Popular Sydney radio identity Ray Hadley has announced he’s stepping down from his morning show, effective Dec. 13.

This is despite Hadley signing a contract extension in May last year that would have run for two-and-a-half years, keeping him on Nine Radio until the end of 2026.

But having been in radio for more then 40 years, Hadley told his audience that “the time has come for someone else to do the job.”

“It’s been a Hell of a ride, from a young bloke wanting to call the races, to being the old bloke sitting in this studio for so long,” he said.

He acknowledged the sacrifices of his children and wife, Sophie, to the pressures of the job.

“Back in September I turned 70 and started to think how long have I got left on this Earth,” Hadley said.

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“And do I want to keep getting up at 3.30 in the morning? At social events I’m always the first out the door. I don’t want to be the first out the door any more.”

His success is undeniable.

Last July, he marked 20 years rating number one in the highly-contested morning drive slot in Sydney—160 consecutive wins over his rivals.

At the time, Nine’s managing director of radio, Tom Malone, described him as “a broadcaster of unmatched work ethic and likely never-to-be-repeated success.”

But while the Australian Financial Review once described Hadley as one of Australia’s most powerful people, the main himself said that was over-rated.

“We [talkback hosts] are getting far too much credit,” he said earlier this year.

“You have victories every now and again. The listening audience in 2024 is far too sophisticated to be dictated to, by me or anyone else.”

‘Discovered’ Driving a Cab

But it was while driving a cab in 1980 that Hadley got his break, when he picked up then 2UE news director, Mark Collier, who offered him casual work.

He became a traffic presenter, a race caller, then a rugby league commentator on 2GB. He began presenting the station’s morning show in 2002.

He was briefly suspended in 2013 for allegedly verbally abusing a young staffer. Former staff also accused him of verbal abuse in 2019.

When Nine released a report revealing a culture of bullying last month, Hadley said he was living proof of people’s capacity to change their behaviour.

“As you all know, 10 years ago, I decided my rather robust way of dealing with some matters had to change, particularly in relation to my dealings with men I work with,” he said.

During his career he amassed a total of 35 Australian Commercial Radio Award (ACRA) awards and in 2017 was inducted into the ACRA Hall of Fame.

In 2003, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), acknowledging his commitment to rugby league and extensive fundraising efforts for charities.

Aside from talkback, he also presented the Ray Hadley Country Music Countdown, which boosted emerging talent in Australian country music and ran for for 573 episodes over 16 years, winning him the Country Music Capital Award at the Golden Guitar Awards earlier this year.