KIIS Melbourne launches competition to guess Jase Hawkins’ new co-host
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Melbourne’s KIIS 101.1 is giving listeners the chance to predict Jase Hawkins’ incoming co-host through an on-air game of Guess Who.
Kicking off on the station this morning, ‘Co-Host Who?’ will operate in a similar fashion to the classic board game, with listeners ringing into the station to ask questions and try and guess who Polly ‘PJ’ Harding’s replacement will be.
“Rather than just saying the name and bring them into the studio, I’d rather do the commercial radio thing and try drag this out as much as I can,” Hawkins said of the competition.
“To have a bit of fun and announce PJ’s replacement, over the next couple of days I want to play ‘Co-host Who?’”
Some of the potential co-hosts to appear on the board include Yvie Jones, Abbie Chatfield, Jane Kennedy, Sam Frost, Ricki-Lee Coulter and Sam Armytage.
Fifi Box, Carrie Bickmore, Dave Thornton, Waleed Aly Brendan Fevola, Dannii Minogue, Lauren Phillips, Kate Langbroek and Brooke Blurton also appear as possible players on the KIIS FM ‘Co-Host Who?’ board.
Bec Judd and Olympia Valance, who were both listed on the board, were eliminated from the running this morning after listeners confirmed that the new co-host was not a comedian or in a relationship with a current or former AFL player.
According to the station’s original timeline, the new show should have been revealed prior to the most recent survey break.
However, the announcement of Harding’s replacement was pushed back due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, with an illness in Hawkins’ family also adding to the delay, according to the Australian Radio Network (ARN).
It then appeared as if the new show would be revealed this morning, however the game launched instead.
A better game would have been “Guess Who Cares” with no pictures on the game because the industry and the audience have checked out. The longest running over hyped announcement which we’ll all be disappointed in.
Even the listeners on their Facebook page posts have said who it is. Phillips and Swan, we know. Start building the show instead of flogging an already dead horse.
Everyone knows its lauren Phillips seriously guys u advertised that today was going to be announcement day stop playing stupid games with your listeners
My money on on Jane Kennedy
Would hope it’s not Ricki-Lee given they couldn’t even spell her name correctly!
Not a bad idea if the new host is a AAA star and it blows everyones minds that they have joined the show, Sadly I don’t think its going to have the wow factor they are hoping for. #leadbaloon
Did ARN seek permission of all pictured in their board game?
Melb has a crowded FM market with ARN, SCA, Nova largely targeting the same people. In metro TV, only two out of three are profitable at any one time. In radio, all 6 FMs can’t be successful, and 3TTT has been the least since the Clear Channel dominated ARN era dumped a successful formula in TT FM.
Being the least successful, 3TTT is also a forgotten station. There’s no point of difference, no super serving to any target. Granted there’s investment to a level and that includes hard working staff, but if you’re told to cook a dog’s breakfast by the decision makers, you can’t change that until the decision makers wake up or are changed.
Sorry, I was listening to Christian over on Gold. What did you say?
It’s funny because we all know it’s Lauren Phillips but half the board are either far more famous or interesting than her so the reveal will be a massive disappointment.
Talk about mIlking a dead horse.
Comparing the original TT FM to its successor brands is not relevant anymore. Not after you consider that 20 years down the track, Melbourne has two further established commercial stations – Nova and Smooth.
Fox and Nova have also joined KIIS on market shares significantly below what they once were. It’s a more holistic assessment of what’s changed about radio in recent years to point that out.
Against that trend, give Jase & PJ some credit. Ratings have been formidable, often above the station average. Whenever they dipped in performance they kept bouncing back.
Unless ARN are prepared to experiment with taking Kyle and Jackie O into Melbourne (the likely limit they can take that show nationally as there is no true national KIIS network), it’s left to giving Jase deserved credit and let the show evolve with Lauren Phillips.