ABC radio host Jacinta Parsons quits afternoons program

Jacinta Parsons’ departure comes as ABC management deals with entrenched problems within its radio arm.

ABC broadcaster/writer Jacinta Parsons. Picture: Alex Coppel.

ABC Melbourne afternoons radio presenter Jacinta Parsons has quit her program and will broadcast her last show next week.

Her abrupt departure comes as ABC management deals with entrenched problems within its radio arm including concerns that it is failing to provide sufficient news updates and local content.

Parsons announced on air at the beginning of her show on Thursday that she had made the decision to leave the program and instead spend her time focusing on other responsibilities.

“Like so many, my life has gone through some changes over the past couple of months, which has meant I’ve had to make some changes to the way I can work,” Parsons said.

“I’m desperately sad to say I’m needing to scale back from the afternoons show so I can keep up with my other responsibilities.

“I’m grateful to the ABC for their support and very excited to say that I’m not leaving entirely – and will continue to join Brian Nankervis every single Friday for the Friday Revue.”

An internal report reviewing the radio division was presented to the ABC board ahead of its meeting in Perth last month, revealing what had gone wrong and extensive recommendations on how to fix the issues.

Parsons spent two years hosting ABC Melbourne’s breakfast program alongside Sami Shah but she departed at the end of 2019 and began hosting afternoons in 2020.

Ratings firm GfK’s latest metropolitan rating data showed when Parsons first took over the afternoons program at the beginning of 2020, the ratings were 6 percentage points and the program was ninth in its slot.

However since then the ratings had fallen further and in the latest radio survey the program drew an audience of 4.8 percentage points and it was eighth in its time slot.

In a statement published by the ABC on Thursday it said Parsons also will pursue “some part-time professional opportunities outside the ABC”.

Her replacement will be announced next week.

Earlier this week the ABC announced the appointment of a head of audio content, Ben Latimer, who was previously head of programming at Nova Entertainment.

The departure of Parsons also comes after the exit from the same time slot in Melbourne – 3AW’s Dee Dee Dunleavy.

She was axed by the Nine Entertainment-owned station last month and there has been a rotation of fill-in hosts since including Heidi Murphy, Elise Elliott and Tony Moclair.

The station has yet to announce a full-time replacement.