Neil Mitchell’s Departure Marks the End of an Era at 3AW Mornings

End of an era: Neil Mitchell to leave 3AW Mornings after 33 years

By Calum Jaspan

Updated September 1, 2023 — 11.49am first published at 8.35am

Two years ago, one of the most recognised voices on Melbourne radio said there was nothing he would rather be doing than sitting behind the microphone hosting Mornings at 3AW. This morning, veteran radio host Neil Mitchell announced through that microphone he would retire after 33 years, ending weeks of speculation. Neil Mitchell’s final broadcast will be on December 1.

Reflections on a Remarkable Career

Scribbling notes, some muttering, a last-minute chat with his producer and a sip of water, Mitchell, 71, composed himself before telling his listeners, “it’s time to go”, broadcasting live from the middle of Southern Cross Station in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday morning. “I’m out with the real people, that’s what 3AW does.” Mitchell said his final broadcast date would be December 1. “I’m not doing a Gil McLachlan [outgoing AFL chief executive], I’m not doing a Damien Hardwick [Former Richmond, now Gold Coast Suns coach], I won’t be turning up in Radio National next year. “After 54 years of daily journalism, and daily headlines, I can only work one way, and that is flat out.”

Tom Malone, managing director of Nine Radio, said Mitchell’s reign “is a record that’s likely never to be beaten. Neil has been at the top of his game and the top of ratings for nearly all of that time. It’s an incredible run. We’d have loved him to stay on, but Neil is adamant it’s time.”

Fond Farewells and Melbourne Radio Landscape

Mitchell has occupied the 8.30am-12pm slot on the leading Melbourne radio station since 1990. The tributes rolled in instantly, Mitchell’s first caller already in a flood of tears, before several male listeners gushed over their favourite talkback host, and how much they will miss him. “They’ll be popping the champagne corks on Spring Street,” he joked, a reference to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who has not appeared on his show since 2017. “It’s a big day, a really significant day,” Andrews said at a press conference in Bendigo on Friday morning. “I’d simply say to Neil and to his family, I wish you all the best. It’s a really significant milestone.”

His retirement marks one of the most significant changes to the Melbourne radio landscape in years, coming a day after ABC competitor Virginia Trioli told listeners she was quitting radio, with Drive host Rafael Epstein appointed her replacement, also announced on Friday morning.

Mitchell has become known for his agenda-setting show, with a dominant stranglehold over the morning timeslot, an average audience of 143,000 in the most recent radio survey, released on Tuesday. In the same survey, he more than doubled the share of his closest competitor, growing from a 17.1 to 20.1 per cent overall share, while the station also boosted its overall share 2.1 points to 16.7 per cent, with breakfast duo Russel Howcroft and Ross Stevenson, also posting a 22.3 per cent share.

Successor Speculations and Future Plans

Drive host Tom Elliott is the favourite to be appointed Mitchell’s replacement, and if successful, will again go up against Epstein in the slot. Nine is the owner of 3AW and this masthead. He isn’t giving up the mic entirely, continuing his podcast Neil Mitchell Asks Why, with other potential roles within the Nine Network still to be ironed out, he said. “Some television and writing, perhaps.”

One of Nine’s highest-profile stars, Mitchell told this masthead in August the network had made it clear they wanted him to stay on, having recently signed a six-month contract extension until the end of 2023. Elliott has been 3AW’s drive host since 2013 and on Tuesday reclaimed the No.1 spot, with an 11.7 per cent share, and an average audience of 64,000.

Mitchell first joined 3AW in 1987 and was handed the Mornings show in 1990, which he has held since. For the majority of his 3AW career, Mitchell’s closest rival was ABC Melbourne’s Jon Faine, who stepped down from broadcasting in 2019.

The gap between Mitchell and his talkback competitors at the ABC has widened over the course of the past decade. His 20.1 per cent share in the fifth survey this year was unchallenged by Trioli’s 7.5 per cent share. In 2014, Mitchell held a 14.4 per cent share, while Faine’s share sat at 12.7 per cent. During pandemic-impacted 2020 and 2021, Trioli and ABC Melbourne closed the gap between the stations, somewhat.

Stephen Beers, 3AW station manager, said Mitchell “reinvented talkback radio in Melbourne”, with no one story or campaign able to sum him up. Mitchell has won a number of awards, including a Walkley Award in 2013 after breaking news live on air that Ford would stop manufacturing cars in Australia by 2016. He has also won eight Quill Awards, the Melbourne Press Club Journalist of the Year, several Australian Commercial Radio Awards as well as being made an officer of the Order of Australia.

This article was originally published on The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.