Kate Ritchie has officially returned to her role on Nova 96.9’s breakfast show Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie.
The former Home and Away star had been absent for the past six months after taking leave to deal with personal matters.
The announcement came this morning, with Michael “Wippa” Wipfli opening the show with a roll call: “It’s a Friday, and the whole team is here,” he began. He then listed the names of the current team members, including co-host Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald and executive producer Tom Ivey, before adding Ritchie’s name.
A clearly emotional Ritchie replied: “I have missed you very much.”
The on-air banter continued with Wippa telling Ritchie that “Sydney has missed you”, before joking: “To go on a six month holiday, right? You sent me photos from Indonesia!”
Ritchie responded: “I’ve been everywhere. Man, I’ve been everywhere. No, it was very exciting to be back this morning, Tommy [Ivey] met me in the car parking. In case somebody was parked, in my spot. Because, you know, we didn’t want to kick off with me having a tantrum.”
NOVA also released a statement, saying: “We’re delighted to welcome Kate back to Sydney Breakfast. Kate will be joining Fitzy and Wippa every Friday for the time being, as she eases back into her schedule. We know how much Kate has been missed and we’d like to thank our loyal Nova listeners for their continued support and well wishes.”
‘I did it for me’
The popular presenter also addressed her absence at the end of the show, thanking listeners for their support.
“The amount of people who have reached out to me over this period of time, and since earlier in the year, has been absolutely mind blowing.
“If you’re listening, and you were one of those people that reached out or stopped me in the street or even just smiled at me over the tomatoes in Harris Farm … for people to bother to actually say, without being intrusive, ‘Hey, it’s really nice to see you. Hope you’re doing well, can’t wait to hear you back on the radio.’” she said.
Ritchie ended the show by adding: “What has been the most important thing and the most different thing about things for me this time is that despite all of the support and the love that I feel, I didn’t do it for anybody else. I did it for me.”
Noted absence
The show suffered a notable drop in ratings since Ritchie went on leave in February.
According to the latest radio ratings, the 4th survey for the year, Nova 96.9’s cumulative audience dropped, while Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie, slipped into third place among FM competitors.
At the time, Nova Network Group Programming Director Brendan Taylor told Mediaweek the broadcaster was closely monitoring the shift. “There’s no doubt it always plays on my mind, naturally,” he said. “But if you look at it overall… we’re on a 7.0% share. This time last year we were a 5.9%.”
Taylor was pragmatic at the time admitting that audiences were no doubt reacting to Ritchies absence saying: “We’re a human medium and the audience is obviously reacting in some way.”