Former radio star slams Triple J for ousting host Richard Kingsmill in favor of ‘more commercial’ direction and not giving him farewell after three decades at the station: ‘It’s over in an instant’

A former Triple J star has attacked her old channel after sacking much-loved broadcaster Richard Kingsmill.

Kingsmill, 59, who has worked at Triple J since 1988 and was musical director for the channel, announced earlier this week that he was ‘stepping down’.

But staff leaks have now revealed that Kingsmill was ousted by the ABC’s senior management in a bid to take the channel ‘in a more commercial direction’.

Bridget Hustwaite, 32, who left her hit Good Nights show on Triple J last year, said on Instagram this week that the channel was “truly disgusted” for the way they treated Kingsmill.

“Luckily I don’t work at the ABC anymore so I can talk about this because I don’t have to worry about losing my job, which is pretty f***ed,” she said in her stories.

Kingsmill, 59, who has worked at Triple J since 1988 and was musical director for the channel, announced earlier this week that he was ‘resigning’, but staff leaks have now revealed that Kingsmill was ousted by senior management in a bid to close down the station move in ‘a more commercial direction’

She criticized Triple J for keeping Kingsmill’s final show ‘a secret’ and celebrated the veteran’s achievements, including launching the hit ‘Unearthed’ programme, which helped discover stars G Flip, Missy Higgins and Grinspoon.

She was especially scathing about the leaked news. Ben Latimer, Triple J’s head of audio, replaced Kingsmill with someone ‘more familiar with the commercial radio industry’.

‘Do you know who was the first person to play Ed Sheeran in Australia? It was Richard f***ing Kingsmill,” Hustwaite said in her post.

“So don’t even draw that line. Kingsmill could do that job.

‘Do you need someone with experience, knowledge and work ethic? Unparalleled. Good luck filling that void. Good luck.

‘I think it’s really disgusting. The lack of recognition, the not sending away. He wouldn’t have wanted a farewell anyway. But for a man who has worked there for more than thirty years? Come on.

Hustwaite, 32, who left her hit Good Nights show on Triple J last year, took to Instagram this week to say the channel was “truly disgusted” for the way they treated Kingsmill.

“I don’t work at the ABC and I don’t have to worry about losing my job, so I can be as unhinged and angry as I want. Because I know this is a shared feeling… It’s so cooked.”

Kingsmill’s departure from Triple J was announced in a press release on December 11, with the veteran saying he had decided to step down.

But on Dec. 13 The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that staff members had come forward to tell the publication that Kingsmill had been made redundant ahead of a restructure within the network.

They also told of a staff meeting in which former Nova director Latimer revealed plans to replace Kingsmill with someone more familiar with the ‘commercial radio’ industry.

In a statement, Kingsmill said: “Creating the Unearthed brand and the original concept was one thing… being able to discover the likes of Missy Higgins, Grinspoon, G Flip and Genesis Owusu is one of the greatest thrills and privileges for me . .’

Kingsmill said what he was most proud of “was Triple J increasing its Australian music content from 30 percent to 60 percent.”

He couldn’t resist criticizing commercial music stations for their choice of music.

Hustwaite was particularly scathing about the leaked news that Triple J head of audio Ben Latimer was replacing Kingsmill with someone ‘more familiar with the commercial radio industry’.

Hustwaite spoke out about the Kingsmill controversy, while Triple J staffers were ordered to remain anonymous after leaking the row to the media earlier this week

“For years all I heard from the commercial radio sector was that Australian music was bad for ratings,” he said.

“Well, we did what we did and more than doubled our audience reach in the process.”

Triple J saw the reach of its five capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide – grow from 980,000 in 2006 to 2.3 million in 2022.

Kingsmill said he had “a lot of passion but quite modest skills” when he joined the national broadcaster.

“I am incredibly grateful for the way the ABC continued to encourage me to grow and give me the time to develop,” he said.