Adelaide radio insiders air doubts over Erin and Soda’s Mix 102.3 ‘holiday’

Radio heavyweights say they aren’t buying the official explanation for the top-rating Mix 102.3 breakfast duo’s sudden break.

Mark Soderstrom at Surreal Eats on The Parade on Friday. Picture: Matt Turner.

Top-rating radio announcers being given time off during ratings season is almost unheard of.

That’s the collective response of industry insiders The Advertiser asked to comment on Mix 102.3 announcing its star talent Mark Soderstrom and Erin Phillips are on holidays for the next three weeks.

The duo host the Erin & Soda show, which is the third highest rating breakfast program in Adelaide, behind AM stations – ABC Adelaide and FIVEaa.

Soderstrom and Phillips were due to return to work yesterday morning, after being off-air on Thursday and Friday.

Mix 102.3 said last week the absence was due to Soderstrom being “unwell”.

He subsequently presented his regular sports segment on Channel 7’s news bulletins, and was photographed having coffee with a friend on Friday.

A photograph of him at a Norwood cafe was on the cover of The Advertiser’s Saturday edition, next to the headline “Hey Soda, your boss says you’re unwell?”.

Mark Soderstrom congratulates his radio partner and Crows player Erin Phillips after the Crows win over the Magpies at Norwood Oval. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The accompanying story revealed there was drama behind the scenes, with station insiders insisting Soderstrom was not unwell and one hinting there had been issues with new content director Richie Wright.

The next day, he appeared, looking fit and healthy, to commentate on the Crows-Gold Coast AFLW game on Sunday.

Afterwards, he enjoyed some banter with Phillips, who was playing for the Crows.

Mix 102.3’s parent company is ARN and its chief content officer Duncan Campbell, who is based in Sydney, has been in Adelaide with an HR staff member.

Mr Campbell made a statement yesterday morning, announcing he had granted Soderstrom and Phillips a week’s holidays: “It’s been a huge start to the year and the team behind Adelaide’s #1FM Breakfast Show need a break so I have made the decision to give them a well-deserved week off.

Like all radio shows around the country, the team will be taking the scheduled survey break off air too.”

SA radio veteran John Pemberton.

It was a bizarre turn of events with the pair expected to return to their normal slot yesterday. “Whatever it is, you can’t call it a holiday,” an insider told The Advertiser. “No one really knows exactly what’s going on.”

Former SAFM and Triple M announcer John Pemberton said taking a top-performing show off the air during ratings season was “an extreme move”.

Pemberton also questioned the official reason given for Soderstrom and Phillips’ absence.

“Holiday? … holidays in a rating period just don’t happen,” he said.

Another former radio employee, who asked not to be named, said announcers taking time off while survey participants were recording their listening habits was “not unusual but not frequent”. “They are sometimes sent off to do exclusive interviews or strategic planning,” they said.

Pemberton said whatever was happening, it was generating “plenty of publicity” for Mix and Channel 7.