After more than fifteen years in commercial audio, working her way up from regional Workdays to Group Content Director, Stephanie ‘Stef’ MacFie is turning the Breakfast studio into a work of fiction.
MacFie’s debut novel Once Upon a Breakfast Show is set inside a high-rating Melbourne FM Breakfast show and draws directly on her experience across regional and metro markets, both on-air and behind the scenes.
MacFie began her commercial career in Armidale, New South Wales, working workdays across FM100.3 and 2AD before moving through multiple markets and formats.
She took on the Workday Announcer role at Chilli FM Launceston, then stepped into Breakfast at Star FM Orange (later Hit Orange NSW)
From there, her career shifted into producing.
She became Executive Producer for Jimmy and Nath, then EP and Anchor for The Dave Noonan Show with Al Plath, followed by EP for SAFM’s Bec, Cosi and Lehmo.
Her trajectory continued into leadership as Assistant Content Director at SCA Hobart, before moving into the role of Group Content Director for SCA Coastal NSW, overseeing multiple stations and breakfast teams across the region.
Her eight-year tenure with SCA ended when she was made redundant three months into maternity leave, a turning point that ultimately redirected her creative focus.
MacFie later headed to Mamamia as Group Executive Producer before launching her own consultancy business alongside Think Loud, helping businesses convert their intellectual property into podcasts and long-form audio strategy.
But radio remains at the core of her creative identity.
“I’ve lived every layer of breakfast radio,” MacFie says. “On-air, at the producer desk, in content meetings, and in survey strategy sessions. I know how quickly a personal story can become a ratings arc. I know what happens when the ON-AIR light glows red and you have to land the moment, no matter what’s going on off mic.”
That lived experience underpins her new novel, which follows the life of Emily Blake, a Breakfast radio star, the queen of witty banter and chaotic love-life stories, until a secret from her past becomes a headline of its own.
Known to listeners as the fearless, filter-less Blake from Mack & Blake for Breakfast, she’s built a career out of turning her messy life into radio gold. But when a cheeky on-air stunt spirals out of control, she accidentally crowdsources her next date and unearths a romantic encounter from thirteen years earlier, one unforgettable week with a man who vanished.
Now, with her daughter starting high school and asking questions about the dad she never knew, Blake asks her listeners for help.
With the whole city listening, she must decide if she’s ready to discover the truth, not just for the audience, but for the person who deserves it most: her daughter.
Once Upon a Breakfast Show is a love story about missed chances, ratings pressure … and what happens when a woman finally takes control of her own story.
MacFie says she wanted to capture the full ecosystem of a Breakfast show, not just the voices behind the mics.
“The Executive Producer shaping the narrative, the panel operator saving a break, the Content Director watching the numbers, sales building integrations around moments that are deeply personal. That tension between vulnerability and strategy is something only radio people really understand.”
MacFie says the move into fiction felt like a natural extension of the skills radio gives you.
“Breakfast teaches you timing. You learn how to build chemistry quickly, how to pace a story, how to land an emotional beat cleanly. When the ON-AIR light turns red, you have to be clear, fast, and human.”
Pre-orders for Once Upon a Breakfast Show are now live, with the debut novel landing in bookstores nationwide through Text Publishing on 4 August 2026.
For anyone who has sat through a content meeting during survey, pulled a break together at the producer desk, or felt that split-second adrenaline spike as the ON-AIR light flicks from dark to red, the world will feel very familiar.