A tip of the hat to Triple M Sydney and their breakfast and marketing teams.
I spent the last fortnight in the city and saw copious buses promoting Nova‘s Ricki-Lee and Tim, as well as Fitzy, Wippa and Kate, and billboards featuring Nath and Emma at SCA‘s 2DayFM. The bus below I snapped while out at dinner in Cremorne. It was soon after replaced by a Fitzy, Wippa and Kate one.
Triple M’s billboards are different. They have the classic branding and colours and simply say “The Sound of Sydney”. No smiling faces of show hosts, merely a statement of where I imagine they wish to place themselves in the market. That is until this week.
How other radio stations have chosen to discuss, or not, the exit of Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS 1065 and 101.1 has been interesting to watch. ARN stablemate Christian O’Connell on Gold 101.7, a recent debutant in Sydney himself, has steered away from them, whether by choice or via management instruction we won’t know. Talk stations like 2SM, the ABC and Ben Fordham on 2GB (see below) have leant into the topic.
Nath and Emma seemed to have let it lie but over at Triple M Beau, Cat and Woody have not only openly discussed it, but gone one step further and incorporated it into their own external messaging for Sydneysiders to drive past, have a giggle at or at least look twice.
Yesterday in Steve Ahern‘s analysis of what’s next post the show’s current hiatus and possible demise, he spoke of the churn in the Sydney market that was already likely to occur with Jonesy and Amanda‘s shift to drive for Christian O’Connell on Gold but now will be experienced ten fold.
Radio listeners will surf around if their normal is no longer there. It should show in the GfK survey 1 cumes come March 19 and even more come survey 2 on April 23. This is absolutely a opened door for other stations to seize listeners’ ears, and a missed opportunity if they don’t actively lean into it.
Triple M have done this at this early stage. Not only through the branding but also because Beau Ryan is well placed to make a comment as a regular contributor to the KIIS breakfast show before he joined Triple M.
On Wednesday he said:
“I never like it when people lose their jobs. I owe a lot to Jackie O – she gave me a start in breakfast radio – and I worked very closely with Kyle. I’m very good friends with both of them.
My thoughts go to the team… there are a couple of dozen people who walk into work not knowing what happens next.”
And this morning he ruled himself out of joining KIIS or teaming up with Kyle or Jackie:
Beau: “I don’t think he’ll [Kyle] work there [at ARN] ever again. Why would they both want to work there? I see that Jackie has been offered a gig to work there but they don’t need to work. They’ve got nothing to prove to anyone. What ARN do is the big question… I think they’re going to throw everything at Sophie Monk.”
Aaron Woodsy Woods: “Oh, really?”
Cat Lynch: “With who though?”
Beau: “Well, that’s the question. You know who I think they’re going to go for? I think they’re going to go for Jim Jeffries. Jim gets to do whatever he wants to do. But they’ve got a situation there and I think Sophie Monk is where they’re going to go. Whether you like it or not, everyone runs off the back of Kyle & Jackie O over there. That’s gone, that’s over. I think Sophie and someone similar to Kyle.”
Cat: “I know you took a lot of calls from media outlets, and one of the questions they were asking is if you would go over there and team up with Jackie?”
Beau: “All things considered, I love it here so much. I genuinely do. The working environment is so important, especially doing hours like this. Anyone who gets up with a ‘3’ in it, you have to go work somewhere that you love. So, no I wouldn’t do it.”
Cat: “Sophie Monk is a pretty cool chick! I’m just testing your loyalty here (laughs)”
Beau: “Doing radio and the industry is one thing but working in Breakfast is a whole different ball game. I think the world of Sophie, I think she’s brilliant, but I wouldn’t do it. The three of us are good friends and we’ve got a good thing going on here. We’re about to get some billboards again which means it’s serious (laughs).”
Beau then went on to share a story of Kyle’s generosity to former colleague Alfie Laguzza:
“I was staying at Bruno (Bouchet – Kyle’s manager)’s house house-sitting. We get a knock on the door really late one night, and it’s this man standing there’s at like midnight, just standing there with the keys to a car. He delivered a Maybach to Bruno’s house, right? Old school, man, old school [car], but super expensive. Now, the reason it got delivered to Bruno is because Kyle had bought that Maybach for Alfie, who works on their show, who does coffees, saying that was his dream car, surprising him with [the car]…Now I don’t know what the car’s worth, but [he bought it] for him. He’s that kind of guy. They’ll look after their team, but those poor buggers don’t have jobs this morning.”
The former KIIS breakfast listeners now know there is someone in Sydney who also has respect for Kyle and Jackie O. In discussions I’ve had about where they and former Jonesy and Amanda at breakfast listeners might end up, Triple M have barely rated a mention – so this is a serious play and with the NRL additionally commencing this weekend, timely with two ex-players on that breakfast show.
L-R – Beau Ryan, Cat Lynch and Aaron ‘Woodsy’ Woods.
Talking about their tongue in cheek billboards this morning Cat said:
“The number one rule for keeping a breakfast show together is staying harmonious amongst the group.”
Woodsy: “We all get along.”
Beau: “We’re very harmonious!”
Cat: “Are you kidding?”
Beau: “That was a trick question. I was trying to trap door you there.”
Now for the trio to make the most of the other open doors too.
Jen Seyderhelm is writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.
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