'손석희’s Return After 13 Years' Son Suk-hee to Host MBC Radio Program 'Son Suk-hee’s 12 O’clock'

'A Symbol of Journalism' Returns, Breaking a 13-Year Silence to Ask Again About the Essence

Former anchor 'Son Suk-hee', who left a weighty mark on South Korea’s media landscape, is once again taking hold of the 'MBC Radio' microphone at his alma mater after a staggering 13 years. The title of the new program set to serve listeners at noon is direct, yet carries an overwhelming sense of weight: 'Son Suk-hee’s 12 O’clock'.

MBC said on the 22nd that it will launch the program outright at 12:05 p.m. on Standard FM as part of a radio revamp scheduled for the 29th. It is a historic moment—returning to the studio for the first time in 13 years after 'Son Suk-hee’s Focus on the Scene', which once opened a new chapter for South Korean radio news and current affairs programming.

He joined as an announcer in 1984 and led 'Focus on the Scene' until 2013 even after retiring in 2006. Through his tenure as CEO of the news division at JTBC, he elevated 'Newsroom' into one of South Korea’s representative news programs. After leaving JTBC in 2023, he returned to his hometown for the first time in 11 years this year through the MBC special 'Son Suk-hee’s Questions', demonstrating once again his still-sharp insights and unwavering skill in hosting.

Set to set sail anew, 'Son Suk-hee’s 12 O’clock' puts his trademark 'Sharp Questions' and 'In-Depth Interviews' front and center. The production team said it plans to invite top scholars and experts from home and abroad into the studio and provide a high-end, differentiated current-affairs content lineup—aimed at dissecting and analyzing the rapidly changing 'Flow of the World'.

Meanwhile, with this sweeping overhaul, 'Trot Radio', which had been airing at 12 p.m., moves to 2:10 p.m. 'Park Jun-hyung and Park Young-jin’s Two O’clock Cheers' will put an end to its run with its final broadcast on the 28th. 'News High Kick', responsible for evening news and current affairs, has named reporter Jo Seung-won as its new host, while the名사 interview program 'Question Mark' will be led by Prof. Kim Kyung-il of Ajou University. In addition, the FM4U channel will also brand the hours from 10 p.m. through midnight as 'Music Highlight Zone', previewing a varied lineup of music.