It will be the end of an era when the popular presenter conducts her last ever radio interview this coming Saturday.

In sad news for Margaret Throsby’s legions of fans, the popular broadcaster will conduct her last ever interview on radio this coming Saturday, October 28, when she talks with Australian composer Nigel Westlake between 9am and 12 noon. The Saturday Morning Program began on ABC Classic FM in January 2017, replacing The Midday Interview Program, the popular show Throsby hosted for 22 years from 1994 to 2016.

A story posted on the ABC website on Monday said that Throsby, who has more than 50 years experience in broadcasting, “will be staying on air at ABC Classic FM throughout 2018, bringing audiences some of the finest live music from Australian concerts” and that she “will also begin a new role at the ABC next year, where she will use the skills and experience gained throughout her long media career to support and mentor the next generation of ABC broadcasters and content-makers.”

“While the program won’t be back on air in 2018 we hope that listeners have enjoyed it, and the diversity of guests and music it offered in 2017,” said the ABC story.

The move puts an end to the last major music interview programme on ABC Classic FM. Greta Bradman will be in the chair for the Saturday Morning slot for the remainder of the year, but will bring audiences a revised format, which will be music rather than interview-focused.

Speaking to Limelight, Throsby said that the decision to change direction was hers. “I am delighted that my role at the ABC will be ongoing. I am looking forward to presenting live concerts on Classic FM next year, and to be being involved in some behind-the-scenes work with up-and-coming broadcasters. The Managing Director Michelle Guthrie is very supportive of this move, and is excited that the ABC will be exploring some new ground in training broadcasters and tapping into the wisdom of experts in the field.”

The news of Throsby’s imminent departure from The Saturday Morning Program was announced on air on ABC Classic FM last Saturday. Speaking to Classic FM presenter Russell Torrance, in a video posted on the ABC Classic FM Facebook page, Throsby said: “Well I’m not going anywhere particularly. But I won’t be doing Saturday Mornings anymore. I’m stopping next week, actually. But I’m moving onto other things, as they say. I thought it was time, I thought it was the moment in my life and in my career, if you can call it that, when it was time to, not step back so much as rethink where I’m up to.”

“I realised that there is a lot of stuff in my head about braodcasting that I’d like to share with people who are coming up through the ranks because I actually… I don’t use the word retire, I don’t think of retiring. I would hope that I’ll work all my life – I have that ambition to work all my life in some form or another. The idea of the golf course or the resort or holidays is not appealing to me at all… I like working. And I’ve had a wonderful time at the ABC, and the ABC’s really keen for me to do this too, which I’m enormously pleased about. The ABC from Michelle Guthrie down is picking up the idea of my doing something. I have to be a little bit vague because the arrangements aren’t quite finalised yet, but doing something in terms of helping newer, younger broadcasters come up through the ranks too.”

Asked by Torrance if we will still hear her on radio she said: “Yes! I’m addicted to radio – I find it a very satisfying sort of work. So next year, I’m not doing an on-air shift as such but I will be presenting concerts… since the beginning ABC Classic FM has covered concerts. I don’t know if it’s in the ABC Charter but certainly one of the core reasons that we exist is to bring music as it happens to audiences wherever they are. And it used to be across Australia, it’s now across the world. And I take that responsibility very seriously and it’s a form of work that I asbolutely adore. I love presenting concerts. So, I’ll be popping up, every month or so, presenting a concert from somewhere in the country.”

A spokesperson for ABC Classic FM told Limelight: “We’re delighted that Margaret is staying with the network to bring audiences some of the finest live concerts in the schedule, and in her new role sharing her extraordinary skills and experience with emerging broadcasters at the ABC.”