Hosting a single market is ‘much more fun’ says Mick Molloy as he takes on Sydney
“I’ve got a pretty long radio resume, but I’ve never really done Sydney breakfast,” returning Triple M host, Mick Molloy told Mumbrella this week, relishing the new challenge he has on his hands.
Molloy took a sabbatical from radio in 2022, leaving his national drive show on the network after four years, which included a year flying solo after his co-host Jane Kennedy left in 2021.
The lure of live radio has brought him back though, with the challenge of conquering a new market on the cards, and the potential of helping the network that “runs through his veins” climb out of a ratings slump.
‘It’s a great challenge’
“It’s one that at the end of the day when you’re rocking on the porch, you go: ‘well, I had a crack at Sydney breakfast’,” he told this week’s Mumbrellacast.
Molloy has gone granular with Sydney. Despite feeling “plugged in” to the nation while hosting Triple M’s Drive, he said hosting in a single market is “so much more fun”.
Whether the Melbourne-bred, AFL die-hard can crack Sydney is yet to be seen, but Molloy said the key to finding an audience this year comes down to sticking to what the network knows, and does best.
“We want to make good radio that’s better than what we’re making now and work,” said Molloy.
“My ambitions are fairly humble, but I honestly think we can find a really strong base here in Sydney by doing what Triple M does best, and I hate to do it, but that is rock, sport and comedy.”
Southern Cross Austereo’s chief content officer, Dave Cameron admitted to Mumbrella in December the network knew it “didn’t necessarily have exactly the right product” going into the year.
The lineup was put together after Lawrence ‘Moonman’ Mooney’s unfortunate fallout with the network at the end of 2021, with Molloy’s new co-host, Mark ‘MG’ Geyer the only one sticking around this year.
The breakfast show ended survey eight on 4.4%, a slight rise on survey eight’s 3.7%, yet it was a story of stagnation, with survey eight 2021 resulting in a 4.6% share.
But Molloy isn’t rushing to move things. “Moving the needle in breakfast is not something that just happens overnight, and I can’t think of anyone who’s ever done it,” he said.
“It takes a team, especially a new team a year or two or three, honestly, to find itself and find its audience.”
Though the audience is there to be found, with Molloy “quietly confident” about Triple M’s trajectory for the year.
And as for his NRL ignorance: “Hopefully people will understand and tolerate my naivety and see it as cute, as opposed to annoying.”
Listen to the full episode on the Mumbrellacast below or on your favourite podcast platform.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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