The Outsider: Probing Adelaide’s obsessions
Today, the two comeback kids being touted for FIVEaa jobs; terrible political nicknames; and the moments they wish had never happened.
Big Bob out, Leon stays, Heavy Kevvy in?
It’s been a big couple of weeks at the once-dominant talk station FIVEaa.
First the good news – morning announcer Leon Byner this week signed a new two-year contract.
On the other side of the ledger, Big Bob Francis got the chance to announce his retirement from the airwaves, effective at the end of this program year.
Finding a replacement for the man lovingly known as Fatty will be a tough task for DMG Radio’s Perth boss Gary Roberts who is in temporary control of FIVEaa after the departure of local manager Sean O’Brien.
O’Brien is heading back to Channel Nine, from whence he came a few years ago.
Roberts is a genuine radio head with 40 years in the business as a presenter, program director and managing director.
Industry talk suggests he’s in the process of wielding the axe at FIVEaa which has slipped in the ratings over the last year or so, especially in the key breakfast shift.
You might like
Drivetime sports hosts Chris McDermott and Stephen Rowe are safe and, as we noted above, mornings guru Leon Byner is newly recontracted.
The breakfast slot, however, is up for grabs, with industry veteran Keith Conlon set to retire after 51 years behind the mike.
Conlon had long-running success with partner Tony Pilkington who retired a couple of years ago.
After Pilko went, the station’s award-winning comic Jon Blake headed to TripleM and John Kenneally parted ways with the station at the end of last year.
Some interesting “big names” have been bandied around as contenders for a revamped brekkie team: even Kevin Foley gets a mention (although one imagines the early start would be either inconvenient or too convenient).
The best tip we’ve heard is the return of Graham Cornes to the AA microphone.
The Outsider would be mildly pleased if Blakey returned as “more than a funny man”, but we’d be ecstatic if Barry Ion and Peter Plus made a comeback.
Sure, Baz is 71, but Plussy is still a teenager isn’t he?
Hey true blue
Nicknames, sadly, just aren’t what they used to be.
Jay Weatherill this week has been called “Getaway Jay” by the Opposition. Because he’s on holidays. Laugh, I nearly.
I suppose it’s an improvement on Rob Lucas’s “Lefty Jay” which, as well as lacking wit, doesn’t even have the benefit of rhyming.
But we have to ask – does the great Australian tradition of nicknames really need to be dumbed down in lockstep with media and political culture?
Stay informed, daily
Just as cricketer Mark Waugh moved from the glorious moniker Afghanistan (the forgotten war), to Junior (he was a twin, born second), so too has our national sobriquet IQ plummeted.
Remember the days when Bob Hawke was The Silver Bodgie? Paul Keating took to calling him “old jellyback”, but he was a kind of nickname genius (he called opposition leader and former economics professor John Hewson, The Feral Abacus).
Now, we’re stuck with K.Rudd and the Mad Monk. And Getaway Jay.
People forget that a great Australian nickname is a beguiling mix of the obscure, the ironic and a tough brand of affection.
State politics is particularly grim, with most nicknames being so witless that we won’t even mention them.
Can anyone do better? Send us an email.
(And yes, we realise that we’ve used the nicknames “Fatty” and “Heavy Kevvy” in today’s column. Do as we say, not as we do.)
I wish that hadn’t happened
More than a few politicians must have watched themselves on the TV news this week and thought – “I wish that hadn’t happened”.
You can bet their media advisers were feeling that way.
Minister Michael O’Brien created a veritable Mexican wave of cringes across Adelaide when he told crusading parent Danyse Soester that her words about standing up for all children were a “good line”.
Then there was Tom Kenyon, the hapless manufacturing minister whose media stunt outside a northern suburbs shopping complex ended with him being booted out by centre management.
“That didn’t go well,” was the grab that made it to the TV news.
And then there are the more fortunate politicians who save their embarrassing moments to less visible venues – such as the benches of the Legislative Council.
And that’s where The Outsider can “help”.
For example, here are Opposition frontbencher David Ridgway’s opening comments in debate last week on a Green Bill to force the Government to consult with anyone affected by a rezoning under the Development Act.
He was apparently being heckled by Labor members about the Liberals’ lack of policies.
“I can assure members opposite that there is no way I would ever be announcing a policy: first, I am not the shadow minister responsible; and, secondly, I would never want to do it off the back of a Greens’ initiative.”
Yes, we were tempted to leave out everything after the colon. But, you know, context is everything.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
