Patricia Karvelas to leave ABC’s Radio National Breakfast

After three years at the microphone, and amid plummeting ratings, Karvelas will move on to an ‘expanded role’ across ABC platforms.

Patricia Karvelas will leave ABC’s Radio National breakfast program. Picture: Aaron Francis

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Patricia Karvelas will leave ABC Radio National’s flagship breakfast program after three years.

Karvelas, who took over from long-term host Fran Kelly in 2022, will take on an ‘expanded role’ across ABC platforms in 2025 with a focus on national politics.

It comes after the latest official radio ratings showed plummeting listenership for RN breakfast in four of the five major capital cities, including Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

In survey six out of eight to be released this year, Karvelas recorded 70,000 Sydney listeners, 62,000 in Melbourne, 37,000 in Brisbane, 26,000 in Adelaide and 24,000 in Perth.

In the same survey in 2023 she had 85,000 in Sydney, 88,000 in Melbourne, 32,000 in Brisbane, 17,000 in Adelaide and 21,000 Perth, marking an overall loss of 10.6 per cent of her audience in 12 months.

In June ABC chair Kim Williams said during an interview with Karvelas that he would “like to see Radio National lift its ambitions in terms of its role in Australia.”

Karvelas has spent 10 years with Radio National, seven with RN Drive and three with RN Breakfast.

“After a decade it’s time to change it up and I’m ready to lean into a new cross-platform role,” Karvelas said in a media statement.

Patricia Karvelas on Q&A. Picture: ABC

“I want to thank the ABC for the opportunities it has provided me through my decade here. It continues to be the most important public institution in the country in my view and I want to help build its connections with voters across the country.

“I’ll miss the Radio National audience enormously. There’s something magical about waking up when the country is asleep to bring the big news and conversations to the country.”

ABC director of news Justin Stevens said Karvelas is “a talented presenter and formidable political journalist,” and would be given a “broader” cross-platform role.

“In 2025 we want her to play a bigger role across our platforms to cover politics for our audience,” he said.

The ABC said the new presenter of RN Breakfast will be announced soon.

Karvelas will continue to host Q+A, the ABC’s longrunning political panel show, having been appointed as the program’s full-time frontwoman at the beginning of this year.

In June, ABC managing director David Anderson suggested that Q+A’s future was uncertain.

“We are looking at what it is that we might be doing for the future, if there is something that we can do for that program,” Anderson mused.

“I’ve been keen to explore if there’s another way to do that format.”