By Nicola Raymond, Senior Consultant
Since I arrived in Australia from the UK three years ago, some things have really surprised me.
Examples include the patriotism of easy-going citizens, drought, bushfires, cheap fuel and the huge gambling industry. And let’s not forget Australia’s infatuation with sport.
But nothing has been as surprising as the dominant Australian industry known as talkback radio, which started in Australia in 1967.
Talkback is big. Far from becoming an outdated media channel in this digital age, ‘radio’ continues to rule.
According to recent ratings figures, more than a third of the Melbourne listening audience choose talkback radio. The leading stations are 3AW (693) and ABC (774).
But, within months, a new talkback radio station called Melbourne Talk Radio MRT1377 will launch, a joint venture between Macquarie and Pacific Star Network. It will compete directly against 3AW and ABC774.
Hosts and contributors will include Steve Vizard, Steve Price, Ray Hadley, Sam Newman and Andrew Bolt. It’s a controversial line-up, and there is no mention of female contributors so far, which only reaffirms that talkback radio is usually managed by a prominent group of men.
To compete against the reputable talkback shock-jocks Jon Faine (ABC774) and Neil Mitchell (3AW) is a risky challenge. Both have loyal audiences and years of experience. John Faine estimates that he gets as many as 10,000 talkback calls a year.
However, the partners of the new MRT1377 station believe that there is room for two commercial talk stations and the ABC in both Sydney and Melbourne. If the strong and healthy radio ratings are a guide, the gamble might just pay off.
My view is that talkback radio is tremendously important in Australia because it is emotive, immediate and sociable. Whether you are sitting in your car with Jon Faine, or at home with Neil Mitchell, their ability to speak to you on a one-on-one is personal and informing. I will be listening and watching this development with interest.
The great thing about talkback radio is that politicians loathe it with a passion — that is the power of talkback it is the immediacy of it and it is a medium whereby the injustices that would otherwise go unseen and unheard, injustices that crush little people are able to be aired — so power to talkback it is living democracy when democracy is only a word to politicians who listen only to vocal and vested interests.
I will happily listen to it if it is available in Toowoomba.
We need as much information as we can get as the mainstream media will not give it to us. If it was not for talkback radio and the Web we would know nothing that the Labor Party did not want us to know. That is how bad it has been.