Austereo Jump at J Staff
Article from the Herald Sun - Wednesday 18th November '98.

Jane Gazzo, Triple J's night host and co-host of ABC-TV's Recovery, is abandoning her media career.

Gazzo will not be back on either programs next year.

"She feels she's hit a bit much too soon and over-committed", an ABC source says. "She feels she needs to step back, evaluate and see if this is what she really wants to do."

Meanwhile, Triple J's staff are being raided by Austero, which owns stations around the country, including Melbourne's Fox FM and Triple M.

Its executives had dinner with Triple J  breakfast host Mikey Robins, who revealed last week he would not be back in the shift next year. And they have called Triple J afternoon host Adam Spencer and weekend comedians Merrick and Rosso.

"Mikey's a really likeable talent and he's resigned, so obviously we'll talk to him," says Austereo network program director Jeff Allis.

"We went out for dinner and had a lot of laughs at a lot of people's expense and it's the beginning of a very beautiful friendship."

Robins says: "I've spoken to Austereo a couple of times in the past few years. I've always thought Austereo as the scary corporate boogie network, but I have mates whosay it's not like that anymore."

Meanwhile, Trple J staf are manouvring to replace Robins, who will leave on December 4 to concentrate on his TV pursuits.

While not in the disaster zone, Triple J's breakfast show has rated only fairly this year, consistently under the station average.

A likely scenario will see Spencer move to breakfast, with Merrick and Rossos taking the afternoon shift.

See also: "It's time out for Jane"

Special thanks to Brianna for finding and typing this up for me.