Radio network ARN has cancelled its new flagship program The Long Weekend after just six episodes, but it will retain one of the show’s high-profile hosts, Eddie McGuire, for a new twice-weekly sports program after the other, Karl Stefanovic, was sacked.

The short-lived weekend show was trumpeted as the first major move by ARN after the blow-up and sacking of Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson earlier this year. But it met an early end not long after the network said it would continue it without Stefanovic.

Announced in mid-May by ARN as a “landmark multi-platform deal” that would create a “major new entertainment format”, the three-hour slot on Friday afternoons will return to music-focused programming.

McGuire’s new hour-long show Gold Sport will preview the weekend’s sport on a Friday evening, before recapping it each Monday. His 12-month contract with ARN is unchanged, a spokesperson confirmed.

ARN previously announced ambitious plans to broadcast it nationally on the Gold Network, as well as publishing audio and video versions of the weekly program on live-streaming radio platforms, as a podcast, across all social platforms, and on the iHeart platform in New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and United States.

The company also said it would be published in partnership with Nine on free streaming app 9Now and subscription service Stan. But Stefanovic was sacked as host of Today by Nine following a podcast interview with British far-right figure and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson in June. ARN followed suit and sacked Stefanovic after just two episodes had gone to air, saying the show would continue as The Long Weekend with Eddie McGuire.

The show’s demise follows a difficult year for ARN, which parted ways with its most successful program, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, in February. The $200 million, 10-year contract ARN handed Sandilands and Henderson in 2023 contributed to redundancies at the company and its falling share price. Sandilands settled a lawsuit over his ouster for $12 million cash. Henderson’s claim is ongoing.

The Long Weekend was pitched by new ARN chief Michael Stephenson as an example of the company’s “strategy coming to life” following the exit of Sandilands and Henderson.

Without Stefanovic, McGuire has continued to front the show alone from Europe, where he has been on holiday, and where the time difference saw him broadcasting during the middle of the night. Friday’s edition of The Long Weekend was its last, a spokesperson confirmed.

Meanwhile, Stefanovic has returned to Australia after a controversial tour of Europe that included interviews with a host of far-right figures. He resumed normal programming of his independent podcast with regular guests Heston Russell, a former commando now closely associated with One Nation, and one-time Coalition Queensland senator Gerard Rennick, who defected to form his own party.

“Good on you for taking the red pill,” Rennick remarked to Stefanovic on Friday, a term often used in internet slang to describe far-right individuals or someone who has opened their eyes to conspiracy theories.

McGuire was contacted for comment.

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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.