Major ABC star quits the national broadcaster after more than three decades in the business

ABC star Richard Kingsmill - who started as a Triple J producer in 1988 - has announced he will be stepping down from the national broadcaster.

Triple J's group music director revealed on Monday he would be handing in his resignation following a storied career spanning more than 35 years.

'Coming up with the Unearthed brand and initial concept was one thing,' Kingsmill, 59, said.

'Being able to uncover the likes of Missy Higgins, Grinspoon, G Flip and Genesis Owusu is one of the great thrills and privileges for me.' 

Kingsmill said the thing he was proudest of 'was seeing Triple J increase its Australian music content from 30 per cent to 60 per cent'.

He couldn't resist having a crack at commercial music stations over their choice of music. 

'For years, all I ever heard from the commercial radio sector was Australian music was bad for ratings,' he said.

'Well, we did what we did and more than doubled our audience reach in the process.' 

Triple J saw its five capital city - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide - reach grow from 980,000 in 2006 to 2.3million in 2022.

Kingsmill said he had 'a lot of passion, but pretty modest skills' when he started working at the national broadcaster. 

'I'm incredibly grateful in how the ABC kept encouraging me to grow and gave me time to develop,' he said. 

'I've worked with so many amazing and talented people, you can't help but learn and be inspired every single day. 

'I started with two main loves – music and radio. Those have been constants for me across all these years.' 

Doing outside broadcasts and big events are among his fondest memories of working at Triple J, he said.  

'When the Triple J team works together, at Splendour In The Grass or on a Hottest 100, it's the greatest feeling ever. 

'We drive each other, we all pull our weight and we think about the audience and what they expect and want from us. 

'The dedication to what we do is something I'll never forget. It's such an important thing for all of us because we know the difference we make.'

Kingsmill said he had given his 'heart and soul to everything' he has done at ABC over the past 35 years. 

'The best feeling now, at the end of all that, is knowing how much I've still got left in the tank in continuing to contribute to the Australian music industry,' he said. 

Though there have been many tributes to Kingsmill online, not everybody was sorry to see him go.

Filmmaker Jonathan Sequeira tweeted that Triple J should not congratulate itself for playing having Australian musicians make up 60 per cent of its playlist. 

'The ABC is delusional. Richard Kingsmill retires and they think that playing 40 per cent foreign music is something to be proud of,' Sequeira wrote. 

'Wouldn't cost a single cent extra to play 100 per cent Australian across the whole ABC ... it's time to change the ABC Charter to 100 per cent Aussie.'