Craig Reucassel’s ABC radio appointment raises doubts

The ABC’s decision to replace James Valentine with comedian Craig Reucassel has raised concerns over the broadcaster’s ability to repair its troubled-plagued radio arm.

ABC radio presenters James Valentine and Craig Reucassel.

ABC management’s decision to replace axed Sydney radio breakfast host James Valentine with comedian Craig Reucassel instead of a news-breaking host has raised serious doubts about the ability of the taxpayer-funded broadcaster to repair its trouble-plagued radio arm.

Valentine’s short tenure of two years as host of Sydney ABC breakfast radio — among the nation’s most coveted on air positions — proved to be one of the biggest failures in the station’s recent history and resulted in listeners turning off in droves.

Valentine’s predecessors Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck departed at the end of 2021, recording an audience share of 13.2 per cent in their last survey.

Since then ratings have slumped and in the latest official GfK results, Valentine recorded an audience share of just 8.4 per cent.

Departing ABC Sydney breakfast radio host James Valentine. Picture: Richard Dobson

The Australian can reveal concerns have been raised internally over Reucassel’s appointment. which has been described as replacing “giggle with giggle” instead of appointing a news-breaking broadcaster into the key radio timeslot.

Although hosts such as Harmer, who is a comedian and Buck and Adam Spencer, who also have a light touch, have been successful, sources say times have changed and there are concerns about why the program will not be “driven by a strong broadcaster who can drive the issues of the day”.

Reucassel was a founding member of The Chaser team which produced numerous satirical programs. Most recently he has hosted ABC program War on Waste.

Valentine’s future in the slot had been in doubt for months.

He will return to his previous position as Afternoons host next year and said in a statement last week: “I’m delighted to be returning to my afternoon time slot and reuniting with my afternoon ­listeners.”

Afternoons came into play after the abrupt departure of Josh Szeps, who quit live on air last month, declaring he was a “bit too spicy for this gig”.

The Australian has been told Szeps was far from pleased that he had been overlooked for the breakfast role and was frustrated as a result. In the latest survey, Szeps’s program rated 5.3 per cent and was ninth in its timeslot.

When Reucassel’s appointment was announced, ABC Radio Sydney manager Steve Ahern said the comedian had the ability to “ask the hard questions and still have a laugh”.

New ABC Radio Sydney breakfast host Craig Reucassel.

However one insider told The Australian: “Breakfast has to be someone who is a credible, news driven, strong presenter and broadcaster with an ability to connect to the audience and ability to reflect the audience and get the agenda going for the day.”

In late 2021, the ABC established a review of its radio arm led by head of corporate strategy Jeremy Millar and also included Mr Ahern and media executive Dr Cherie Romaro.

In July the ABC appointed Ben Latimer, the former head of programming for Nova, as its inaugural head of audio, reporting to chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor.

In the ABC’s latest annual report, the average weekly radio audience for 2022-23 in the five major capital cities was 4.97 million aged 10+ — down 417,000 listeners on 2021-22.

Radio National’s average weekly audience in the five major cities was 529,000 in 2022-23 — plummeting 21.6 per cent compared to 2021-22 when it attracted 675,000 listeners.

ABC Sydney’s station audience share was 9.4 per cent at the end of 2021, but was recorded at 7 per cent in the latest survey results.

In Melbourne the radio situation has been described as a case of musical chairs with the departure of Mornings’ host Virginia Trioli in September, to be replaced by Drive host Rafael Epstein, with Ali Moore moving to Drive.

It’s understood more changes will be made at the ABC across the other radio markets.

The ABC was contacted for comment.

Originally published as Craig Reucassel’s ABC radio appointment raises doubts