Off the Edge, into the Mix
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday October 5, 2009
This young breakfast team is making a pitch for older listeners, writes Sue Javes. The Australian Radio Network is banking on two relatively unknown twentysomethings already on the payroll to freshen Mix 106.5's appeal in the breakfast slot. Michael Etheridge and Carmela Contarino only teamed up on the Edge breakfast show in January this year but executives say their unaffected manner and ability to relate to listeners makes them a perfect fit for Mix's more adult, female market.Hip-hop and dance music will give way to the more female-targetted tunes of Jessica Mauboy and Black Eyed Peas but otherwise the show will stay the same. "It will have the same feel, the same vibe, just on Mix instead of the Edge," says Etheridge, 25. "If I thought they wanted an older, fluffy type of show, I don't think I could have done it."Contarino, 23, says it's not as big a leap as some might think. "Even though we thought we were targeting a young demographic on the Edge, before we knew it we were chatting to 40 year olds who had issues about their weight, 18 year olds who couldn't find a boyfriend, 30 year olds with marriage problems. We realised older women were listening as well."Etheridge has been with the network the longest. He grew up in the Sutherland Shire and worked at a local community radio station while studying for an arts and communications degree. At 19, he says he badgered executives at the Edge into giving him a job and, over the next few years, worked his way from panel operator to hosting the breakfast shift.Contarino grew up in Bunbury, Western Australia, and studied dance and singing. She moved to Sydney two years ago, taking a course at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and working for Glenn Wheatley's now defunct subscription radio service, Stripe. She was on the verge of returning to WA when Etheridge rang AFTRS looking for "a feisty female" to co-host breakfast with him on The Edge.Etheridge and Contarino's show has the hallmarks of a typical FM breakfast show with plenty of Hollywood gossip, celebrity interviews, a Battle of the Sexes-style quiz and a resident clairvoyant but their main focus is relationships and they are happy to share their lives with listeners.ARN general manager Anthony Fitzgerald says the couple creates an atmosphere of trust. "They open up about their lives and listeners empathise. Listeners feel comfortable enough to ring up the station and talk about their deepest, darkest secrets."It's a different approach from Mix's previous experiment with television high-fliers Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenney. Two years ago, the buzzword among executives was aspirational. The thinking was that female listeners would tune in to Sonia and Todd because women aspire to lead a celebrity lifestyle. They didn't. Two years later, the new catch cry is relatability. As one insider said: "Todd lost his pants at a party, Sonia's dad nearly died and her marriage collapsed but they never talked about any of that on air."ARN chief executive Bob Longwell concedes the network may have erred two years ago when five middle-aged blokes in a boardroom decided what women wanted. "This time we have carried out much deeper and more intense research and asked women themselves what they think."Mike E. and Carmela start tomorrow on Mix 106.5 FM, 6-9am.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
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