“We will play passionately, but never dirty,” said Paul Murray at the launch of 2UE’s new on air lineup last night. Murray will present Drive as part of a lineup that will bring ‘generational change’ to Sydney talk radio. One of the other key personalities in the new lineup, Jason Morrison, was noticeably absent from the launch, because he was in Queensland covering the cyclone. “That’s the type of journalist he is, he would rather be where the story is than at a party” Murray told the audience as he crossed to Morrison by phone during the launch.
The 2011 lineup is Morrison at breakfast, David Oldfield in mornings, former 4BC presenter Michael Smith on afternoons, Paul Murray on drive, Murray Olds and Murray Wilton 6-9pm, Stuart Bocking 9pm-midnight and Mike Jeffreys overnight. Weekend breakfast will be hosted by John Stanley, followed by George Moore and Paul B Kidd 9am-2pm, Tim Webster will present 2-6pm and John Kerr does weekend mid-dawns. Other weekend special feature shows include Dr Ross Walker with Healthy Living on Saturdays 6-8pm, Pete Graham with Saturday Night Live 8pm – midnight, Legal Matters with Tim Shaw 6-8pm Sundays, Sharina’s Psychic Encounters 8pm-midnight Sundays.
Former weekday presenter John Stanley told the audience that the station has taken a new approach to weekends. “The conventional thinking was that you had to have gardening and other special topics on weekend breakfast, but we are going to treat it as we do weekday breakfast because there are big news and sport stories on weekends too. We will run a seven day a week talk breakfast show”
The station’s strategy is to keep its existing listeners, but expand to new younger demographics as well. The slogan used at the launch is a variation of the old message: “We guarantee you won’t miss a thing.”
General Manager Tim McDermott said the new lineup has been in the planning stages since April last year, eventually culminating in the formal signing of Jason Morrison last Tuesday, the day after his 2GB contract expired on January 31st.
McDermott likened the new lineup to a football team, “we had mostly the right team, but some of them were playing in the wrong positions before.”
Program Director Peter Brennan is delighted with the new lineup, which he helped put together. He told radioinfo that he was impressed with Paul Murray’s hosting of various sessions at last year’s commercial radio conference in Melbourne and that is when he locked in Murray for the 2011 lineup.
Asked about Jim Ball, who has just this week resigned from 2GB, Brennan said Ball has “a lot of talent,” but that the 2UE lineup is now full and there is unlikely to be any permanent place for him at 2UE at the present time.
The mixture of old and new staff brought energy to the launch, although former breakfast presenter Sandy Aloisi was one of the few from the 2010 lineup who did not attend. The respected news presenter has been heard recently back at the ABC on the NewsRadio drive shift.
The new team is planning to take the fight up to 2GB, with McDermott setting a goal of an 8.5% audience share by the end of the year. Staff told radioinfo they believe their station is already ahead of rival 2GB in its cyclone coverage, with Morrison on the ground in Townsville while the 2GB reporter assigned to the story was still waiting in Sydney to get a seat on a plane.
Media, clients and various state politicians, including NSW Premier Kristina Keneally were present at the launch, at the harbourside Bel Mondo Restaurant in The Rocks.
Commenting on the power of radio compared with politics, former politician turned presenter David Oldfield said: “Radio is an extension of politics, but radio is immediate, you can get results faster than in politics.”
On the phone from Townsville, Jason Morrison also talked about what talk radio means to him: “It’s about people. Know as much as you can about what you’re talking about and care about the people who talk to you.”
The new lineup begins on air next Monday.
