Discovering talent. Launching careers. Entries now open for Generation Fresh 2026

2025 winner Chelsea Barber surrounded by Generation Fresh finalists. Image supplied.

This time last year, Adelaide’s Fresh 927 launched a competition called Generation Fresh, with a bold promise: one person would win a permanent weekend show on the station.

“What we didn’t expect was just how big it would become,” says Fresh 927 Content Director Sean Craig Murphy.

The competition didn’t just discover new radio talent. It launched careers.

More than 100 people threw their hat in the ring. They included influencers, tradies, teachers, psychics, parents, creatives and storytellers from every corner of South Australia.

Anyone with a voice. Anyone with a dream.

And then came the real surprise. From the top 10 finalists alone, four went on to land weekend shows on Fresh.

Another four were snapped up by commercial radio stations across Australia.

Inaugural Generation Fresh winner Chelsea Barber now co-hosts Breakfast with Craig Pitman on Power FM SA in Murray Bridge.

Other commercial radio success stories include Sophie Tarrant (pictured above) – who yesterday wrapped up her final shift on Fresh 927 to take up a new role as the Workday announcer in Mount Gambier at SAFM 96.1 Limestone Coast – and Zack Southern, who now co-hosts Magic Breakfast in the Riverland.

Murphy says it’s been satisfying to discover through Generation Fresh that everyone is a content creator.

“Some are just better than others and that the best people aren’t necessarily the funniest and most extroverted. It all comes down to connection and authenticity.”

“I’m also secretly satisfied that a few other stations did their own version of Generation Fresh after ours.”

Generation Fresh 2026 kicks off today (Monday, April 27), and Murphy says this year the door is open wider than ever.

You can enter on your own, as a duo … or as a trio.

“If you’ve ever thought I could do radio. If you’ve got an idea, a personality, or a story worth hearing this is your moment.”

Entries are now officially open.

“It’s so easy to enter,” says Murphy. “Virtually no forms to fill out.”

“Film a 30 second video on your phone and flick it to Fresh. I think the main thing that makes (this competition) different is the casting. I hand pick the first 15 people not just on talent, but how different and entertaining they’ll be on air.”

And his hopes for this year’s instalment of Generation Fresh?

“To be surprised and excited by who applies, and to prove to the naysayers that radio is still thriving.”

Find all the entry details here.