Comment from Peter Saxon.
If there was an ACRA for Most Conspicuously Absent On Air team, Kyle and Jackie O would have won it hands down.
Although the tight format at the ACRAs did not allow for much oratory, a number of the Award presenters made room to pay out on the high-profile duo. Their own colleagues on the KIIS network Drive show Will & Woody performed a classic bait & switch routine suggesting to the audience that they address the big question of what’s going to happen in Melbourne breakfast: ‘What everybody’s asking is, will Christian O’Connell be running Secret Sound again?’, they quipped.
Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey from NOVA also had a dig at Kyle and Jackie O not being there suggesting their absence could be a clue that they weren’t going to win any big prizes.
Meanwhile, Neil ‘Wilko’ Wilcock and Courtenay ‘Courts’ Kneen, the breakfast team at MIX 104.7 in Canberra, which is jointly owned by SCA and ARN, wondered out loud which of the rival networks would buy the other out and end up running the joint.
Although nominated for six different awards, Kyle & Jackie O only managed to secure one of them, Best Networked Show for Hour of Power. Apparently, this win was not enough to lure them to The Star to receive it live, perhaps because a mere Best Networked Show Award did not afford them the honour of several scarce minutes for an acceptance speech as did their induction into the Radio Hall of Fame last year.
By contrast, the much-awarded Ray Hadley (also a Hall of Fame inductee) whose only award on Saturday night was for his part in the Continuous Call Team for Best Sports Event Coverage (Metro) was happy to attend and give a gracious speech in praise of the late Bob Rogers while presenting Bob’s daughter Justy Rogers with the posthumous Award after his recent passing, aged 97.
Perhaps, Kyle and Jackie O, or at least one of them, might have turned up if the coveted Best On Air Team (Metro) had’ve gone their way. Instead, for the fifth time and two years running, the award went to ARN stablemates Brendan Jones and Amanda Keller at WSFM.
As this final award of the night was announced, the whole room, including those from rival networks stood up and applauded Jonesy and Amanda, this perennially class act, who have always turned up, win lose or draw to support their colleagues and the industry that employs them.
Listen to Amanda on stage below and below that Jen Seyderhelm’s chat with Jonesy and Amanda backstage. To listen to many more winner’s interviews go HERE
Peter Saxon