The Australian newspaper says 2UE staff are worried about strings being pulled from Melbourne. A report written by Kylar Loussikian quotes an unnamed former producer saying staff were told to “be more like 3AW” or “try what worked in Melbourne,” as changes were made in 2UE at the beginning of this year.

She said “it was clear management had decided a softer breakfast with less strident talkback would work in Sydney as it had in Melbourne.”

Current producers pointed to the dropping of a popular public-transport update segment on Breakfast with Dicko & Sarah as one example of a Melbourne-based decision that was not working in the Sydney market, according to the report.

Chris Parker countered that proposition, telling The Australian that the segment had been dropped in line with “the look and feel of the new breakfast program.” He denied that “there was some dark force pulling strings from Melbourne” in making this decision.

The claims come after Clarke Forbes, 3AW’s Melbourne Program Director, was appointed National Content Director at the beginning of this year, as previously reported on radioinfo.