Big moves are afoot at Nova to revamp Mornings in Sydney and Melbourne.
The traditional more music, less talk format, long a feature of FM workday timeslots, will give way to more engagement through personality providing a clearer point of difference between radio and music streaming.
In Melbourne, one of that city’s favourite son’s Matt Tilley will take over at 9am when the Breakfast show with Chrissie, Sam & Browny knocks off.
In Sydney, listeners will be able to hear Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small following Fitzy & Wippa.
In a statement, Nova Entertainment said, “This new line up of personality, entertainment and great music will give listeners in each market even more reasons to start their workday with Nova.”
Paul Jackson, NOVA Entertainment’s Group Programme Director said, “NOVA Entertainment will be at the forefront of change, delivering a new sound in workdays from 29 April. We are giving listeners more reasons to listen across the day with one of the biggest radio announcers in Melbourne and the most highly respected music announcer in Sydney. We’ve put together the strongest line up in both states, from breakfast with Fitzy & Wippa and Chrissie, Sam & Browny to workdays, followed by Australia’s number one drive show – Kate, Tim & Marty.”
Matt Tilley said, “It’s been nice to have a break from radio but I’m super keen to get back on and thrilled to be joining Nova. The fact that this shift fits in nicely with my parole conditions is purely coincidental.”
Matt is one of the city’s most successful radio announcers and is no stranger to Melburnians having spent over 20 years in breakfast radio on Fox FM, including 14 years at number one. For six years Matt was co-host of Tracy & Matt in the Morning before joining The Matt and Jo Show in 2003. The accomplished broadcaster and comedian will now deliver a new sound to mornings on Nova 100.
Complementing Matt during the workday, Troy Ellis will move to the new time of 12pm to 4pm in the afternoon. One of the most respected radio announcers with over 24 years media experience, Troy spent 10 years working alongside Matt Tilley on The Matt and Jo Show and joined Nova 100 in February 2018.
Meanwhile in Sydney, Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small will make the move to mornings on Nova 96.9. Smallzy has earned a global reputation in the music and entertainment industry for his close artist relationships and consistently engaging content.
Smallzy’s Surgery has been the number one national night show for more than five years, accruing 44 consecutive survey wins. Smallzy will deliver the content in mornings that Nova’s audience have come to know and love from the experienced broadcaster over the past 15 years. Listeners across Australia will also continue to hear Smallzy’s Surgery weeknights on the Nova Network.
Smallzy said, “I can’t wait to start entertaining the people of Sydney while they are working! As someone who grew up in Sydney I’m looking forward to the opportunities to connect to the local market, something that you can’t always do when you host a national show.”
With over 20 years of experience across multiple radio networks in various markets, Dan “DC” Cassin’s expertise in radio and music more widely will round out Sydney’s new workday sound from 12pm to 4pm.
Former Nova morning show presenter Greg Burns has moved back to the UK.