entertainment NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. NOVA Entertainment is owned by Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Lt ...

as Managing Director in January 2003, when the company was known as DMG Radio. O'Connor was the Chief Executive Officer of NOVA Entertainment, between 2008 - 2020. In August 2020, it was announced that O'Connor would leave NOVA Entertainment to join

oOh!media oOh!media Limited (sometimes written as Ooh!media, oOh! Media or simply Ooh!) is an Australian outdoor advertising and media company based in Sydney, Australia. The company was founded by Brendon Cook as Outdoor Network Australia in 1989, and ...

as Chief Executive Officer. When

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

program '' Media Watch'' exposed fake vox pops on

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...

news bulletins, which were recorded at the radio station with staff instead of in public with

everyday people "Everyday People" is a 1968 song composed by Sly Stone and first recorded by his band, Sly and the Family Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It held ...

, O'Connor, as managing director of DMG Radio, brushed the incident off.Attard, Monica (14 August 2006
Vega's staff speaks up
''Media Watch'', ABC Television. Retrieved 15 November 2018. O'Connor described it as "an isolated case of lazy journalism" and said there was a "clear distinction" between their fake vox pops and the fake listener interactions with bogus callers on rival station

2Day FM 2Day FM (call sign 2DAY) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on a frequency of 104.1 MHz, and is part of Southern Cross Austereo's Hit Network. History 1980s 2Day FM was one of three radio ...

. ''Media Watch'' presenter

Monica Attard Monica Ann Attard OAM (born 12 December 1958) is an Australian journalist and academic. Early life Attard was born to Maltese parents in Sydney, where she was educated at Bethlehem College, Ashfield and Santa Sabina College.''Who's Who in A ...

disagreed. O'Connor is a governor at the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and in 2017 was appointed as a director at the Sony Foundation. In 2014, she took the

Ice Bucket Challenge The Ice Bucket Challenge, sometimes called the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, is an activity involving the pouring of a bucket of ice water over a person's head, either by another person or self-administered, to promote awareness of the disease amyo ...

Awards and honours

In 2015, Australian media and marketing magazine ''B&T'' named O'Connor as the 19th most powerful woman in Australian media. At the 2016

Australian Commercial Radio Awards The Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs), previously known as the rAWARDS, are an Australian award ceremony held to recognise outstanding achievements in the radio industry. They were first held in 1989, and recognise excellence in all area ...

, O'Connor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of her 31 years working in the industry.(9 October 2018
Cathy O'Connor inducted into Commercial Radio Hall of Fame
''radioinfo''. Retrieved 15 November 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Cathy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian media executives Australian women chief executives Nova Entertainment 20th-century Australian women 21st-century Australian women 21st-century Australian people