Rove McManus speaks out in defence of Sam Frost

WHEN we visited the 2Day FM studio for a chat with Rove McManus, there was one awkward topic we couldn’t ignore: his co-host, Sam Frost.

THERE are parts of my job that are great … and parts that suck.

It’s great that I get to meet celebrities I’m a fan of but it sucks that sometimes I have to ask them slightly uncomfortable (albeit newsworthy) questions.

Obviously I’d much prefer to just have a light, easygoing chat filled with laughs, but let’s face it, I’ve got a job to do and it requires that I find an angle that you, the reader, will hopefully find interesting enough to read.

This is the awkward position I find myself in as I walk into the 2Day FM studio in Sydney for a face to face chat with Rove, knowing that I have no choice but to ask him about the recent criticisms that have been directed at his breakfast show co-host, Sam Frost.

You might argue that that’s not newsworthy … but then again, you’re reading this story.

Let me just say from the outset, I’ve always admired Rove.

As a teenager I sent him a fan letter and was pretty bloody pumped when he sent back an autographed photo.

Fresh out of uni, I went for my first job interview at a radio station in 2007 and the program director asked me what I’d like to be.

I replied, “I’d like to be like Rove”.

He informed me that there will only ever be one Rove … and I was probably a little bit too tall anyway. Get it? Because Rove’s short.

Rove and Sam broadcast from Disneyland earlier in the year.

So fast forward many years and here I am, sitting across from the man himself, terrified that I’m about to piss off a guy that I’ve looked up to for so long.

I open with an easy one by asking Rove for an honest assessment of how the breakfast show, called Rove and Sam, is going.

“It’s going great,” he says.

“I’m really, really happy. Supremely happy. Some shows are going to be better than others, but on the whole, it really feels like we’re just on a really great track now. It just feels really comfy.”

The Sydney FM market is a pretty tough one, dominated by Kyle and Jackie O and filled with heavyweights like Fitzy and Wippa and Jonesy and Amanda.

So what does Rove and Sam have that the other shows don’t?

“I feel we’ve got a lot of heart as a show,” he says.

“We care a little bit and I just sort of feel that as a show, that’s a hopeful point of difference. Sam’s one of the most compassionate people I think I’ve ever met so when we have those opportunities to talk from the heart and just empathise or sympathise, they are the times that I actually get really excited, because that, to me, feels like something different. It actually is something that hopefully we’re bringing to the table that not everyone else is.”

The interview is going well and I serve up a few more light questions, one of which Rove responds to with a fun anecdote about the day he realised he actually has to put some effort into his appearance for work, even though it’s radio.

“One morning I just grabbed the first T-shirt out of the wardrobe and it was bright yellow with one of the Where the Wild Things Are monsters on it,” he says.

“It was the day they surprised me with Doctor Who himself, Peter Capaldi. So in all my photos with him, a once in a lifetime experience, I’m just in this bright yellow T-shirt looking a bit worse for wear. I’ve learnt my lesson.”

The T-shirt’s not THAT bad, Rove.

Rove laughs, I laugh, and I feel like now is there perfect time for my awkward question.

“There’s been a lot of criticism aimed at Sam,” I say.

Rove’s smile disappears, and he nods slowly.

“Have you given her any advice on how to deal with that?”

“Yeah,” he says.

“You’ve got to weather the storm. I think she’s doing a tremendous job and there is nobody else that I would wanna have in that chair talking to me for three hours everyday. She’s just an absolute delight to hang out with, she’s so naturally talented. I’m her number one fan. I think she’s fantastic.”

With that out of the way, I move onto the other slightly uncomfortable topic: radio ratings.

Rove and Sam only started on air together in November last year so they haven’t really had much of a chance to make an impact in the ratings yet.

They currently have a three per cent share of the Sydney audience, compared to FM leaders Kyle and Jackie O who have 10.1 per cent.

So I want to know if Rove has an expectation, ratings wise, of where he’d like them to be at the end of the year.

“No,” he says, “just constantly improving I hope.”

With the awkward questions out of the way, I change the subject to TV.

It’s the medium that Rove dominated so convincingly in the past, winning three Gold Logies for the Most Popular Personality on Aussie TV. So will he be returning to our screens anytime soon?

“I’m certainly open to it,” he says.

Rove and Sam caught up with Jack Black when they were in LA.

“There’s been some discussions about certain things that, if it would happen this year, would be nice. There’s nothing hard and fast on the drawing board. So for the time being there isn’t a something, but you know, I’m usually out of here in time to still have something else to do at the end of the day, whether it’s getting in front of a TV camera or getting up on a stage …”

(Rove and Sam’s publicist enters the studio and informs us that Samantha Jade has arrived for a prerecorded interview with the radio duo).

For my last question, I ask Rove about the rumour that he could be the host of the upcoming Australian version of Survivor.

It’s a show that he’s OBSESSED with and he’s also great mates with the TV juggernaut’s host, Jeff Probst.

“No,” he says, “at the moment that’s not happening.

“I don’t know who they’ve got, I know right now it’s not me. We’ll see. Unless an invitation has come through that I don’t know about.”

And after 20 minutes, it’s over.

I shake Rove’s hand, thank him for his time and resist the urge to ask for a selfie, even though I’m currently looking for a new Tinder profile pic.

A couple of awkward questions in return for lengthy chat with a guy you’ve looked up to for years? Definitely worth the compromise.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, I will say hi to my mum for him.

Rove and Sam are on 2Day FM weekdays from 6 — 9am