Oh, the humanity: why FM radio touches the parts of a politician no other broadcaster can reach

Political leaders just love to go on FM breakfast radio. It doesn’t matter if it’s during an election campaign, footy finals week or a health crisis. They love it. 

After all the serious business of leadership, it cheers them up like a warm dessert after a plate of dull veggies. The reason they do it is obvious: they want to look less like stiff politicians who knifed and sucked their way to the top and more like hip and cool types who can laugh at themselves. 

And while they’re on these shows, they’ll do anything that’s asked. They’ll answer embarrassing questions about their personal lives or perform the latest dance moves. Anything to look like a real person. 

Most of the time it works. And the FM shows have become an important outlet for leaders. But there could be a shift coming. 

It was once all about the AM talk stations. But the FMs are gaining clout — and becoming more dangerous.

Any media adviser working for the prime minster, the premiers, or a leadership wannabe should be paying attention to what’s been happening. And they should warn their bosses that letting it all hang out on FM is like sex without a condom: sure, it feels better — but it presents more hazards. 

They should be wary of the male/female brekkie duos with a combination of a real name and a nickname. And they should be extra cautious of any host wearing a baseball cap. They’re particularly dangerous. 

Last week on the Melbourne and Sydney KIIS FM stations there were prime examples on how things can go tits-up for leaders trying to soften their images.

In Melbourne, Scott Morrison spoke to Jase & PJ on their breakfast show. 

Jase (wearing a truckers’ cap) pushed Morrison to say “sorry” for bungling the vaccine rollout. Morrison didn’t, and it dogged him for two days, clouding all his other messages, until he finally said the word at a press conference. 

And in Sydney, Kyle (wearing a cap) & Jackie O were able to replay an interview they did earlier in June with Gladys Berejiklian, where she refused to give Victoria some of her state’s vaccine. Something she has since asked for herself. Both examples were embarrassing and damaging, yet they didn’t come from Leigh Sales-type interrogations. Instead they came in the disguise of FM fun. 

For us observers, it was enjoyable. There’s a real delight in watching someone like Morrison looking to get an easy ride, only to get bucked off in to the mud. 

But it’s more than that. The way these interviews exposed the leaders, and the way they got picked up by all other media, showed the growing impact of the FM shows. 

Kyle & Jackie O have been popular for years, but their clout has really picked up after winning the Sydney breakfast slot in the last survey. They took it from 2GB after the station was taken over by Nine Network management. 

Having a cap-wearing FM jock at the top of Sydney radio is no small thing. But it’s not just about ratings; it’s what the FM shows can do over the AM talk shows that’s important.

The FMs are driven by a human agenda rather than a political one. Under the caps, their radio brains are trying to get a laugh, a connection or even a tear from the leaders. They don’t care about party politics. Or at least they don’t while they’re on the air. They just want to connect with the audience, get some juice from it, and then play the latest from Dua Lipa. 

And the radio brains of people like Sandilands are incredibly sharp. Don’t be fooled. 

It’s no great observation that most AM talk hosts are already the member of a political team well before an interview begins. Particularly on commercial AM radio. And with that as the starting point, the interview becomes more about the editorial message in the question, rather than the response that follows. So it’s usually either a punch-up or a love-in.

But that works. The AM audience has generally picked a side too. And it either wants to hear its own ideology repeated back to it, or wants to see an opponent get his or her head smashed in. And the clearer the bias of the presenter, the more successful the program. Good luck to them, but it doesn’t do much except advance the cause of a political party. Or damage it. 

But the direct and human agenda of the FM show strips that away. It exposes more to an audience has yet to settle on a political side. And that’s the trap for the leaders.

The only hazard is that the FM people might start seeing themselves as important political players and they’ll just turn into hipper versions of the AM types. They’ll stop looking for the humanity and start picking teams. 

I hope not. We don’t need them for that. We’ve got plenty of people who can cheer or boo for the leaders. So don’t take off the caps. Don’t change the male/female combo. Don’t drop the nicknames. And don’t stop trying to connect us with the truth.

Justin Smith is a Melbourne writer and broadcaster, and host of The Columnist podcast.