When you want to make big bucks in radio you begin with ABC. It’s a sad fact of life that JJJ, and more broadly the ABC, cultivate 90%* of the media talent in this world, and they all eventually leave.
Roy and HG have had many trists and dalliances with commercial TV through their Olympic broadcasts and the like – but until now have remained true to their radio roots with “This Sporting Life” on JJJ on a Sunday afternoon. But no more. They’re off to the greener pastures of MMM. They did manage to stay there much longer than Merrick and Rosso, or Wil Anderson – and they command respect for that…
But for some reason this makes me angry. I was probably so ingrained by the left leaning creative types at uni that I scream “sell out” every time someone makes money out of their creativity. It’s a hard line to tread. The thing is – even JJJ radio personalities make an exhorbitant amount of money on the professional MC circuit.
Even ABC breakfast radio hosts command more than $10,000 an appearance** – and that’s pretty close to the base rate. Seriously, this is easier than painting some obscure blue poles on canvas. You get 100 of these gigs a year (assuming 1 mid week and 1 a weekend over 52 weeks) and that’s a million bucks. Why you can’t stick to your principles and stay committed to the station that nurtured your talent is beyond me. I guess this is the only way new talent is allowed an opportunity. But I find it all a little mercenary.
*arbitrarily selected figure
** One extroverted mathematician in particular, ex JJJ, we had him up here for a function a while back…
Comments
I’m not sure about most of them (Adam Spencer has been in the public eye for quite a while) after all but they never seem to have much money. I was at a breakfast broadcast the other day and there was a big hubbub because someone took a flag off the wall and they didn’t have the money to replace it (maybe the hosts take all the flag money, I dunno).
Anyway I don’t get pissed when they go commercial. I think it’s fair enough. What did piss me off was Will Anderson though. For years he sat there paying out mainstream music then as soon as he goes commercial there’s a complete reversal of personality. It wasn’t going commercial that sucked it was that he was just tying his personality to his audience. You don’t have to like the music on JJJ (the hosts pay out songs they play but don’t like all the time) but he bothered to fake it anyway. Just made everything he did so phoney.