Blair Sullivan October 29, 2014

Craig Bruce – the All Star Line Up – part i

Today SCA finally made the announcement, Hamish & Andy are back fulltime in Drive for 2015 and Dan & Maz will make their debut on 2dayFM breakfast in the New Year.

We caught up with SCA Head of Content, Craig Bruce about the Today Network All Star Line Up for 2015.

In part 1 we talk about Hamish & Andy – why July 2015? Is Jules Lund doing it solo, and Merrick Watts next move.

Blair Sullivan: The big day is here.

Craig Bruce: It’s been a big couple of weeks… obviously it’s been building over the last, God… I guess this has been playing out behind the scenes for a period of time and it’s nice to talk about it finally.

Blair: Finally, finally … it’s possibly been the most speculated and talked about thing in the industry…. when was it going to be announced…. What day was it going to be …. Is Hamish & Andy doing what?

The ALL STAR LINE UP was announced today with Hamish and Andy… into drive

Why July 2015? It's a long wait.

Craig: Oh look, you would have to ask them for a specific answer. My guess would be I think that the TV show The Gap Year is incredibly production intensive and when they are doing these shows they are living in each other's pockets for months on end – flights together, rooms together, editing suites together.

And not that they are over each other, I thinks its probably.. and I haven’t spoken to them specifically, but I would think it's got a bit to do with just getting some clear air, a bit of a break from what has been a big year for them.

You know Hamish has got a beautiful little man, him and Zoe. He is one of the most doting fathers I have ever seen and I think he is pretty keen to get to know Sonny.

I think ultimately it will be a good thing – go away get a bit of break, get some fresh air, get some clear thinking space. And then hit the ground running mid-year.

BS: Will they see out the happy hour for the rest of the year…

CB: The happy hour will wrap up at the end of the year.

BS: Have you worked out who will be your product team behind H&A….

CB: Sam Cavanagh will be involved, Dave Cameron will be involved. They are the key programming execs that drove the show through its halcyon days. And that will continue next year.

We haven’t put together the final team structure for them, we have got a bit of time to work through that. Pretty well every producers dream to work on that show, so I am sure we won’t be short of options.

But in terms of execs working on – Dave and Sam have brilliantly lead it – and Hamish and Andy have loved working with those two boys – that will certainly be the core group for next year.

BS: We all realise there will be 6 zeros on Hamish & Andy’s contract, but what’s the number at the front of them?

CB: Oh (laughs) I’m not going to answer that.

No, it’s not something I can talk about – we can’t be going into any of talent contracts in terms of details of what their salaries are.

But I am sure there will be speculation, I’m sure your RadioToday readers will have some thoughts.. let’s play the "Higher Lower Game"…. Maybe not.

BS: I thought I’d give it a shot at least… I knew I wouldn’t get very far. Something I did notice today, Equity shares in SCA… is that a new move in terms of talent contacts?

CB: It’s newish – it’s not my area of expertise but I think it’s a good idea to attach the growth and improvement in our company’s position with what our talent are doing.

In principle I think it’s a really good concept.

BS: Now Jules is set to kick off drive in January – Will Jules do drive with someone else or alone?

CB: Yeah he will work with someone else – we are not sure who that will be. It could be Sophie. There are options we have. We just haven’t sat down and worked that out yet. We have got some preferences which I won’t talk about or be specific with but we will come up with a show that can fill that slot until the boys are back.

BS: Now a nice way for Merrick and Jules to say they are the last men standing at 2day FM with the video out today… that was pretty cool.

CB: (laughs)… It just shows their sense of humour. I’ve had lots of questions across the course of year, people like yourself and people within the industry “oh what must it be like to work at 2dayFM at the moment”.

It’s actually been lots and lots of fun. And they have held their heads up high across the course of the year.

It has been a difficult year in terms of the numbers but they are two ripper blokes. We are glad that both of them will be with SCA next year. In different shows and different roles.

I think it just shows the quality of who they are and that they can take the piss and have some fun – I thought it was a hilarious way to kind of approach the situation.

BS: I’ve again got buckley’s chance of getting this out of you – but where is Merrick going?

CB: We will tell you that next week.

BS: Really?

CB: Yeah.. towards the end of next week I think we should have something to tell you. He will certainly be working with SCA next year.

We love him, he has been awesome for us, brilliant for our culture and he has been incredibly professional this year.

No ,we haven’t had a winning show but that is not through a lack of trying and certainly for Mez no-one has and I certainly haven’t changed my view on him in terms of his ability and what he can bring to us and our company.

In part ii with our chat with Craig, we will talk the Sydney market and the breakfast battle.