Yesterday’s “live auditions” on Melbourne’s ABC radio 774 for the afternoon drive slot were nice radio – but also essentially a sham.

Station
manager Ian Mannix and morning host Jon Faine “auditioned” keen
listeners for the job vacated by Virginia Trioli. The would-be shock
jocks won tickets to next month’s Royal Show – which is as much as they
should have expected, because we hear Mannix has all but decided his
replacement for Trioli.

And expect a name from left-field: a
Melbourne woman with a local business background and very little recent
radio experience has emerged as the leading contender, according to
well-placed sources. Apparently, the next drivetime voice on 774 is
more accustomed to the boardroom than the radio studio.

Mannix
has made clear the slot will be filled by a woman who knows Melbourne
well, and he’s looking outside the square, but not outside the State.

Although
we hear the successful candidate has appeared on ABC radio in the past,
she is definitely not a conventional media choice. So high-profile
hopefuls like Jennifer Keyte, Age footy writer Caroline Wilson and current fill-in Tracey Curro could be disappointed.

ABC
radio listeners, however, are a resourceful bunch, even in the face of
a politically-correct determination that the new presenter will not be
a bloke. The best candidate from yesterday’s bunch of wannabes was
“Christopher,” who told Mannix and Faine: “I can be whatever kind of
woman you want for the drive program… Do you mind one with a deep
voice?”