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Charlie Pickering will join ABC Melbourne’s radio line-up next year, taking on the Friday Breakfast shift from Sammy J. Sammy will continue to host the show from Monday to Thursday, 6am to 8am.
The pair, who are friends and have known each other since they met competing in a Raw Comedy gig about 20 years ago, announced the change on air on Friday morning. But the move has been months in the making as Sammy J - real name Samuel Jonathan McMillan - has struggled to balance his radio commitments with the other aspects of his career, including live performance, TV and writing.
Charlie Pickering (right) will host Fridays and Sammy J will be in the chair Monday to Thursday on mornings on ABC radio Melbourne in the new year.Credit:Wayne Taylor
“I think this whole year, I’ve been wrestling with it,” Sammy J told this masthead. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great problem to have - I’m an employed artist. But alongside my radio work I still have a different career, which is making stuff and putting it on stage or on TV. And the tension between the two has grown bigger this year, because the world is opening up again.
“This is a small change to the weekly schedule, but a massive change for me in terms of what it lets me do.”
For Pickering, it’s a return to one of his first loves. The comedian and veteran host started his career with the national broadcaster as co-host of Triple J’s Drive show from 2001-03. He also had a stint on commercial radio with Triple M’s weekend breakfast team before becoming launch host of The Project (then called The 7PM Project) in 2009.
Earlier this year he dipped his toe back into the radio waters as a fill-in host for Jacinta Parsons when the afternoons host was on holiday. It was, he jokes, “my first foray into grown-up radio” and it reminded him how much he loves the medium.
Sammy J: juggling radio, live performance, TV and more. Credit:Joe Armao
“There’s a reason I keep coming back to it,” Pickering says. “It’s so immediate and fun, and it makes you feel so connected with the city that you’re in. It’s really quite magical.”
Pickering will have his own juggling to do next year. He will return as host of The Weekly, which will have its ninth year on ABC TV in 2023, and is a team captain on 10’s local version of the British show Would I Lie To You?. But one day of radio a week, he says, should be manageable. “Apart from the alarm clock going off it should all be pretty smooth sailing.”