More so to fit more songs in, that wouldn’t have any impact on how much airtime they can sell.
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honestly, regardless of the CEO not mentioning any timeslot he would want J&A in, i still don’t think bodes well for confidence internally regarding Beau, Tarsh and Woodsy for 2MMM!
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They may as well walk if that’s the support you’re getting from upper management.
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What a slap in the face for the 2MMM Breakfast team hearing your boss say that publicly.
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Beau is lucky to even be helming a major city breakfast show, he clearly was never a long term proposition.
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Beau is lucky to be in the media to be honest, I never rated him.
Is it survey break this week? Because its the best bits of Jonesy and Amanda today.
Yes it is a survey break. Fitzy and Wippa with Chrissie Swan not taking a break on Nova. 
How long until this is announced as permanent?
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Chrissie hasn’t been on every day in the last few weeks and has not been doing the full 3 hours.
She was a guest on Rikki Lee, Tim and Joel recently and said she was enjoying doing breakfast and afternoons but it was tiring. If she continued on breakfast she would probably give up the arvo shift.
Nova has been more than forgiving over the years for Kate, at some point it becomes unsustainable.
GOLD 101.7 line up this week
6-9am Jonesy and Amanda best bits
9am-1pm Rob Duckworth
1-6pm Steve Fitton
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You make some good points. And I think what you have to say is valid.
COC’s current breakfast show could easily go national. There is very little that is inherently ‘Melbourne’. And even if there was, it’s a myth to think that Melburnians are really that different to the rest of us in this day and age. Australia is just like one big collection of suburbs in 2025. Doesn’t matter whether you go to Westfield Fountain Gate. Parramatta or Chermside… they’re all pretty much the same. All Australians can relate to his stories about going to Bunnings.
Despite being a Dees supporter, COC spends very little time talking footy (I live in Brisbane and wish he’d talk about it more), but the fact is he’s a Pom who knows very little about the game, hence why it features minimally in his show.
COC has already proved he can do a national show:
- his hourly show around the network is excellent, honestly it is great radio.
- his Absolute national breakfast show was absolutely superb. Was it London centric? Yes and No. It doesn’t matter. If Christian talks about his experience going to a coffee shop in London, beleive it or not, that story still resonated throughout the whole UK.
- COC moved to Australia, he didn’t just move to Melbourne. He has an appreciation for all things Australian (hence his national show). He originally wanted to work on KIIS Melbourne, he would have been successful had he have gone to Sydney, let’s just say had ARN put him on 96.1, he would have been successful. He’s a great broadcaster. His show is not some ‘Mebournefest’. Quite the opposite. It’s great segments that are funny and relatable in any market.
London. Manchester, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane… doesn’t matter, the guy clearly has the ability to do a great national show without any loss to any local audience.
And the worst kept secret is J&A would instantly head to 2MMM if Christian ever took their jobs. Probably even be networked to 3MMM.
I get what you’re saying. From the perspective of “how will that show go in Brisbane, Sydney etc?”, then yes, probably 90% of the content is generic and national enough that if they drop the 10% which references Melbourne it’s good to go. And even for that 10%, it doesn’t need to be the whole content, it could just be no mentioning suburb names etc.
However, the flip side is what do the existing audience want? And that’s not a question that is exclusive to Melbourne - it would be the same for almost any show expanding into other markets (maybe with the exception of Kyle and Jackie O since Kyle was already aiming to make it sound more LA than Sydney).
It’s the subtle things the make the show sound local and more familiar. Being able to mention suburb names - they regularly refer to Patsy as being from Werribee. That means something to a local audience, but nothing to someone that’s not familiar with the city. Yes, AFL isn’t a huge part of the show, but still the odd reference here and there, players as guests would need to stop. The local promotions - painting listeners houses in their footy teams colours. Advertising the show on wheelie bins with a series of local locations to pickup the stickers. Even when they put custom messages on billboards and have listeners call in to say where they’ve the billboard. Yes, it can be done, but who cares if the location is in a different city? They might make up a small total of the whole show, but they’re key to the DNA of the current show. Take them away and the show all of a sudden feels different and listeners will be encouraged to look around - even if the “new” version of the show is still a great show on it’s own. Especially in a market that’s got such competition it would be very easy for Gold breakfast to drop to a permanent 4th FM (having previous been a regular #1 FM)
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True. Going national does impact the identity of the AM drive slot. But if that localism is only 10%, then I doubt that’s central to the DNA of the show. That’s overstating it. It’s a bit like saying that only a true Victorian can speak to Victorians - you need have Melbourne in your DNA. We know that is not true, otherwise a Pom wouldn’t be doing so well. What does the existing audience want? Just more of Christian.
We went through the same thing in Aotearoa thirty years ago when our commercial Auckland breakfast shows started going national. Their approach, just treat the whole of the country like suburbs of Auckland. Now I’m not saying that will work in Australia, but don’t get caught up too much on this idea that you can’t mention place names in a national show. You don’t need to be from Melbourne to know that Dame Edna comes from Moonee Ponds. Triple J always mention where listeners are calling from.
Not at all. Maybe 40 years ago. Christian talks to A-list footballers who are known the country over (yes, even in NSW and QLD). AFL is a national game, and having players as guests would not need to stop, indeed, quite the opposite.
I think you are overstating the importance of these little local references. If that’s what listeners are desiring then the COC breakfast even in its current format (with arguably only 10% of this stuff, and hosted by a Pom) is not their show. They’d already be listening to 3RRR. Sure, Gold are not going to be necessarily gaining any additional listeners in Melbourne by talking to Lions supporters calling in from Caboolture, asking where they can pick up wheelie bin stickers, but the additional revenue from going national will mean more money for promotions, competitions and prizes.
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You don’t understand the Melbourne market at all, or the history of the media market there.
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Guess what? Melbourne is not some exception to the rest of the radio world.
Indeed, Christian O’Connell is proof of that.
Sure. I’m not from Melbourne. Does that mean I don’t understand the Melbourne market? Or the history because I’m not from there.
Maybe.
But Christian O’Connell is not from there and not part of the history.
And he’s currently number 1 in the market.
If there’s ever an example of how great radio beats parochialism every time, it’s Christian O’Connell.
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OC does a deliberately local Melbourne show and made an effort to entrench himself in the city and even AFL. That’s the difference. He may have an accent but he’s doing a fully local show.
Piping shit in from Sydney is a whole different story.
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