EXCLUSIVE
NRL star and television presenter Beau Ryan will be the new host of Triple M’s breakfast show in Sydney next year, Ny Breaking Australia has learned.
The broadcaster announced on Thursday morning that Ryan will replace former rugby league player Mark Geyer, who was fired earlier this month.
Ryan is known to TV viewers for his stint on Nine’s now defunct Footy Show and recent appearances on Ten’s Amazing Race, Gladiators Australia and Top Gear.
But the 39-year-old has limited experience in radio; he co-hosted a breakfast show on the short-lived Macquarie Sports Radio network for just three months in 2018.
He has also filled in for breakfast on KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O Show when Kyle Sandilands was unavailable.
Ryan has been tapped for a full-time role in radio’s premier timeslot during a turbulent period within Triple M’s Sydney studios, including Geyer’s sudden departure.
NRL star turned television presenter Beau Ryan (above) will host Triple M’s breakfast program in Sydney next year
Geyer was told on November 20 that he would not return next year to Mick & MG in the Morning, which ran from 6am to 9am. He was ready immediately.
The 56-year-old, who has worked at Triple M since 2009, co-hosted the show with Melbourne comedian Mick Molloy, with Cat Lynch and Natarsha Belling as their outsiders.
Triple M had already announced that Molloy would return to Melbourne to host the local breakfast show with Nick Riewoldt, Titus O’Reily and Rosie Walton, after two years in Sydney.
Radio insiders confirmed to Ny Breaking Australia that Ryan would be announced as the star of the new Sydney programme, which would have a male and a female co-host.
Ryan, who played for the West Tigers and Cronulla, will inherit an audience that Geyer and Molloy had increased by 0.5 points to a 5.1 per cent share of listeners in the latest ratings.
Melbourne presenters appear to be the biggest winners as Triple M continues to overhaul its programming in Australia.
The Marty Sheargold Show, currently heard nationally from 3pm to 4pm, will air for a further two hours in NSW and Queensland next year.
Triple M will announce on Thursday morning that Beau Ryan will replace former rugby league player Mark Geyer (above), who was sacked earlier this month
Those extended hours have led to the axing of the Rush Hour programs in Sydney and Brisbane, which aired from 4pm to 6pm.
Sheargold’s show will not take place in Melbourne in its allocated drive slot in Sydney and Brisbane.
In NSW, The Rush Hour was presented by Gus Worland, who revealed his retirement from radio in October, along with Jude Bolton and Aaron Woods.
In Queensland, The Rush Hour was presented by Leisel Jones, Liam Flanagan and Ben Dobbin.
Melbourne’s The Rush Hour starring James Brayshaw and Billy Brownless will air in the Victorian capital from next year from 4pm to 6pm, as well as in Adelaide, Hobart and Perth.
Adelaide’s The Rush Hour starring Bernie Vince, Greg Blewett and Andrew Jarman, and Perth’s The Rush Hour starring Andrew Embley and Katie Lamb will be axed from their respective schedules.
Saturday 10am to 12pm sports program Dead Set Legends, presented in Sydney by Richard Freedman, Candice Warner and Brendan Annakin, last aired in October and its future is yet to be confirmed.
Annakin, who was also Triple M’s morning presenter in Sydney and had worked at the channel for 12 years, was fired a fortnight ago.
The position of the network’s content director, Rex Morris, was recently made redundant.
Melbourne-based Dave Cameron, the chief content officer of Southern Cross Austereo – the parent company of Triple M – was spotted in the Sydney office at the time of Geyer’s dismissal.