Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543797
VETERAN radio host Jonathan Abel believes the secret behind the breakfast show he co-hosts lies in the relatability that he and his fel- low presenters share with their au- dience. "It's who we are; and when the microphones are off, we are exactly the same. […] We mirror everything that happens in life," he tells me. Together with JD Patrick, Mar- tina Zammit and Valentina Rossi, Jonathan Abel hosts the popular breakfast show on state radio sta- tion Magic Malta 91.7. He explains how the group came together in the most unlikely of circumstances, and despite switching stations a couple of years back, their trajectory has continued to rise. As listeners across the country know, the quartet's chemistry is unique to their show, and despite hailing from vastly different back- grounds, their coming together continues to churn out larger audi- ences. But as Abel explains, results didn't appear out of thin air, and required research and a dedicated team be- hind the scenes. He also speaks on the unceremo- nious departure he and his co-pre- senters had from Vibe FM. Abel says they never wanted to leave, but de- spite tyring to amend the situation, they were left with no other option. "We did what we had to do to save the brand, and our livelihood," he says. Being an optimist by nature, he does not look back in anger and welcomes that period in his life as another part of their evolution as a group. Abel also speaks of his father who died in a traffic accident in 1996. Abel was just 16-years-old and in the same car as his father, who was driving to school. He tells me how losing his father figure at such a crit- ical age impacted him, and how he carries scars from that incident to this day. Jonathan Abel: 'We're successful because we mirror what happens in life' Jonathan Abel is a veteran radio presenter with a career spanning different stations. He speaks to Karl Azzopardi on his passion for the medium, his co-hosts' departure from Vibe FM, and the untimely death of his father 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 MARCH 2026 INTERVIEW