Robin Bailey tipped to return to 97.3FM after Bianca Dye, Mike Van Acker axed
In a tumultuous week for Brisbane breakfast radio, ever-popular Robin Bailey’s next move is taking shape — and it could see her go full circle.
Confidential
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THE axe has fallen on two of 97.3FM’s breakfast show hosts, with Bianca Dye and Mike Van Acker cut from the prime time slot amid rumours former presenter Robin Bailey is set to return to the station.
The Australian Radio Network made yesterday’s shock announcement about the shake-up, which included the departure of executive producer Liam Renton, after a three-year struggle with ratings since Bailey’s departure in late 2016 when she was replaced by Dye.
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Longtime host Bob Gallagher will remain on the show.
The latest radio ratings survey showed Bianca, Mike and Bob shed 0.8 points of their audience share and came in fifth behind ABC Brisbane and their three major FM rivals Nova 106.9’s Ash, Kip, Luttsy and Susie, Hit 105’s Stav, Abby and Matt and Triple M’s The Big Breakfast.
Bailey, who had been with Triple M since parting ways with 97.3FM, left The Big Breakfast in September to be with her late husband Sean Pickwell, who died of cancer just weeks later.
Multiple radio industry insiders told The Courier-Mail Bailey, who has publicly expressed her desire to return to work in recent weeks, would take on her old role as part of 97.3FM’s 2020 line-up.
Sources at ARN and Southern Cross Austereo, which owns Triple M, said discussions between Bailey and 97.3FM had been under way before yesterday’s announcement.
While social media was flooded with listeners calling for Bailey’s return, an ARN spokesperson said no contract had been signed with Bailey.
While 97.3FM’s breakfast show had been at the top of the pack with Bailey, coming in a close second behind Nova 106.9 in the last radio ratings survey during her time there, the first radio ratings survey of 2017 showed she led Triple M to a 2.9 per cent audience gain, while 97.3FM suffered with her absence, falling 2.0 per cent.
Sources also revealed Dye, who will stay with ARN in “a new capacity”, and Van Acker were blindsided by their booting and it caused a stir at the station, with workers seen crying in the car park.
“At the end of the day I understand that change is part of working in this industry and, while I will miss the breakfast show, I’m looking forward to what lies ahead for me at ARN in 2020,” Dye said.
Van Acker, who replaced long-serving former host Terry Hansen after he resigned last year citing health concerns, said he was “really disappointed” but looking forward to new opportunities.
“I loved my time at 97.3, and I’m really disappointed that it has to end – but that’s the reality of commercial radio,” he said.
“I’ll miss chatting to our listeners each morning.
“I’ll be back though – have had a positive call from a rival radio station just now but, as they say in the classics, ‘I can’t talk about it yet’.”
In a statement released yesterday, ARN said thanked the show’s departing talent and said the network would be taking 97.3FM in a “different direction in 2020”, with the new line-up to be unveiled in the new year.
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