New 2DayFM breakfast host: ‘It is not about me, it is about the music’

The new 2DayFM breakfast host is more comfortable behind the mic than in front of the camera. Meet Jamie Angel, the guy fronting Sydney’s new music-only breakfast radio shift after Grant Denyer, Ed Kavalee and Ash London move on.

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Radio host Jamie Angel would prefer not to be recognised by his face.

That means there won’t be any billboards or expensive TV ads as Angel steps into his new role as host of the new look 2DayFM music only breakfast shift after taking over from Grant Denyer, Ed Kavalee and Ash London this week.

“It is not about me, it is about the music,” Angel told Confidential.

“Look at me, do you think I am actually going to appear on a billboard? It is just not that sort of show. Do people need to know my face? I am not in it to be famous, I actually just love what I do.”

Angel, 48, who describes himself as a “radio nerd”, was last on air in 2004 as part of the then 2DayFM breakfast team of Judith Lucy, Pete Helliar and Kaz Cooke.

Jamie Angel back in 2003 with his then 2 Day FM morning crew, Judith Lucy and Kaz Cooke.

Since then he has worked behind the scenes as a program director until when at Triple M he got the call up to replace Grant, Ed and Ash with his first shift kicking off yesterday.

Some have labelled the shift a poisoned chalice given Angel is fronting the seventh show on the station in the six years since Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson defected to rival KIIS 106.5.

It has been a revolving door of talent, including Sophie Monk, Merrick Watts, Rove McManus, Sam Frost and Em Rusciano with ratings hovering between 2.8 and 4.9 per cent of the all important breakfast market over the past six years.

The last ratings survey of this year had Grant, Ed and Ash register an audience of 3.1 per cent while Kyle and Jackie O were at 10.9 per cent.

“You always have an interest in the ratings but I’ll let other people look at that,” Angel said when asked how closely he will be monitoring ratings.

Angel couldn’t say what went wrong in the past other than to suggest “maybe they just haven’t got some of the personalities right”.

1999. Jamie Angel when he was the FOX FM drive host.

1997: Then Fox FM hosts Tracy Bartram, Matthew Tilley and Jamie Angel.

“I would say I am an experienced deejay playing music in the morning so I don’t really consider it a breakfast show,” he said.

“There’s a hole in the market for it. I wouldn’t say it is a breakfast show, I would say I am a music guy playing music. They’ve looked at option a six times, now it is time to look at option b.”

Angel also dismissed industry murmurs suggesting his appointment is a temporary measure to buy the station time to work on another breakfast show.

“I am on for as long as they’ll have me,” he said.

“I’ll be here next year if they will have me. If the station really wanted to put in another breakfast show and have someone in between then I would be disappointed that I would leave Triple M for that. They could have gone to a lot of other people but I think they want something long term.”

Angel is married to fellow 2DayFM talent Ellie Angel-Mobbs, who takes over from him at 9am on air, while his adult son, Lachlan, works as an engineer at the station.

The couple live in the inner west and have a pet cavoodle named Boo.