Breakfast of Champions

All over town, breakfast presenters have been quitting the studio. Kyle at KIIS. Karl at Nine. And now the biggest shock of all. After four years, Danny Chifley is leaving community station 2SER. His last show as breakfast host  was Friday 3 July, from 6am to 9am.

‘It’s bittersweet,’ Chifley says. ‘It's been a very big part of my life. Also, I wish I could come up with the words, with the final thing I'm ever going to say on the radio as host of 2SER breakfast. And what songs should I play?’

It’s been a tumultuous year for 2SER, which was launched in 1979, but looked unlikely to survive 2026. Late last year, Macquarie University announced it was withdrawing its funding, leaving UTS carrying the can. As no extra funders stepped forward, the dollars started drying up. For those working at the station, it was rough.

‘It was really, really, really difficult,’ he says. ‘We were coming in every day, trying to do everything we could with what we had. We’re an organisation that's been around for 50 years, but at the start of the year, the word from the board was, “Oh, you know what, we're probably going to shut down as early as July”.’

Fortunately, the community mobilised. Robbie Buck wrote an opinion piece, detailing how the station had given him the skills and confidence to embark on a glittering career (my phrase, not his) at the ABC and beyond. Musician after musician gave glowing testimonials. And listeners were effusive on the Love 2SER website. Chifley has been feeling the love on his breakfast show too.

‘Thankfully the mobilisation by the community meant that the university [UTS] realised that it couldn't really shut it down because it meant too much to too many people. I always suspected that people like 2SER, but the fact that people are so passionate about it means a lot. People are coming to the realisation how important it is that we keep these creative outlets alive, because the world without these creative outlets doesn't seem like much of a world. And also the fact that there's hundreds of volunteers here, that means something as well, because it reverberates outward, each person that's here has got their own little community outside of that.’

The good news, then, is that calamity has been averted. 2SER will keep broadcasting. Even Snackademics (‘bite-sized big ideas’) may survive. The bad news is that 2SER’s reduced budget no longer covers the role of a paid breakfast presenter. ‘It's going to keep on going without me,’ Chifley says.

And of course, when one door closes, another opens. Has Chifley considered teaming up with Sandilands and Stefanovic?

‘Ah, the big three of local breakfast. Who knows? We’ve finally got the time. Our first guest could be Elon Musk. Wouldn't that just be the worst show ever?’

More likely is the prospect of Chifley continuing to contribute to 2SER in some way.

‘It's important to know that there are people out there who share your values and want to be a platform for all the beauty in the world. And for now I just want to come up with something really cool and fun and interesting to say [tomorrow]. You know, like when you leave school at the end of year 12 and you want to do something significant.’