RG Capital was an Australian radio company, formed in 1995 by Reg Grundy with the acquisition of Sea FM Gold Coast.

On 3 June 2004, Macquarie Bank announced it would acquire RG Capital for $173 million, gaining control of 36 radio stations in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

[4] The $193.5 million deal included 57 regional stations, with DMG retaining Hot 91.1 Sunshine Coast and Star 104.5 Gosford alongside its metropolitan assets.

[9] By 2006, Macquarie Regional RadioWorks was increasingly networking news and programming on its 86 radio stations from a series of hubs in Bendigo, Bunbury, the Gold Coast and Townsville.

[10] In response, the Minister for Communications Helen Coonan introduced the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Act 2006, including requiring each commercial radio licence to produce 4.5 hours of 'locally significant' content each business day commencing from 1 January 2008.

[15] On 3 July 2007, Macquarie Media Group announced a takeover bid of Southern Cross Broadcasting, offering AU$17.41 per share for a total value of $1.35 billion.

Its remaining assets, including metropolitan radio stations, Satellite Music Australia and Southern Star Group, were to be onsold to Fairfax Media for AU$520 million.

[18] The Australian Communications & Media Authority gave prior approval to the deal, with the caveat that 12 radio stations currently controlled by Macquarie would be sold pursuant to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.

[27] Despite lower revenue, the Group's Australian assets delivered a profit of $123.4 million, but ACM significant losses[28] In December 2009, MMG security holders voted in favour of a conversion from a triple-stapled structure to a single ASX-listed company.

MMG was renamed Southern Cross Media Group with former RG Capital Radio CEO Rhys Holleran as the Chief Executive Officer.

[30][31][32] The merger was part of a single deal that was unpopular due to the fierce rivalry between the two radio networks, and the fact that Village Roadshow and Hoyts were also direct competitors in the film industry.

[33] In March 2011, Southern Cross Media launched an A$714 million takeover bid of national radio broadcaster, the Austereo Group.

Southern Cross' Northern NSW station, NRN, was not part of the deal as the Nine-owned NBN Television already operated in the region.

[51] However, on 24 June 2016, Southern Cross Austereo announced that it had been "working tirelessly to get HD to air as quickly as possible", and 9HD became available from launch day on channel 50.

[53][54] Southern Cross announced on 25 July 2016 that it would broadcast the New Zealand-based home shopping channel Yesshop as a datacast service, on the company's stations.

[55] However, Yesshop's owner (Yes Retail) made the decision to cease trading on 29 September 2016 citing lack of funds to pay wages and the company's current losses of approximately 20 million dollars.

[58] In December 2016, the company lodged a planning application with the ACT Government to demolish the CTC studios, administration and playout facility at Watson to make way for a residential development.

[62] Following months of negotiations, Southern Cross Austereo finalised an agreement on 28 March 2017 to sell their Ten-affiliated Northern NSW station, NRN, to WIN Television for a total of $55 million,[63][64][65] with the sale taking effect on 31 May 2017.

On 17 July 2017, Southern Cross Austereo launched American religious channel SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN), owned by evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, as a datacast service.

[72] In September 2018, Southern Cross Austereo announced it would transfer its Canberra-based broadcast playout to NPC Media, a joint venture between the Nine and Seven Networks.

On 30 September 2018, Southern Cross Austereo launched 9Life, in Tasmania, via TDT,[74] and in the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill regions, via GDS/BDN.

On 27 July 2020, Southern Cross Austereo relaunched the Hit Network, adopting a new logo and "pop-based" music format in an attempt to target a 30–54 year old audience.

[80][81] In August 2020, demolition of the entire CTC and Southern Cross Austereo studio site at Watson was completed to make way for a housing development.

[citation needed] On 1 December 2020, Southern Cross Austereo switched the affiliation of Mix 94.5 in Perth from the Triple M network to the Hit Network, with Hit92.9 relaunching as 92.9 Triple M.[82] On 18 February 2021, SCA launched LiSTNR, which would incorporate the rebranded PodcastOne Australia, as well as their existing digital audio content in live streaming radio.

[76] In 2019, Southern Cross Austereo shifted the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill bulletin to 7two at 7:00 pm rather than airing on the main channel.

[96][97][87] Following the switch back to Network 10 affiliation on 1 July 2021, Southern Cross returned to producing local news updates on their 10 stations after a five-year absence.

[83] The Briefing is a news podcast featuring presenters and journalists such as Tom Tilley, Jan Fran, Katrina Blowers, Antoinette Lattouf, Jamila Rizvi,[107] Sacha Barbour-Gatt, and Bension Siebert.

On 16 February 2006, the Australian Communications & Media Authority commenced an investigation into the ownership of radio stations by Elmie Investments, owned by Stuart Simpson.

[113] The radio stations in question – EasyMix Ten-71 Bendigo and EasyMix 1467 Mildura in Victoria, 4EL Cairns and 4AA Mackay in Queensland and, in Western Australia, Easy Mix 621 Bunbury – were located in markets where RadioWorks already controlled two commercial radio licences, and in November 2007 the company was found to be in breach of sections 54 and 56 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.

In 2009, 2Day FM were ordered to provide increased protection for children after a 14-year-old girl was attached to a lie detector on the Kyle and Jackie O Show and pressured into discussing her sex life live on air.