The Racket To Come To An End This Year, Short Fast Loud Moving To Double J
Big changes for heavy music are coming for the national broadcaster in 2025.
Make Them Suffer are just one of the bands who received spins on The Racket (Credit: Josh Groom)
Changes for heavy music on triple j and Double J are coming in 2025.
On this week’s program of The Racket—triple j’s premier heavy music show—its longtime host, Lochlan Watt, announced his departure after 13 years. Meanwhile, Josh Merriel, the host of short.fast.loud—triple j’s punk and hardcore show—revealed that the program will be moving to Double J.
“Back in 2011, with zero radio experience, I was encouraged by several friends to apply to become the host of The Racket… never once truly considering that I was about to define the course of my life… but that’s exactly what happened,” Watt wrote on Instagram yesterday (13 November).
Describing his time on The Racket as “the highest honour” that he “loved almost every minute of,” Watt opened up about the “countless” doors that opened for him in the last 13 years. He also shared his gratitude for the triple j community’s compassion and support through his journey with brain cancer.
Watt continued, “I could not have asked for a better place to work, and it cannot be overstated how different my life would look if I had never decided to give this whole thing a shot and for that I will be forever grateful…
“However, after 13 years of service I have arrived at the undeniable conclusion that I am no longer of ‘the youth’ and that the time has come for me to pass the torch,” he wrote. “Music will always be my life but I am looking forward to redirecting my passion for it into other avenues, and having a bit of a rest.”
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Towards the end of his statement, Watt shared that The Racket will come to an end this December as triple j welcomes a new heavy music show in 2025—applications for the job (or, as Watt described it, “the next steward of darkness here at this remarkable cultural institution”) are now open here.
“I hope you’ll join me for my final broadcasts over the next month. Love to the worthy, hate to the wicked, horns up, and heavy metal forever,” Watt concluded.
While The Racket is coming to an end, short.fast.loud. is moving to Double J. Merriel said about the move, “Short Fast loud is moving to Double J, which is triple j's sister station. Skews to a bit of an older demographic which means that I can play a bit more throwbacks.”
Adding that the program “won’t change too much,” Merriel assured listeners that they can still listen to it on the app, digital radios, or online.
“I'm pretty damn excited for the future,” Merriel continued. “I'm excited for a change, I'm excited for a challenge, I'm excited for something a little bit different.”
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