A chat with 3AW’s Ross & John

The Age's Neil McMahon has chatted with the hugely successful 3AW breakfast hosts Ross & John.

Ross Stevenson and John Burns have been working as a duo for 13 years.

''(Ratings success is) obviously lovely to happen but you work at a radio station that has existed since 1932 and has been successful for virtually the entire time, so you never lose sight of the fact that the radio station is a juggernaut.'', says Ross.

''One thing I would say about this radio station is that it's more competitive internally than externally. That's the culture of 3AW.''

At the beginning of another survey year, has John ever thought of finishing up ? ''Never"

Ross agrees: ''It's the same for me, too. The time goes so quickly. And I never get sick of talking to this man. We don't see each other off-air a great deal. We go our separate ways pretty much straight after the program. It's not as if we're married.''

On how they plan their show, Ross says ''It's organic…..'virtually no planning.''

John says: ''The magic, I think, is that because of our relationship everything is … spontaneous.''

They start on-air at 5.30am but say they don't have a proper meeting about what should be covered on the show until 30 minutes in. Ross says:

"We have our first meeting for the day at 6 o'clock, it would be too boring otherwise.''

Is there an end in sight for the duo ?

''I've got an 18-month (old) child," Ross says, "We'll do it – who knows what the horizon is in media land? You don't take anything for granted but, yep, we'll keep going for a while.''

John jokes ''And I haven't got enough super.''

Read the full piece in The Age here.