A 'gutted' Lauren Phillips has made a tearful apology to the mother of a murdered Melbourne teenager after cracking a sick on-air joke about the brutal slaying.

Daily Mail Australia understands that Phillips called Elizabeth Barber on Tuesday morning - rather than taking to the air-waves as usual, due to the Victorian public holiday.

During the emotional call, Phillips revealed she came close to quitting her job of just six weeks after drawing outrage with a flippant comment about how she listened to a podcast about 15-year-old Rachel Barber's murder in 1999 to cheer herself up.   

Rachel was strangled to death with a telephone cord by her family's babysitter Caroline Reed Robertson as part of a plot to steal the teenager's identity.       

Angry listeners on Monday night bombarded Phillips with criticism after the presenter said she listened to the podcast to 'try and fix (her) mood' and cackled with laughter.  

Elizabeth Barber told Daily Mail Australia the radio star had apologised in an emotional call this morning and was 'genuinely remorseful'.