'I never went away': Red Symons open to full-time stint on 3AW

Red Symons has confirmed he's ready to return to radio on a full-time basis.

The former ABC Melbourne breakfast host, who resigned in 2017, will be making a summer appearance on 3AW and bosses have expressed an ongoing interest in keeping him at the station.

Symons will fill-in for regular 3AW mornings presenter Neil Mitchell over the summer holidays. The four-day stint will represent Symons' first time behind the microphone as a standalone host since he left the ABC.

Former ABC broadcaster Red Symons.Credit: Kristoffer Paulsen

Asked whether he was being primed for a full-time gig on Melbourne's top-rating radio station, Symons said he was "certainly open [to the idea]".

"Were such a thing offered then I would consider what it was," he said. "I'm not making a comeback. I never went away. At the same time, I'm not the understudy waiting in the wings for the lead to break their leg on stage. I just like working. I like life to have will and purpose."

3AW station manager Stephen Beers said he thought Symons would be "perfect" as a summer fill-in due to his signature wit.

"I’ll talk to him after he does the week to see how he feels about [further opportunities]," he said. "That’ll be a conversation we’ll have with him in the new year and we can go from there. There’s always opportunities, people moving around, even though we tend to stay pretty stable here.

"A lot of it’s going to depend on him. The first step is people wanting to do it rather than being told to do it. If you’re not having fun, neither is the audience.”

The comments come a week after it was revealed Symons' replacements, Sami Shah and Jacinta Parsons, won't be returning to the ABC Radio Melbourne breakfast timeslot in 2020. The duo are being replaced by comedian Sammy J. Afternoons host Myf Warhurst is also leaving her timeslot.

Symons resigned from the ABC at the end of 2017 after management requested his show become a double-header program. He had been a regular on breakfast radio for 14 years.

The former Skyhooks guitarist and Hey Hey It's Saturday star is due to host 3AW mornings between Monday, December 30 and Friday, January 3 (with a day off for New Year's Day). Symons has been a weekly guest on Neil Mitchell's program for the past 18 months.

Nine, the owner of this masthead, is also the owner of Macquarie Media, the broadcaster of 3AW and Macquarie Sports Radio.