‘Is anyone listening?’: 6PR Breakfast starts an hour earlier after Nine inundated with complaints over changes

Nine’s breakfast radio backflip in Perth has alienated listeners, with hosts asking if anyone had tuned into the earlier broadcast after blowback from the audience. After a shockwave of changes to programming, including axing journalist Julie-anne Sprague — the station’s only female presenter — Nine was forced to backflip on the new schedule and reschedule the Breakfast Show to start at 5am. It came as all programming was changed to fill the space of the dumped afternoons shows and fill four-hour shifts, with breakfast airing from 6am to 10am. On Tuesday, at the new start time of 5am, breakfast hosts Steve Mills and Karl Langdon addressed the listener backlash that resulted in them returning to the earlier hour. “Is anyone listening ... give us some encouragement for being here,” Mills said, before Langdon added that the complaints had worked. “The only reason Millsy and I back is because you’ve complained and the people listen,” Langdon said. “There were so many people that did send in their messages of unhappiness, particularly those who are the early risers.” Monday’s sudden broadcast changes prompted a wave of protest, with Langdon saying the audience did not like hearing from “Eastern States commentators”. Under the first wave of changes, Nine’s Melbourne breakfast radio team was aired in Perth from 2.30am to 5am before the station ran podcasts from the network. Gary Adshead’s Morning Show now covers the midday shift from 10am to 2pm, while Drive presenter Oliver Peterson starts an hour earlier at 2pm. 6PR’s website lists “best of” programs during the early hours, including repeats of Mornings with Gary Adshead and the Breakfast Show. The reverse ferret came as Nine’s Sydney radio boss Tom Malone jetted into Perth on Monday to be confronted by the listener revolt and a bemused line-up. The once-proud station has also lost its highly regarded content manager Emily White. Sprague described the overhaul as “Sydney swooping in like an angry magpie”. In an email to staff last week, Malone said the changes were needed to keep the station “on track for longer-term success”. “The advertising market in Perth has been tough, down 16 per cent in the past five years, and rising costs have added extra pressure on our financial performance,” he said. “So to ensure the station’s sustainability, we’re making adjustments that will help us return to profitability over the next 12 months.