UPDATED: We hope you enjoyed this year’s April Fools Day hoax story. We caught out many in the radio industry with this one! Look our for next year’s hoax on April 1.
Following Eddie McGuire’s latest faux pas that saw him dump himself from the Fox Sports AFL commentary team for one match, SCA management have sent him packing permanently and installed Nova’s Ryan Fitzgerald of Fitzy & Wippa fame in his place.
From next Monday Fitzy will take on Melbourne’s Hot Breakfast alongside Wil Anderson and Luke Darcy.
It has been revealed that a secret plot, code-named “Egg” for “Eddie’s Gotta Go,” was hatched over a year ago between Fitzgerald and Head of Triple M, Mike Fitzpatrick (left). The plan was to have Fitzy contracted and ready to take over from Eddie the next time the latter put his foot in it and brought the Triple M brand into disrepute.
The big switch was triggered when Eddie was forced to make a public apology after the comments he made in regards to plane crash survivor and amputee Cynthia Banham for performing a less than perfect coin toss at the Sydney v Adelaide game last Friday.
Fitzgerald admitted that while he enjoyed his time at Nova 969 as Breakfast co-host with Wippa, he didn’t get into radio just to be funny. It was time to move to a station that was more serious about the game he loves.
In an illustrious career spanning over two years, he played a total of 18 games with the Sydney Swans and the Adelaide Crows and scored an aggregate of 23 points!
It is understood that secret contract negotiations between Triple M and Fitzgerald stalled when it became apparent that having two high profile “Fitzys” in one network could prove to be problematic.
Fitzgerald admitted that given his Fitzy & Wippa years he would be tempted to send out memos simply signed “Fitzy” that could give all on air staff the day off or, if he felt so inclined, change the network’s format to easy listening.
It was finally agreed that to avoid confusion the two Fitzy’s would sign their names as FitzyPatrick and FitzyGerald.
Fabulous April Fools Gag... not getting sucked in!
Great hoax! You had me going until the last few paragraphs :)