Allison Langdon to host A Current Affair as Sarah Abo moves to Today

Nine names Sarah Abo as co-host of Today so Allison Langdon can move to A Current Affair.

Journalist Sarah Abo is the new co-host of Today.

The Nine Network’s has filled two of its most important roles, naming Sarah Abo as co-host of the Today show so Allison Langdon can move to A Current Affair.

The two key appointments – both foreshadowed in The Australian’s Media Diary last Monday – were necessitated by the retirement of long-running ACA host Tracy Grimshaw on Thursday night.

The elevations of Langdon and Abo were announced by Nine on Sunday night.

Langdon was “welcomed” as the CA host for 2023 in a promotion that aired just before the 6pm news bulletin, while Abo’s appointment was revealed during an ad break shortly before 6.30pm.

Alison Langdon. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Langdon will start on ACA at the end of January, while Abo will commence her role in mid-January.

It is understood Langdon will continue to co-present Today this week, allowing her to be farewelled on-air by co-host Karl Stefanovic on Friday’s show.

While Grimshaw departed ACA on Thursday, speculation about who would replace her has been raging since she announced her retirement in September.

The Australian understands that once it became clear that Langdon would land the former Grimshaw role at ACA, the contest for who would join Stefanovic on the Today show became a race between 60 Minutes reporters Amelia Adams and Abo.

Adams only returned to Australia this year after two lengthy stints as Nine’s European and US correspondent.

The appointments follow an on-air audition process watched closely by senior Nine executives. Abo and Adams were given on-camera opportunities alongside Stefanovic on different instalments of Today.

Langdon underwent an on-air audition process of her own, with her interviewing skills facing particular scrutiny.

A key requirement of the host of ACA is to be a formidable interviewer. Grimshaw is famous for face-offs with the likes of Don Burke and Scott Morrison.

Insiders at Nine have told The Australian that Langdon took the lead on a number of key recent interviews on the Today show – particularly a fiery one-on-one interview with Daniel Andrews a fortnight ago during the Victorian election campaign.

It is understood the Andrews interview impressed Nine chiefs, with Langdon keen to prove she was more than a match for the man regarded as the toughest political interview in Australian politics.

Langdon repeatedly asked Andrews about corruption investigations, prompting a visibly irritated Victorian Premier to indignantly tell her: “Well, can I just say Ally, I behave appropriately at all times and that’s the oath that I swore? And I get on every day and deliver for the people of my great state.”

Langdon is establishing something of a family dynasty on the show. The new host has said that ACA is “in my family’s DNA”: a reference to the fact that her father-in-law, the late Mike Willesee, was the founder of the current affairs stalwart almost exactly 51 years ago, in 1971.