Top New Talent Q&A: Those Two Girls

Sarah Wills & Lise Carlaw, aka Those Two Girls, have been named in Radio Today’s Top New Talent to Watch in 2019.

Sarah and Lise can be heard Australia-wide across the Hit Network every Morning from 5am-6am, before even the dedicated Breakfast hosts of the nation go to air.

The duo met on Facebook via mutual friends a few years ago, and began hosting events as ‘Those Two Girls’ and quickly, selling them out. It took less than three years to land their own pre-Breakfast show in the wee hours of the morning.

They were recognised recently with a call up to host a National Breakfast show across the Hit Network last summer, while Lise has covered for Hit105 Breakfast host Abby Coleman.

Get to know Those Two Girls with our Top New Talent Q&A:

Who/what inspired you to choose a career in radio?

We didn’t choose radio; radio chose us. It was the stuff of dreams, really, when Gemma Fordham (head of the Hit Network) tapped us on the shoulder in late 2016 after seeing some of our work online and hearing about our sell-out events. The rest is history.

What radio shows do you first recall listening to as a kid (or when you first started listening)?

We’re both Brissie girls so Jamie Dunn in the late-80s and 90s on B105 was where it was at for us.

How did you end up in your current gig?

After a year in the Weekend Breakfast slot on Brisbane’s Hit105, Gemma offered us a national opportunity in the brand new ‘Early Breakfast’ timeslot, 5-6am weekdays. This is our second year broadcasting to all five metro markets and 42 regional stations.

What’s been your most memorable on-air moment so far?

Teaching Sarah how to drive a manual car, with her final challenge being mastering a McDonald’s drive-through, would be right up there. She bunny-hopped and stalled too many times to count and ended up crying at the pick-up window.

What’s one skill that you’ve mastered, and what’s one skill that you’re currently working on?

As real-life best friends on and off air, we have to watch ourselves with talk-over when we get too excited or fired-up. On the flip-side, chemistry is never an issue for us. Nothing about our friendship and on-air banter is manufactured which seems to be resonating with our listeners.

Also, because we’re relative newbies to the industry, our sound is completely different to radio-trained presenters and we kind of dig that…

How do you prepare for your shift on-air?

In the lead up to our 7:30pm toddler-esque bedtime, we’ll start dumping content ideas into our production group thread. Morning meetings kick off just after 4am and involve lots of coffee and lots of laughs, as we map out the day’s show.

Perhaps it’s hard to believe anyone could be joyful at that hour, but laughter is a huge part of our team DNA and is integral to how we perform on air. There’s no room for ego or bad juju in our Early Breakfast family.

How does the person you are on air differ from the person you are off air?

It doesn’t. We bounce off each other so naturally and we couldn’t possibly live a lie that early in the morning! Like all good friends, we know exactly how to amplify the best (and hilarious worst) in each other.

What advice do you wish you could give yourself when you were just starting out?

Trust your instincts, do the content that resonates with you, pay attention to all feedback and stay in your lane. Also, don’t ask your CD for $1,000,000 straight up.

What’s your dream radio job?

Something in daylight hours would be fabulous! Last December we got the call-up to do National Summer Breakfast, 6-9am, across the Hit Network, which was an absolute hoot.

If you weren’t working in radio, what would you be doing?

Working our butts off to work in radio. We love it here. Even though our foray into the industry was unexpected and a touch unconventional, we feel so at home in this space now. The future is exciting!