By Jordan Baker and Carrie Fellner
The ABC’s head of radio has moved to calm unrest and admonish “poor behaviour” within staff ranks as angry listeners flood the broadcaster with complaints about the surprise dumping of the Sydney station’s Mornings presenter Sarah Macdonald.
Amid speculation that former Q+A presenter Hamish Macdonald is the frontrunner to replace her, employees told the Herald about festering concern that the radio division’s new bosses, both from commercial music stations, misread the ABC audience.
Outgoing ABC Mornings radio presenter Sarah Macdonald (left). Is that her replacement on the right?Credit: SMH
Listeners are still contacting the station with complaints four days after Macdonald revealed her exit. They say they are angry, disgruntled, sad and bewildered. One described the decision as an act of ABC self-sabotage. One called themselves an “ABC disbeliever”, another said they were “shocked and disgusted”.
“The last thing we want is commercial radio. Shame!” said another. Others asked for the decision to be reversed. They also criticised the mooted departure of weekend presenter Simon Marnie, who is still in discussions with management.
Staff – on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak – said the volume of complaints was unusually high. They have also included gripes about a decision to broadcast only the cricket this week rather than run normal programming on an alternative channel (there will be normal programming during the coming Tests).
Amid the unrest, the director of audio, Ben Latimer – who forecast significant change when he joined the ABC from FM music station NOVA 18 months ago – emailed staff on Monday to “address some of the issues”. The program changes were still being finalised, he said, while stressing the presenters had been carefully thought through.
ABC Audio boss Ben Latimer says the broadcaster must attract new audiences as well as keep old onesCredit: James Brickwood
Radio was facing a competitive, rapidly evolving climate and needed to adapt. “By striking a thoughtful balance between well-known and refreshed talent, we aim to build deeper connections with our loyal listeners while extending our reach to engage new audiences,” Latimer said.
“Change is never easy and of course the impact on some of our colleagues is difficult.” He said departing presenters would be missed, but urged staff to focus on the broader plan rather than individual changes.
He also said he was “disappointed to hear about some of the comments and poor behaviour being made in recent days”, though he did not include specific examples and declined to comment further when asked by the Herald.
Latimer told this masthead that ABC local radio was “too important for us not to make difficult decisions”. His job was to regain the listeners lost after COVID and reach new ones. “Sarah is a fantastic broadcaster,” he said. “This decision really reflects our decision to add new voices to the network.”
ABC staff line the corridor outside a studio after Sarah Macdonald said her contract had not been renewedCredit:
Sources close to Macdonald, who is a popular figure within the ABC, said she had been chasing information about the network’s 2025 plans for her show, and was finally told last Tuesday by the acting station manager that her contract would not be renewed.
Dozens of staff lined the hallway as she left the studio after announcing her departure. Senior ABC colleagues, including Media Watch presenter Paul Barry and outgoing ABC Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover, publicly criticised the decision.
Multiple sources told the Herald that Hamish Macdonald, a journalist and presenter who has worked across the ABC and on commercial television, is a frontrunner for the job. He declined to comment when contacted on Monday. Sarah Macdonald also declined to return calls.
“[ABC Mornings] will be a poisoned chalice for anyone who’s going to take it over,” said a veteran ABC employee, also on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media. “The audience is cross.”
Hamish Macdonald is tipped to become the new ABC Sydney morning presenter.Credit:
Staff were concerned that the controversial decision suggested senior radio bosses with commercial music radio backgrounds – the head of the capital city radio network, Mike Fitzpatrick, arrived from Triple M in February – did not understand the priorities of the ABC’s listeners, multiple employees said.
“People tune into the ABC because it’s not commercial radio,” one said. “They’re loyal.”
But Latimer said the fundamentals of radio were the same at the national broadcaster as elsewhere. “You want to feel connected to the place you live, the services you expect, and the voices you want to spend time with,” he said. “I don’t think that changes whether you are talking about AM or FM.”
Another staff member said the unease sparked by the decision came on top of a disruptive relocation to Parramatta, which has stopped many guests from appearing in person. They said ABC management rarely explained its decisions. “There is never a why,” they said.
However, Latimer said the strategy across local radio was “clear and simple, and it’s to create unique, compelling relevant content, that’s putting engaging voices in front of our microphones.”
Macdonald’s axing continues 702’s “curse of the mornings”, which began with Sally Loane’s abrupt departure in 2005, and continued with the axing from the timeslot of late Herald journalist Deborah Cameron in 2012 and ABC former foreign correspondent Linda Mottram in 2015.
Mottram said the decision to axe Macdonald felt “eerily reminiscent of the situation I was in nine years ago, when our ratings were really good. We felt like we were firing on all four [cylinders]. Towards my final year, I was called in and told I was being let go.”
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