THEY'VE joined us on the drive home, made us laugh in bumper-to-bumper traffic and told stories that brought us to tears, but now the voices of two of ABC Radio Newcastle's prominent presenters will fall silent.
As Saturday Breakfast host Craig Hamilton wraps up his more than 20-year career with the public broadcaster and Drive presenter Kia Handley makes a move to "the dark side" - the pair are looking ahead to their next adventures off-air.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder 23 years ago, Hamilton plans to turn his lived experience into a lifeline in the mental health sector, but said it did not make the decision any easier.
"I've got mixed feelings because I have done it for so long and I love it, I loved it from the first time I got behind a microphone," he said.
"It's a difficult decision but it's the right one at the right time, I have other things I want to do."
As a mental health advocate and speaker, he's open about his own challenges and hopes to use them to help others.
"Bipolar is still an illness you have to manage and it can be a challenge, broadcasting live on a microphone can be stressful," he said.
"I've been fortunate to make good choices and changed my lifestyle to better manage my illness.
"There's always a myth, and one I tried to dispel in my second book, that you don't get well, get a diagnosis and stay well with bipolar - it's a tricky one, a tricky illness.
"In the last 15 or 20 years I've been speaking to be able to help someone else and make a difference in their lives, and in some cases literally turn their lives around gives me huge satisfaction."
It's not the first time he's taken a leap of faith, the former underground coal miner and at that time a father-of-three under 10 left his stable job to get a foot in the door at the ABC.
"That was a far bigger risk than this one, this isn't a risky decision, this from my point of view is the next challenge," he said.
His radio career has seen him commentate on NRL matches, grand finals, State of Origin games and his ultimate highlight - watching the Newcastle Knights grand final win over Manly in 1997 from the sidelines with "the best view in the house".
Hamilton is best known for his passionate sports commentary, which he started in 1995 with the ABC's Sideline Eye weekend NRL program.
He said he'll miss his audience and colleagues-turned-friends most, and hopes the legacy he leaves behind is an office that's fun.
"I'll miss the office banter, it can be irreverent, it's hilarious most of the time - I like to be a part of creating that mayhem," he said.
"We have to remind ourselves that we're not doing brain surgery, it's not that critical, it's important what we do but there has to be some levity and circuit breakers, I'll miss that.
"The people who I interviewed trusted me enough to give me very candid interviews and they just loved the show. I'd like to be remembered as the bloke who produced and presented a radio show that was fun and entertaining."
Known for her bubbly personality, Kia Handley's career in journalism started after reading foreign correspondent Jonathan Harley's book Lost in Transmission at just 16 years old.
Since then, she's told the stories of countless locals from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie up to the Tamworth border and it's the community she's created that she'll miss most.
"These people are turning you on on the good days, listening on the bad days to pick them up, with so many options in a day to listen to, they're choosing to hang out with you and be part of whatever silly or sensible thing you're talking about," she said.
"That's a real privilege."
For her, anytime she is able to get out and about to broadcast is a highlight, having reported on the Dashville Music Festival and on the ground from the Linga Longa Inn and The Cambridge's farewell.
Handley also played a big part in the launch of the ABC's first regionally made podcast through ABC Newcastle, the Newcastle Hunter Catch Up.
She's all about having fun with the audience, whether that's sharing silly stories of everyday things found in hotel room drawers or waxing lyrical about where missing teaspoons go and the lives they're living.
But the work also has a serious side, listening to the stories of people who've suffered in disasters and the communities that have rallied together are moments that will live on in Handley's heart.
In the last few years she's been through a lot of personal change and challenges, and is looking forward to a change of pace working in public relations.
"Sometimes I felt like the pressure to be what the audience needed on a day when I didn't feel like I was what I needed even for myself was hard," she said.
"But they're the days I felt the community around me most."
Handley said it was time to step out of the 24/7 news cycle and put her life in the driver's seat.
"I'll never say never, the door isn't closed, but we're walking through a different gate now," she said.
She's never wanted to be "famous" or put herself at the heart of anything, and said she's never thrived off being 'Kia from the ABC'.
"I thrive off being the person holding the microphone, whether that's when I started as a producer or pushed to be on air as a presenter, nothing changed," she said.
"It was always about the community and the audience, I don't think I'll have a legacy - people come and go and it's beautiful to see the outpouring of thanks from the community but there's incredible people doing what I do that will be so amazing coming through after me."
She joked, "but hopefully now, people know how to say my name correctly".
