After 12 months of faltering ratings 2DAY’s breakfast team, featuring Judith Lucy has been moved to Drive, and will be replaced by Kyle and Jackie O. Judith Lucy’s new Drive show will go national. The new shows will begin on 17th January next year

Austereo CEO Michael Anderson has told radioinfo:

“Every now and again you are able to make some significant changes that work for everyone and this is one of those occasions. Judith, Peter Helliar and Kaz Cooke get a national audience in a drive show and get to sleep-in and Kyle and Jackie O are looking forward to moving to Sydney Breakfast.

“We have significantly increased our focus on consumer research this year and have used it in our planning for 2005. When we sat back and had a good look at what had worked and why it was working it became clear to us that we had the perfect shows in imperfect parts of the day. So we are fixing it.

“Judith and her team’s great talents and very special brand of humour is a natural for the afternoon. And it makes sense.”

Judith Lucy says she is happy to be back on air during the cocktail hour:

“I have been told that I’m the kind of comedian that people would love to have a drink with and the kind of people that wanted to have a drink with me at seven o’clock in the morning are not my kind of people… Frankly if Austereo had offered this job to me last November do you think that I would have spent the year going to bed at 8pm and waking up in the dark?

“Drive is a great shift for comedians, more time to talk, less rush and I think that people are a lot more keen on drinking stories when they are leaving work than when they’re heading in.”

Michael Anderson believes Kyle and Jackie O are a great fit for breakfast and says research confirms this view.

“There we were minding our own business, enjoying the drive shift,” recounts Kyle, “when Austereo’s Sydney General Manager Patrick Joyce called us into a meeting in Michael’s office. I immediately thought someone important had complained again. But no, worse, they were talking about ruining my nights out during the week.”

Jackie O thinks getting up before dawn will be a challenge, but is “thrilled” to get the chance to do Breakfast. She wonders if Kyle’s breakfast mood will be any better than his end of day mood.

Patrick Joyce says he has “enormous faith in both teams and both shows.”