Karl Stefanovic and Eddie McGuire will host a new three-hour Friday show for Gold and Nine’s streaming platforms, with The Long Weekend set to begin on June 19 and run from midday to 3pm. The program will be carried live across broadcast radio and streaming radio, and will also appear as a video podcast on Nine’s 9Now and Stan platforms.

ARN said the show will also be distributed on social channels and on the iHeart streaming platform. It will cover news, sport and entertainment, with ARN also planning to work with McGuire’s media company on a new sport-focused podcast series for iHeart.

The show gives Nine two of its best-known faces in a format designed to travel well across platforms. Amanda Laing said it makes perfect sense for two of Nine’s talent to have their new show streamed on their home network.

The move also keeps Stefanovic and McGuire inside the Nine orbit at a time when the broadcaster has been trying to manage change across its radio and television businesses. Nine said the new show would not alter either host’s existing commitments. McGuire continues to host Footy Classified and the Melbourne Cup Carnival, while Stefanovic remains the face of Today.

Stefanovic has already used his own podcast, The Karl Stefanovic Show, to interview Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce this year, showing that he is willing to step outside the traditional breakfast-television lane. For ARN, the new pairing arrives after the company lost Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O’ Henderson in a bitter contract dispute, a blow that made fresh star power an urgent business need.

There is also a familiar cast behind the scenes. ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson is the former chief sales officer at Nine and left the broadcaster 18 months ago. Nine sold its own radio arm to Arthur Laundy and his family in a January deal that was formalised this month, underscoring how much of this industry is being reshaped by ownership changes as well as talent moves.

The Long Weekend is being presented as one of the first shows in Australia to be pushed across so many platforms at once, from radio to streaming to social and video podcasting. The real test begins on June 19, when Stefanovic and McGuire have to turn a cross-platform pitch into something listeners and viewers will actually make time for every Friday.