Hughesy and Kate to leave Nova breakfast show after 12 years
Hughesy and Kate
Melbourne’s long-established radio breakfast duo Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek have announced they will be leaving the Nova 100 show after 12 years.
The pair – Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek – were the first to host a show on the station when DMG radio launched Nova 100 in December 2001.
The final Hughesy & Kate show will air on Friday November 29, the pair announced on air this morning. Nova said in its announcement that the duo had been offered a new contract but had turned it down.
Langbroek told listeners: “It is not a decision that we came to easily, as we love what we do, but we feel good about it. I love Nova and I love you Hughesy but I love sleep more.”
Nova is owned by DMG Australia.
The Hughsey and Kate breakfast show has been in a tight battle for the FM breakfast ratings and in the latest Nielsen survey, the show’s audience increased from a 6.9 per cent to an 8.3 per cent share and came close to overtaking Fox FM’s duo of Matt Tilley and Jo Stanley, who fell from 9.2 to 8.4 per cent. However Triple M’s Hot Breakfast – presented by Eddie McGuire, Mick Molloy and Luke Darcy – remained in the top spot.
This morning’s announcement can be heard here.
There was no immediate word on Nova’s plans for the timeslot, the most important of the day.
Nova will be keen to avoid a repeat of the saga which followed the end of the long-running Sydney lineup of Merrick Watts and Tim Ross.
When Ross quit the Merrick & Rosso breakfast show, the station went through several lineups including Watts being joined by Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Dooley, then Coulter beingr eplaced by Katie ‘Monty’ Dimond who also left a few months later. The network finally settled on Ryan Fitzgerald and Michael Wipfli, who have now been in the chair for just over two years and recently signed new contracts.
I wonder how many more long-standing breakfast teams won’t be back next year … Given the projected state of radio revenues, at the very least they’ll be offered less favourable terms to stay. For management, the question is: do we keep flogging the dying horse or do we bite the bullet and bring in a cheaper team that we can build up?
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One of the few commercial offerings that’s bearable (if you cut out the ads & music…), largely due to the truly classy Langbroek.
Kudos to Nova for managing the announcement & departure with class too; on-air talent usually disappears without a word.
Any money they switch Meshel, Tim & Marty in & chase a new drive team.
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Molloy not Malloy
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They may be whatever they were behind Eddie Everywhere, but they were a million miles behind 3AW’s Ross Stevenson and John Burns whom you seem to forget are No1 in Melbourne.
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AM radio? Mumbrella doesn’t believe it exists. Just look at the ratings headlines when they come out – they always highlight FM stations and ignore the simple fact that AM stations outrate them in most markets and most timeslots.
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Hi Rrrosco,
It’s fair to say that we probably sometimes don;t give AM commercial stations due credit. In our defence, when ratings come out, we tend to look for battlegrounds and changes of leadership. Certainly in Melbourne and Sydney, things are extremely stable – 3AW in Melbourne; 2GB with a seemingly unassailable lead over 2UE.
Cheers,
Tim – MUmbrella