Clarification: Mitch Braund has called me to point out that he did not attack Jamie Dunn when he spoke to a Brisbane journalist in March this year, but he did challenge the view that some radio stunts were "distasteful" and "lacked integrity". Braund says he and Dunn have since "had a laugh" over the newspaper report.
- June 19

On May 6, I took Brisbane Radio B105 content director Mitch Braund to task because he was quoted as saying that former top-rating announcer Jamie Dunn was out of touch with what audiences wanted. In that post I also noted that B105's current breakfast team of Labrat, Camilla and Stav had "had a shocker" of a result in the third 2008 radio ratings survey, and expressed the hope that they would do better next time (because, as I said then and I still believe, they are nice people). Well, sadly for them, the survey four results are out and B105 has dropped again to what is almost certainly the lowest audience share in its history. In this Courier-Mail online article, Austereo Brisbane general manager Richard Barker has tried to put a positive spin on things, but he - and his superiors in Sydney - must know that the station is in trouble. He notes, correctly, that B105's cumulative audience (cume) remains steady, but he also knows that that is not the figure advertisers look at. People dropping in and out of a station are unlikely to hear the advertisements, and in commercial radio that's all that counts. Barker also knows that in the good times - largely when Jamie Dunn and Ian Skippen were helming the breakfast show - B105 always boasted about its audience share - the figure he is now dismissing. The fact is that, save Triple J, Radio National and ABC News Radio, B105's breakfast show is now at the bottom of the pile - rating even lower than the perennial wooden-spooners over at 4BH (who do a great job for the older demographic). So what went wrong at B105, the mighty station that once commanded more than a third of all Brisbane listeners? I don't expect the Austereo people are listening, but I'll tell them for free. (And before we go any further, do not mistake what I am about to say as a sexist statement; it's a matter of commercial realities.) What went wrong is that Camilla Severi got pregnant. How did that change things? Well, B105 was pitching itself as a hits station aimed at cashed-up young people, with madcap, juvenile stunts and a free-and-easy attitude. Then, out of the blue, its very young female presenter entered the nappy brigade. B105 embraced the situation, by having "yummy mummy" events and other baby-related japes, but the way I see it, all this alienated the audience the station was trying to capture - the 18-24 and 25-29 year olds who are happily listening to Nova 106.9 and haven't even given parenthood a second thought. (Yes, I know Ash Bradnam talks about his kid on Nova, but it doesn't take over the show - and, of course, Nova has an arguably edgier music mix and plays just two ads in a row to counter the dial-surfing factor.) B105 has two choices - it either changes format to actively pursue an audience that's interested in baby talk* (unlikely given that that's a network decision) or it, once again, changes its breakfast show. The latter would be a great pity because the people involved with the show are not just nice, they are also good operators. But after 18 months on-air, it's unlikely that they will do a Lazarus in the ratings. Given the success of Hamish and Andy in the drivetime slot, and the tightening economies in the media, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is a networked or partially networked breakfast show on B105 next year (as there is over the current mid-year break). I know some people reading this will say that networked breakfast shows don't work in Brisbane - but if going from first to last in the space of just four years is "working", I'd like to hear the definition of failure.
PS: Sunshine Coast-based Jamie Dunn is probably wetting himself right now, and he has most likely already phoned several Brisbane radio stations to offer his services.
Disclosure: Brett Debritz briefly presented an entertainment segment on B105's breakfast show, and is still occasionally heard on 612 ABC's Spencer Howson program, which is the No. 2 breakfast show in Brisbane. Brett also once tried to write a book with Jamie Dunn.
Update (i.e. afterthought): * Which would also mean toning down the content for a family audience. Mums on the school run don't want their kids to listen to crude content.