Blyton Group | |
Type: | Privately held company |
Industry: | Radio broadcasting, hospitality |
Founder: | Kevin Blyton |
Location City: | Jindabyne, New South Wales |
Location Country: | Australia |
Area Served: | Australia |
Key People: | Kevin Blyton, Josh Elliot |
Divisions: | Radio, Snow Resorts, Airport, Theme Park |
Subsid: | Capital Radio Network |
Blyton Group is an Australian media and entertainment company. The company primarily operates in the radio industry under its subsidiary Capital Radio Network and owns hospitality, service and entertainment businesses in New South Wales.
The company was started by Kevin Blyton who first acquired a radio station 2XL (now XLFM) in the Snowy Mountains and has since grown the radio network and expanded into hospitality. With the exception of XLFM, Snow FM and 3GG, all radio stations are operated as a 50/50 joint venture with Grant Broadcasters.
The current COO of Blyton Group is Josh Elliot.[1] Former radio host with Capital Radio Network, Andrew Dunkerley, served as Operations Manager until his departure in July 2020.[2]
In 2020, Blyton Group announced a 10-year master-plan for continued development of its Charlotte Pass Snow Resort, beginning with an upgraded chair lift.[3]
In November 2021, Grant Broadcasters sold their wholly owned radio stations to ARN. Their share of Capital Radio Network stations and wholly owned Geelong stations K Rock and Bay 93.9 remained with the Grant Broadcasters' owners, the Cameron family.[4]
Operating under the name Capital Radio Network,[5] the Blyton Group wholly owns three radio stations and has a joint venture with Grant Broadcasters for the remaining stations. The radio network operates in 5 locations across Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. The Snowy Mountains radio station organised the automated music for the Blyton Group's Magic Mountain amusement park speakers.
In the 1990s, Kevin Blyton held a 40% stake in Newcastle's NXFM.[9]
Outside of buying and selling stations in the same stations/territories as current stations, he has also held stations in Tasmania and owned Q92fm in Queenstown, New Zealand which he purchased in 1992.
Blyton Group operates two snow resorts in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains region. The two resorts are Charlotte Pass Snow Resort[10] and Selwyn Snow Resort.[11]
The company also has multiple hotels as a part of their operations in the region:
In the 2019-2020 Australian summer bushfires, the Selwyn Snow Resort burned down,[12] the Blyton Group has committed to rebuilding.[13]
In addition to the resorts and hotels, the Blyton Group owns the Snowy Mountains Airport Corporation, which operates Cooma-Snowy Mountains Airport[14] and as a part of their Charlotte Pass resort, operate an over-snow bus service[15] linking the village to Perisher Valley.
Group also operates the movie theatres in the Snowy Mountains townships of Jindabyne and Cooma. In Merimbula, the Blyton Group have the Magic Mountain amusement park.[16]