Taking to the airwaves every weekday morning on Triple M Gold Coast 92.5, the Bridge, Spida, and Flan show celebrated their first full year on air in August.
Mediaweek spoke to Bridget ‘Bridge’ Brousard, Peter ‘Spida’ Everitt, and Sean ‘Flan’ Flanagan about their first year, broadcasting through covid, and what they love about the Gold Coast.
After leaving Hot Tomato to explore opportunities outside of radio, Sean Flanagan returned to the Gold Coast airwaves last year, joining Bridge and Spida when covid brought international travel to a halt.
Flan: “When I left radio and went to work in the United States it was with newspapers in Hawaii, Canada, and New York. It was an amazing experience that lasted from January 6 until March 15.
“What started when I got back was six months of JobKeeper and hand sanding a little dinghy that I’ve got at home. It’s still not finished! Then Triple M called and asked ‘do you want to work with these two clowns?’. It was one of about five or six options I had at the time, but it was easily the best option.”
Broadcasting Through Covid
Queenslanders are in a unique position – they’ve managed to avoid any large-scale covid outbreaks but have also been living with a hard state border.
Spida: “It has been talked about every day, and I think everybody is sick of it. But at the same time, you’re still alarmed about it, you’re still following the numbers. Doesn’t matter if it’s in WA, in New South Wales, or Tasmania, you’re still concerned around the whole of Australia.
“We’re in such a unique part of Australia, the Gold Coast really relies on tourism. So now we want everything to be opened up, we want people to come here and we want to promote the Gold Coast. But every time we put a big promotion out there, they close all the borders.”
In the Community
The trio are all about supporting their local community, getting involved in events like Thursday pie nights and hosting trivia nights on Tuesdays. One of their events in particular stands out as the day they were most proud of.
Bridge: “We’re all about grassroots, which I think is really important. It’s about getting out in the community, meeting the kids, meeting the parents. For me, I’m most proud of our Little Legends of Origin game, because it was so heartwarming on so many levels. It involves the kids who got the chance of a lifetime to actually play for their state.
“We had the proudest parents, there were kids who had family members travel from New Zealand. The night just came together so beautifully, it was one of those real spine-tingling moments of clarity that you’re doing the right thing and you’re on the right path.”
Flan: “One of the loveliest bits was the inception, it came from a chat on air. The rugby league had changed the rules surrounding high tackles and they were suspending everybody for making contact with the head, and Spida quite offhandedly said ‘You know what? So many of the players are getting suspended, I reckon we’re going to have under 12 kids playing in the State of Origin this year!’. We all just looked at one another and went ok! It was such an experience for those kids, I don’t think I’ll ever forget their faces ever.”
Working on the Gold Coast
For people who may not have worked in the Gold Coast market, the trio say it’s the connections people make in the city that make it special.
Spida: “I thought when I came here it was going to be really transient, it wasn’t really going to be that local, and people were going to be in and out in a couple of months, but it’s completely different. It’s a big city but all the local things matter, and that’s helping each other and supporting each other. It’s just really like a big country town, if their back is to the wall the Gold Coast will get out there and really support each other.”
Bridge: “They’re very much about the community here. The Gold Coast is not like ‘oh you’re not a local unless you’ve been here for 20 years’, they’re not parochial in that sense. It’s a very welcoming place.”
What Listeners Want
In 2021, the trio say that what listeners are after are tangible experiences and a bit of fun.
Bridge: “Gimmicky radio is gone, talking about your life that’s not relatable is gone. It’s not about what we want to say, it’s what you need to hear – that is the difference. It’s about getting out in the community, not having a billboard to say ‘hi’, it’s about actually tangibly shaking the hands of the community.”
Spida: “People want to be your mate and your friend, and that’s what you try to be. It’s funny because so many people know more about us than we do – there’s a lot of shit you can talk about in a week! People relate to you and they’ll tell you about it. That’s what I love about it.”
Flan: “Being able to bring a little bit of fun, and just knowing how you can bring that light element into the everyday world at the moment is important. We’re very fortunate here in the Tweed. We sit here and look out for those people who are in lockdown and then celebrate with people who aren’t.”
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Top Image: Bridge, Spida, and Flan