Carrie & Tommy live event highlights the risks of an OB

Staff Writer

One of the quirks of live radio is the unpredictability of talent, a risk that was laid bare at a Hit Network event last week featuring Drive duo Carrie & Tommy.

The pair hosted a live ‘Reunidol’ recording of their national show in Sydney on Thursday (February 13), featuring contestants from the first season of Australian Idol.

Mumbrella editor Vivienne Kelly was there, and noted a slip-up in her weekly email over the weekend.

One of the returning Idol contestants, Axl Whitehead, already had a reputation for unpredictability, which Bickmore noted in the introductory audio piece before the broadcast begun.

“Only requirement is you can’t get your bits out,” she told Whitehead in the pre-record. “I was told that’s why I’m coming!” he responded, foreshadowing what was to come.

When Whitehead later made his way onto the stage, he declared he was “sweating like a racist,” as Kelly notes.

Radio Today has listened back to the audio of the broadcast, and Whitehead’s remarks were either too quiet to be picked up by a mic or possibly spoken over the top of, and weren’t audible during the broadcast.

Another possibility is that the broadcast ended before he got a chance to speak at the end of the performance of the classic 2003 Idol song ‘Rise Up’.

That wasn’t the only faux pas of the day. As Kelly noted, a “prominent 2DayFM staffer” was heard to criticise the station’s music strategy and branding position.

“People think the 2Day FM brand has currency. It doesn’t,” the staffer reportedly said, before taking aim at SCA’s decision to pull the pin on talent-driven Breakfast shows in Sydney.

2DayFM pulled its latest show last year, replacing Ash London, Ed Kavalee and Grant Denyer with Jamie Angel and a music-driven strategy.

“Music for breakfast. It’s just cheaper. That’s it. They’re not game enough to back anyone”, and “It’s utter madness”.

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Erm...
17 Feb 2020 - 1:59 pm

This is very off-colour but I could have sworn the expression is actually “sweating like a Rapist”. Either way, not a great thing to say Whitehead.

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