TRIPLE J'S AGEING ANNOUNCERS
28 January 2000
by Tim Blair

According to Triple J, the ABC's national youth radio network, "leading and contributing to youth culture is the main objective." Sure it is. And Collette Dinnigan's main objective is to coach a team in the NRL.

Triple J has lately become dominated by thirtysomething whiners who by sticking around are keeping genuine youth off the air. One of them, Sarah McDonald, has been at Triple J for so long she's currently on long-service leave.

Last year the Australian Broadcasting Authority took on John Laws and Alan Jones for pretending paid ads were really free commentary. Perhaps this year the ABA will investigate Triple J for pretending their oldster presenters are somehow representative of youth.

There's an easy solution; taxpayer-funded Triple J could bill itself as the "national pretending-we're-young-although-we're-going-bald radio network." Hard to fit in a jingle, but honest.

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Special thanks to Antony Dwyer for finding this article and sending me the below comments. Also thanks to author Tim Blair for emailing the article to me.

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Here's some of Antony's comments to the author:

> >> I was suprised and annoyed at your column re Triple J's 'ageing'
> >> announcers and your assertion that they are out of touch with the youth of
> >> today. Triple J's dedication to youth issues and events is unparelled by
> >> any other form of media in this country.
> >> They have a huge following not only by young people but also anyone
> >> interested in non-commercial entertaining radio that doesn't base it's
> >> playlists around the weekly top 10. And a large percentage of the audience
> >> listen in purely for the entertainment value of their announcers. It is true
> >> that the station has an obligation to youth and persons interested in a
> >> start to a radio career, but like any station, and more so one with a
> >> national audience, they also have an obligation to provide shows that
> >> entertain their listeners.
> >> Over the last few years JJJ has built a stable of announcers whose wit,
> >> humour and intelligence have helped to make it what it is today. Sarah
> >> McDonald's program is based solely at issues and stories that affect and/or
> >> at least are of interest to a young audience. Few would second the notion of
> >> replacing the sharpness of Adam Spencer with a 17 y/o with a big mouth and
> >> nothing much to say. Merrick and Rosso are hardly thirtysomethings, their
> >> antics alone would dictate this. Aside from this I think you would find the
> >> average age of the regular announcers would be well below the 30 mark.
> >> It seems from your article that you have some sort of problem with a
> >> network that not only promotes, organises and reports on youth related
> >> events such as the recent big day out's but is also responsible for being
> >> the first station to give new and australian music a try...only then to be
> >> picked up by commercial networks once the water is proven to be warm. If you
> >> need something to fill yr column space try a cartoon or a crossword...that
> >> at least would be worthy.
> >>
> >> Antony Dwyer
> >> Newcastle, NSW,
> >> 20 y/o.

Here's the author, Tim Blair's, reply:

> Dear Antony,
>
> Thanks for your e-mail. You make several good points.
>
> But I think you may have missed the main thing I was getting at. Triple
> J itself is ageist - that's why it calls itself a "youth network". It
> actively discriminates in favour of youth.
>
> And that's why it's weird that so many over-30s are in charge.
>
> You've got people over 30 running both morning shows, HG and Roy are
> nearly 50, the station's manager is 50, and Dr. Carl is over 50. Mikey
> Robbins was 36 before he left.
>
> I've got no argument against their talent, but maybe they should be
> somewhere else other than a "youth network". They aren't youth, so they
> can't possibly speak for youth.
>
> You're young and have strong views. I'd prefer to hear the likes of you
> on Triple J than people my own age. (I'm 34). I can hear people in their
> 30s and older on every other station.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tim Blair
>

Here's Adam Spencer's comments on the article:

> personally, i'm one day younger than dave grohl of the foo fighters and 6
> years younger than dexter in the offspring
>
> the day those guys retire because they're too old to deal in youth culture,
> i'll reconsider my relevence
>
> adam s