Nothing’s sacred after radio ratings

This is a hard post to write without sounding a) way too feministy and b) a wee bit bitter. You see, I’m about to unleash all my womanly feelings on my current radio competitors.

The fight for the number one spot in any market is a long 10 weeks of story arcs, cash competitions and brainstorm meetings where we all hope to find that “thing” that will help our friends out there tick our box (no pun intended). The people behind the mics often share stories about themselves that are very personal, very confronting and sometimes life changing.

A few months ago my friend and work colleague Abby Coleman told us that she had lost a baby. Off air she was distraught and struggling to come to terms with her loss. On air she was bright and funny and doing her job like an absolute champion.

We agonised over whether to share this information with our audience but when Abs realised that she was struggling to find people who understood her situation, who could talk to her without asking when she would try again, she decided talking about it might help just one family start the conversation themselves.

Imagine our joy a few months later when Abby told us that she was expecting again. She was scared to tell us. Afraid that sharing the truth would jinx this new bub too.

I told her that she was in full control of this information, she could tell the audience or keep it to herself. She could wait until the baby was 2 years old before admitting it was hers, whatever she wanted, I was cool with.

It was three weeks into our self esteem team journey and the final dinner with our group of amazing ladies that Abby decided that if she didn’t say it out loud now, her fear would get the better of her and she would never do it. So we all shed a tear when she told us how absolutely terrified she was of letting this information out and her worry over this new little life she’s growing.

So ratings day rolls around and we stayed steady, our mates over at Nova shot back into the number one spot claiming it was their 70th under 40 win in a row (not quite right but that’s not what this blog post is about and I’m already going to sound estrogen charged as it is).

What really got my attention was the video they decided to release on their win… watch here.

Now I’m all for having a laugh with your competitors, Brissie is a small town and we all know each other but when Lutsy made a crack about Abby conveniently corresponding her pregnancy announcement with ratings periods for the next 27 years, I wanted to smack that guy fair in his man parts.

I’m not one to usually act on bad mouthing or small minded jokes because I realise they may be waiting for a response and be satisfied when they get it. Ordinarily I would write a scathing reply which is quickly deleted, my wrath satisfied with the typing.

This one though, this one needs something. This one needs someone to say “hey mate, this is not cool”. So here you go guys, here’s the response you may not be after.

Abby is too classy to give you a spray, so on behalf of myself, as a woman, as the executive producer of the B105 breakfast team, I hope you never go through the devastation of losing a child, I hope you never have to go through what my friend Abby has gone through… but I hope you hear this and realise that your lame joke has made a woman feel guilty about sharing her story, something no woman should feel in 2014.

Enjoy your success fellas…

Claire Murphy is the Executive Producer of Labby, Stav & Abby on B105