Triple J Breakfast: Ben & Liam’s replacements announced

After three years, popular breakfast radio duo Ben & Liam are leaving Triple J — and they’re going commercial.

After three years hosting Triple J’s Breakfast program, Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton have quit to take up the same role at Nova 919 in Adelaide.

They will replace Hayley Pearson and Dylan Lewis, who have co-hosted the show since 2016.

Lewis, who had been dividing his time between Adelaide and Melbourne, announced his resignation in August, with Pearson following suit just four weeks later.

The return to Adelaide marks a full circle for Stapleton and Harvey, who both grew up in the South Australian city and got their start in radio on community station Fresh 92.7FM.

“Working at Triple J has been an incredible opportunity that we will never forget. Hopefully in 20 years people will still be abusing the current hosts telling them they miss the good ol’ days. Or maybe they just said that to us?” Harvey said in a statement.

“Working at Nova has been something we’ve wanted to do ever since we started in radio. We can’t wait to start the next phase of our careers back home in God’s Country.”

Nova 919 finished in fourth place in the breakfast timeslot in the most recent radio ratings survey, behind FIVEaa, ABC and Mix 102.3.

The new Ben & Liam breakfast show will launch in January 2020.

Earlier today, Triple J’s website announced that Harvey and Stapleton were leaving to “take up an opportunity in their hometown of Adelaide”.

Ben & Liam will be replaced with a show by Sally Coleman and Erica Mallett, perhaps better known as hip-hop duo Coda Conduct, who have been regular fill-ins on across a number of Triple J programs, including Breakfast.

They began their on-air career hosting a hip-hop show on FBi radio before switching to Triple J, where they eventually landed the Weekend Arvos slot in 2018.

“We’re really pumped to get your stories, discover new stuff together, nerd out about music, and talk about the real sh*t and the dumb sh*t,” the pair told the Triple J website.

“Think Oprah Winfrey meets Flight of The Conchords.”

Coleman and Mallett are Triple J Breakfast’s first female duo and will take over the slot from 2020.

Harvey and Stapleton’s last day on air at Triple J is November 1.