Karl Stefanovic lands radio gig

After staging a comeback at the Logies Karl Stefanovic will be back front and centre of audiences in a surprising new role.

It’s official; Karl Stefanovic is back.

Seven months after being spectacularly axed by Channel 9 bosses as Today host and Stefanovic has landed himself a new gig — in radio.

Stefanovic is coming on board Sydney talkback radio station 2GB as a “regular contributor” on The Steve Price Show, The Daily Telegraphhas reported.

The former Today host will appear on the afternoon radio show alongside five other contributors which include his Today replacement Deborah Knight, Erin Molan, Phil Gould, Rita Panahi and Mieke Buchan.

Karl Stefanovic is back. Picture: Matrix Media Group.

Price has taken over the afternoon spot from Chris Smith, who left the station after the timeslot shake-up saw him bumped to nights.

Stefanovic’s addition to the afternoon 2GB show is said to be part of a ploy to get younger listeners interested in current affairs tuning in.

“They are obviously using some high profile media names in an attempt to make Chris Smith listeners remain listening,” one insider told The Daily Telegraph.

“They want to make that 12pm-3pm weekday timeslot newsier and want to lure younger listeners and these contributors will do that.”

In December, Stefanovic was abruptly dumped from Today while on his honeymoon with new wife Jasmine Yarbrough following months of tabloid reports about his personal life.

Stefanovic’s marriage to shoe designer Jasmine Yarbrough saw his personal life come under scrutiny. Picture: Jane Dempster.

Speaking at Channel 9’s post-Logies recovery brunch Stefanovic said he had been struggling towards the end of last year.

Being let go from Today hadn’t been a huge shock for the Nine presenter, with Stefanovic revealing he had been expecting it to happen.

“So it wasn’t a great surprise to me — in fact it was a relief in many ways — that I was taken off the Today show. Because I just wasn’t at my best and you can’t be doing that show unless you’re at the top of your game,” he said.

“You’ve got to be sharp, you’ve got to be witty, you’ve got to be funny. You’ve got to see the angles, and to be honest, at the end of last year I wasn’t seeing much.”

Besides returning to screens with This Time Next Year in the coming months, Stefanovic said he had been “doing a bit of 60 Minutes stuff”.