Sydney radio will sound different in 2025 without the ABC’s Richard Glover, who is stepping down from his Drive program, and the ABC, after a 26-year run.

Glover, often regarded as the face of the public broadcaster in Sydney, told his listeners of his departure on Friday afternoon, and said he had “hogged” one of the best jobs in Australian journalism for long enough.

“It’s been a tough decision, but I’ve decided to leave the ABC Radio Sydney Drive show after 26 years, finishing at the end of November,” Glover said in a statement.

“It has a terrific audience – funny, wise, full of intellect, but also willing to share some of the deeper stories of being human. The program also offers the chance to do anything. Every afternoon we have politics, literature, music and comedy, all jockeying for position.”

Moving with the times, the radio veteran was one of the first broadcasters to move his show to the ABC’s new offices in Parramatta this year. His Thank God It’s Friday show has been broadcast in front of a live audience every week since 2009. It first ran when he was appointed to Drive in 1998.

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While there may be more opportunities at the ABC in the future, Glover said his immediate plans were to keep writing his weekly column for The Sydney Morning Herald, to write another book and to “dote over” his three grandchildren.

“I also plan to get my knees done [after years of boring my listeners with my problems].

“I’ll miss the listeners, of course, but also my fabulous colleagues at 702 ABC Radio Sydney – radio’s best team.”