The ABC Radio National program MediaLand, which dissected the stories within the story creator industries, will not be returning in 2026. Tim Burrowes, who co-hosts the program with Vivienne Kelly, said with dry humour via Mumbrella:

“Experiencing radio’s killing season at first hand is oddly validating for someone who covers the media beat. It leaves me a little better qualified to understand how it is for those who live with the uncertainty of short term contracts to which the ABC is currently addicted. Nobody actually gets fired; they don’t get their contracts renewed.”

Tim and Vivienne were told of the decision on Friday with their last show to air on December 12.

This is an interesting contrast by the ABC in their approach compared to ARN, who had announced a string of shows that wouldn’t continue before their Upfronts at the end of October so that the hard launch of their new slate including Smallzy nationally, and Lowie to Brisbane Breakfast, refocused attention onto that.

The ABC tried that method last year and as a result the Upfronts were not the joyous and buoyant occasion the release of the 2026 slate was last week. There may be more changes for radio to come.

As for MediaLand, Tim said:

“We used to prerecord the show at 10.30am. The buzz never wore off of listening to it go to air a few hours later, as I drove to Woolies on a Friday night. I’d stay in the car until the show ended, rather than put in my earbuds and stream it while I was in the store. I’m a sentimentalist about the “so-called dying medium”, as (Hugh) Marks described it this week. The same words said on FM carry a little more weight than playing them on a podcast app.

We had some excellent guests. I hope we delivered on the ambitions the ABC’s head of audio Ben Latimer had when he conceived the show. I’ll always be grateful to him for the opportunity.”

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]