Triple J appoints new music director
Claire Mooney is Triple J's new music director - and the first female in the role
The ABC has appointed the Claire Mooney as the new music director for Triple J. This marks the first time a female has taken the top role at the youth station.
Mooney is just the fourth person to take the role — after Arnold Frolows, Richard Kingsmill and Nick Findlay — since the station launched in 1975 as Double J.
She started at the station as a producer of the Unearthed initiative in 2017, and became assistant music director in 2021, and Unearthed music director in 2025.
Last October, previous music director Nick Findlay moved to ABC’s manager of music programming. He said in a statement that Mooney “lives and breathes new music and has an incredible passion for breaking Australian talent, which we saw time and time again in her recent role as music director during her tenure at Unearthed.”
Mooney called it “a privilege it is to step into this new era of Triple J as our first female music director”.
“I feel so honoured and excited to continue the legacy that’s been built by my mentors. We are so lucky to have a station like Triple J exist in this country: one that authentically celebrates music, art and culture, and reflects and soundtracks the lives of young people around the country.
“I’d like to think there is no place more obsessed with Australian music, and I can’t wait to help shape, support and champion the next generation of artists, alongside our passionate, hard-working Triple J team and every listener who comes along for the ride.”
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Great – hopefully she can return it to being an actual alternative to Nova/Fox. worry less about ratings and more about diversity of sounds.
Ratings mean relevance, and their relevance is disintegrating fast. No amount of diversity of sound is going to be of any use if only a dozen people are tuning in.
jjj doesnt advertise. its not about ratings. its philosophy has always been to provide an alternative option away from the mainstream stations. iits not meant to pander to the masses – theres enough of them already doing that – thats the entire point of why triple j started. its lost that and therefore its vanilla.
the next nirvana wouldnt get played on triple j, only the next olivia rodrigo or lime cordiale…
snore
their relevance is disintegrating because they are chasing ratings – jjj used to be, and should return to being providing an alternative to the mundane. music with edge for late teens and up who arent served by mainstream radio schlop. Thats how it stays relevant – be further ahead of the curve
Fix Triple J in 3 steps:
1: 80% of music played needs to be Aussie. The other 20% must be independent.
2: Stop all political talk-back and make it about the music only.
3: Revive the traditions of the hottest 100.
nah – should be a place for diversity in music and opinion. by your 3 steps they never wouldve played rage against the machine or nirvana.
and the original traditions of the hottest 100 were best songs ever – but joy division won every year, then nirvana started to.
and it was on new years day
being a station for youth to listen, discover and vent/express how shitty things can be