Onward and very much upward for Sharnelle and Bob

Bob Murphy and Sharnelle Vella. Images supplied

We media types can be an unforgiving bunch. Especially around metro radio survey time.

When you’re a high-profile Breakfast team and your ratings are going down the toilet faster than last night’s beef vindaloo, it’s easy for journos to cherry-pick the juiciest story and go in for the kill. Just ask Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson.

Sometimes, though, the teams most deserving of credit end up getting tumbleweeds.

When Sharnelle Vella and Bob Murphy replaced departing Breakfast host Sammy J on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne in January this year, it was the proverbial baptism of fire.

Determined to make their mark in an already highly competitive market, Vella and Murphy had their work cut out. But, despite being roundly criticised for losing ground early in the piece – not to mention the calamity over an on-air remark which prompted doubts over their suitability as a pairing – their most recent survey result was nothing short of remarkable.

Defying a largely downward trend, Vella and Murphy’s share rose 2 percentage points – easily the largest increase any of the Melbourne Breakfast shows – AM or FM.

Lifting their audience share to 7.6, they leapfrogged K & J and notably recorded a 51,000 pick-up in cume.

And yet, whilst the high-profile FM brekky shows continued to dominate the headlines, Vella and Murphy’s result seemed to barely rate a mention.

Whilst it should be noted that the federal election campaign fell within this particular survey period, instead of faltering, the latest result would suggest these two have started to gain a foothold.

Murphy is a bundle of contradictions. By his own admission, he snugly fits the cliché of the classic inner north hipster who spent his working life in the inner west. A coffee snob who’s also partial to the instant variety, he prides himself on being able to make a cup of Moccona that would blow your socks off.

A lifelong Melburnian, Vella is the journo who famously asked former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews if he’d be ‘getting on the beers’ following a run of zero COVID cases.

Having started her journalism career as a cadet at the ill-fated AM talk station MTR before making her mark in TV, she brought not only an established media profile but a sense of fun to the table.

Together, they interact with their audience both on-air and in person, spontaneously – on the street – a quality which sets them apart and is reflected in in their socials.

View this post on Instagram

 

Anyone who’s ever been sent out to do vox pops knows it takes some serious pluck to bail up random people and ask them their thoughts on a good slogan for Victorian number plates. Murphy’s Law (excuse the pun) dictates that you’re bound to get someone who couldn’t give a rat’s.

Or, how about hopping on a tram that is emblazoned with your faces along the side and asking passengers if they recognise you?

Vella and Murphy clearly do have a natural rapport and that very likeable quality of not taking themselves too seriously.

As we know, one survey ratings hike does not a successful long term breakfast show make.

But credit where credit is due.