3AW still yet to find replacement for breakfast king John Burns
After dominating Melbourne’s airwaves for years, finding a replacement for 3AW’s morning radio king John Burns was never going to be easy. So with the deadline looming closer who are the big names in the mix for the top gig?
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Alan Jones and his chaff bag have left the Sydney airwaves and now it’s Melbourne’s turn for a seismic shake-up at breakfast.
Saying Julia Gillard should be “put in a chaff bag and thrown into the sea” was not one of the shock jock’s better moments.
Nor was saying Scott Morrison should “shove a sock down the throat” of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
At least we will be spared further women-hating comments after he announced his retirement “under doctor’s orders.”
Ben Fordham was quickly ushered in. But here in Melbourne the search drags on for a replacement to sit alongside Ross Stevenson on 3AW’s top-rating juggernaut, Ross and John.
Stevenson has been searching for a new partner after John Burns rashly told Page 13 last year he wouldn’t be leaving 3AW voluntarily.
“Well, I want to be here forever and whatever decision is to be made to end my career — it won’t be mine,” he told us in September.
By December, Burnso had changed his tune, announcing he’d hang up the microphone after the Tokyo Olympics.
A 2020 Olympics broadcast is but a distant dream but plans to replace Burnso by the end of next month have not changed.
Page 13 has been told by the head honchos at 3AW they are “currently and actively” shoring up the right person for the job. No easy feat.
Ross and John have been number one in 147 successive Melbourne breakfast radio surveys and are considered the most successful radio duo in Australia, some even say this half of the world. Who to replace Burns in radio’s power couple?
Usual suspects Stephen Quartermain and Glenn Robbins are practically auditioning for the job in their fill-in roles on the network.
Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann and 3AW’s Kate Stevenson (no relation) are other options and stablemate Tony Moclair is also in the running.
Hamish McLachlan has long said he’d put his hand up for the role of a lifetime working with his good mate “Rosco” every day. But Hammer’s contract at Seven, one of the few still in play, could make that difficult.
Now Page 13 hears someone “from left field” has leapt to the top of the list.
Hmmmm, Andy Lee?
Ultimately it will be a captain’s call by Stevenson, with an exec from owner Nine Entertainment saying “it will always need his stamp of approval.”
Nine’s new radio honchos, head of radio Tom Malone and head of content Greg Byrnes, are looking for fresh blood to capture a younger market.
Once dubbed Sir Lunchalot, Burnso’s send-off will coincide with his 75th birthday bash on July 30 and see him elevated to the status of a legend in his own lunchtime.
That’s if he’s still standing. Watch this space!