Nova has confirmed a major programming shake-up, with two of its biggest shows set to switch timeslots from February 9.
After months of industry speculation, the network announced on Thursday that its Sydney breakfast program, Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie, will move to a national afternoon slot.
From February 9, the trio will host Nova’s national drive show from 4–6pm on weekdays.
The move triggers further changes across the network’s Sydney line-up, with current drive hosts Ricki-Lee Coulter and Tim Blackwell shifting to breakfast.
Ricki-Lee and Tim will launch a new breakfast show on Nova Sydney, also beginning February 9, marking a significant change for both presenters.
Joel Creasey, who currently co-hosts the national drive program, will remain with Nova. The network confirmed details of his next project will be announced during Thursday afternoon’s drive show.
Tim Blackwell, who has hosted Nova’s national drive program for almost 15 years, said he was thrilled to be taking on the breakfast slot.
“It’s been a dream of mine to host Sydney Breakfast my entire career,” he told news.com.au.
“The fact I get to create a new show, in Sydney, for Sydney, with my best mate and wake up with the greatest city in the world every morning is a privilege that I don’t take for granted.”
Tim and Ricki-Lee have developed a close working relationship since Ricki-Lee joined the drive show full-time in March 2023.
Tim previously told the publication, “She’s (Ricki-Lee) like the female version of me … except that I can’t sing. She’s a bit of a control freak, she knows what she wants, she’s very vocal, she’s very powerful, she’s got her own ideas, and that’s why we love her so much.”
Ricki-Lee said she was ready for the move into breakfast radio, describing the change as an exciting challenge.
“Tim and I are so ready for this. I can’t wait!” she said in a statement.
The new pairing will enter one of Australia’s most competitive radio markets, facing long-running market leaders Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS FM, as well as Gold FM’s Christian O’Connell, whose breakfast program now airs in both Melbourne and Sydney.
For Fitzy and Wippa, the shift to afternoons marks a return to familiar territory. The duo previously hosted Nova’s national afternoon show in 2011 before moving to Sydney breakfast the following year.
“Fourteen, fifteen, who knows how many years we’ve been doing breakfast?” Wippa said in a statement. “I was roughly aged twelve, Fitzy’s voice hadn’t even dropped.”
Fitzy said the move would allow the show to connect with a broader audience across the country.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved with our audience in Sydney over the past 15 years, but equally excited to open up to our national family. It gives us an opportunity to travel around to see everyone and more importantly, claim all interstate trips as ‘work events’.”
Kate Ritchie, who joined Fitzy and Wippa in 2023, described the shift to afternoons as “an exciting evolution for all of us”.
The former Home and Away star previously spent a decade hosting the national drive program Kate, Tim and Marty.
“My morning alarm is ready and waiting to be set for packing school lunch and doing drop-off again with the beauty of entertaining our loyal listeners on their drive home,” she said.
Images: Instagram
