“I need to be crazily passionate about something, otherwise I’ll do something else.”
Bruno Bouchet recently left his job at KIIS as Kyle and Jackie’s EP because he wasn’t as passionate about it as he used to be. He wanted to do something else, so he went back to a former employer, selling homewares.
That only lasted for a week.
Bouchet told Gawndy in the Radio Randomly podcast how he got the job as Kyle Sandilands’ manager:
“I didn’t know what the job was, but I just said yes.
“I prefer working with Kyle, we’ve been working together for ten years.”
Sandilands has various businesses interests and investments, and his previous manager was getting too busy with the record company business in America, so Kyle needed somone in Australia to look after the ‘day to day stuff.’
“Kyle lives a fun and colourful life,” says Bouchet, telling Gawndy Sandilands is a a radio geek and a genuinely nice guy.
“Obviously there is an on air style, I don’t want to call it a persona because that would seem fake. On air you have to exaggerate certain elements of your personality, for Kyle it is sarcasm because that is within him, but he is a nice guy.”
Talking about the bigger picture of the radio industry, Bouchet said: “This is a fun industry… there’s a lot of great people in it, we shouldn’t tear one another down.”
What makes radio people interesting? Bouchet says it is the hard knocks we face along the way. “Sometimes you meet some radio people and you can tell they haven’t gotten their arses kicked by life yet. Once that happens once or twice you’re so much more interesting as a personality on the air. It’s so compelling to hear a well rounded three dimentional personality on air.” During that discussion, Bouchet turned the tables on Gawndy and interviewed him about the hard knocks in his own life.
Gawndy has told radioinfo: “I could’ve talked about radio with Bruno for hours! It was the first time I’d met him in person but from the get go he was just a down to earth legend with a STACK of radio knowledge!
“I can see why he’s achieved so much and only into his early 30’s. Can’t wait to see how he goes in his new role of Kyle Sandilands manager! Appreciate him taking the time for the chat.”
In the podcast, Gawndy & Bruno discuss his time working with Kyle & Jackie O and how the K & J show is put together each morning.
The K & J production team put all their ideas on one central document but don’t finalise the rundown until the early morning to make sure the show is fresh. Kyle and Jackie come in about 5.50am. Bruno would have been constantly in communicaiton with Jackie from the night before, but Kyle is less involved in the production process so that he can be more spontaneous.
If the ratings dip for Kyle and Jackie they don’t spend time looking at who beat them and analysing what they are doing. “I’m a big believer in spending less time worrying about others than strengthening our brand. It is healty to know what your opposition is doing, but not obsessing about it.”
“Kyle will be the first to say he is not the healthiest man on earth, althought he is trying to get fitter. The reality is that some days he is unwell. Recently Beau Ryan has been brought in to do the show with Jackie and that is working well. We haven’t seen any ratings drop. You’ve just got to work with it.
“Kyle gets crippling migranes, you can hardly get out of bed. Kyle wants to either operate at 100% or not at all.”
Radio Randomly host Daniel Gawned is the Breakfast show presenter at Sea FM CentralCoast.
