What next for 4BC?
The embattled radio station needs a dramatic, research-based overhaul and some real commitment.
On Tuesday morning this week, before the fateful survey 4 radio ratings results were published, I was in an Uber on my way into the city.
I was enjoying the music from the car radio, so I asked the driver what station we were listening to. He replied: “I don’t actually know, but I can find out.”
A few taps on his touch screen later, and it turned out it was The Breeze 92.1, a Gold Coast-Logan station that can be picked up loud and clear on Brisbane’s southside.
Now, as I’m writing about a dramatic week in radio, I’m listening to Breeze again — to songs from Elvis Presley, Phil Collins and Billy Joel, and to very short commercial and talk breaks (at the moment from Brisbane radio royalty Donna Lynch).
It’s a reminder that there’s a lot to listen to on the radio, and that the Breeze is many things that the real topic of this post, 4BC, is not.
In case you haven’t caught up, 4BC has axed yet another Breakfast show in the wake of disastrous ratings.
Sofie Formica and Dean Miller are out, Jason Matthews is in, and the daytime deck has been reshuffled, with the addition of a networked program from Sydney between noon and 3pm (although what happens when daylight saving kicks in is not clear.)
The revolving door is not doing 4BC any favours. You can’t expect new listeners to come on board if they think the show they are listening to, and perhaps enjoying, might not be on air in a few months.
But at the same time, I don’t think this latest “temporary” (4BC’s description, not mine) fix will do the trick.
If the bosses at Tapt Media, which recently bought 4BC from Nine Entertainment, are serious about building a great Brisbane radio station, they need to do a lot of research into the local market.
And they should be prepared to put everything — including the format — on the table.
Given recent results for 612 ABC and 4BC — and the growth of online influencers and social media, where everyone can have their own say in their own way — it is entirely possible that talk radio as we know it is simply no longer viable.
Yes, you can point to ongoing successes in Sydney and Melbourne, but even 2GB is being beaten by music station Smooth FM, whose Breakfast host, Bogart Torelli, is also steadily making gains.
The owners’ response to that is that main game is in streaming, but it’s clear 2GB is not the behemoth it once was. And I would argue that 3AW’s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft are so popular in Melbourne that they transcend the format.
Back to Brisbane. If the plan is to build Jason Matthews up into Brisbane’s Ben Fordham, then I think it’s a bad plan. They tried that with Peter Fegan (whose local credentials are much stronger than Matthews’s) and it didn’t work.
While there are plenty of people online who say they want a more right-wing talk radio show, is that really what Brisbane audiences want on terrestrial radio? If so, why has there been no growth in Matthews’s current audience or that of Drive host Gary Hardgrave, who’ll now be doing the wokey-pokey in the Mornings shift?
If I were running the show — and I am available — I’d being doing some serious, objective homework on where the market opportunities are before making any commitments.
And committing is the keyword here. When the Tapt bosses are sure of what they want to do — after doing proper research, not just listening to the people who make a lot of noise online (including me!) — they must commit to it.
There will be no overnight success story.
It will take time to rebuild, but they’ve got to get the foundations right before they even start that process.
A few other things for Tapt to consider:
Is there too much “furniture” — half-hourly news bulletins, traffic reports every 10 minutes and very long strings of ads (many of which, I am told, are “contra” rather than paid-for) — and not enough flexibility in the current format? Also, I’m shocked that a lot of the stings and other audio haven’t changed since I worked there five years ago. It’s time to freshen all that up.
Should there be more music in the mix? Or more comedy? There should certainly be less sport. As I’ve said before, take away the prejudices about how much we love sport and have a really good look at the numbers for Sport Today and the Continuous Call Team. Those shows ought to go.
If further networking is on the agenda, remember that trying to please Brisbane audiences might work to the detriment of the Sydney shows. (Case in point: Christian O’Connell has lost audience in Melbourne since his GOLD Breakfast show went national.)
And, finally, if Tapt — which is now saying it plans to be “live and local where sustainable” — is thinking of fully networking 2GB into Brisbane, then why not just sell the 4BC licence? Tapt could just place 2GB onto one of 4BH’s DAB+ multichannels and spend some of the sale proceeds, and savings, promoting that channel and the streaming options. The bonus is that whoever buys 4BC might show it the love and attention it deserves.
Footnote: Giving the “rolling” nature of the ratings surveys, it will be November 24 before results are released that do not include any time that Formica and Miller were on air.
Feedback
A lot of people have been contacting me since I broke the news of the changes at 4BC.
Among their thoughts:
“Teflon” managers live to fight yet another day while the staff (presenters and producers) pay the price. (Although another contact suggests the bosses might be next for the chop.)
Quite a few are asking why Formica couldn’t return to her old Afternoons shift. (My guess is that, even if she wanted to do this, part of the objective was to cut costs, which means taking people off the payroll.)
612 ABC should hire Formica — perhaps even pairing her with another former 4BC favourite, Bill McDonald.
Are overnight news bulletins pre-recorded? And, if so, do they actually count as news?
Why take The Garden Clinic from Sydney, when they could reinstate the successful Weekend Breakfast program, which included bespoke Brisbane gardening talkback?
Update
Here’s some video of me chatting about 4BC with Robert McKnight on McKnight Tonight:
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P.S.
Not only is the Gambaro name very well known in Brisbane, but you’d also think that the Courier-Mail would know how to spell its own reporter’s surname.
©2026 Brett Debritz. If I’ve inadvertently used copyrighted material, failed to give credit where it’s due, written or said something you disagree with, or otherwise upset or unexpectedly delighted you, please leave a comment, email me or connect with me at @debritz on X and Mastodon, @brettdebritz on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and BlueSky, and @radiobert on YouTube. Links provided as a courtesy; I take no responsibility for their contents or give any warranty of their veracity. AI image.
Disclaimer: Brett Debritz used to work for 4BC and usually knows how to spell his own name.