MELBOURNE — The ABC now has a hole in its graveyard shift. Trevor Chappell’s final Overnights broadcast is set for Thursday, July 30. After that, the microphone goes silent.
No replacement has been named. Chappell is 65.
He has spent 26 years on the overnight program. That is a quarter-century of 3am shifts. The ABC confirmed his retirement through 774 ABC Melbourne’s Shelley Hadfield.
The decision was not taken lightly, one suspects. The man has talked while the country slept.
The Overnights audience is specific. Shift workers. Security guards.
Truck drivers. New parents. Insomniacs.
These are the people who hear Chappell’s voice in the small hours. They are loyal.
They are peculiar. They rarely make headlines. But they are a fixture of the program.
What happens now is the question. The ABC has not announced a successor.
The network will have to find someone who can maintain warmth and clarity at 3am. That is not an easy ask. Most broadcasters are asleep at that hour.
Chappell did it for 26 years. The next presenter will have to do the same. The Overnights slot is demanding.
It is a graveyard shift in the truest sense. National emergencies happen at night.
Quiet moments happen at night. The presenter must handle both. Chappell did.
His voice was a constant through countless late-night shifts. Through the hum of a continent at rest.
His final broadcast will be his last chance to sign off. For an audience that knows his voice intimately. Many have never seen his face.
That is the nature of radio. The voice becomes the person. Chappell has been that voice for 26 years.
The retirement date is set. July 30.
That is a Thursday. The program will go on. But the voice will change.
The ABC has time to find a replacement. They have not said who it will be.
They have not said when they will announce it. For now, the focus is on Chappell’s exit. He has been a familiar voice for night owls across the country.
He has anchored Overnights for more than a quarter of a century. That is a long run for any program. It is a very long run for a graveyard shift.
The show rarely makes headlines. It is deeply embedded in Australian radio.
It is a fixture for those awake in the small hours. Chappell’s departure marks the end of an era. The next era begins on July 31.
Who will be behind the mic? That is the only concrete next step.
The ABC has not made it public. Listeners will have to wait. The network will make a decision.
It will announce a replacement. That is the next date to watch. Until then, Chappell has a few more nights on air.
He will host his final show on July 30. Then he hangs up the mic.
The rest of the country will sleep. Someone else will have to talk.
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