Ali Clarke joins Erin Phillips for new Mix 102.3 breakfast show

One of Adelaide’s worst-kept secrets is finally out – Ali Clarke has made the move back to commercial radio. What other big name is joining Mix’s new breakfast team?

When Ali Clarke left ABC Adelaide to do what was right for her family, she was also talking about her nearest and dearest at Mix 102.3.

Clarke is returning to the FM station to host breakfast with a fellow new recruit, Irish-born comedian Eddie Bannon, and AFLW star Erin Phillips.

“I have always been a massive fan of Erin, knowing her through the Crows, so to work with her every morning will be a joy,” Clarke said following the announcement.

“Eddie Bannon followed me home from the Fringe Festival and we have been mates ever since.”

The Ali Clarke Breakfast Show team Erin Phillips, Ali Clarke and Eddie Bannon. Picture: Simon Vaughan

The Ali Clarke Breakfast Show is due to start next Monday, January 31, with the team busy bonding and planning the new program’s content this week.

The crucial breakfast timeslot also has a new executive producer in Shaun Sandilands, the cousin of radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands.

Sandilands was previously at Brisbane’s 4KQ, which had its best-ever brekky ratings year in 2021.

The powers at Mix are, no doubt, thinking he will be able to work his magic to make Mix Adelaide’s No 1 FM breakfast show again, after ratings fell last year.

Mix’s new breakfast executive producer Shaun Sandilands. Picture: Darren Thomas

And the bosses at Mix are also sure to be hoping Clarke’s fans will follow her.

The news that she will headline the show was quite possibly the worst-kept secret in Adelaide radio circles ever.

Sources had told The Advertiser Clarke was keen to be part of a team again having hosted the Mix102.3 breakfast show with Kym Dillon and Chris Dzelde in the noughties before they defected to Triple M.

She has previously worked with Bannon, who is famous for his role in TV series Father Ted, at the ABC, where he was a regular on the breakfast show seeing the funny side of everyday Adelaide life.

“All jokes aside – this is a spectacular job for me,” Bannon said.

“What comedian doesn’t like to have a laugh and share stories every morning and, cherry on top, get paid for the privilege.”

Mix 102.3 breakfast presenters Chris Dzelde with Ali Carle and Kym Dillon in 2006. Picture: The Advertiser

The announcement of The Ali Clarke Breakfast Show comes just weeks after Mark “Soda” Soderstrom left Mix 102.3.

He had been hosting breakfast with Phillips and before her, Jodie Oddy who left in 2020.

Phillips, who was nominated for Best Newcomer On-Air in the 2021 Australian Commercial Radio Awards, said she is looking forward to being part of the new line-up.

“Ali and Ed are wonderful, genuine people and I know we are going to have a lot of fun,” Phillips said.

Erin Phillips and former Mix co-host Mark “Soda” Soderstrom. Picture: Supplied

Clarke, who reecently recovered from Covid-19, is also looking forward to her new gig: “I’m glad to be back at ARN and Mix where my radio career started in 2003. It’s a full circle moment for me and I’m very happy,” she said.

On December 10 Clarke told her now former colleagues at Aunty that she was leaving.

She went out on a high as the host of Adelaide’s No. 1 breakfast show in the final radio ratings of the year.

“We need to find the best fit for everybody, so if it’s right for them, it’s right for me,” Clarke told the Sunday Mail, explaining her “family reasons” for leaving.

Her husband Matt Clarke was head coach of the AFLW Crows and their eldest daughter was starting high school, she said.

Ali and Matt Clarke and their children in 2019. Picture: Dean Martin

Asked if she was moving to Mix, Clarke was cryptic: “My immediate focus is having some time off and time away and I will look forward to whatever comes next.”

Interestingly, while the ABC’s Spence Denny recently announced his retirement on-air, it appears Clarke was advised not to tell her listeners she was leaving.

“My one regret is that I haven’t been able to say goodbye to them on air,” Clarke told the Sunday Mail.

That strongly suggested the rumours that Clarke was on the move to Mix were true.

The Ali Clarke Breakfast Show is on Mix 102.3 from Monday, January 31, 6am to 9am. Listen Monday to Friday at Mix102.3 or the iHeartRadio app.