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WHOOOHOOOO !!! James Valentine is staying on afternoons, where everyone in the whole wide world knew he belonged. This, according to today's Sydney Morning Herald, was by `mutual agreement', and fair enough. There was just no room for James to shine amidst all those bloody traffic reports and things.

Interestingly, the in-house frontrunners are apparently weekend host Simon Marnie and his current replacement on the weekend shift, Sarah McDonald. I've been predicting McDonald for a long time - like Catterns, a Triple J alumni who's paid her cultural dues (interestingly, must the same could be said for the lineup of the new DMG station for which Catterns was poached - former JJJ host Francis Leach will apparently also be doing a shift. Will this station be for those old farts that Triple J keep saying they want nothing to do with, but who still have fond memories of the Maynard F# Crabbes and Helen Razor/Mikey Robbins days???)

If Marnie does leave weekends, it'll be a seismic shift for his weekend show, which has been running for a good many years now (and has already seen a large, and very sad, change this year with the death of Les Miller, co-host of the popular `Weekend Woodies' segment). Marnie's enormously appealing, especially in the roll-over-listen-to-radio-in-bed shift he's on, but can he take on the Joneses and Carltons?

One thing's for sure - ABC better remember to take Catterns' voice off the emergency tape they play when there's a transmission problem, quick smart. It was still in place as of the 2 o'clock news on Sunday, and the DMG station is launching in a matter of weeks.