I love news and current affairs so hearing radio presenters setting the agenda and discussing the big issues is something I enjoy. I find it interesting to hear the opinions of everyday people who ring into programs. I also appreciate how talkback presenters have the capacity to pursue issues, such as government mismanagement, in a way that television hosts can’t.
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For me it’s a matter of finding talk radio mentally engaging. While I like music, if I want to hear it I would rather pick my own playlist than have a radio station do it for me. I also find talk on music stations tends to be on subjects of little interest to me (ie. pop culture, what happened on MAFS etc) and on the rare occasion it is on a subject of interest, they barely scratch the surface before playing another song and changing subject. There’s no depth to the conversation and that really annoys me.
I don’t have to agree with a host to enjoy their show (although it helps) but they do need to be engaging and talk beyond a script, adding some depth to whatever they’re discussing. When Ray Hadley added a bunch of regional stations and started using the 2nd hour of his show as a clearing house for random crime stories read out of random local papers it was incredibly tedious as there simply seemed to be no compelling reason for 95% of the audience to care or even a coherent narrative across the stories to justify reading them all out.
I mostly stopped listening to Ray a few years ago after he went on a number of (in my mind unjustified) tirades against Andrew Bolt. It just seemed that Ray had run out of things to say and needed to find more people to call names. I might agree with Ray more often than not, but if I can pick what he’ll say and how he’ll say it day in day out, there’s no point listening. Compare this to Rush Limbaugh in the US. I probably knew what his opinion on a topic would be 90% of the time but I didn’t know how he’d choose to go about discussing it. He was always entertaining and surprising even if he was effectively stating the same opinions he’d put forth for 30 years.
To that end I prefer American talk radio over Australian talk radio. The formatics of American talk radio make it more dominated by a host going on at length about a small number of topics during a show, unlike most Australian talk radio which tends to change topic every few minutes in most cases. As such American hosts tend to have to be better at ad-libbing and researching subjects and not just relying on producers to write notes. Sometimes they have guests, sometimes they don’t, but when they do it tends to be for at least half an hour so there is some good in-depth discussion of a topic. Good storytelling and being able to take a topic and expound on it at length in an entertaining manner is a cornerstone of the better American talk radio shows. The really good hosts are good at having proper discussions with callers rather than only taking calls which agree or make the host look good.
In Australian talk radio I prefer it if the host has a definite opinion on the subject they’re discussing and can back up the opinion. So I quite enjoy Tom Elliott for example as he is capable of going beyond the script in his discussions, and I tend to agree with him more often than not. Ben Fordham is my exception to preferring longer-form discussions as his show is deliberately faster-paced at breakfast providing some analysis of the news of the day and issues affecting listeners. He also fills the role of listeners’ advocate, as do many of the local talk shows in the US. Ben’s breakfast fills the space of providing the news and some commentary to add depth, substance and context to the news, because if you just want brief headlines there’s many ways to get that, whereas good talk radio should offer more detail and analysis and opinion. I’m sure Ben relies on his production team heavily but he also seems to have an interest in, and understanding of, the subject almost all of the time.
Shows which fill lots of time with lifestyle segments where the host has minimal idea and is just an anchor for the (usually paying) guest is of very little interest to me. So for example Chris Smith on a Saturday morning interests me for his first hour where he’s discussing the news of the week and knows what he’s talking about, but I find the parade of lifestyle segments with “expert guests” after that to be unlistenable.
One other thing, I also enjoy talk radio outside the news/current affairs space. There’s some great paranormal/conspiracy radio out there which, whether the content is believable or not, is really good at providing theatre of the mind and very entertaining. Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis is without a doubt my favourite in that genre. Especially good when I want talk radio but the news of the day is not what I want to hear.
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I’ve always struggle with American talk radio. Any suggestions for engaging presenters worth listening to?
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That’s going to depend on your tastes. But if I had to pick just one news/talk host, it would be a local host. Casey Hendrickson on WTRC-FM “News/Talk 95.3 MNC” in South Bend, Indiana. Strong opinions but remains approachable and mixes in a healthy dose of humour, and has good respectful conversations with callers. He’s a local host so there are some hyperlocal topics but he spend most of his time on national topics. It’s a style which isn’t too much of an adjustment if you’re used to Australian talk radio.
3pm-6pm ET weekdays.
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I’m really struggling with Tom on mornings…
Surprisingly though he is pumping through the calls which I thought would be a struggle considering the slower pace of him on Drive and a lot of editorials of his.
The thing about Neil is he is a champion for the people in trying to help out peoples situations and “fix” things as well. Tom’s content is very editorial and political based which I think is too heavy for the morning half of the day.
There isn’t much “community help” in Tom’s content which is why Neil and his program is so successful.
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For the first time, there will be live coverage of The Masters on Nine Radio as well.
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Stephen and Emily are definitely hosting 3AW breakfast this week. They probably will host next week except Good Friday.
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Additionally - Scott Emerson is on break from Drive this week, with Nine News journalist Peter Fegan filling in. On Weekends, Spencer Howson is away for two weeks, so Jason Dasey is filling in.
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(in drafts since Feb)
4BC began extended local programming throughout the Saturday of the flooding. Unsure if started early Saturday, however at least from 6am, flood/storm coverage began. Also unsure if 8am advertorial was dropped.
Spencer had planned to have the weekend off, Rob McKnight in for him extended by an hour to 2pm.
2 - 5pm Jason Dasey (ex BBC and ABC, has filled in before over Christmas, volunteers at @ethirkill45’s 101 FM Logan)
5 - 9pm Scott Emerson (weekday drive)
9 - 11pm Peter Fegan (9 TV journo, has filled in before, his dad, ‘Bluey’ worked in radio)
Local news until 7 or 8pm bulletin.
Luke Grant back early from time off he mentioned to cover the floods.
At least hourly overnight updates during the national program with Steve Murphy in Brisbane. He mentioned he lives in Admiralty Towers in the CBD with his wife.
Local programming continued on a similar schedule Sunday 27 February.
Local programming on Monday 28 February began at 4:30am each weekday.
Sports Today dropped Monday night, returned Tuesday, local evening shifts to 11pm weeknights.
First weekend of March saw local shifts extended to 6pm. Nine TV journo Dan Nolan for example covered the final flood shift on the Sunday through to 6pm.
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Anyone aware if 3AW are planning to do commentary of Sunday’s F1 race?
I believe they used to do this in the past but that was often before football season started (or opening round).
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Potential controversial opinion, but I really feel Elise Elliot should replace DeeDee in afternoons. The show had a whole different vibe this week and it was great. There was less negativity and editorial and I feel that’s what is needed on the afternoon.
Nothing against DeeDee but I’ve really enjoyed Elise hosting this week.
A few calls got through criticizing DeeDees editorials this week as well so I mustn’t be the only one.
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Very interesting. Those screening calls and producing must feel the same unless the caller added it as a throwaway line.
AW have a lot of producers out with covid at the moment so there’s been some juniors/newbies working across all programs. Could’ve been an oversight, or they’ve just added it in as a throwaway line.
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Or it’s been a case where they have had people lie about what they want to talk about… which isn’t uncommon
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Peter “Grubby” Stubbs presenting breakfast on 3AW this weekend.
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As far as the 8am Technology Show is concerned I hope it is his last. Presume the regular co-host clown will be back next Saturday.
Nice to see AW utilising Grubby whilst the footy is on. He will have worked seven days straight, hosting Nights from Monday to Thursday, joining Elise Elliott for Friday Lunch on Afternoons on Friday, and Weekend Breakfast this weekend.
Yes, Darren James should be back next weekend. Is there anyone from 3AW you like hosting the technology show? 
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It’s about the only time that Melbourne based 3AW content airs on 2GB all week. They even use the 2GB studio number (131 873) for talkback yet it still upsets the precious Sydney 2GB listeners like @Rossco.
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I thought the Money Show comes out of 3AW but I could be wrong. Charlie Brown (Technology Show) is Sydney based so I can;t understand why it needs a Melbourne based co-host.
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Shane McInnes and Jimmy Bartel are hosting 3AW Breakfast this week as both Stephen Quartermain and Emily Power have COVID.
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