Back on the tube ... Andy Lee and Hamish Blake enjoying Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse on November 1. The pair are returning to drive radio mid next year. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images
HUGHESY and Kate have been poached by a rival radio network to take on Hamish Blake and Andy Lee.
The beloved duo of Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek will be heard nationally in the drive timeslot on Kiis FM, switching from their long time home at Nova.
The pair quit Nova’s breakfast show after 12 years in November last year.
Scoring the pair is a costly coup for Kiis, who will use their new stars to re-brand the network currently known as Mix in Melbourne.
Kiis did the same thing last year when they lured Kyle and Jackie O from a rival network for their Sydney breakfast shift.
It means Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek will go up against Hamish and Andy, who announced their return to drive radio for Austereo last week.
But Hughesy and Kate will get a crucial head start, with Hamish and Andy not on air until July, after they’ve filmed another chapter in their travel TV series.
Jules Lund will return from Sydney’s ailing 2Day FM breakfast show to host afternoons until Blake and Lee’s return.
Dirty dozen ... Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek did 12 years of breakfast radio for Nova, and are tipped to return to radio in the drive slot next year. Source: News Limited
It will not be the only change in Melbourne radio.
The successful Chrissie Swan and Jane Hall partnership is tipped to be dissolved when Mix becomes Kiis.
Hall will remain in breakfast, joined by Matt Tilley, who is leaving an under performing slot on Triple M drive.
Tilley is no stranger to breakfast radio, after doing 15 years on Fox FM, most recently with Jo Stanley.
It is unclear whether Swan, whose contract is believed to expire this year, will remain with the Kiis network.
If Swan departs it will be a bold move, with research proving she is one of the most popular personalities on Melbourne radio.
If Swan is a free agent, her popularity could see her targeted by rival stations Nova or Fox.
Chrissie and Jane hit No.1 in the Melbourne breakfast market this year and have a strong female following.
Winners are grinners ... Chrissie Swan and Jane Hall won the breakfast slot for Mix, but their partnership will apparently be dissolved next year. Source: Supplied
The future of Kiis/Mix’s current drive host, comedian Rosso, is also unclear.
Sources suggest Triple M could reunite Rosso and former comedy partner Merrick Watts for a national show next year.
Watts was part of the 2Day breakfast team which has had diabolical ratings and lost two hosts - Mel B and Sophie Monk.
Duncan Campbell, national content director for Australian Radio Network, which runs Kiis and Mix, was tight lipped about the tipped changes.
“Melbourne is a very important market to ARN in 2015 but at this stage it’s too early to comment,” he said.
Hughes and Langbroek left Nova breakfast last year, but were kept on retainers by the network who have used them as fill-in hosts throughout the year.
Rumours surfaced last week that Kiis would use Kyle and Jackie O in a national breakfast slot, but the pair have rated poorly in the Melbourne market in the past.
Breaking radio theories, Kyle and Jackie O managed to take their listeners from 2Day FM to Kiis.
Fox and Nova are yet to announce whether they will keep with their breakfast line-ups for 2015.
Dan Debuf and Maz Compton will move from a national afternoon show to Sydney breakfast on 2Day next year.
