For years, Nine’s political reporter Chris O’Keefe has only known television. He has covered bikie brawls, hospital negligence, and political turmoil in a decade of journalism down Australia’s east coast.

But the coronavirus pandemic took him in a different direction. The pace of breaking news during the pandemic lent itself more to radio, where O’Keefe began filling in on his company’s Sydney talkback station, 2GB.

Now he’s making it official: O’Keefe will make radio his permanent home when he takes the reins of the 3pm drive show from January 9, a role that was held by former Seven sports presenter Jim Wilson until last Friday.

“The opportunity to do [radio] full-time came up and of course I was not going to say no to an opportunity like that,” O’Keefe says. “2GB has been broadcasting to Sydney for almost 100 years. That’s a pretty serious legacy. I understand that it’s a privilege and there’s a responsibility that comes with that, but I’m very excited.”

2GB drive show host Wilson quit the show last week after nearly two years on air to “pursue other opportunities with Nine television”. Wilson, a former sports presenter on the Seven Network, replaced Ben Fordham, who took over the coveted breakfast slot from industry stalwart Alan Jones. Nine owns The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

O’Keefe joined the Nine Network in 2012 as a reporter on the Gold Coast after a three-year stint at Network Ten in Sydney. He worked as a crime reporter before moving into politics, working in NSW and Canberra. O’Keefe loves breaking news on television, but he says radio offers a different kind of opportunity. He grew up listening to the industry’s most renowned presenters, John Laws, Ray Hadley and Alan Jones.

“I’m a news guy,” he says. “I love getting ahead of issues. I love campaigning on issues. I think radio is by far and away the best medium to do that. It’s personal. It’s like I’m having a one-on-one conversation with hundreds of people at the same time.”

O’Keefe is the latest programming lineup change for Nine Radio, which formed three years ago after the company bought remaining shares from John Singleton and Mark Carnegie. In that time, the company has dramatically overhauled its lineup in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, where it hired local hosts Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare, Mark Hine and Neil Breen.

Over the past five years, O’Keefe’s career has focused on major issues and events in the NSW and federal governments. That will be important in the lead up to the March 25 NSW state election, but he says he won’t be getting caught up in the politics of politics on air.