Trevor Chappell to replace Jacinta Parsons on ABC Melbourne Afternoons

It’s been announced that ABC Radio Melbourne presenter Trevor Chappell will move into Afternoons from next week until the end of the year.

Chappell replaces Jacinta Parsons, who announced last week that she was stepping away from the program.

Chappell, who has presented the ABC’s national Overnights radio program for 23 years, will take the reins in the 12:30pm to 3:30pm AEST slot from this Monday, July 31.

Chappell says he will miss the entire Overnights community and hopes some of those listeners will join him on the new day shift.

“I’ll miss the old program and the people but I’m excited about meeting new people.”

Parsons’ departure from Afternoons comes amid some significant life changes, as she shares with ABC Everyday:

“I recently separated from my partner.”

Parsons says that after spending the past 25 with her partner and – later – their two children, suddenly living alone proved a major reality check.

“After a lifetime of noise, there was freedom in silence at first.”

“Initially, I loved it. Like, crazy loved it.”

Until, she says, the alone time started to feel lonely.

“Here I was, for the first time in my life, living some of my life alone. I realised that my sense of home would now need to be found inside me. It was an incredibly painful reckoning.”

“When I had a bad day, I realised there was no-one to come home to, to help hold all the feelings, or to run through the ins and outs.”

“Being alone had always frightened me, but I was fascinated how I might handle it if ever I had to face it.”

Parsons says she has learned to embrace solitude, a different concept to that of being alone.

“In solitude, we can use quiet to be with the self in ways that we can’t when we are surrounded by others.”

Photo credit: ABC.