So, after losing almost 50% of the audience of the Radio National morning show that listened to Fran Kelly for many years, her replacement, Patricia Karvelas, is leaving after just three years in the presidency.
Enough damage has been done, it's time to find a new host. The search is apparently ongoing.
It's difficult to really know whose decision it was for Karvelas to move forward. The official line is that the new presenter wanted to leave the role she had long coveted.
And ABC's new president, Kim Williams, has made no secret of her desire to lift ABC radio's poor programming performance.
At the very least, Williams is clearly not fazed by losing Karvelas from the lineup that will aim to improve ABC radio's performance in the coming months and years.
ABC's declining ratings need not worry, however, as Karvelas will continue to host the (no longer) weekly television program QandA, although its ratings are also down from what they were when Tony Jones led vibrant and interesting discussions.
ABC reduced its number of episodes each year from 40 to just 24.
He returns on October 21st. I'm sure some Australians marked the date in their diaries with great anticipation.
Patricia Karvelas is stepping down as presenter at ABC Radio National after three years in office
I used to be an avid listener of Kelly's when she hosted the RN breakfast. I am part of this 43% collapse in program ratings.
Kelly was an unashamed leftist when she was hosting, but she was an equal-opportunity interviewer when grilling politicians.
And his style was the perfect start to the day – easy listening, providing high quality analysis and guests.
Most importantly, she led nuanced discussions that avoided preaching to listeners, telling them what to think.
The tone of the program at that time was informative and enjoyable to listen to.
Everything changed when Kelly left, much of his audience changed as well, seemingly uninterested in being lectured by his replacement.
While ABC likes to claim that it provides analysis rather than opinion in its on-air offerings that examine politics, that simply isn't the case for some of its next-gen hosts.
The lines blur, the lectures begin, absolutism about what is right and what is wrong is shoved down people's throats – as if having an alternative opinion is morally unacceptable.
Therefore, listeners choose to get their news elsewhere. Where they do not feel like an inferior being for occasionally disagreeing with the certainty of the opinions offered.
On commercial radio, opinions are encouraged and can be tabloid in nature. But at ABC, where the views are left-wing rather than mainstream, they are sometimes irritating.
Karvelas' style irritates more than most, which is probably why she failed to retain those of us who never missed an episode of what Kelly previously served up every morning.
ABC's new president, Kim Williams, has made no secret of his desire to lift ABC radio's poor programming performance. Above, with Communications Minister Michelle Rowland
When Karvelas started in the role, the then political editor of Rádio Nacional, Alison Carabine, also changed, which would not have helped the new presenter retain the program's audience.
Like Kelly, Carabine was fair and balanced, whatever her personal opinions.
She had been in the parliamentary gallery for decades and knew the subject. It was a huge loss for the program.
If ABC wants to get Williams' view of what the network should be right, management will need to step up.
It needs to take the blame for putting the wrong people in the right jobs to make ABC programming a success.
News director Justin Stevens — who was appointed after Karvelas was sworn into the role but has seen his ratings drop — has been mediocre.
And outgoing managing director David Anderson led from behind, letting the inmates run the asylum rather than showing the toughness an ABC boss needs.
Otherwise, the proverbial tail wags the dog on public broadcasting.
If the ABC is to find a way to return to the high standards it previously set, a clean-up of management is as important as a clean-up of the unrated presenters.
After all, it was the administration that made the decisions to appoint the hosts that failed. They should be as responsible for poor performance as a football coach.
