Nikki Osborne debuts on Nova Brisbane with nary a xxxx up

The Brisbane Nova 106.9 breakfast team returned this morning with Ash Bradnam and David ‘Luttsy’ Lutteral joined by Nikki Osborne replacing Susie O’Neill after she stepped back from a full time role with the Nova Network at the end of last year.

Nikki, a stand up comedian more used to starting at 9pm not 5am arrived at the Nova studios so early, there was no one there! This morning also commenced what the station has called ‘Nikki’s $10K Dump Button Bingo’ a two-week campaign where listeners can win $1,000 every time Nikki slips up with a naughty word on air. $2000 of that went off on the first day.

Before I get to Nikki’s first c*ck up (literally) I also want to acknowledge what an effective promotion this is to introduce her to Nova Brisbane listeners.

With Meta deciding against fact checking and people starting to easily identify ChatGPT and AI generated news, copy, images and audio, I think there is a a space in radio for listeners to spot genuine and authentic mistakes or, in this instance, whoopsie words.

Someone told me recently that they started out in radio working for the late, great broadcaster and mind Clive Robertson. About once a show Clive would insert the wrong name, place or event to something he was talking about. Being new, this person was initially reluctant to call Clive on these errors, but the listeners would light up the phone lines. Clive later said he did it on purpose because you have no idea how many are tuning in, until you make a mistake.

In waiting for Nikki to swear it will not only have a positive effect for TSL (time spent listening) but it also beds Nikki, and her apparently potty mouth, into the team. And as a girl who created a whole new language to avoid swearing on air, I love the idea of waiting for Nikki to ‘forget’ where she is.

For the record this is how it happened:

Nikki: I was explaining to the producers of the show that my biggest fear is swearing on air because I’m a comedian, I’m a stand-up comic and that’s kind of how I accentuate every sentence!

Luttsy: So you have a filthy mouth, have you?!

Nikki: Well yeah, for breakfast! Also, I am a comedian!

Luttsy: Coz you do stand up.

Nikki: Yes…normally I’m working at 9pm. I finish at 9am now and I’m in a parallel universe where you’re not allowed to swear.

Luttsy: ….A swear word, in the right context, can make an audience laugh! We know that from MC’ing!

Nikki: So with that in mind! They thought, in their wisdom…is to play a game, if I do by chance swear on air, when they hit the dump button, the listeners will be activated to call and win a thousand bucks.

Ash: It’s like a swear jar.

Nikki: So you know, if I c*ck up, then they get the money! [Dump button activated]

Ash, Luttsy & Nikki Osborne can be heard from 6am to 9am on Nova 106.9 in Brisbane.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and reformed swearer for Radioinfo.

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