Controversial 2UE shock jock Steve Price this week revealed that the
ABA had investigated his relationship with Qantas after these sealed
section items were sent to subscribers.

Why the ABA should investigate Steve Price

May 4 sealed section

The
good Professor Flint probably has his hands full at the moment but as
Crikey has highlighted on more than one occasion, we believe the
relationship between Steve Price and Qantas is worthy of further
investigation by the ABA. The first 90 minutes of Price’s Drive program
on Tuesday featured two separate items on Qantas which were both great
advertisements for the gouging airline.

In the first hour
Price informed us that Qantas had just announced a series of cut-price
fares to the West Coast of the US. Newsworthy? Hardly. We told that it
was a great deal if we had and family over there and were even given an
expiry for the end of the offer. The only information missing was a
number to call or a reference to the website for all the booking
details.

Then just before 4:30pm Price interviewed
JetStar’s Simon Westaway. Price bowled Westaway a series of leg-side
full tosses which allowed the PR man to push the JetStar corporate line
through mid-wicket for a series of boundaries. Thanks to Price’s
hard-hitting interview style, Westaway managed to:

– refute claims by engineers that JetStar was taking short cuts with aircraft maintenance.
– highlight JetStar’s new booking and aircraft boarding procedures.
– outline JetStar’s in-flight catering options.
– specify the destinations that JetStar will be servicing.
–
attempt to overcome possible negative perceptions that Melbourne-bound
travellers may have about flying into Avalon instead of Tullamarine.

Price need not wait at the letterbox for his invitation to the Walkleys or the Rawards after this effort.

The
question needs to be asked again as to why he continually plugs Qantas
with such passion? He doesn’t do it for anyone else and if the 2UE
website is to be believed he does not have a commercial agreement with
the airline. But observant listeners to his program will know that he’s
already been to AFL & Super 12 games this season as a guest of the
flying kangaroo.

Crikey has kept a record of some of Price’s great Qantas plugs since he started on 2UE. Professor Flint, where are you?

Squaring the ledger with Virgin Blue

May 17 sealed section

Stung
by Crikey’s recent accusation of an uncomfortably close relationship
between himself and QANTAS, 2UE shock Steve Price today tried to
balance the scales by interviewing Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey.

Things
were pretty straightfoward for the Little Man with the Virgin profit
announcement being the key talking point. To be fair he did ask Godfrey
a couple of Dorothy Dixers which allowed the Virgin Blue CEO to spin
out some PR spiel on why the airline has been so successful.

But
that didn’t stop our little mate getting a few questions in about
JetStar. He asked Godfrey what impact that JetStar will have on the
industry and what Virgin Blue will do as a result. Nothing earth
shattering in it for either of the interview participants and the whole
thing was pretty friendly.

However, it was a shame the
Godfrey wasn’t better briefed prior to the interview. It would have
been good to hear Godfrey rock the boat and Price why Virgin Blue has
to wait for newsworthy material such as a profit announcement before it
gets a run on his show, whilst QANTAS seems to get an arm-chair ride
whenever they like.

Surely all those QANTAS invitations to
the AFL, rubgy and Grand Prix in recent months haven’t smoothed the
path to access for Qantas on the low-rating overpaid shock jock’s
program?

We’re waiting for a new chairman of the ABA to take over before we lodge our formal complaint.

Crikey’s first foray into the Price-Qantas relationship

February 3, 2003, sealed section

A rival shock jock writes:

“Crikey,
I’ve checked the 2UE website and I can confirm that Steve Price has no
external commercial agreements. If that’s the case, why does he keep
giving free kicks to QANTAS?

Last year I seem to recall that www.crikey.com.au
correspondent Crullers highlighted a number of occasions where Pricey
had been glowing in his praise of the national carrier. In 2002 we had:

* His lavish praise of the Australian Grand Prix. Pricey
revealed that he was a guest of QANTAS and he and seemed to believe his
revelation gave him carte blanche to wax lyrical about the good folk at
QANTAS.

* An entire broadcast, including an powder puff
interview with Margaret Jackson, from Mt. Hotham to celebrate that
QANTAS now flies direct to Mt. Hotham during the ski season. This was
despite the fact that most people in Sydney have never heard of Mt.
Hotham. Pricey even grovelled to the point of asking Jackson if people
she met on her last overseas trip, which was to Singapore, were asking
about the QANTAS service to Hotham.

* He promoted the
quickly forgotten “Skins” swimming tournament at the Olympic Pool. This
is an exhibition event at best and even those in swimming circles pay
it very little attention. Not our Pricey. He was on air waving the
“company” flag about what a great event it was. I must ask him next
time I call who actually won that most important of swimming meetings.

Today
he was at it again. Pricey has been a long time basher of Australian
soccer. But today he pulled off a backflip that would have made Alisa
Camplin proud when interviewing Soccer Australia Chairman Remo
Nogarotto. We heard how Pricey thinks Soccer Australia is getting back
on its feet thanks to the upcoming “friendly” against England, direct
qualification for the Oceania Group in the World Cup finals, and a new
sponsorship deal for Soccer Australia. No surprises for guessing who
that new sponsor is – QANTAS!

Is a new sponsor for Soccer Australia really newsworthy? No.

Would Pricey have interviewed Remo Nogarotto this morning if the new sponsor had not been QANTAS? You’d have to ask him.

Would Pricey have been so positive about Australian soccer if QANTAS was not their new sponsor? You’d have to ask him.

Regardless
of whether there is a commercial agreement in place or not, Pricey’s
behaviour in relation to QANTAS is worthy of further investigation by
the ABA.

Jock Shock”

CRIKEY: Sue over that one Pricey!