ABC upends its line-up with new breakfast team
ABC Radio Adelaide has announced a new breakfast line-up, with two of its most experienced announcers moving to the key shift and one incumbent resigning.
The ABC's headquarters at Collinswood. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily
After a week of intense speculation about current breakfast co-host Stacey Lee fielding an offer to move to commercial rival FIVEaa, the ABC announced this afternoon that Jules Schiller and Sonya Feldhoff would take on the breakfast shift in 2024.
The ABC statement made no mention of Lee or her current co-host Nikolai Beilharz.
However, Lee resigned after her shift today and FIVEaa announced she will join their line-up as afternoon presenter next year.
Feldhoff, the current afternoon presenter, and Schiller, the drive announcer, are both radio veterans, but will bring a very different tone to the breakfast shift, which had been driven by Lee’s journalistic approach.
Breakfast under Lee and Beilharz had lost some of its ratings shine, in line with a general decline in ABC radio audiences, but it remains the ABC’s highest-rating shift. In this week’s ratings, the pair were third in Adelaide.
The announcement signals a shift away from hard news and current affairs, with the ABC highlighting the connection between Schiller and Feldhoff in their regular “off the cuff” segment in the afternoons.
“Doing Off the Cuff with Jules over the past few years has been one of the big joys of my work life,” Feldhoff said in a statement today.
“I’m looking forward to bringing that fun and heart to the other end of the day, along with all that makes Adelaide tick and the listeners who are already part of our Off the Cuff family.”
Schiller said something similar: “My spontaneous and unplanned half hour with Sonya and listeners has always been the highlight of my day. I’ve always wished it could go for longer. And now it can!”
ABC Adelaide manager Graeme Bennett said that “for the past two years they’ve built their extraordinary on-air chemistry with some of the most original and entertaining broadcasting you’ll hear”.
“In 2024 ABC Adelaide will continue to celebrate the vibrant Adelaide community and with Sonya and Jules in Breakfast, we know we’ll be setting the right tone for the day.”
The ABC said it will be making further announcements about the 2024 ABC Adelaide line-up in early December.
In a statement, FIVEaa station manager Craig Munn said he was “thrilled to have Stacy and board – a fantastic broadcaster and well-respected journalist demonstrated by the body of work that she has delivered to audiences over a number of years”.
Lee said “the chance to be a part of the FIVEaa family was an opportunity too good to pass up”.
“I love speaking directly to the Adelaide audience an learning what makes them tick, so I’m really excited to be able to do even more of that in a solo capacity on afternoons.”
Lee replaces Jade Robran in the shift which has suffered from very low ratings over the past few years.