Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton were in Melbourne today for a power lunch recognising Neil Mitchell’s three-decade involvement with 3AW. Other guests included Victorian deputy premier Ben Carroll, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon and his predecessors Gillon McLachlan and Andrew Demetriou, Victoria Police chief commissioner Shane Patton, former federal treasurers Peter Costello and Josh Frydenburg, and Mitchell’s colleagues Tom Elliott, Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft.
3 Likes
@JohnsonTV is the article paywalled? Can you please post us some screenshots or similar?
Long-time 3AW contributor Malcolm Stewart has passed away following post-operative issues. A big loss to the station as Malcolm had been presenting UK reports on the breakfast program for the past 50 years.
2 Likes
It is a paywalled article. I can’t post the full article due to forum rules, but I can post a photo and some excerpts.
The Voice of Melbourne, Neil Mitchell, was momentarily silenced on Friday as the broadcasting great was toasted and roasted at a spectacular power lunch recognising his three decades as host of 3AW’s morning shift.
The room was a tribute to Mitchell, who moved gingerly around the event using a crutch owing to a knee injury sustained after a recent run-in with two play wrestling Boxer dogs, and his unwavering commitment to news and the betterment of the Victorian community.
Former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello recalled his on-air dust ups with Mitchell during his political career, describing himself as “live bait” when face with face in Mitchell’s 3AW studio.
“Neil would carve you up for the enjoyment of the audience and the continuation of his ratings,” Costello said.
“I thought he was the most dangerous interviewer in Australia. If he really wanted to get you he was nice to you, he pretended to be nice to you, and if you were taken in by that, you were dead meat for that particular day.”
McLachlan described his friendship with Mitchell as a slow burn, telling of how four hours into his role as then AFL CEO he received a call from the 3AW host who forcefully explained how he had to appear weekly on his show.
“It was pretty clear, really, and I took the threat seriously,” he said, adding he when on to appear on the show more than 250 times.
“Neil was, and remains, the best interviewer in Australia. He always gave every interview, and therefore every issue and response, credibility.”
2 Likes
3AW reporting that veteran UK breakfast correspondent Malcolm Stewart has died overnight.
3 Likes
Another article on yesterday’s Neil Mitchell tribute lunch
1 Like
Tribute to Malcolm Stuart
1 Like
Looks like he has a crutch too. Must have finally had that operation
2 Likes
Nick Mcallum filling in on Drive for Jacqui. Quite surprised they have him filling in being from the rival company (outside of his usual Sunday Morning commitment)
1 Like
And Heidi Murphy is already scheduled to fill-in for Jacqui on Wednesday…
2 Likes
She mentioned on Friday she was having a day procedure today.
Ah I missed this. My bad
Mark Allen filling in for Ross Stevenson on 3AW breakfast on Monday to Wednesday this week.
2 Likes
Great editorial decision on Drive.
Talking about the local storms - granted it’s relevant. But then choosing to cover cricket plagues over the current bushfires that are happening. Haven’t even made mention of them.
The whole click bait content belongs on afternoons not drive.
Edit finally mentioned after a botched read of an emergency announcement about it….
1 Like
Do they think that everyone switches to ABC during an emergency? Or just poor editorial judgement.
Usually it’s really good. I think bad editorial decision. As good as some things are “viral” on the socials it doesn’t always translate well to radio and AW’s older audience. I just find it bizarre that they are prioritising the cricket plague over bushfires when this is peoples livelihoods and lives at risk.
Makes me worry in the event of coverage on drive if there was more serious fires closer to the metropolitan area.
Comes back to the same issue that the pace of the show is snails pace and not as fast as it was previously and covering issues that matter as apposed to making it a “this is our top story” and beating a dead horse about lack of urgency topics.
1 Like
If it was closer they might be called out by Media Watch.
1 Like
Took until 5:50pm until they managed to get some on to actually provide an update on the bushfires.
The last 10mins of the program……
1 Like
Nine Radio live streaming snapshot January 2024
Nine Radio is off to a flyer in 2024 with live streaming of 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR up 25% year on year. The always live and local content strategy is setting the benchmark for listenership across the country.
January figures for Nine Radio, verified by Triton, show huge spikes in both session starts and listening hours, compared with the same time last year.
| SESSION STARTS | TOTAL LISTENING HOURS |
|---|---|
| 11.082M+25% YoY | 11.475M+24% YoY |
January highlights include:
The fresh new 3AW lineup has helped boost the station’s live streaming growth 26% YoY, with Mornings with Tom Elliott +30% YoY, Afternoons with Tony Moclair +38% and Drive with Jacqui Felgate +26% YoY.
New 2GB Afternoons presenter Michael McLaren also grew live streaming audiences +52%, and Money News with Deb Knight increased a staggering +77% YoY.
The key Breakfast and Mornings shifts increased across the network, with 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live +28% YoY, the Ray Hadley Morning Show +31% YoY, and 3AW’s Breakfast with Ross and Russ +21% YoY.
Nine Radio Head of Content, Greg Byrnes, said: “This surge in streaming sets up another dominant year of talk radio and reinforces the strategy behind the content and line up changes across the country.
“Last year’s Radio360 data showed Nine’s talk stations absolutely dominate the live audio streaming market and these figures demonstrate that even more Aussies are engaging with our live and local content through a connected device in 2024.”
Nine’s Director of Sales, Total Audio, Ashley Earnshaw, said: “There has never been a better time for advertisers to drive more impactful campaigns through a Total Audio approach with Nine.
“With audiences continuing to increase in Nine’s live audio streaming environment, we have more opportunity than ever before to harness our premium data segmentation with Nine Tribes, which ultimately leads to more effective solutions for brands.”
Source: Triton Streaming Metrics, January 1-31 2024, Session Starts, Total Listening Hours (TLH), Nine – 2GB, 3AW, 4BC, 6PR Unless otherwise specified.
2 Likes
No mention of the disaster at 4BC breakfast.
Huey, Dewey and Louis’ 30+ year old breakfast show of classic hits on a talk station.
It’s a total abomination, audience has left in droves.
Monday was hilarious when the ‘4BC for me’ caller had no idea they were calling him and said on air that he streams Ben Fordham from 2GB.
The tired trio were lost for words and didn’t have a smart quip to say back to him.m
The caller would be one of many who stream 2GB as they want a decent news show at breakfast which they had more or less with Neil Breen.
One many huge blunders at 4BC. At least Nine are keeping local, but they need to do much better with content programming.
4 Likes