Mix 106.5 is determined to shed its poor cousin status among the Sydney FM stations next year with a new breakfast show and a more clearly defined strategy targeting females - it will be the type of show savvy women can happily listen to with their kids in the car. Spearheading the change will be cabaret star Todd McKenney and entertainment reporter Sonia Kruger, replacing Sammy Power and Subby Valentine in the breakfast slot. McKenney and Kruger (pictured) will maintain their ties with Channel Seven, providing plenty of cross-promotional opportunities. Australian Radio Network boss Bob Longwell says it will be a feel-good, fun-loving, kid-friendly lifestyle show with plenty of showbiz: not as crude as Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O, less blokey than Merrick and Rosso and more sophisticated than Jonesy and Amanda. Mix has also introduced brief lifestyle segments across the day between music tracks. They feature Rove McManus, Matt Damon, Katrina Warren, Missy Higgins and others talking about relationships, entertainment, home, kids, travel, beauty and fashion. The breakfast show, however, is critical if Mix ever hopes to challenge 2Day FM for market leadership. McKenney and Kruger, both 42, have a head start on most new radio teams by sharing a genuine friendship. They were best friends on the ballroom dance circuit in their teens and worked together on the film Strictly Ballroom. In fact, Kruger assumed they were boyfriend and girlfriend until the penny dropped that he was gay. "I think it was that night I tried to seduce him and he fled from the room," she laughs. McKenney went on to star in 42nd Street and West Side Story before landing the prized role of Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz. Kruger joined the children's TV show Wonder World, progressing to reporting roles on 11AM and Today Tonight. Their easy rapport has contributed to the success of Seven's Dancing With The Stars. Kruger's gentle teasing has softened McKenney's reputation as the nasty judge. "There is a cutting edge to Todd's humour, but it is humour," Kruger says. "I find him incredibly funny and supportive. I completely lost the plot for a moment on air during Dancing With The Stars last week. In the break, Todd assured me no one would have noticed. Sure, Todd. His attitude is, 'None of this is life-threatening so we shouldn't take it too seriously." McKenney - who, by the way, says it was Kruger who did the runner all those years ago - compares their relationship to that of a naughty brother and sister. "She's one of my dearest friends but we're not afraid to tell each other off." Both say the Mix breakfast show will be something they would want to listen to. "I'm 42 and there hasn't really been anything for me," Kruger says. "Nova is too boysie, 2Day too young, Vega too old. Why can't we have a radio station where being 40 is cool because I know plenty of cool people in that age bracket." Kruger says having a gay father behind the microphone will make a change from all those blokey blokes on air. "Hetero is so passe," she jokes. McKenney, however, is quick to say that being gay doesn't define who he is. "I won't underplay it but I won't be dwelling on it either. That would be boring and one-dimensional. Like being the bastard judge on TV. I'm a fully rounded human being and that's who people will get to know."