Ross Solly says he would never have returned to the airwaves of Canberra if he felt listeners didn't want him there.
After nine years at the helm of the breakfast show, Solly left the then 666 ABC in 2013 as his wife Samantha Hawley pursued her career as a foreign correspondent for the ABC, first in Bangkok, then as the bureau chief in Jakarta and then London.
When the family returned to Sydney last year to live, Solly filled on various programs at ABC Radio Canberra, even doing a shift of Saturday Gardening. He just wanted to be back behind the mic.
"I enjoy broadcasting. I loved it when I was doing it before and I love doing it in Canberra," he said.
"In Canberra, the audience is so switched on and so knowledgeable and has so many great stories to tell and I feel like I still have lots of opportunities to share those stories and talk to people I talked to 10 years ago and new ones that I didn't talk to 10 years ago who I hope I can convince to have a chat with me this time around."
The announcement on Friday that Solly was returning full-time to ABC Radio Canberra to present the Drive program from November 21 definitely stirred a reaction, many from listeners who were keen to see him back.
"It's nice to be remembered," he said.
"I think one of the things that convinced me that it would be okay [to return] was that I did get people saying, 'Oh, it's so nice to have you back on the air again' [when I filled in last year].
"If I had of come back and filled in and people said, 'Oh, for God's sake, that was 10 years ago, do we have to keep listening to him?' and all that sort of stuff, I would never ever have entertained the idea of coming back.
"But because there were some really nice people who said some really nice things, maybe this can work and maybe people haven't forgotten me and are willing to listen to me again."
Solly's family will remain living in Sydney where his wife Samantha Hawley is still hosting ABC News Daily, the ABC's flagship daily news podcast. Their children, now 15 and 12, are at school in Sydney and he didn't want to uproot them.
Solly, 57, plans to present Drive from Monday to Thursday from the ABC studios in Canberra and regularly present the Friday program from Sydney to ensure time with his family doesn't suffer.
"We've had a long discussion about it and we're going to make it work," he said.
His two older children from a previous relationship live in Canberra.
"It will give me a chance to spend more time with them - whether they like it or not, they're going to spend time with their dad," he said, with a laugh.
Solly's most recent job was as media and communications manager for the Olympic sport of canoeing.
He's "very happy" to be presenting Drive, which is from 3.30pm to 6.30pm.
"I did nine years of breakfast and it is challenging, it's tough work. I'm looking forward to getting up in the morning and reading the paper and going for a walk and doing things that normal people do when they don't have to get up at quarter past three in the morning," he said.
Former Drive presenter Anna Vidot will be reading news for breakfast from next year. Solly says he is "a big Anna fan".
"I love her delivery, I love her style. I think she's got a real warmth and connection to the audience," he said.
"I think she's such a polished broadcaster."
Solly says he wants to inform and entertain when he is back on air in a couple of weeks.
"I don't want any two days to sound the same. I want it to be unpredictable because I think people like to be surprised," he said.
"I want to have some fun but I also want to make sure I'm holding people to account.
"I think if something is happening in Canberra and somebody needs to ask the tough questions, then I want people to know I'm going to be the person to do it. Probably now more than ever, we need an active media who are going to hold people to account and Anna did that very, very well.
"If I can do it half as good as she did, then I think I'll be happy."
