Jules Lund is excited about starting his new gig with Emma Freedman this week.
“Not having to get up for breakfast hours,” is one of the benefits of the new show, but, eventhough the program is only one hour long, Lund is not going to be taking it easy.
Speaking to radioinfo today, Lund says, “we’re doing something innovative here… Scoopla is such an unbelievable online presence, we want to extend on that.”
SCA’s Scoopla team consists of about 7 reporters around the country who feed the site with updated celebrity news from 4am each day, and continue to update it until late at night.
“Scoopla has the hottest entertainment stories of the past 24 hours, it’s meatier than just gossip.”
The website is “one of the fastest growing online publishing brands” in Australia according to Lund. “It has a ready made social platform, which we will build on.”
The live show will have an edge on its competitors. “We are up against prerecorded edits of breakfast shows, the information is 12 hours old by the time it gets to air on those stations, but our show is live and we will have the latest information for our listeners,” Lund told radioinfo.
The Hit Network’s target audience is under 30 year olds, with a heavy female skew. A large majority of those listening at 6pm will be connected teenage girls in their bedrooms, doing homework and interacting with friends on the internet. “That’s right up our alley,” says Lund.
Listener trends are shifting according to Lund, and the show intends to be innovative in the way it engages with the audience at this time.
“That 6-7pm time is not traditionally known as a peak time for radio listeners, but trends are shifting and at that time the target audience is united through social media. So we will be able to connect with them through online streaming and social media to build a unique audience.
“Look at what kids do when they get home from school. They don’t watch the tv any more, they put their earbuds straight in to tune out from other media… Our show will be engaging for that audience and for advertisers who want to reach them.”
Lund and Freedman will spend a while getting the sound right and making sure the show connects intuitively with the successful web presence already built by Scoopla. “We can gamble with innovation in that timeslot, and we will make sure we get it right,” he says.
Lund says he and Emma Freedman have been “mates for a long time.” They are both from Melbourne and have mutual friends, including SCA’s Sam Cavanagh. 
“Emma was our top pick for this gig. Sam Cavanagh has been wanting to get her on air at SCA for a long time. When it was finalized Sam tweeted ‘Gotcha’ because he was so happy to have such a dynamic person on the network with us.”
Freedman has a strong social media presence, with over 35,000 twitter followers. Added to Lund’s 58,000 followers, the show will have a head start in social media connectness.
So what happened with Channel 9. Why did Emma leave so suddenly at the end of last year?
“I don’t really know, I haven’t asked her, but I presume it was budget cuts over there,” says Lund. “I don’t care why, I’m just happy we were able to get her to join me on this show.’
Jules Lund and Emma Freedman’s Scoopla begins next Monday across Today’s Hit Network at 6pm. See our earlier report here.