ARN has announced thatMike Etheridge and Emma Chow from The Edge’s Mike E & Emma have decided to leave the station, having wrapped their final breakfast show last Friday. The show originally launched in 2011.
The Edge specifically targets the under 30s of Western Sydney, one of the fastest growing markets in Australia.
Etheridge and Chow said, “It’s very bittersweet saying goodbye to The Edge, which has been our home for eleven wild years. We’re incredibly proud of the show we have created and the audience we have built, but it’s time to grow and evolve. We’re really excited about the next chapter of our broadcasting career and look forward to sharing it with you in 2022!”
ARN’s chief content officer Duncan Campbell also added: “Mike E and Emma have been a valued part of The Edge brand for over ten years and have built a loyal and engaged audience. They are two fantastic broadcasters, who have a genuine passion for their audience and music, that’s very hard to beat.
“We want to thank Mike E and Emma for all their work in making The Edge what it is today, and we look forward to seeing what they do next.”
Earlier this year Mediaweek‘s Tess Connery spoke to the pair about what it was like broadcasting in Western Sydney.
Etheridge: “They’re slightly more conservative. When people talk about under 30s quite often they think gen z and millennials that live in inner-city share houses with the cliches about avocado toast Our listeners aren’t like that, the first time they move out might be with a partner and they’ll buy a Masterton home in one of the outer suburbs. They do life stages earlier. I’m constantly amazed by talking to a listener and her age will be in brackets – it will say 21, and she’ll say something about her child.
“Also knowing that they’re not woke, they’re not your typical inner city resident studying three degrees before they move out and going to protest movements. I like to call them suburban millennials.”
See more: Mike E & Emma on why The Edge 96.1 is punching above its weight
Chow: “In terms of those suburban millennials not being woke, I think that it’s really important for us to set an example and inform them but not preach to them. Whether it’s gay marriage or getting the AstraZeneca jab, it’s really important for us to be informative, but not down your throat about social issues. They want to know about it, but they don’t want to be told how to live their lives in that woke way.”