Fordham comes to grips with power of one at 2GB

2GB presenter Ben Fordham answers former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s complaint that his station played a key role in the insurgency against him | PODCAST

Radio host Ben Fordham says sometimes senior politicians phone him to get the mood of the people. Picture: John Feder

His drive time show is hours away but Ben Fordham is in full-on Radio 2GB presenter mode, raising his voice and waving his arms.

“2GB is the most powerful radio station in the country,” he tells The Australian’s Behind the Media podcast. “And with that comes a lot of fans and a lot of critics.”

“I think the weight of Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, who are the two senior broadcasters, lends itself to 2GB being a very powerful outfit.

“But I think some people can misunderstand that power, because most of the time that power is used in a way just to help people out and to make a positive ­difference.

And I see that on my show every single day.”

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, when he was dumped by his party, blamed 2GB as being a key player in the insurgency against him. But Fordham says announcers are not influential, unless the listeners agree.

“If you keep on pointing out the faults of that person, and if their colleagues agree with you, then chances are, it’s going to ­affect the future,’’ he says.

But if you’re wrong and out of touch with the community, it doesn’t go anywhere.

His program recently raised $15,000 for a listener’s family to fly to their stricken cousin dying of cancer in Adelaide and says sometimes senior politicians phone him to get the mood of the people. Fordham is about one year into a five-year contract with Nine and 2GB owners Macquarie Media, whose majority owner Fairfax Media is being taken over by Nine. He also fills in for ­Andrew Bolt on Sky News when Bolt takes leave, which will happen more frequently next year.

About a year ago News Corp approached Fordham for a permanent role across Sky News and News Corp. But he explained the break-up from Nine, where he has been for about 20 years on the Today show reading the news and more recently co-hosting Australian Ninja Warrior, and 2GB, where he has been for seven, would have been “too difficult” because “I love it too much”.

Trying to get a purchase on what drives the 41-year-old, I spoke to associates. “God, he’s a Fordham,” one said, as if that was all the explanation needed.

Fordham acknowledges his family has had a “massive” influence on his career. Father John and mother Veronica (known ­affectionately as “The Big Kahuna”) gave up stable jobs to found The Fordham Company, a talent management firm. It is now run by his younger brother Nick.

Fordham became a radio cadet at Sydney’s 2UE for $20,000, ­despite his father trumping that salary with an offer to work for the family business. But Alan Jones had given him work experience at 15 and the lure of journalism was too strong.

He worked in Canberra for 2UE before joining Sky News and then Nine, where he worked for A Current Affair and others before moving in his 30s to Canberra for love, following his now wife Jodie Speers, a Seven Early News presenter, when she had been posted to the press gallery.

When he moved back to Sydney to present the sports news on Today, co-host Karl Stefanovic told him the most important thing about breakfast television was energy.

There is endless speculation that he will take over from ­Stefanovic. “Stephen, can we have a quiet conversation for a moment. Karl Stefanovic is going nowhere from the Today show. Channel 9 has made it abundantly clear, from the top brass down, Karl is hosting the Today show next year. I’m not hosting the Today show next year.”

He says the stories about ­Stefanovic leaving Today and him taking over first appeared about six years ago, and laughs when I suggest his stance is a long-term pay negotiating tactic.

The tabloid intrusion on his friend since Stefanovic split from his wife and started a relationship with Jasmine Yarbrough has led to “enormous” pressure.

“Karl is clickbait, it’s a simple as that. I think he’s handled it incredibly well — all of a sudden having people camped outside your house all day, every day.

“I wouldn’t know how to handle that. I think he plays it pretty well. Because he doesn’t run outside, Britney Spears-style, with a stick or a handbag trying to whack the cameras.’’

Fordham and Speers put their children, Freddie and Pearl, on social media, and refused ­offers for paid photoshoots. Fordham says he would be unable to face his children when they learnt he had accepted money for family photographs. Freddie and Pearl, being Fordhams, would probably criticise Dad for not striking a better deal, I suggest.

Fordham is determinedly self-assured, until I bring up the topic of religion.

“Whoa, that’s interesting. I am, I am. I’m spiritual. I’ve had what I would regard as some spiritual experiences,’’ he says.

“I’ve had something happen to me a few times in life where I thought to myself ‘I think there is a greater being here’.’’

He won a Walkley Award at 22 in 1997 when the Thredbo landslide buried the ski village, sharing the award with Justin Kelly for their 2UE reports.

Young and inquisitive, he looked at footage that more experienced hands had warned him off. Now he avoids anything graphic.

“Because you do need to protect yourself a little bit … in thinking that inquisitive part of my mind may be interested in seeing this for the next 15 seconds. But do I want that rattling around in my head for the next 15 months? Or 15 years? And the answer I’ve learned is ‘no’.”