Another radio shakeup? Nine presenter’s job is in the firing line after the station axed four hosts amid ratings bloodbath

Brisbane 4BC suffered a major blow when it lost four hosts in the space of two weeks following the latest ratings disaster, but reports suggest the layoffs aren’t over yet.

Radio star Sofie Formica is currently on leave from her afternoon show. There is speculation that her place behind the microphone will be gone when she returns.

TV reporter Michelle Tapper has been named as the replacement for the veteran Queensland presenter, 53, and internal information suggests she may be better suited for the job, it was reported The Australian Media Diary.

According to reports leaked to the publication a few weeks ago, the Nine News Brisbane star exceeded expectations when he reported on Formica’s work at 4BC.

Meanwhile, Formica, which presented Queensland channel The Great South East for almost 20 years, has the lowest ratings of any of 4BC’s main daytime programs. Other underperforming presenters have also been axed in recent weeks.

The truth behind this speculation remains unclear, however, as Formica will represent 4BC on the panel at 9News Queensland’s first leaders’ debate on October 3.

Premier Steven Miles and Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli will face off in the Queensland election. Formica will be on the panel, along with Nine’s political editor Tim Arvier and Brisbane Times editor Sean Parnell.

Ny Breaking Australia has reached out to Nine for comment.

The news comes just days after reports that another popular journalist will replace Brisbane’s 4BC breakfast team at the end of this month, after three of Nine’s biggest breakfast radio stars lost their jobs.

Peter Fegan will present the morning programme from 30 September, following the departure of trio Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine on Friday 13 September.

In an internal email to staff, it was confirmed that Fegan, who currently presents 4BC Weekends, will chair the breakfast show until December.

The email said: ‘From Monday 30th September, Peter Fegan will be covering the breakfast slot until the end of the year, before we conclude the 2024 survey period on Friday 13th December.’

The message to staff indicated that listeners could expect further changes at the station for presenters.

However, the publication reports that Fegan told insiders that he had completed the job, but this has not been confirmed.

The deposition of Edwards, Clare and Hine came days after Ny Breaking Australia revealed that bosses at the embattled network were ‘sharpening their knives’.

The trio, household names in the Sunshine State, were unveiled to much fanfare in 2022 when the station switched to a classic hits format on its early morning show.

On their debut in the fierce morning radio competition in the Queensland capital, they achieved an impressive market share of 11.8 percent, taking third place.

But the decision to shift the station away from traditional talk programming and focus on ‘light entertainment’ channels – in stark contrast to successful sister stations 2GB in Sydney, 3AW in Melbourne and 6PR in Perth – alienated listeners and ultimately proved a disaster.

Edwards, Clare and Hine’s ratings have entered a critical phase. Their show came in a humiliating last place in the most recent poll, with an alarming 4.3 percent audience share.

The trio’s departure became official three days after Ny Breaking Australia revealed they would be fired.

Nine Radio’s head of content Greg Byrnes said on Friday afternoon that the network “has decided to take a new approach to breakfast”.

“Their loyal listeners, and all of us at 4BC, will miss them dearly, but we will send them off in a manner befitting their remarkable careers,” Mr Byres added.

Their last day on TV is in a few days, on Friday, September 27th.

This comes after presenter Peter Gleeson and breakfast newsreader Steve Barker also resigned earlier last week, following the Ny Breaking Australia story about threatened redundancies.

Barker has been a fixture in the Brisbane newsroom since joining the network, and last year won a prestigious New York Festivals Radio Award for his honest reporting on the Queen’s death.

Well-informed sources within 4BC have revealed that the network is now planning an unprecedented overhaul of its programming, with the network now focusing on talk shows again and desperately trying to lure back truant listeners.

They said the move was a humble admission that the station’s entertainment experiment had failed.

“We need to blow the whole thing up and start again – and we need to do it now,” a senior 4BC insider told Ny Breaking Australia.

‘We are losing ratings and advertising money every day at the moment. 2GB and 3AW are flying. Even 6PR is making a comeback.

“But 4BC is an unmitigated disaster and it’s all because of bad decisions at breakfast.”

There are even concerns that the station’s declining ratings could lead to it cutting local programming altogether, after parent company Nine Entertainment announced plans to cut $50 million from underlying costs this financial year.

“Staff are very nervous that the station is going back to the bad old days of Sydney programming on 4BC,” an insider said.

‘In these difficult economic times, it would come as no surprise to anyone if management made this decision.

“It would be the wrong decision – and a short-sighted one – but at this point anything is possible.”