Accepting apologies and moving on from mistakes in live radio and television

One of the first rules I learned about live performances, be it on radio, television or theatre, was how important it was to put a mistake, yours or someone else’s, behind you. The more you carry or carry on about your own, the more the audience holds it too.

You and I have all done or said something we’ve regretted, apologised and hopefully moved swiftly on. Conversely you have hopefully received a swift and genuine sorry for the former done to you, and also put it behind you. This is at play today after Australian Open Tennis Channel Nine broadcaster Tony Jones made ill-thought through comments about tennis player Novak Djokovic in from of a large group of fans from his home country of Serbia. Novak’s anger at the comments saw him refuse an interview with Nine‘s Jim Courier post his 4th round match victory. That refusal made headlines worldwide.

Tony apologised immediately to the Djokovic camp, and then again publicly to Australian, Balkan and other publications. We wait to see if Novak speaks with Nine if he is victorious over the Spanish No 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz this evening AEST. If he isn’t we won’t know. In light of Tony’s sincere sorry, and empathy for what really is a small and silly mistake I wish that Novak had put it behind him publicly before taking the court this evening.

Before I get to radio’s connection to the above, another sport comes to mind where a changing of the guard was dealt with very poorly indeed.

I am a lifelong cricket fan. 25 years ago our then 35 year old international wicket keeper Ian Healy had, across his illustrious career as part of perhaps the greatest era of Australian cricket we have ever seen, shown that a glove man could contribute valuable runs, in charismatic fashion. He was playing in Zimbabwe and aware that his professional career days were numbered, but was promised by management that he would be allowed a final test in front of his home crowd at the Gabba in Brisbane. However, as he told SEN four years ago, the goal posts moved and Adam Gilchrist replaced him immediately, with Healy never getting to say farewell. Fans were outraged.

If you know cricket, you’ll be aware that Gilchrist further exceeded the Healy legacy. So much so that Healy also said perhaps only his family remembered the hurt at the time.

Professionally and personally I have been so impressed at the social media cohesion of certain radio stations. A couple I wish to single out are Jenna Benson at Gold101.7 who won two ACRAs in 2024 for her efforts and the ACE Radio Network‘s Emma Feehan. They are creating content that is broadly appealing, engages fans old and new and, most importantly, are clearly on brand.

So, speaking of looking forward not back, and dealing with a changing of the guard in an empathetic fashion, I was uncomfortably aware of what was likely to happen when ABC Radio Sydney shared the media post below that says:

“Says ‘G’day’ to your 2025 ABC Radio Sydney lineup!
We have your beloved favourites and some new faces!
Sydney what do you want to hear on the airwaves this year? Let us know in the comments.”

And, comment they have.

Sarah Phillips said, succinctly:

“You don’t have our beloved favourites though! They were unceremoniously shown the backdoor.
We told you in no uncertain terms what we wanted to hear on the airwaves, and you ignored us. So what’s the point?”
The ABC may feel unable to remove this post, and so this open forum dwelling on the actions of 2024 will likely sit there to remind people of what is still felt to be poor decisions, made badly. In this instance, I’m not sure an apology will help anymore either.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.

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