Agreed, felt it went downhill once Sophie McNeill left
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I doubt there will be many people upset
When did Sophie McNeill host Hack? I only knew her as an ABC foreign correspondent.
She replaced Tom Tilley in 2012 when he moved to News 24 (link); in 2013 she went on maternity leave and ultimately did not return to the program, with Tilley being reappointed presenter from 2014 onwards.
Mornings announcer Linda Marigliano and lunch presenter Gen Fricker are also leaving triple j at the end of this year:
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Hack hasnât been the same since Kate OâToole left in 2010. I recall that Tom Tilley replaced her, before Sophie McNeill had a brief stint.
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This is the biggest turnover of presenters I can recall triple j dealing with in the last 15 years at least. Normally they tend to spread out the change a little more gradually.
I was expecting Gen to go, honestly after that horrible incident she seemed to be away about the same amount of time that she was there. Lindaâs a surprise because I was expecting she was going to stay in that slot just like Zan Rowe right through until getting moved onto Double J or RN.
The weekend/fill in presenters all still sound very ameteur / inexperienced so itâs going to be interesting times for the Js.
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Was that the original sound of the station when it began on the AM band? Raw, new talent on air?
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They need to get rid of Kingsmill too
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Youâre not wrong! Although I feel itâs uncharted territory for Triple J since the 90s at least to have (bar drive) an entirely fresh roster of weekday presenters.
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triple jâs 2020 lineup has been announced. Lucy Smith moves into mornings, with Bryce Mills replacing Sally & Erica in the weekend afternoons slot. Dave Woodhead is the stationâs new lunch announcer, while Hack journalist Avani Dias takes on the hosting role in 2020.
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this appears to have attracted a few unhappy people
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Lot of crap in those tweets. Both of these are true: triple j rates well in 25-39s; Gold 104.3 rates well 18-24. Neither of these are those stationâs core demographics, and if triple j was positioned to be a mass appeal under-40s station thereâd be uproar from the commercial industry. As a youth broadcaster, its remit is to appeal to 18-24s, not those in their late 30s who are in denial about how young they are.
Granted, if the commercial FMs did a better job at playing new music then this wouldnât be such a big deal. Double J could be programmed a bit tighter, but it too is designed to serve a niche.
Two valid criticisms there in my view - one, that Kingsmill is still hanging on as music director; and two, that the ABC have failed to reinvigorate Local Radio without alienating their 40+ audience.
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This move seems to be one that triple J has in the playbook, I recall something similar happening in the early to mid 2000s
I think itâs funny that Zan of all former presenters made this tweet, because she was in the same mornings slot for 10 years thereabouts. The presenters that are leaving havenât been in the chair for even close to that long (Linda was close but her time with the Js has been really fragmented).
Exactly this. Itâs odd that some of these angry tweets are assuming this is some new thing, because the ABC have always been very clear on what age group Triple J is aimed at.
Theyâve definitely swapped presenters for 2 or 3 timeslots from one year to the next a few times through the 2000s, but never have they swapped presenters for all but one weekday timeslot (plus Hack) in one go. On top of that, on years that there have been relatively significant presenter swaps, theyâve either retained the existing breakfast hosts or at least one existing long-term presenter.
Iâve come around to thinking that itâs a good idea, but I do wonder how intentional it was that all these presenter swaps happened to fall in one year.
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Iâd argue Double J needs to be moved to FM and switch with Classic FM. Itâs audience is there waiting for it to be served.
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