The Christian O'Connell Show is a multi-award-winning radio show, hosted by Christian O'Connell.
The show was originally produced in the United Kingdom, starting as The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on a local station in Bournemouth in 1998, going national in 2001, then moving with O'Connell to Australia in 2018. Though still broadcast live as a morning show, the word "Breakfast" has been dropped from the title to reflect the various times it airs in different Australian markets.
The show airs between 6 am and 9am on weekdays on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne and between 7 pm and 8pm on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, WSFM in Sydney, 97.3 FM in Brisbane, Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and 96FM in Perth.
A daily podcast of the previous morning's show is also produced.
History
O'Connell's started The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show in 1998, broadcast to the local Bournemouth, England market on station 2CR FM. In January 2000, the show moved to the larger, but still local, Liverpool market, on station Juice FM. O'Connell moved to London in January 2001, where the show was broadcast on XFM London. In January 2006, the show went national in the United Kingdom, broadcasting on Virgin Radio UK. In September 2008, the broadcast moved to Virgin Radio's successor station, Absolute Radio.
In February 2018, O'Connell announced he would be leaving Absolute Radio and emigrating to Australia to host the breakfast show on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne. The final UK show was broadcast on 18 May 2018. The last song played on the show was "Nothing Lasts Forever" by Echo & the Bunnymen.
Christian started his new show on Melbourne's Gold 104.3 on Monday 4 June 2018. The first song played on air was "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" by AC/DC.
In October 2019, ARN announced that the show will remain on Gold 104.3 until 2022.
In April 2020, ARN announced that The Christian O'Connell Show will be syndicated across the country from Monday 27 April, airing for one hour from 7 pm until 8 pm on weeknights on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, WSFM in Sydney, 97.3 FM in Brisbane, Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and 96FM in Perth. The show is highlights from the breakfast show which airs on Gold 104.3.
in February 2022, ARN announced that The Christian O'Connell Show will be further syndicated across country Victoria and New South Wales airing from 5 pm until 6 pm on 3CS Colac, 3YBFM Warrnambool, 3HA Hamilton, 3WM Horsham, 2QN Deniliquin/Echuca, 3NE Wangaratta and Gippsland’s Gold.
Team
Christian O'Connell
Christian O'Connell (born 7 April 1973) is a British radio presenter. He began presenting on 2CR in Bournemouth in 1999, moving to Juice FM in Liverpool in 2000. He later moved to the weekday breakfast show on XFM and hosting Fighting Talk on BBC Radio 5 Live. After departing xFM, O'Connell began hosting the weekday morning breakfast show on Virgin Radio, then Absolute Radio (from 2006 - 2018) and Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, Australia.
Jack Post
Jack Post (born 10 November 1987) is O'Connell's producer and sidekick. He was previously a producer and contributor to the Hamish & Andy radio show. He continues to work on the Hamish & Andy podcast in parallel.
Patrina Jones (Pats) Patrina Jones (born 27 June) is a newsreader and regular contributor on the show. She has been the voice of Gold 104.3 breakfast news since 2012. In October 2023, Jones won an ACRA, The Glenn Daniel Award - Best News Presenter FM.