For Kyle Sandilands things are about to get very hectic.
Apart from being co-host on the #1 FM radio show in Sydney, he’s starting work next month on his second season as judge on Australian Idol, he’s about to relocate his girlfriend to the U.S. to further her music career and he’s taking the Seven Network to court over comments they broadcast about him last year.
In his spare time he’s been developing and writing a drama show he’s hoping will be picked up soon. He also wants Austereo to sack all the current 2Day network breakfast teams so he and Jackie O can be networked. If that doesn’t happen he’s very tempted to have a crack at breakfast radio in the U.S.
Sandilands is also prepared to put any bitterness that still exists between him and the Daily Telegraph behind him.
Reporting on Austereo rebels, Media Week observes that Triple M has been making some bold programming moves in recent years. Against conventional wisdom they are persisting with a networked breakfast show into Sydney and Melbourne, they run an hour of Mick Molloy talking nonsense at lunchtime on weekdays, they have a playlist that almost makes Nova’s seem conventional and they have a weird evening program called The Cold 30 and a late night cult DJ calling himself The Spoonman.
The trade publication points out that one of their riskiest moves perhaps has been to hack the end off the popular drive show The Shebang and pump out a quasi-current affairs show hosted by Paul Murray across the network every night at 6pm for an hour.
Murray’s Tuesday or Wednesday shows last week makes the use of the word risky understandable. Murray has been encouraging calls from people who don’t like his new program and he’s introduced his Love Muscle character who sounds a lot like MixFM’s Richard Mercer. While a lot of callers like what Murray is doing, there seems to be many who are downright confused.
Murray explains: “There’s no way that anyone in Australian radio ever takes calls saying what wrong with them. Everyone just puts to air admiring calls about how wonderful they are and then puts them into promos.”