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Personally I think a new kind of talk is needed because the current talk back format does not appeal to younger listeners. A funnier younger format that still looked at current issues would be good.
Well, speaking from my POV as I am in the 21 year old category mark, Triple M Sydney nailed it perfectly when they combined the talents of Mick Molloy and Billy Birmingham during the 2000 Olympics. That will be the comedy part... but then you have the listening and answering talent of Phil O'Neil (Ugly Phil). A Mix and match routine. That's my POV anyway. For the record, I am not apart of the "let's all be a boof head" generation.
Oh my... what a bunch of sad old f*rts! (Well some of you anyway) Did most of you read your comments before you posted them? Patronising and over-bearing... I suspect you don't realise you've become the very people you used to critisise. Talk radio in Australia for anyone under 50 is boring, trivial, and irrelevant. If radio is all about meeting the needs of the audience then the "talk" needs of "younger people" are clearly not being met.
As a former radio journalist who's worked for the Talk Nets and for MMM, I have to tell you it's not the content that's the problem it's how you present it. I remember managing to do a report for 2MMM on number crunching in the NSW ALP... I flatter myself by thinking that it worked because it was written and presented in a relevant way.
Which is a round about way of saying that talk radio can work for those of us under 50 if you present it the right way.. and it need not be light weight (like the current over-50 version isn't.. it simply needs to "talk" to its audience. Yes that might include fashion and movies, but so what ?
It probably would need to be on FM... I really can't stand AM anymore and I'm not that young anymore.
As for potential team members: how about Roy and HG, Angela Catterns, Mike Hammond amongst the others already mentioned.
As for Alan Jones... well Anon User, if bombarding your audience with your own point of view and refusing to listen to others is the sign of a keen intellect, I guess I'm mentally bankrupt :-)
I find it amusing that no one has noticed that Triple J's morning show has not been mentioned. It is intelligent, funny and controversial. I agree with Ian Ferguson, Angela Catterns was brilliant with the magazine/talk styled programming for youth. Too be honest I can't stand the whole "40 minutes of non stop blocks of rock" attitude to programming and would love to produce such a program. I can't see where Phil O'Niel really would fit in to all of this as I find him very boring and his humour is just grotty, not clever. This show should be able to win awards for the talk/magazine side of the programming as well as the comedy. Younger people are more brave about speaking out so I would have to say that you would need a duo act to host.
With all the diversification in the industry right now the time has come to do "younger demo" talk. Sydney and Melbourne would have to "ripe" for it now surely! After being in this game for 20 years I'd like to give it a go!! to stand alongside guys like Ugly Phil and start a "new sensation" talk station would have to be next goal!!
Who says you have to be a journo ? Passion and an interest in the world is all you need!! Who else wants to put their hand up ?
Have you guys forgotten about Club Veg??? These guys were doing "FM talk-back" starting back in 1984 at the J's!
No fm station in Australia would have the guts to even try this. They are too caught up in networking from one hub and claiming they are the best network in the country. Leave Talk to the AM and FM stay with music.
Best of luck to Phil. FM radio is whatever it wants to be. It doesn't have to be all music, as AM doesn't have to be talk. Spoonman for those of you who never got a chance to listen to him was brilliant. I remember one night he told callers to stop saying "How are you" cause it just doesn't mean anything these days. It was very hard not to say it as a lot of callers found. I listened to him every Tuesday night coming home from Melbourne and didn't feel the need to call, but I just wanted to listen because it was my age talking. Triple M - good idea, I wish you the best of luck.
In my opinion one of the bet talkback hosts I could imagine in 'FM Talk' would have to be Natash Stott-Despoja, I've seen her hold her own against the likes of The Panel, so why not radio.
it's about time we got some talkback for a broader age group
Triple M is going talk at nights, but not for the first time. Spoonman Brian Carlton was the best listening on late night radio at one time. Perhaps he was a bit before his time. It was great hearing him again on New Years Eve (he was keeping us up to date about the Sydney NYE fireworks that nearly got cancelled :)
Bring back Spoony :)
Trisha Duffield could be the future of talk radio. She sounds fresh and vibrant without losing credibility. She's not some young girl just out of university - she's a woman who has already experience life's ups and downs yet comes across as stronger for the experience. Oh - and she seems generally interested in what her listeners have to say. How she put up with Howard Sattler is anyone's guess (she was his producer before he left). However, talk radio on FM will probably be a different story. The secret might be to only put it on only once a week (perhaps on a Sunday night). An ideal experiment could be to trial it during mid-dawns.
Another suggestion is to have more than one host - either a male/female combination or a young 'innocent' thrown in with a seasoned veteran. Bianca Dye would no doubt excel at the format. In fact, she would be a sensation - especially if she was joined by Doug Mulray or Stan Zemanack (although perhaps a studio wouldn't be big enough for Bianca and someone else with an equally dominant personality). Still, I'd love to see/hear a left-leaning young woman thrown in with a crusty old man, or maybe a clean-living young female with some old lothario. This way you would broach the divide between traditional AM talk radio listeners and younger FM-weaned listeners.
Another thing to note is that the best potential audience for FM talk radio would not necessarily be under 25's. Sure, university students might listen in but the would probably prefer Triple J. The core audience would probably be 25-50 year olds who are sick of being made to feel less intelligent and intesting than their baby-boomer parents/older siblings.
Finally, how about having different talk back hosts throughout the week. Remember when Richard Stubbs did the Friday night slot for Steve Vizard on TV all those years ago. Stubbsy was great because he offered a different perspective within the same format. So too with talk-back radio - it's a great way to attract new groups of listeners and hence improve chance of increasing revenue (remember, it all gets back to whether or not the format can generate money for the station). Oh - one last addition ... has anyone seen the movie Talk Radio starring Eric Bogosian? Imagine a young version of Stan Zemanick berating listeners for being stupid. Not quite the politically correct dream you might have for FM talk radio, but a potential ratings bonanza (remember, for every talk back caller there's a thousand listeners who are laughing at how stupid everyone sounds - but they're still listening).
Regarding Paul Ryan's comments, I don't think entirely fair to say that "we don't listen to her and the proof is in the surveys". Why, Trisha hasn't been in a survey yet. Had a listen this morning and would have to agree with positive comments other readers have posted.
And going back to the comment about Humphrey B. Bear, well, what can I say. I've actually sat in on an interview with Humphery B Bear about 6 years ago. It proved very interesting to say the least.
FM Talk that is unlike the AM talk. It would work if there was a clearly defined difference. How would we make it different?. I'd personally love to hear a different type of talk-back, a magazine-of-the-air style of show. What a shot in the arm for FM. As someone else has said, 'who'd have the guts to do it?'. Spoonman would be great!!