‘A sphincter clenching moment’: Melbourne breakfast radio star reveals most dramatic celebrity interview

Smooth FM breakfast host Mike Perso has opened up on his most “sphincter clenching” celebrity encounter that led to an angry phone call from the late great Australian tour promoter Michael Gudinski.

Smooth FM Breakfast host Mike Perso is celebrating 45 years in radio. Picture: Supplied/Smooth FM

Smooth FM breakfast host Mike Perso has opened up on his most “sphincter clenching” celebrity encounter as he marks 45 years in radio.

Perso, who this month clocks up 13 years as Smooth’s breakfast host, has been a respected and versatile radio identity both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes for more than four decades.

Having interviewed some of the biggest names in music during his time on air, Perso said one stood out about all others – US rocker John Mellencamp.

“Some years ago he was about to announce an Australian tour and at very short notice – like half an hour – the radio station I was working at, at the time, decided I should interview him,” Perso said.

“I get on the phone and he does not seem to be particularly happy. I do all the warm and fuzzy questions to get him to talk about the tour and he does not seem to be very forthcoming.”

John Mellencamp was not happy with Perso’s line of questioning.

After asking about a movie Mellencamp had recently directed and his career as a painter, Perso brought up his latest album.

“It wasn’t one of his better ones and I made a comment that people love you for albums like Lonesome Jubilee where you are representing the working men and women of America and how they are coping with a changing world, whereas this one, it’s more like a middle aged rock star just hanging on to his youth – and at that stage he just cracked it and the interview ended very, very quickly.

“I thought, ‘that’s not very good’.”

Minutes later the late great Australian tour promoter Michael Gudinski was on the phone.

“Michael, who was very direct in his manner of communication, rang me up and said ‘What the f**k did you just say to Mellencamp? He has just called up and cancelled the tour.’

“It was a bit of a sphincter clenching moment.”

The tour ended up going ahead.

Perso has clocked up 13 years as Smooth’s breakfast host.

“They say you don’t want to meet your heroes, but I have met a lot of my heroes in the course of my career and by and large it has been a really, really positive experience,” Perso said.

Perso said his life in radio had been a privilege.

“You hear all these horror stories about people stuck in jobs all their life that they don’t enjoy and here I am lucky enough to be doing a job I still love every day,” Perso said.

“My dear old dad said, ‘Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life,’ so I guess I have been technically unemployed for the last 45 years.”

Perso with singer Susanna Hoffs. Picture: Supplied

Smooth FM continues to be the quiet but consistent achiever in the Melbourne radio market.

Perso’s show sits in fifth spot in the city’s breakfast rankings with a ratings share of 7.6.

“The radio station has been really consistent in this sea of chaos,” he said.

“We just stuck to our course and stayed true to our audience and the results have been there. It has been 13 years now, so we are very lucky to have a loyal audience, but also some clever people who guide us along the way, as well.

“We have lived up to that idea that it is good to be better, but it is better to be different and created a radio station that was not like any of the other radio stations.

“We do what we can to entertain people, to include people and to connect with people without putting the music into a secondary position.”