UK star Christian O’Connell brings a new voice to Aussie radio

Two years ago, Christian O’Connell wondered: Would a Pommy work on Australian radio?

Christian O'Connell with his dog Nisha. Picture: Aaron Francis

Two years ago, Christian O’Connell, whose 12-year-old British breakfast radio program had two million listeners, rang Andy Lee, of Hamish & Andy fame, with a question.

Would a Pommy work on Australian radio?

Lee, who with Hamish Blake had joined O’Connell in a unique global simulcast a few years earlier, was frank: “There are going to be challenges — it is going to take long term, but yes I do.”

“They just kept talking about how radio in this country is a lot better respected than in Eng­land,” O’Connell says. “It’s a very serious business here and there’s a lot of money involved and the pressure is a lot more. However, you are supported a lot more. And you are invested in a lot more.”

It was enough to convince the 45-year-old, his wife Sarah and two daughters aged 11 and 13 to up-end their successful London lives and migrate to Melbourne, the couple celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary en route.

O’Connell’s last day on air at British network Absolute was Friday, May 18; he started at Melbourne Gold 104.3 on Monday June 4, promising new influences and new ideas.

Lots of listener calls will be a feature of his show, which will run four hours a day, and on Fridays he wants listeners to pick all the music, which has already caused his bosses at Gold, part of the Australian Radio Network, to take a sharp intake of breath.

O’Connell’s debut show was described as having “lurched from one calamity to the next” after it took about four attempts to get a George Michael song on air. “They flew this guy 10,000 miles from the other side of the world and he can’t even press play,” is how O’Connell describes it. “But there was something quite human about it and we ended up having fun about first-day-in-the-job screw-ups. ”

Duncan Campbell, national content director of ARN, signed O’Connell to a three-year contract. “It’s a funny show and very relatable. It’s very different. He is inclusive, warm, and it’s a very welcoming show,” he says.

“I didn’t think the accent would be an issue — it’s not a hard English accent,” says Campbell, who hit the headlines last year after dispatching Gold breakfast duo Jo Stanley and Anthony Lehmann just as they topped the ratings. But their breakfast share was consistently smaller than Gold’s overall station share. Now O’Connell must change that.

In late 2016 ARN developed a “change strategy” after a frank audit of presenting talent. “We weren’t getting traction with personalities that were just put together,” Campbell admits. He decided to invest in “the key ingredient, chemistry, that you can’t buy”. He admits that O’Connell is a risk, but “he’s also very hungry — he wants to win”.

Gold has added a number of homegrown sidekicks to breakfast, including Jack “Cacklin’ Jack” Post, who worked with Hamish & Andy, Hamish McLachlan from Channel 7 and newsreader Patrina Jones.

O’Connell is described as a radio behemoth in Britain, after a 12-year stint on Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio before an ownership change), with more than two million listeners and 11 Sony Radio Academy Awards.

When an on-air message about rival Eddie McGuire was read out, O’Connell played the theme from The Godfather. Now the duo are due to have lunch today, where McGuire (“he’s like the unofficial mayor of Melbourne”) will attempt to persuade O’Connell to adopt Collingwood as his AFL team. The Pom may well have other ideas, and after speed dating the Victorian AFL teams, announces his decision on Wednesday. For all O’Connell’s enthus­iasm and optimism, radio experts have tipped his show will lose audience before it gains any.

But one variable is encouraging. His first program two weeks ago generated about 12 calls. By last Friday that number had soared to more than 300.

“I am not a shock jock. That isn’t what I am here to do. People are too smart these days. They don’t want some guy yelling at them in the morning. There is so much noise going on in our lives.

“The type of radio I like to do isn’t being done here and I hope I can grow something here. I believe Australian radio, Melbourne radio, needs something new. I have to believe that, otherwise I have come 10,000 miles to be fired.”