Tommy Little & Dave Hughes admit their female co-stars carry their shows

Former Editor & Content Director

The Hit Network’s Tommy Little and Dave ‘Hughesy’ Hughes have conceded that the female talent on their programs do all the heavy lifting.

Little is partnered with Carrie Bickmore for the Hit Network’s Drive show, while Hughes is on 2DayFM Breakfast in Sydney alongside Ed Kavalee and new recruit Erin Molan.

“I think we’re both lucky that we just get to work with funny, talented women that we literally just hold up and go ‘Take us on a ride’,” Little said to an audience of media buyers and owners last week at Carat’s Couch-ella event. “They’re so good at what they do, that they’ll carry the show and we’ll just get to be dickheads on the air,” he added.

Hughes concurred, noting that listeners travelling to New Zealand with 2DayFM’s Morning Crew simply wanted to hang out with Molan, not himself or Kavalee.

He also told Hit Network boss Gemma Fordham that working at the network was “joyful”.

Fordham has previously spoken to Radio Today about how the female talent largely leads the network’s slate of metro Breakfast shows.

Melbourne’s Fifi, Fev & Nick, for example, is centred around Fifi Box, Fordham said.

“They know their roles. We do really clear role definition with them, and Amanda Lee, the CD, is really great at giving them direction on what we want from them. But the show has always centred around Fi, that’s how it has been designed,” she said previously.

“I mean also Fi’s been at it for so many years, and she’s got that radio producer brain, so she knows exactly how to structure the break and how to make sure that no one goes missing. She’s the conductor of the orchestra.”

It’s a similar set up for B105’s Stav, Abby & Matt, which is driven by Abby Coleman, and SAFM’s Bec, Cosi & Lehmo with Rebecca Morse.

“Bec is really at the centre of that show, so you’ll sense a theme here, but she’s really the centre of that show,” Fordham said.

The session was a few hours prior to one run by rival Australian Radio Network (ARN), in which Mike ‘E’ Etheridge slammed the Hit Network’s parent company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) for its history of underperforming Breakfast shows in Sydney.

“So these other networks, you know, little Southern Cross Austereo, for example, to name just one, where they put, you know, a footy chick together and a TV comedian, and they’re all in Melbourne, they’re not really in Sydney – that doesn’t work,” he said.

“They don’t like each other. They don’t know each other. They have no chemistry. They’re not even in the same bloody room.

“With all the ARN people, you know, Kyle & Jack, Jonesy & Amanda, Mike E & Emma, all the people around the network, they’re all one, radio people, so we all love radio, and two, they’ve actually got chemistry. And you can’t fake that.”

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Anders
26 May 2021 - 1:45 pm

So Dave, will it still be “joyful” when you rate 3% when the figures come out on Tuesday?

Of course it will. You get paid millions to score a 3.

Sarah
26 May 2021 - 2:04 pm

I think Vivian does all the heavy lifting on the Radio Today podcast while Jake just coasts along

    26 May 2021 - 3:58 pm

    Hi ‘Sarah’, I am grossly offended by this comment.

    Outraged! Disappointed! Shocked! You should know better!

    It’s spelled ‘Vivienne’, not ‘ Vivian’. Goodness me.

    And yes, Vivienne does do all the heavy lifting. xx

George
26 May 2021 - 4:30 pm

Gemma give it a break will you bit sad to watch actually. Think put some runs on the board first.

Eyeroll
26 May 2021 - 8:52 pm

& I’m sure the women are paid proportionately across the networks for all the heavy lifting they’re doing…

Geri
27 May 2021 - 5:32 am

Why does this network continue to operate as if they are number 1? Very sad. They are third.

If Gemma and Dave Hughes think Erin carries/leads/majority voice in that breakfast show no wonder it’s flopped already!

Dave Cameron, time to restructure your off air team and take some control.

Bec
27 May 2021 - 9:06 am

I agree that Viv does all the heavy lifting on the podcast. I wonder if Jake can even be bothered to show up today on time lol

@eyeroll
27 May 2021 - 1:56 pm

Wouldn’t imagine Carrie Bickmore working for $100 and a can of coke. I’m sure she’s fine.

Time Is Near
27 May 2021 - 3:00 pm

Dave Cameron – the time has come to fix your back end problems… that is if you want any success.

Another eyeroll
27 May 2021 - 4:13 pm

So many women that don’t even seem to get a mention. Sarah from fitzy and whippa – Jess from Moonman in the morning. The woman with Marty sheargold, the woman with Christian O’Connell. I don’t even know the last two names because they’re constantly been marketed as “the female voice” so what? You need them to laugh at the men but not worth a mention in the billing? It’s disgusting.

Eyeroll eyeroll eyeroll eyeroll.

Craig
31 May 2021 - 4:09 pm

in response to @another eyeball.

Your comment is highlighting ‘problems’ that don’t exist. Let’s go through the examples you have given.

– Sarah from Fitzy and Wippa. Not named in the show, a show that she joined years into its life, so maybe Nova didn’t want to change the branding they’d spent years marketing.

– Jess from Moonman. Not named, but nor is the male Pagey. You’ve conveniently neglected to mention the the unnamed male, only mentioning the unnamed female.

– The female with Marty Sheargold (Lauren). Not named, but nor is Troy Ellis, Matt Thompson or Will (?) who play as much an on-air role as Lauren does. Again, you’ve conveniently neglected to mention the unnamed males, just the unnamed female. Also – I’ve not once heard her (Lauren) marketed as ‘the female voice’.

– The female with Christian O’Connel (Patrina). Not named, but nor is Jack who plays as much as on-air role as Patrina. Once again, you conveniently neglect to mention the unnamed male, only the unnamed female. Again, never heard her (Patrina) marketed as ‘the female voice’.

I’m not saying that radio shouldn’t be more supportive of women, because it could be. But if you want to have that debate and have any credibility, then you need to argue your point from a solid factual foundation, not one where you selectively choose what information you include and what you exclude simply to make a weak argument appear strong.

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