ROVE quits TV

by Nathan Taylor

Last night Rove McManus made the shock announcement to the world that his TV show ROVE was ending after ten years... but hang on a sec...The Extra Source predicted this weeks ago! See the link here

While I must admit it is somewhat sad that he is leaving, it is definitely due as his star power has plummeted over the past couple of years and now he can't even crack the 1 million mark in the ratings.

I used to enjoy ROVE from 2000 - 2006, but when he decided to add too many unfunny sidekicks and his jokes got a lot cruder I decided to go the other way and become a real 'Rove Hater'.

Rove provided Australian television with alot of funny moments like What The...? and Flick your Switch but the new direction the show was heading in didn't really excite anyone.

An interesting fact I'd like to mention is:

In 1999 Hey Hey ended and ROVE begun.
In 2009 ROVE ended and Hey Hey begun again.

Expect Rove's next role to be either a stay at home dad (once his wife gets pregnant that is) or co-hosting Sydney's Nova breakfast in 2010 with his mate Peter Helliar and Merrick Watts.

XSource Xclusive: Mike Goldman tells how he dealt with Big Brother fame

In PART 2 of this Xtra Source Xclusive interview, former Big Brother host Mike Goldman discusses with Nathan Taylor how he dealt with the fame during his eight seasons on the hit Australian reality show and his future television plans.

Before the hit Channel Ten reality show Big Brother burst into Australian households in 2001, the name Mike Goldman wouldn't have registered in anyone's minds. No one really knew what he looked like or what colour his hair was but as the narrator of Big Brother we did get to know his voice every single night for three months a year.

Then in 2003, Mike Goldman fronted Big Brother's live UpLate show for two hours a night where in most episodes we would watch the housemates either asleep or spooning their fellow 'bed partner'. Goldman would entertain audiences by giving away cash prizes in 'brain teaser' segments and would also make viewers laugh at him adlibbing his way through the show.

However being in front of a camera every night came at a cost for Goldman when more and more people started to recognise him, some nice and some not so nice experiences followed.

"Being on TV everyday, you go out in public and get strange looks from people everywhere," Goldman said. "It doesn’t happen so much anymore but it used to be pretty full on."

Most of the time Goldman could see the positive side to fame.
"You have to see it as something you appreciate," he said. "The fact that people recognise you and they are obviously watching your show and it’s popular."

Then there were times when Goldman became paranoid about what people thought of him, as he would get constant stares from people everywhere he went.
"There were times when I thought why are these people staring at me? It’s really pissing me off'," he said. "You’d have to bite your tongue because people are going to do that because it’s the career you’ve chosen.
"After all it’s your job and you should like the fact that people are recognising you."

Goldman said he knows why a lot of television stars fall into depression due to their fame.
"You get a bit paranoid and I can see how a lot people who work in TV fall into depression," he said. "You start thinking 'what are they saying? Do they hate me? Do they love me? Or are they going to come over and swear at me or are they going to come over and ask for an autograph'."

Just before Goldman and I did this interview he recalled a run in with a child fan.
"I was at this shop in Bondi and this little Spanish girl came over and said 'Can I have an autograph?', he said. "I thought 'someone has put her up to this, she doesn’t want my autograph' .
"I asked her 'Do you know my name?' and she goes 'Yes it’s Mike' and I thought that’s a bit rude of me, sorry."

Goldman said when doing comedy or fun TV shows you've got to psyche yourself up before you go on air and have a good time.
"Never take yourself too seriously, enjoy it and have fun," he said. "If you're going to brush off fans and not speak to people and be rude to them, then don't do it (TV)."

Mike Goldman is currently appearing in Channel Ten's 'The Spearman Experiment' and next year will be doing voice-over work on the new season of 'So You Think You Can Dance Australia'.

XSource Xclusive: Mike Goldman- "I'm a pioneer, I'm the Captain Cook of Digital Radio."

In PART 1 of this Xtra Source Xclusive interview, Mike Goldman of Big Brother fame discusses with Nathan Taylor the ups and downs of his new career as the breakfast host on new digital radio station Gorilla Radio.

Mike Goldman started his radio career at 16 as the office boy at Sydney radio station 2SM. Goldman would work for free both day and night and his day-to-day jobs weren't just filing away CD's.

"I had to work with a blind announcer who did the midnight to dawn shift," said Goldman. "I had to help him braille every CD in the music library and get him anything he wanted."

Even with his dad Grant Goldman being a big media personality, Goldman said it was still hard for him just like anyone else to get into the business.

"You have to increase your hit ratio,"said Goldman. "Do as many demos as you can and call as many people as you can and when starting out you’ve got to work for free and get better at it."

His dad who still hosts a morning breakfast show on 2SM really inspired Goldman to get into radio.

"I saw how much fun he was having and what a great fun job it was," said Goldman. "He bought me my first disco gear set-up and taught me how to DJ and I did mobile disco and then got into radio."

Now many years later Mike Goldman is proud to be the host of his own breakfast show on dance music digital radio station Gorilla Radio.

"I'm a pioneer, I'm the Captain Cook of digital radio," he said. "Because we are the only live digital breakfast show in Australia and we are exclusively digital."

Goldman said his show is rather unique compared to other breakfast shows competing with him. "What's different is I do whatever I want, it's my show," he said. "It's not like the Kyle & Jackie O Show, it's me with different guests everyday and we play top 40 dance hits.

"I'm aiming for a Chris Lilly style radio show rather than a TV show, with lots of characters who are actually yours truly."

With digital radio being only a few months old in Australia, Goldman admitted he probably doesn't have that many listeners.

"I must admit the first week I started was a little disheartening saying call up and I wouldn't get one call," said Goldman. "I'm writing all this comedy and doing all these skits and getting in these great guests from all over the world and I'm thinking 'Oh God is anyone listening?'."

Goldman however is confident that things are looking up in the digital radio world, with current sales figures of digital radios at over 50,000 units sold.

"I think in the next two-three years it's going to build," he said. "More people will be listening and I'd like to see it in the next three-five years on an even playing field with all the other stations."

Mike Goldman's breakfast radio show can be heard each weekday morning from 6-9am on digital radio station Gorilla Radio and can be listened to online at www.gorillasuperdigi.com.au or with your digital radio.

Please visit back this Thursday for Part 2 of the XSource Xclusive with Mike Goldman where he chats about his eight years on Big Brother and how his life changed after being on television.

Kyle SAFE... but radio duo AXED!

Good news came through today with Kyle Sandilands dodging a bullet and keeping his radio job on 2Day FM.

While I must admit more people wanted him gone rather than stay on air, his true fans (which I am one of them) will be very happy.

I believe his job was never in doubt despite when The Daily Telegraph and TV news stations claimed through un-named sources that he was skating on thin ice.

It's been confirmed Kyle wont return on air until October 7th and wont be paid during this time, reportedly losing up to $150,000 in pay which will be given to charity says 2Day FM.

It's rumoured Kyle's good friend and singer Brian McFadden will join Jackie O until Kyle returns.

In other news, MIX 106.5 FM stars Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenny have been axed from their breakfast radio job after another big ratings loss on Tuesday.

While this pair may get along really well on Dancing With The Stars, their chemistry didn't really translate on air and the show never really took off.

I'm sure no one will care too much about this one!

Newsreaders' apologise to Kyle & Jackie O

by Nathan Taylor

YAY! Thank God there is something decent to listen to on the radio again.

Kyle and Jackie O returned this morning after their show took a recent break. I even woke up at 6am to listen to the show from start to finish, and I don't wake up that early unless I need to catch a flight.

They were back to their best and you couldn't even tell there was a 7-second delay. They first had their chance to explain and apologise again for the recent controversy, but then they settled back in to what they do best.

They laughed off the media about (the media) not getting their facts right on stories. Remember the old saying...'never let the truth get in the way of a good story'. Well Kyle & Jackie O even got the chance to mock themselves. They even said "Welcome back to the Vyle and Tacky Ho Show' (a headline widely used to describe the pair recently).

Yes, they admit they were affected by all the negative attention. But heck they are only human and you learn from your mistakes.

Something I did find interesting was newsreaders were actually calling Kyle to apologise for the stories that their (newsreaders) network put to air. As some of the newsreaders are friends with Kyle personally.

All I can say is that they are back and are still number 1! And to the haters out there NO ONE is forcing you to listen. Radio is a free service and there are plenty of other options out there to suit you.

But I know where I'll be listening.

Back on air next week!

by Peter Lang

It's been widely reported today that The Kyle and Jackie O Show will be back on air Monday week on 2Day FM.

The pair's sabbatical or suspension or break or whatever you want to call it will soon be over and the terrible twosome will be back to their old tricks in no time. Or will they?

I actually think for a short time at least, Kyle and Jackie O will behave themselves in the hope of getting back into the good books of the Sydney public and media alike. They certainly can't afford another negative media storm like the one they've just been through. I know there's a saying, any publicity is good publicity but not in this case.

Personally, I don't have anything against either of them. They are extremely talented on-air personalities who run a super slick and entertaining breaksfast show however their recent run of constantly highlighting people's misery was getting a bit tacky.

Let's hope they return to what made them enormously popular in the first place.

Oh and one more thing, Austero, never, ever let Geoff 'the newsreader' Field try and run a program on his own.

His attempt at trying to be a co-host last week with Chris Page was an unmitigated disaster. He was simply hopeless. He bumbled, stumbled and fumbled his way through three hours of excruciatingly painful radio.

Stick to reading the news Geoff and the occasional quip and skit with Kyle and Jackie O and leave the rest up to the professionals.

What about Jackie O?

by Peter Lang

While her on-air 2Day FM radio partner in crime Kyle Sandilands continues to be persecuted in the metropolitan media over what's becoming known as the 'failed Lie Detector stunt', his blonde beauty co-host has seemingly escaped most of the criticism.
Reports have Jackie O at her million dollar hobby farm in the Kangaroo Valley with her husband Lee, while Sandilands continues to cop the brunt of the media circus that surrounds him (literally).
Just why she and the producers of their top rating morning show on 2Day FM continue to escape criticism is beyond me. As far as I'm concerned they are just as culpable as Kyle was in this whole debacle.
Please, don't even get me started on the mother of the 14 year-old child who shouldn't have put her daughter in the situation in the first place....but that's another story.
I'm not suggesting for a second that Sandilands is the victim in this whole convoluted mess. He's unfortunately reaping what he sowed by over the years repeatedly abusing numerous sections (and people) in the media. They were just waiting for their chance to nail him in return and you can't blame them for their retribution. For as the saying goes, 'if you can't can't take it, don't dish it out'.
In saying that he shouldn't be hung out to dry on his own either.
It appears at this stage at least....he is.

Sandilands axed from Idol

by Peter Lang

It seems that Kyle Sandilands has paid the ultimate price for last week's 'Lie Detector Test' debacle with Network Ten dumping him as the third Australian Idol host for 2009.
The controversial shock jock will still appear in all the audition episodes as they've already been filmed but once the live audience Top 30 shows begin, his place will be taken by as yet undetermined guest judges.
Channel 10 says they made the decision because Idol is seen as very much a family focused show and they didn't want anyone on it, especially a judge, tarnishing that image.
I think this is a total over-reaction by the show's producers who tolerated Sandilands numerous contestant insults and barbs for years because they knew it helped draw ratings points for the show.
Now that Sandilands is on the nose with the mainstream media and getting too much negative attention, he has been unceremoniously dumped.
Unfortunately Sandilands is in this unenviable position because over the years he has p**ed off far too many journalists and media moguls. I hate to say it but I think Sandilands thought he was untouchable and could say whatever he wanted, about whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without consequence.
He has just learned, he can't, no one can!
Meanwhile the Kyle and Jackie O media circus continued today with reports that the top rating twosome were on some self imposed exile rather than an official suspension by Austereo.
Of course the cynical amongst us wonders if this is actually true or just some publicity stunt aimed at drawing more attention to the talented twosome in the hope that once they're back on air their ratings points will double.
If it is a stunt, I just hope it doesn't backfire on them, like it did to the once popular Chasers.
Time will tell I guess.

A win for the media, Kyle & Jac suspended

In a win for the Australian media, Austereo (the owners of 2Day FM) have suspended the Kyle & Jackie O Show indefinitely.

This week the media have savaged Kyle and Jackie O for their lie detector SEGMENT (not stunt as other media outlets have reported) that went wrong.

In a statement this evening, Austereo publicity manager Kate Whitby said: "Kyle Sandilands' management has advised Austereo that he is unable to perform his duties on-air at this time.

"Further, following a great deal of consideration and having consulted Jackie O and all stakeholders, Austereo has formed the view that it is in the interest of all parties, for the Kyle and Jackie O Show to go into recess until we have completed an across-the-networks review of the principals (sic) and protocols of our interaction with our audience. This review commenced last Wednesday, July 29."

I think this is an absolute joke and something that been taken way too far, Kyle and Jackie O have copped all the backlash from this disaster, whilst the mother of the young girl involved hasn't felt as much criticism as she should deserve.

Tall poppy syndrome rears its ugly head again, lets hope they make a comeback very soon.

Hmmm memories of the Matthew Johns sex scandal brings back alot of memories at the moment with the media also winning his suspension as well.

More on this story can be found here...

Would appreciate comments if you wish to speak your mind about this one.

Matthew Johns is back

By Nathan Taylor

Well it looks like it anyways. Matthew Johns who was everyone's favourite Johns brother until earlier this year when his television career went into meltdown after the infamous Cronulla Sharks sex scandal emerged is due to resurrect his media career but this time in radio.

It has been widely reported recently that Johns was to co-host the new Triple M breakfast show following the axing of Ugly Phil and Sami Lukas a few weeks back.

It's believed he will be joined by cricket legend Michael Slater who's also becoming a rising sports media star on radio and television.

It's likely the show wont launch until next January, but in the meantime Triple M have signed up Gus Worland (Aussie Goes Bolly, Barmy, Calypso Fox 8 series host), Mark Geyer and Stuart MacGill to fill the breakfast slot for the rest of the year.

I can't wait until Matty comes back, alot of people were really upset about his suspension from commentary commitments on Channel 9 and as star of The Footy Show, so it will be great to see him back in this way and hopefully he can make it back onto our screens in time for the 2010 NRL season.

Matty's a great talent and his contributions to Rugby League shouldn't be wasted.

Internet Radio is taking off

by Peter Lang

Internet radio, what's it all about I hear you ask. Well, it's basically a radio station which operates only on the internet.
One of the biggest and fastest growing online radio networks is GOOM Radio and it currently has two sites where you can access it from.
Also connected with the GOOM Radio Network is a facebook page and even a blogger. I tell you, when it comes to digital media, these guys have got it all figured out and they utilise every online social networking outlet available to them.
They're also growing fast and every day, thousands and thousands of new listeners tune in and select from literally dozens of different radio stations, all with their own specific format. Hits, pop, dance, house, it's all there and the sound is HD quality.
It really is an evolution in internet radio and the websites look slick and very well designed plus easy to navigate around.
I love it but I won't ramble on any further, click on the links below and check it out for yourself.
http://www.alpha.goomradio.us/ and http://www.goomradio.com/