![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/922e64ea0bb8c5ae78447a0f3b7945846f790b9f.png\")
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March 21, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Back in 2018, the first time Karl Stefanovic left the Today program, he said this: \u201cI never in my wildest dreams thought I would be good enough to host this grand show for so long.\u201d It was a suitably humble observation from a man who, despite the occasional headline that might have suggested he was a bit of a boofhead, is regarded by those who know him as a very decent fellow.<\/p>\n But like all such moments in television, steeped in the personal and the specific, the haze of feelings obscures the deeper truth of the business: it is an ever-changing, impersonal medium which has turned the art of reselling the same ideas with new faces into a kind of hypnotic alchemy.<\/p>\n Indeed, when the day comes that Stefanovic leaves Today \u2013 sooner rather than later, if the breathless reporting is based on anything more than the wild imaginings of restless journalists \u2013 it will not be because of some dramatic behind-the-scenes Machiavellian twist.<\/p>\n Rather, it will be because in television it was ever thus. Lisa Wilkinson moved on. So did Tracy Grimshaw. Liz Hayes. Steve Liebmann. Patrice Newell. George Negus. Sue Kellaway. Fatigue is inevitable. If Stefanovic goes after 25 years with Nine, which is the owner of this masthead, he will have lasted longer than most. If you can say one thing about television, it is a fickle medium.<\/p>\n The momentum behind this story, however, stems mostly from Stefanovic himself, and the decision to shift his \u201cbrand\u201d into so-called male-perspective podcasting<\/a>. To that end, he\u2019s using The Joe Rogan Experience business model as a loose blueprint: soft right-wing, anti-woke, say-it-like-it-is, mainstream-narrative scepticism.<\/p>\n You\u2019d applaud it for innovation, were it not a carbon copy of scores of other podcasts that stepped into the space and gained significant early traction in President Donald Trump\u2019s America, often in smarter ways. Which is not to say it won\u2019t work. By any measure, it\u2019s a hit.<\/p>\n But the audience data suggests it\u2019s mostly a hit when Stefanovic hands the platform to right-leaning politicians (Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce, Jacinta Price, Matt Canavan), delivering audiences up to and past 150,000 plays on the more provocatively titled clips.<\/p>\n Less popular are episodes on which the show depends to prove its balance and objectivity. Stefanovic\u2019s chats with UFC fighter Alexander Volkanovski and chef Curtis Stone, for example, barely cracked 25,000.<\/p>\n ISIS brides, Kyle Sandilands and immigration all landed loud. \u201cThe government has completely let us down on petrol.\u201d \u201cWe sold out our own people.\u201d \u201cIf we let the Iranians stay, we open the floodgates.\u201d \u201cClimate change is bullshit.\u201d And my favourite: \u201cYou can\u2019t run the country on slogans.\u201d There are currently 134 videos on the The Karl Stefanovic Show YouTube page that suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n Such disparity in audience week to week, and clip to clip, is revealing: there is an echo-chamber of hungry right-wing audiences looking to hear their views reflected back to them. And, on the off week when Curtis Stone is in the hot seat for the audio equivalent of a breakfast TV cooking segment, the audience is elsewhere, most likely listening to Joe Rogan, Theo Von or Andrew Schulz.<\/p>\n None of this is breaking news. The ebb and flow of the audience for similar programs in the US is the same. It is why those shows lean into the red-button issues that they do. Some eventually fall into an abyss of their own making. Others circle the drain, hanging on long enough to turn a profit before evolving into something new, but still familiar. Never say the media isn\u2019t pro-recycling.<\/p>\n It is also late in the half-life of the genre. Voter fatigue with Trump Americanomics is reflected in audience fatigue with anxiety (or cringe) inducing media hyperbole. Even Joe Rogan is rolling back his endorsement of America\u2019s hardline politics.<\/p>\n Stefanovic imagines himself as a more suburban version of Joe Rogan \u2013 a Joe Bogan, if you will, he has said \u2013 though whether he can fully transform himself into the character he\u2019s trying to play for his YouTube audience remains to be seen. Rogan is not technically a \u201cmanosphere\u201d podcaster, but his manosphere-adjacent podcast often platforms anti-feminist, misogynist and troubling viewpoints.<\/p>\n Is that really the new platform for the man who wore the same blue suit for a whole year \u2013 2014 \u2013 to prove that women on television were held to a higher, unfair appearance standard? Or the man who said, \u201csay yes to gay marriage, and let\u2019s live happily ever after\u201d. Or the man who said refugees have \u201cgiven their blood, sweat and tears and handed down their values to the next generations\u201d.<\/p>\n The truth is, television ultimately makes liars of us all. It might seem surprising to say that shock jock Stan Zemanek was, off-screen, the loveliest of men, well-mannered and very deferential to the women in his company. Or that Kyle Sandilands is, away from the microphone, a genuinely nice guy, personable and friendly.<\/p>\n Is the real Karl Stefanovic the guy who said (on TV) that in order to \u201cmove forward together hand in hand, arm in arm\u201d then we need to change the date of Australia Day? Or is he the guy who said (on his podcast) he was \u201clegitimately sorry\u201d for encouraging Australians to take the COVID-19 vaccination shot? Like many people in the media ice-skating around an ever-moving spotlight, he will, ultimately, play the character he has been cast to play.<\/p>\n And there is a bigger risk than Stefanovic\u2019s new audience finding out his views do not align with theirs on a raft of right-wing, red-pill topics.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re rebranding into rage-bait radio, you discover just what a broad church it is. Joe Rogan, Chris Williamson (Modern Wisdom) and Brett McKay (The Art of Manliness) are soft touches. Nick Fuentes, Rollo Tomassi, Pearl Davis and Andrew Tate are far more dangerous. And broad churches become risky places when you can\u2019t control the pulpit. Stefanovic is not those guys, but they come with the buy-in.<\/p>\n While speculation about Nine is a full-time job for some, renewed speculation about Stefanovic\u2019s future was amplified by the headline-making departure of newsreader Georgie Gardner in Sydney<\/a>, after almost 25 years of service at Nine. Such changes are often divined by the media\u2019s soothsayers as signs of something larger. And perhaps they are. But a restructure of Today? It\u2019s hard to tell.<\/p>\n The problem with superficial analysis is that all it ever reveals is the Sydney-centric nature of the national media. Widen your view, and you start to see all the other changes: Nine Queensland sports anchor Jonathan Uptin leaving after 31 years, Nine Melbourne weather presenter Livinia Nixon leaving after 20 years, and Nine Adelaide news presenter Kate Collins leaving after 19 years. Ten also lost Chris Bath as anchor of their weekend news.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick In the 1980s and 1990s Seven, Nine and Ten had dozens of newsreaders, personalities and presenters on hefty contracts. They had so many, at any given time, some were even warehoused. Nowadays, in stark contrast, even the hosts of major franchises are only contracted for the run of series.<\/p>\n Radio station 2GB may be open to signing Stefanovic to the kind of deal that Nine, in 2026, is unwilling or unable to. Rumours put it in the $3 million ballpark. He is also said to be in talks with ARN, which owns KIIS<\/a>.<\/p>\n Factoring in Nine\u2019s $100 million restructuring program, one thing is abundantly clear: television networks are adapting to real-world economics, and the reality that long-term, high six-figure and seven-figure talent contracts are no longer sustainable.<\/p>\n Before you rebuke Stefanovic, you may have to congratulate him for pulling the ripcord first.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Karl](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774110260_854_9b681b3fc035535700f7fcd1c15dbe7feba25bc1.jpeg\")
Karl Stefanovic and Pauline Hanson on The Karl Stefanovic Show.YouTube<\/p>\n![\"\u201cYou](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9384236114efdd8acef5e70cf7b1ef211804915f3ab23fd5a748c156ed2aac34.jpeg\")
\u201cYou can\u2019t run the country on slogans.\u201d The Karl Stefanovic Show giving it a red hot go.YouTube<\/p>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/7da5dcb3a6a205143c9484354bea73fc41de2458.jpeg\")
Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? American podcaster Joe Rogan.<\/p>\n![\"Today](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/daa005d39f22c28617ec4b5e760b087ea0fc2ecd.jpeg\")
Today hosts Steve Liebmann and Tracy Grimshaw in 2004.The Sunday Age<\/p>\n![\"Hudson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773722231_416_cb1a43ea997dea717e9d85f7fa29761a9ed1dc37.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/922e64ea0bb8c5ae78447a0f3b7945846f790b9f.png\")
Michael Idato<\/a> is the culture editor-at-large of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 21, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-555265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}