Former Triple M favourites Andrew Jarman and Greg Blewett on life after sacking
Andrew Jarman and Greg Blewett lift the lid on what really happened when they got the cut from Triple M last year - and what’s on the cards for the future.
SA Weekend
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Commercial radio is a notoriously fickle industry. Household names can be cast aside after mere months, and presenters are at constant risk of the axe, seemingly at the whim of network bosses.
So when Andrew Jarman, Greg Blewett and Bernie Vince, co-hosts of the hugely popular drivetime program, Triple M’s The Rush Hour, were summoned to the station last September, they knew something was amiss.
“We got wind of something in the lead up,” says Blewett, a former Australian cricketer and now commentator.
“It was around contract time … and we hadn’t heard anything. We were starting to think, what’s going on?”
Jarman, the former Crow-turned-media personality, had a sinking feeling.
“I thought, ‘No, no, don’t do it, please don’t do it’. You’d want a damn good excuse why you’re doing it,” he says.
The end was swift, but not without pain. The trio were told their SA show was getting cut, in favour of a Melbourne-based version of Rush Hour, co-hosted by James Brayshaw and Billy Brownless.
“Bernie went in (to the office) first, Greg went in, then I was the last one in. It was no more than four minutes,” Jarman says of their shock exit meetings.
“It would have been tough for them to do it. We still have a lot of respect for the decision makers at Triple M but not so much those interstate – that’s where it (the axe) came from.
“Then after that, we all met at the pub at 12 o’clock and didn’t get home until four hours later … or was it four days later?”
Jarman, 59, thought the curtain had finally come down on his illustrious media career. The loveable larrikin played 110 matches for the Crows and another 190 in the SANFL for Norwood and North Adelaide, before hanging up the boots in 1997.
The following year, he started a lucrative role on Triple M’s breakfast show and hadn’t looked back – until now.
“I thought that would be it. Twenty-plus years, Triple M has been like my second home, and I thought that was the end, it was time to hand in the badge,” Jarman says, quietly reflecting on that difficult time.
“It was horrible, just horrible. Who supports those that get cut, from not only their normal job but from a job that you love doing? Who supports them? There’s nothing, so we had to support each other – and we were lucky.
“That’s the hard part, that’s the disappointing part. They talk about their values, but they don’t talk sh-t.”
Blewett, who joined Vince and Jarman on the Rush Hour in 2021, admits the sacking came completely “out of the blue”.
“It was a business decision and we understand it, though we don’t necessarily agree with it,” he says.
“It would have been easier if the show was struggling, but it was completely out of our hands. It is what it is.”
In those initial few days, the boys stayed close and along with their families, supported each other. They had been on-air together for just five years but had already formed a strong friendship, one which they maintained out of the studio.
Vince, 39, was soon named co-host of SAFM’s new-look breakfast program with Emma G, and his former Rush Hour mates couldn’t have been happier for him.
“When we heard, we were on the golf course together and he was negotiating on the phone in between shots,” Blewett says.
“We were very supportive, he had to take it.”
Jarman adds: “Initially he didn’t want to do it but we told him, ‘It’s a job, it’s breakfast. Get in there’. So good on him.”
Sitting together now in the back yard of Blewett’s stylish Walkerville home, Jarman says their unshakeable bond has played a huge part in their success.
The program was regularly top in their competitive timeslot, with thousands of devoted local listeners tuning in each weekday.
“It’s real. We’re real people. We all love sport, we love our family and we love our state. We live in the best place on earth, we’re blessed to have great people around us,” he says.
“Greg’s just a beautiful soul, a wonderful family man. He adores his wife and kids and he’s a ripper friend.
“When you’re in the trenches, you want him and Bernie next to you. He’s one of the greatest cricketers this state has produced but he’s got time for everyone.
“I could ring him up any time, any hour of the day, and he’d be there. We’ve all checked in with each other, and our families have become very close. That’s how we’ve built that relationship.”
Six years Jarman’s junior, Blewett, 53, knew the dual Magarey Medallist in passing from their playing days but only discovered the “real Jars” once they started working together.
“I love Jars. I like Darren better,” says Blewett, referencing Andrew’s well-known brother with a laugh.
“But Jars isn’t too bad,” he adds.
“Once you’ve got him, he’s extremely loyal. Honestly, he feels like a family member now. I know my wife feels exactly the same. He’s got a heart of gold. He loves helping people and loves sticking up for you.”
That affection was reflected among their passionate audience, who reacted angrily in the days and weeks following the trio’s dismissal.
“Everyone was just mortified a decision like that was done. They still come to us to this day asking us why,” Jarman says.
“And I think that’s what really got us going, the support and the love. I’ve never seen anything like it. Shows come and go, we know that, but it was staggering and overwhelming.”
It’s helped spur them on to their new project, a sports and entertainment podcast called Blewy and Jars Uncut, which they launched in March.
Recorded in a studio in the city, an episode is released each Tuesday, though sadly, Vince’s contract with SAFM means he can’t join the boys on the new show.
“I think the first reaction we had after the dust settled was, ‘Let’s do a podcast’,” says Blewett, whose summers are filled commentating the cricket on Channel 7 and Triple M.
“That’s where the industry is going. Even if they’re doing radio, everyone has a podcast on the side so I think instinctively, we just thought, let’s do one ourselves.”
Blewett describes the new offering as a “spin-off” of their Rush Hour program.
“It’s mainly sport, a lot of football, there’s a lot of banter, and we’ll have some guests,” he says.
“Now we can do what we want. Our segments can go as long as they want, we build the show however we want.
“We’re very new to it, we’re still learning but for a new podcast, it’s done really well so far.”
Jarman says he’s enjoying the freedom away from full-time commercial radio.
“I haven’t sworn yet! It really does feel different because you’ve no ad breaks and songs but it’s just so easy to do it with Greg,” he says.
“It’s becoming a podcast world. You’ve got to keep evolving. I’ve got to keep evolving.”
Just when he was resigned to life away from radio, Jarman got a surprise call from Triple M Adelaide’s content director Matthew O’Reilly.
After four months away from the microphone, he was back, a surprising new addition to the station’s Saturday morning sports show, Deadset Legends, with Callum Ferguson and Mark Thomas.
“It was out of the blue. They felt they just needed a bit more oomph on the Saturday morning,” he says.
“Our industry is so unpredictable, you just don’t know what’s around the corner. And then all of a sudden, 124 days later, you get a phone call.”
Jarman admits he didn’t appreciate what he had until it was gone.
“I missed it badly, I missed Greg and Bern. You miss the people that you love and care about. You share your lives with everyone and they became our big family,” he says.
O’Reilly says Jarman, as a previous host of the same program, had made Saturday mornings an “institution” for over a decade.
“It’ll be great to have him back. Jars’s energy, passion and the fact that not even he knows what he’ll say next will make Deadset Legends a must listen,” he said.
As he approaches his 60th birthday, Jarman says he has no plans for retirement and intends to keep working while the “energy and passion” remain.
“Once I lose that, I’ll have to hand in my ticket,” he says.
“But I’ve got no regrets – well, maybe one or two. But I’ve loved it and I’ve loved seeing the young ones come through. I can’t complain about anything.”
And he promises listeners that they haven’t heard the last from him, Blewett and Vince as a trio, with an on-air comeback still a possibility.
After all, anything can happen in the volatile world of commercial radio.
“We’ll come back one day, the three of us,” Jarman says.
“I can feel it. Stay tuned.”
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