“It’s so different.” Why Titus O’Reily is loving the challenge of live radio

Titus O'Reily. Images supplied

With Mick Molloy, Rosie Walton, Titus O’Reily and Nick Riewoldt now six months into their tenure as Triple M Melbourne’s new breakfast team, O’Reily laughs heartily as he says “We’re in that early stage where no-one hates each other yet.”

“We’re not having any power plays or anything like that!”

When he signed on, O’Reily had the benefit of knowing he’d be among some familiar faces.

“Luckily for me, I’ve known Rosie for about 12 years,” he says. “She actually panel operated a podcast – the first one I ever did – going back a long time ago. So I knew her from that.”

“And Mick and I have worked together for about five years-plus now, doing a podcast together, The Front Bar and all sorts of things.”

O’Reily – renowned for his encyclopaedic knowledge and satirical take on sport – is chatting to me on the latest episode of the Food Bytes with Sarah Patterson podcast, which drops on Thursday.

Having previously made regular appearances on the ABC airwaves, Triple R and Nova 100’s former Chrissie, Sam & Browny Breakfast show, O’Reily is certainly no stranger to radio. But Mick in the Morning with Roo, Titus & Rosie is his first full-time breakfast gig.

“You know, the question you get from everyone is ‘How are you coping with the mornings?’” he says.

“I’ve got four kids, and two of them are under the age of three, so 1), I’d be up anyway and 2), being able to leave the house – and leave that all behind me – it’s just pure joy!” he laughs.

“I feel more sorry for my partner than for me, doing breakfast radio, because she’s the one who has to get them all off to school, or wherever they’ve got to go.”

O’Reily looks forward to the daily adventure each morning in the studio will bring.

“In radio, they often throw two people together who’ve never met, and that can either work spectacularly, or not well at all,” he says.

“We sort of all knew each other … except for Nick. Nick was sort of the wildcard. And we’ve hit gold – he’s been great to not only work on-air with, but is actually fun.”

O’Reily’s move from corporate communications into media and stand-up comedy wasn’t exactly planned. Starting a Twitter account was the catalyst.

“It was back when Twitter was relatively new and not the insanity it is now,” he says.

Things started to take off. O’Reily’s Twitter musings led to a blog – and later, a book deal.

“Literally, with no real planning, it got to the point where it was ‘I think I could quit my day job and do this,’” he says.

O’Reily has since gone on to work across TV, radio, in podcasting and live on stage.

For him, the live, unpredictable nature of radio is hard to beat.

“It’s so different,” he says. “I mean, doing podcasting, you’ve really got such a long time and you don’t have to be tight or anything, getting in or out. If you want to waffle on, it’s part of the fun of a podcast – that very casual conversation.”

“So having to be a bit tight and kind of bring in a break on time and everything – but then also have it be good – I’m enjoying that challenge, because that’s something I haven’t done before.”

O’Reily says another aspect of radio that’s pleasantly surprised him is the fact it’s so current.

“I’ve had a few people who listen say it actually connects you to the world around you a bit more,” he says.

“We’re talking about traffic, we’re talking about weather, we’re talking about the events. Then you’ve got callers calling in, in real time.”

“The live nature of it is the bit I really love. That’s a lot of fun. There’s no big delay in knowing whether it’s going well or not.”

“If you say ‘Give us a call’ and no-one rings … you get a sense that it’s not going well!” he laughs.

For O’Reily, the only thing worse than that situation is the kind of reaction you might cop doing stand-up comedy.

“That’s the one where you get instant feedback. There are no radio surveys or overnight ratings with that. You know within a quarter of a second whether that joke has worked or not,” he laughs.

Mick in the Morning with Roo, Titus & Rosie can be heard from 6am-9am weekdays on 105.1 Triple M Melbourne and on LiSTNR.