Gareth Cliff announced his resignation from 5FM on the 1st of April. Due to the timing, one may have thought that it was an April Fools’ joke. When he didn’t return thereafter, we knew that something was off. Something was missing– the voice of Gareth Cliff in the mornings. Cliff started his radio career at Tuks FM and also worked as a producer for 702 Talk Radio. Now 37, Cliff has left conventional radio saying it’s dying. Now that he has left it of course? GC is now offering something different – unscripted, uncensored, unradio.

Cliff Central which is available online at http://cliffcentral.com and via WeChat. Now he has gone a step further. He has partnered with DSTV Comedy Central to bring you a new talk show “The Gareth Cliff Show Live on Comedy Central”. The breakfast show will be aired from 07:35 to 08:00 every weekday (and on Cliff  Central from 6-9am). Both go live on 1 May. “This is Comedy Central’s first daily live show in the African market and we are thrilled to be partnering with a host of Gareth Cliff’s calibre polish and experience to bring this new comedy concept to these shores. The addition of a localised editorial voice to put things in perspective for SA viewers adds a broad new dimension to our comedy portfolio,” says Evert van der Veer, Comedy Central Channel head.

If everyone jumps off the cliff, do you do it too? 

Cliff will be supported by his entire 5fm Breakfast show team ; Damon Kalvari, Leigh-Ann Mol, Mabale Moloi and Siya Sangweni-Fynn.

Life after Cliff 

This is how things stand at 5FM at the moment: Grant is currently the stand-in, but soon 5FM will be making the breakfast ‘fresh’. Roger Goode will be hosting Drive.

According to Heat magazine, 5FM was just waiting to be rid of the controversial morning DJ. The publication quoted a source, who said: “The management at the SABC hasn’t been happy with Gareth for a long time. He’s so outspoken, and they’ve been trying to get rid of him for years”. The source further added that the management of 5fm knew that it was impossible to let him go. They then offered him a position where he would go from breakfast to somewhere in between. Management was trying to make him leave. Gareth says he was planning on leaving for a while now and brushed aside these claims.

Sneak Peak into studio, Cliff Central 

Whether you stream-in for some “unapologetic” radio or not, Cliff doesn’t need to apologise for  starting something new. Maybe it will encourage some of us to to do the same. Jumping off the cliff and not knowing what’s ahead takes courage, doesn’t it?

images: Cliff Central, djfresh.com