I’m so proud but ... I also know it’s time, says ‘News Breakfast’ host of move to radio
With her piercing questions and quick wit, Virginia Trioli has earned a reputation as one of the country’s broadcast heavy hitters. Now the ABC host tells why she’s making an unorthodox shift.
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The fact that Virginia Trioli has started a new exercise regimen just as she’s finishing off an 11-year stint on breakfast television and returning to radio may seem backwards. At least until you realise this is a woman who has always done things her own way.
“Immediately after getting off air I find exercise is the best thing to do,” says Trioli, 53, who counts herself lucky that Melbourne running track The Tan is so close to her home. “So I normally do that. And now, for my sins, I am about to start working with weights as well. I’m hating the idea of it. But apparently it’s good for me.”
In May, Trioli shocked viewers and commentators alike when she announced she was stepping down as presenter of ABC’s News Breakfast — a show that’s bucked morning ratings trends and grown its audience year on year, some days overtaking the more heavily scrutinised (and publicised) Today show — to replace Jon Faine as host of ABC Melbourne’s Mornings show.
Roughly three times as many people listen to the show than watch News Breakfast, yet TV is still considered by many to be the gold standard for accomplished journalists. And Trioli admits, “There was a moment of reflection because we worked so hard to get News Breakfast where it is. Do you leave when it’s leaping off? Or do you stay and enjoy the fruits of your labour?”
But Trioli, who’s previously hosted radio programs in Sydney and Melbourne, has never let “shoulds” dictate her career. So she leapt at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I’ve always followed a really great principle, one that my gorgeous husband [journalist Russell Skelton] helped me understand, and that was you only ever say yes to jobs that you really want to do,” she says. Even during her years as a cadet at The Age, she adds, she was happy to stay local while others coveted a foreign correspondent gig.
“I think it’s really important for women in particular, to whom a lot of great opportunities might not come as often as the blokes, to clear out of their heads the white noise of other people’s expectations. Do what works for your life, your family, your state of mind and what challenges you need.”
Following her own advice has put Trioli in good stead. While at The Age, she begged to be transferred to the business desk. In 1995, she won a Walkley Award for her reporting in that field. A second Walkley came in 2001 for a radio interview she did with then Defence Minister Peter Reith over the Children Overboard issue.
As much as she’s succeeded, Trioli is also happy to share her shortcomings, particularly regarding the early days of News Breakfast.
“We took our role at ABC a bit too earnestly and it was maybe a bit too dry,” she says. “It was only when we started to loosen it up a bit that you realise you can have some fun without dumbing down the content.”
Fronting 15 hours of live TV a week for a decade, Trioli says, “taught me that there are worse things in the world than making a mistake”. To wit, in 2009 she was caught on air, pulling a face and looping her finger around her ear in a gesture directed at footage of Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce. Reflecting on the gaffe now, she explains, “Quickly correcting yourself publicly and on air is the best thing you can ever do.”
Trioli only revealed last year during a speech at the Women in Media Conference that the Joyce drama coincided with a failed IVF attempt. She later gave birth in 2012 — son Addison is now seven — but her heartbreaking ordeal to start a family was something even co-host Michael Rowland, who joined the program in 2010, wasn’t aware of until he read the speech.
Speaking to Stellar about his “work wife”, Rowland says that “she will shield her family life from the glare of the cameras, but I can tell she’s a great mum. As is the case with anyone who goes through parenthood, it rounds you out a bit; it’s softened Virginia. But at the same time she hasn’t lost the hard edge that keeps her on the ball.”
Trioli is adamant about switching off when she’s away from work.
“You need to jealously protect your privacy and family time,” she says.
She avoids the news when she’s with her son so they can enjoy the simple things, such as jumping on the trampoline or walking the dog.
“Otherwise this is the kind of job that can overtake your thinking and your focus,” she says.
Trioli and Rowland agree their success has largely been driven by their chemistry.
“I barely knew Michael when we first started,” says Trioli. “It was a one in a million shot. But we just clicked.” Adds Rowland, “I’ve got tremendous respect for every breakfast warrior, but we are very different to Today and Sunrise. We offer a much newsier, and in many cases smarter, show. We don’t go overboard on celebrity or reality TV.”
While Trioli doesn’t pay attention to the ratings battle, she believes more viewers are tuning in because they have stuck to their mantra: “We want to be sending people away smarter.”
As Trioli prepares to move her 2.30am wake-up call a few precious hours forward, she has sage advice for her successor Lisa Millar: “Don’t let your entire life revolve around that alarm. You have to be a bit free about that. Go to that event, because you’ve got to stay connected to that community.”
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In the meantime, Trioli is proud to consider the legacy of a show “that I’ve dragged along since day one, [when] everyone thought it was the dumbest idea in the world that the ABC was venturing into this space, to turning it into a huge success that reaches every corner of this country. It’s something I’m enormously proud of,” she says.
“But you know when things are time.”
Virginia Trioli’s last day on News Breakfast is August 16. She will debut on ABC Radio on Melbourne’s Mornings on October 14.
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