After five years of waking up Melbourne, Breakfast presenter Sammy J has announced he will hang up the microphone next month.
Sammy began hosting ABC Radio Melbourne Breakfast just weeks before the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, quickly becoming an important source of fun, information and companionship for locked down Melburnians.
“Hosting Melbourne Breakfast was an unexpected opportunity that became an unexpected joy,” Sammy J said. “But radio demands all of you and deserves nothing less, and after five years I’m ready to trade the 4:15am alarm for more regular hours.
“I leave with pride, gratitude, and a litany of cash-for-comment scandals that will be revealed in due course.”
Sammy has always applied his creative thinking to his program.
Last November, he did a marathon 24-hour broadcast to raise money for SecondBite as part of the annual ABC Gives charity appeal. In October, Sammy wrote and led a skit of all ABC Radio Melbourne presenters for the station’s 100th birthday. As part of his Missing Moments series, Sammy helped listeners experience the big events that had been cancelled due to Melbourne’s lockdowns.
A prolific songwriter, Sammy wrote viral songs to farewell Melbourne’s e-scooters, the Airport Rail Link, Premier Dan Andrews and Captain Cook’s feet, to welcome Taylor Swift and to explain Lord Voldemort’s thoughts on a proposal to build a Harry Potter theme park.
In true Sammy fashion, he farewelled listeners with a song on this morning’s program.
ABC Radio Melbourne Acting Manager Shelley Hadfield said Sammy’s quick wit and creative flair had given Melburnians a unique view of the news of the day.
“Sammy has asked the questions we never knew we wanted answered,” Shelley said. “He’s grilled the Prime Minister and the Premier, he broke the news to Melbourne of the Queen’s death, and he’s interviewed musicians, magicians, meat workers and mathematicians.
“But it’s Sammy’s connection with the audience which has been a hallmark of his time at 774. You only had to see the listeners turn up at the crack of dawn for his outside broadcasts to understand what an impact he has had on people’s lives.”
Sammy will present his final Breakfast program on Friday, December 13. Announcements about the 2025 line-up on ABC Radio Melbourne will be made in the coming week.
Media contact
Laura Todd, ABC Communications
[email protected]