Karen Leng to take over Double J Mornings from Zan Rowe

Take 5 with Zan Rowe new year's eve

Rowe will focus on bringing Take 5 back to the screen

From Monday, April 3, Zan Rowe will take a break from presenting Double J Mornings every day for the rest of the year, as she focuses on bringing Take 5 back to the screen.

Double J listeners can hear Karen Leng on Mornings from 9am-midday Monday to Thursday for the rest of 2023. Rowe will be heard once a week, rounding out the week by hosting Friday Mornings with Take 5 and DESKO.

Season two of Take 5 with Zan Rowe is coming later this year to ABC TV and ABC iview. 

The Take 5 podcast also continues following a string of guests in 2023 including Wet Leg, Julia Jacklin, Fontaines D.C., Angel Olsen and Mo’Ju. Rowe continues as Double J’s Music Correspondent across the ABC, including on News Breakfast. Plus, she’ll still be co-hosting the weekly Bang On podcast with Myf Warhurst and will work on other exciting projects and content for Double J.

Leng is a champion of new music and has a wide-ranging, in-depth knowledge of music history and trends across genres. Leng has presented on Double J since the station’s launch in 2014 and currently hosts Curated. Following a 30-year stint at Melbourne-based community radio station Triple R, Leng was also a triple j host in the nineties and played a pivotal role on ABC TV’s Recovery.

Curated will continue as a weekly program on Double J, and the ABC listen app, returning after Easter.

At the end of last year, Mediaweek spoke to Zan Rowe about what people can expect from season two of Take 5 on ABC TV. 

That was a dream come true for me to launch Take 5 into TV, it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for years. The radio segment has been going since 2006, the podcast began in 2017, but to bring the heart of what it is as an audio product, we really worked hard to make that work on screen. 

Having music conversations on primetime TV is something that I’ve been championing for many years working at the ABC, and to do that with Take 5, which is one of my greatest career highlights, was huge.”

“Next year, I’m looking forward to diving in and taking everything that we’ve learned from season one, and making season two even better. With more episodes too, which will be great,” she said.

See also: Zan Rowe on bringing in 2023 with ABC’s New Year’s Eve celebrations

Top image: Zan Rowe

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