Guests mingled and hands clutched around cups of freshly brewed coffee as Chrissie Swan and Jane Hall celebrated the 500th Mix 101.1 breakfast show. Our radioinfo reporter John O’Hara was there for coffee and cupcakes with the top rating pair.
 

As the unrelenting chill of winter continued throughout the streets of Melbourne this morning, the warmth and beauty of the Flower Temple in the QV complex of the CBD was a welcome relief from the cold.

The Flower Temple, an inner city florist cafe, promotes itself as ‘a floral forum to be discovered’ and was the perfect intimate setting to welcome the two Melbourne mums who met and bonded on the couch of Channel 10’s now defunct morning chat show, The Circle.

They say they’re excited to be on air doing what friends do best; laugh, gossip and talk to people all over Melbourne about anything and everything.

Upon arrival I was welcomed and introduced swiftly to both women who had made their way directly from the morning shift at the Mix 101.1 Richmond studios.

All smiles, coats and scarves, it felt like I’d know them for years as we sipped our coffee (Jane with a latte and Chrissie with a flat white) and spoke of the popular Private Investigator series currently airing.

‘This morning must have been particularly difficult?’ I asked. Introducing Alf to his daughter who he hadn’t seen in 40 years was ‘so awkward’ they agreed.

‘Do you have fun?’ I asked.

‘Oh absolutely, we always have a ball’, Jane replied as she encouraged Chrissie and myself to try the ‘amazing’ chicken finger sandwiches being handed around.

Making the connection to Wicked, the musical that I’m currently appearing in, both women were excited to share how much they loved the show and how Chrissie had brought her son a few weeks ago after enjoying opening night so much. Ever friendly and gracious, they both thanked me for coming and continued to make themselves available to each and every guest.

As the formalities began, Master Chef’s Matt Preston took hosting duties with gusto pointing out that in only two years Chrissie and Jane have reached the top spot in the highly competitive ratings war for breakfast radio. He commented how refreshing it was to have an all female team headlining and dominating the radio landscape, not just reading the weather or traffic updates.

He referred to the women as the perfect Ying and Yang team, with one being a complete ‘over sharer’.

Whippy (Brendon Dangar), the show’s Content Director and anchor then joined the girls for some shared highlights: Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child asking for a menu when asked if she’d like a drink before an interview, Chrissie swooning over Offspring’s Matt LeNevez and Jane turning into a school girl over One Direction’s Harry Styles, Chrissie admitting to actually having a real stealing problem when she was 15 (‘yeah, I was a massive clepto’ she said), and Jane’s Jukebox segment where she literally sings a tune into a plastic recorder and gets celebrities to guess the song (‘if Kylie and Delta have done it then it’s definitely a thing’, Jane said).

Guests were then serenaded by current X Factor contestant Dean Ray with his winning rendition of Bette Davis Eyes.

Rounding out the speeches Chrissie and Jane thanked all the people who came together behind the scenes to help make their show the success it is; you definitely get the feeling that this tight knit team is a family that genuinely enjoy each others company.

The girls left us with a glimpse of their quirky sense of fun and love for each other pretending to jump into an improvised version of Kate Bush’s Babushka complete with choreography.

As proceedings came to an end I stole one more moment with my favourite morning radio mums, ‘Isn’t this place amazing!’ Jane said popping out from behind an epic flower arrangement. Smiles and hugs goodbye, I heard this from Chrissie to the barista as I left, ‘Hey hipster coffee guy!, can I have another flat white please’.

Here’s to the next 500 Chrissie and Jane, you’re a hoot, thanks for having me.