Ben Fordham Live replaces Mark Braybrook on 4BC’s drive shift in Brisbane

Sydney broadcaster Ben Fordham reveals how he will bring Brisbane into the fold as Macquarie Media confirms Ben Fordham Live will take over 4BC’s drive shift this week.

SYDNEY broadcaster Ben Fordham will take over Brisbane’s 4BC drive timeslot this week after the network axed Mark Braybrook’s locally produced show a fortnight ago.

Macquarie Media will announce today that Ben Fordham Live, which began in Sydney in 2011, will air on 4BC on weekdays from 2pm to 5pm, starting tomorrow, confirming Braybrook’s departure.

Fordham will follow a line-up of syndicated programming with Alan Jones, Ray Hadley, and Steve Price.

He told The Sunday Mail he focused on content based on the strength of a story “regardless of its postcode”.

Ben Fordham has been broadcasting Ben Fordham Live, a top rationg drive show, in Sydney since 2011, and will now take over the drive shift on 4BC in Brisbane.

“I’ve found a way of broadcasting different content to different locations. A lot will be shared that is of interest to both and in some other areas where things are more specific to Brisbane, technology allows you to run different segments in different locations,” said Fordham, who welcomed his third child, a daughter named Marigold, in late September.

“It’s a little more work but I’m up for that.”

“Often on my radio program I’ll focus on something in South Australia, or WA or Queensland and it doesn’t worry me where. My only test is, is it interesting?”

Fordham said he particularly wanted to continue his support for Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic bid and his campaign with the NSW government for the NRL Grand Final to be moved to Suncorp Stadium in 2020.

Fordham’s late uncle David Fordham broadcast sport in Brisbane on Channel 7 and Channel 10 for around 30 years and his main focus was to “keep that standard”.

With friends living in rural Queensland and having been on their farms during a crisis, Fordham said he had a “good understanding” of the rural scene, who would have a voice on his show.

The Drive show was the only Brisbane-produced show on 4BC after Macquarie Media ditched the Brisbane-based breakfast and morning shows in April 2015, and had been hosted by Braybrook for the past year.

In a statement ahead of his final show a fortnight ago, Braybrook said he was going on planned holidays and didn’t know what his future was, with Karl Stefanovic filling in over the school break.

4BC’s afternoon and drive shows were down in the latest radio results, released last week.

The network held 5.3 per cent of the audience from 12pm to 4pm, behind AM rivals 4KQ but ahead of ABC Brisbane, and 4 per cent from 4pm to 7pm, behind both AM rivals.