Adam Boland: ‘Wake Up! didn’t know if it was an FM radio show or news program’
Former executive producer of the Ten Network’s axed breakfast program Wake Up! Adam Boland has given new insight into the failures of the show, in his new book, arguing it didn’t know if it was a FM radio style program or a hard news program.
In his new book Brekky Central, which was this week rushed into book stores in an attempt by the publisher to capitalise on publicity generated by Seven launching legal action to see the book, Boland writes how he originally conceived the show as something that “couldn’t take itself too seriously” and “fun and at times frivolous” but was later caught out by Ten’s shift to an older demographic which left the program with a “split personality”.
The declaration is one of a number of revelations that Boland canvasses in the book which also reveals his shock at the sudden sacking of Ten CEO James Warburton just three days after he agreed to join Ten, the emotional sacking of Natasha Exelby from Wake Up!, some of the internal dynamics within the Sunrise “family” and how he has been forced to reflect on why “I have left so many people in television hating me.”
In the book Boland speaks at length about the failures of the Wake Up! program acknowledging he was responsible for many of the major problems in the show.
“Here’s where I went wrong,” writes Boland. “Instead of starting from scratch…. I held on to key features from the original plan, including both the beach studio and James (Mathison).
“I was so against the idea of producing another Sunrise that I tried to force a square peg into a round hole. Peter Meakin, who’d soon follow me to Ten to become the network’s new head of news and current affairs, believes it was a serious mistake. ‘You were too adventurous,’ he tells me. ‘I can see the temptation of not cloning or going head to head with the two dinosaurs, but that’s what you really had to do.’ Instead, we became a halfway house.”
Boland argues that he made fundamental mistakes in putting James Mathison, Natarsha Belling and Natasha Exelby together as cohosts of the program with Exelby quickly becoming the odd one out.
“(Exelby became) the odd one out on air,” Boland writes “Tarsh and James would often be in full conversational flow when Natasha would interject with something that brought everything to a screeching halt.
“James turned to her on air one morning and said, ‘I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.’ He did it in such a way as to solicit a laugh, but it pointed to an underlying problem: James and Tarsh felt a serious disconnect from Natasha. In truth, that was as much their fault as hers.
“I suspect they’d become so nervous about what she might say that they preferred her to say as little as possible.”
The experienced TV producer, who prior to joining Ten had been key to the rise of Sunrise on Seven, writes that after returning from a bout of leave to deal with his own depression he was forced to dump her from the show.
“I met with Natasha straight after the show, in my car as we over-looked the beach. I didn’t want her to go to Channel Ten, where I thought the cold formality of a meeting with HR would undermine what I wanted to be a personal explanation.
“I suspect she knew it was coming. Although visibly and understandably upset, Natasha agreed the show hadn’t been working. Her last wish was that I’d stop it from becoming just another breakfast show. ‘Be different,’ she told me, ‘just like you’d promised.”
Boland argues that rather than having a “split personality” he should have sought to carve out a space with a more youthful audience.
“Nine and Seven weren’t just trying to get rid of Wake Up, they were also going hammer and tongs at each other. The slot remained one of the most competitive on television, and this was all the more reason Wake Up should’ve been aimed at a younger audience,” he writes.
On the sacking of Ten CEO James Warburton, Boland describes how he was at an airport, three days after agreeing to join the network, when he heard what he describes an “appalling decision.”
“Three days after shaking hands with James, I was walking through Sydney Airport when I looked up at a television,” he writes. “Sky News was reporting breaking news: James Warburton had been sacked by Channel Ten for failing to get instant results. I couldn’t believe it. He’d been in the job for a little more than a year—nowhere near long enough to turn around a network. To this day, I consider the board’s decision appalling.”
Boland also gives a window into the “Sunrise family” and shows that despite claims by Seven that there is “nothing in the book” there were clashes of personality within the show.
He details one exchange which saw him and weatherman Grant Denyer end up in a shouting match in the control room after Boland was rude to the presenter’s wife Cheryl, a producer on the show.
“I was in the control room and lashed out at Cheryl over our production intercom. It had been her job to investigate the live-cross location the day before, to ensure it worked,” Boland explains.
“Minutes later, Grant stormed into the control room and looked as if he were about to punch me. His face turned red as he levelled abuse, accusing me of insulting his wife. In reality, I had spoken to her like I would have to any other producer who’d let the show down. There’s no time for niceties while we’re live on air”
The verbal brawl eventually had to be broken up by the production manager: “In the end, production manager Dave Masala broke up the exchange by physically stepping in. Dave’s not a small guy, so when he pushed us apart it had the desired effect. Grant slammed the door on his way out. He was off air for the rest of the morning (I can’t remember if that was his choice or mine) leaving Mel (Doyle) to read the weather.”
The book concludes with Boland acknowledging a number of his key mistakes and the relationships that he says he has damaged. He cites a decision by his successor at Sunrise and former boyfriend Michael Pell to leak text messages where he was attempting to get former employees back their jobs as a sign of how poorly some people felt treated by him.
“The fact I have left so many people in television hating me (including some, like Michael, who once loved me) has, naturally, forced me to reflect,” Boland writes. “I’m proud of many things I did during my time in television and, in particular, the activism of Sunrise and its original charter to make a difference.
“I’m not proud of the way I made that happen: an almost single-minded devotion to my shows that sometimes blinded me to the way I treated those around me.”
Nic Christensen
The book is an indulgence from Boland whose actions and decisions left 68 people out of work at channel 10 many of whom followed him to TEN from other successful jobs. and he goes off to re-write history to make himself feel better. how shameful that this attention seeker is getting even more attention.
User ID not verified.
Self indulgence of the highest order…
User ID not verified.
Never worked with the guy but have to agree
User ID not verified.
To the above – Boland didn’t fire 68 people and he certainly didn’t force anyone to work for Channel 10. They all took a calculated risk that it would be successful and in the end it wasn’t.
More than 90% of business fail within the first 12 months – Channel 10 barely gave this a proper shot.
And good on him for telling his story – none of you guys above have to buy it. There will probably be a few others with mental illness who actually might relate to his experiences.
Give the guy a break.
User ID not verified.
The cover of the book has a banner reading “The Book that Channel Seven Tried to Stop.” This is a clear warning from the publisher that there is absolutely nothing interesting between the covers.
User ID not verified.
In another posting I make certain observations about Sunrise and I should know I was there from the beginning. Adam, donate a % of sales to Father Chris at Youth of the Streets as he had a strong relationship with the program, and The Koch family are very generous supporters of YOTS. I am a volunteer working with seriously dis affected kids as young as 11 and 12, Come out 1 night with us and see the real world.
User ID not verified.
This book is confirmation of my belief that you cannot hold down a job and make decisions while you have a mental illness. It works for a while but others in the workplace sense you are vulnerable, rounding up on you and stabbing you in the back constantly. I battled in the workforce for over ten years hating every minute of it, suffering a nervous breakdown whilst on holiday and attempting suicide when I was told my appointment was being annulled during the recession with a $25,000 car still to pay off. Putting work behind me and bowing to the inevitable and going on the Disability Support Pension was the best thing I ever did.
User ID not verified.
@mike I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone played the mental illness card!.
This whole exercise is massively self indulgent
It’s being billed as a ‘behind the scenes expose on breakfast TV’ which in itself is fine if you like that sort of thing, but any work you produce (albeit TV, book etc) is open to the public domain and therefore criticism. You can’t start shouting about depression every time someone says something you don’t like. If you don’t like it and are prone to react badly, don’t put yourself in that position in the first place
User ID not verified.
He got lucky with Kochie.
User ID not verified.
Adam who?
User ID not verified.
This guy reminds me of Kevin Rudd. Just won’t go away.
User ID not verified.