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Dan & Maz finish on 2DayFM breakfast but SCA remains silent on start date for Rove McManus

Struggling Sydney radio station 2Day Hit 104.1 has quietly taken its breakfast duo Dan Debuf and Maz Compton off-air ahead of new host Rove McManus starting with the network.

Last Friday was the final show for Dan & Maz who will move to the weekend breakfast slot, while this morning’s breakfast show was hosted by anchor Michael Christian and prominently featured promos for McManus who was described as “coming soon”.

Dan Maz2Day’s owners Southern Cross Austereo did not respond to questions regarding the timing of McManus’s first show, amid industry speculation that the station is running quiet this week in the final week of ratings survey seven and will instead put its new breakfast host on-air next week at the beginning of survey eight.

In a post on Instagram on Friday Debuf posted: “Final @2dayfm brekky show today for this team. The best I’ve ever worked with.”

Southern Cross Austereo announced that Dan and Maz would be replaced earlier this month amid poor ratings for the breakfast pair who dropped 0.8 points to 3.1 per cent share in the last survey, and sat firmly bottom of the commercial FM pile for much of the year.

Despite taking the pair off-air the 2Day website has not been update and this morning still featured them prominently.Screen Shot 2015-10-26 at 7.09.01 am

2DayFM has struggled since the departure of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson from the breakfast slot, with the show dropping from first to last in the ratings and the station’s share plummeting.

McManus has been given a generous three year contract, with significant share equity of $350,000 worth shares every six months to help revive the station.

McManus and Dunlop

McManus and Dunlop

Last week 2Day was promoting a ten minute teaser podcast featuring McManus and his breakfast executive producer Tim Dunlop, which was subsequently removed from the internet.

Telegraph gossip columnist Ross Reines yesterday criticised the podcast in her column asking readers: “Which high-profile identity’s radio podcast was hastily taken down by his new network because it was horrible and amateurish? Looks like it might not be smooth sailing ahead.”

Nic Christensen 

Update 1.45pm: RadioInfo is now reporting that McManus is expected to start on Monday and that this year’s Bachelorette Sam Frost could be his offsider when he does go on-air.

BacheloretteA spokeswoman for SCA refused to comment on the speculation saying only: “We don’t have anything to confirm at this stage in regards to Rove’s co-host or an update on the show’s launch date.”

Should SCA pick Frost as the co-host for its breakfast show the appointment can be expected to generate significant media coverage, however the former Bachelorette does not have a background in radio.

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