92.7 MIXFM’s Mark and Caroline have been presenting the breakfast show together on the Qld Sunshine Coast for 12 years. If they were a house, they’d be described by a real estate agent as “modern” but in the radio world their longevity that stems from their ability to build trust and rapport among listeners, earns them the title of “heritage breakfast show.”
“Yep 12 years (OMG has it been that long?) I received a call while living in Brisbane from the MIX FM PD at the time. ‘Mark! There’s a job up here on the Coast. Everybody else has said NO WAY! Are you keen?’” Mark Darin tells radioinfo.
He replied, “Well I’ve got nothing on for the next 12 years and the rent is due – sure.”
Caroline Hutchinson had being doing the show with Peter Lang and after he left, trialled with a couple of guys “and chose Mark.”
“Mark and I are very compatible. We would naturally gravitate toward each other as friends in real life and that’s what people like about us on the radio,” says Caroline.
A quick Google of Mark and Caroline and they seem to have done everything in their 12 years on-air together, but they argue that’s not an impediment when planning a show.
“We’re pretty relaxed about stunts – we’re always open to a ‘crazy zany’ idea if it feels right but we don’t go looking for them. Our show is built on conversation really…so that’s usually our biggest challenge, working out every morning what the Sunshine Coast wants to talk about,” says Caroline
“Yeah stunts can be fun but they only get you so far,” adds Mark.
To last more than a decade on air together must mean they admire more in their partner than they dislike.
“I admire lots about Mark. He is a lot more creative than me. I am accidentally funny sometimes, but the real ‘light’ of our show comes from Mark.”
“Caroline is very balanced. She has a fair approach to most issues and she has an amazing presence with our listeners. She seems to know everyone and calls them by his or her first name.”
Mark and Caroline have seen a lot of changes in their time on-air together, mostly due to the digital age.
“It has made life about 80 million times easier,” says Caroline. “Really old people like me will remember studios filled with Woman’s Day and Who magazines which had been scoured for every possible snippet.”
“The access to information via the net is incredible,” says Mark “It’s possible to get sound bites from anywhere. Coupled with Facebook and Twitter (and the rest!) radio now has pictures.”
It was just last month Xtra Research released the results from the first industry radio ratings survey on the Sunshine Coast for ten years and Mark and Caroline’s breakfast show was a clear number one.
They hold a 20 point share with their nearest competitor SEA FM sitting on 14.4.
So what advice would they give up-and-coming teams?
“The smartest thing to do is get involved in your community. In a changing landscape localism is our power,” says Caroline.
And for Mark it comes down to the power of observation.
“Always observe your own life. Those weird little habits or things that irritate you are probably tomorrow’s radio topic,” he says. “And there are now right or wrong answers…just sit back and watch the phones light up.”
Mark & Caroline: They love babies, dogs listeners and The Sunshine Coast
