“Good morning Melbourne, Clint Stanaway with you on Nova 100,” were the first words muttered by the new Jase and Lauren breakfast regime at the station that used to be the breakfast home of Ben and Liam and Belle.
After the news, the new breakfast show started with some clips of the last show hosted by Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips at KIIS 101.1. “Jase and Lauren never wanted to leave you Melbourne,” said the voiceover.
“I got retirement gifts when I got fired, do I have to return them?” asked Lauren as the new hosts went live.
She admitted she didn’t sleep much last night. Jase said he woke at 4:10am and had a shave.
It was a big day at Nova. The hosts explained chief executive Peter Charlton came to Melbourne for the first show. The boss forgot his pass and sat outside for a while listening to the show on the Nova app.
Jase tested Lauren if she knew the new phone number. “The only phone number I remember is Pizza Hutt,” she laughed.
“It’s 13-24-10,” he reminded her of the Nova number.
“We used to work on another radio station and we got the arse last year,” he continued. “Thanks to the people at Nova we have felt so welcome. We are so glad to be able to work together.
“We call the new executive producer The Thumb.” That’s Brodie Pummeroy who worked with Ben, Liam and Belle and before that Chrissie, Sam and Browny.
Getting sacked was the hot topic on day 1 at Nova
Clint Stanaway still on board too
Melbourne supporter, newsreader, and sports guy Clint Stanaway was working on the show from Sydney where he watched his football team Melbourne lose. Although he did leave at three-quarter time when the game was still in the balance. (Other Melbourne supporters who stayed wish they’d left at that point too.)
The returning breakfast show started on the Friday of what is a long weekend in Victoria. “That was tactical,” noted Stanaway. Perhaps because they had a tip that Kyle and Jackie O would be starting on Tuesday next week.
Talking about the team, Jase explained it was like a marriage: “We all fight and don’t sleep together.”
Pre-show Jase took the opportunity to take the family for a holiday at the Radisson Blue in Fiji. Lauren’s socials indicate she was in Los Angeles recently. Both got tickets to Taylor Swift. Jason sat alongside the “man who took us from Centrelink” – Nova program chief Brendan Taylor.
See also: We have a date! Kyle and Jackie O set to launch in Melbourne
Exploiting their sacking
Embracing that you got the sack is always better than spinning any other version in the media. It’s working for Jase and Lauren.
“Should we take a look back at what happened over the past few months,” asked Jase in the first hour.
“After a testing few months for all of us, this is a really happy ending,” said Lauren.
Jase: “For people who aren’t normal Nova listeners, we got the boot because they are networking in Kyle and Jackie O. It really sucked. The show was starting to get some momentum and the rug was pulled from under us.
“We are not naïve, this is the entertainment industry and people lose their jobs all the time.”
Jase admitted that losing the job wasn’t the sting, it was how it was done. “People were talking about us, [ARN] wasn’t talking to us,” Lauren agreed.
“The real sting was we were being replaced by a show from Sydney. Melbourne deserves better.
“We thought TV was brutal, wow, what about radio.”
Jase: “We always joked one day the swipe cards wouldn’t work. And boy they didn’t one day. The support we have had since we got the boot has been sensational. People everywhere have been so supportive.”
After 27 years in radio, radio vet Jase said he told management at his new home: “I’ll die on this station. I hate moving.”
Archive image of their former life!
Former fans tune in
First caller was Jackie from Geelong. “We are so glad you are back.” Jase replied: “Not as happy as we are, especially for the mortgage repayments.”
Young four-year-old Noah was next, with his mum admitting she was woken up by the youngster about 5am.
Steve from Narre Warren was next, who said his daughter had been counting down the days until the show returned.
Music on the new Nova breakfast
There were plenty of tunes this morning (four in the first hour), starting with Raye after an opener running less than 10 minutes. Across the morning, the station featured mainly female artists on International Women’s Day including Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Tate McRae, Katy Perry and Ricki-Lee.
Guests on Day 1 at Nova
Former KIIS regular on the show Christian Petracca from the Melbourne Demons moved with the hosts to Nova. Joining on the first show were Ricki Lee and Pete Helliar.
Ben and Liam and Belle say goodbye
It should be noted that Ben and Liam finished their breakfast years yesterday. With producer-turned-host Belle, the team are moving to the other end of the day.
Partly to fill a contract obligation they have been given two hours from 6pm nationally to work their magic.
In creating a new “late drive” timeslot, Nova has taken slots from Fitzy and Wippa and also Smallzy. We have written before about how they are creating a new Late Drive slot. They have maybe two years to make it work when they might be an option for a new regular drive show at Nova or elsewhere.
Ben and Liam had a long and largely successful career hosting breakfast. They have got good more recently at farewells.
In October 2019, they farewelled their Triple J breakfast audience. Then in October 2022, they sort of farewelled their Adelaide Nova breakfast audience. They did an hour from 6-7am for a while after leaving.
Last week, they farewelled the Melbourne Nova breakfast audience.
Grab the popcorn… It’s Kyle v Jase, Jackie O v Lauren, Brooklyn v Clint
Melbourne FM radio audiences are facing the biggest programming shake-up in years. Yes, bigger than Marty Sheargold moving to Triple M, bigger than Christian O’Connell moving from London to Gold 104.3. Maybe even bigger than Fifi Box starting her reign at Fox a decade ago, taking over from Matt and Jo.
Kyle and Jackie O will be starting soon.
Kyle Sandilands has dropped his harsh summary of the radio market in that city ahead of his arrival. Fiona Byrne has detailed what unfolded on the KIIS 106.5 program this week:
KIIS king Kyle Sandilands has launched an extraordinary tirade at new Nova100 breakfast hosts Jase Hawkins and Lauren Phillips describing their yet to launch show as the “sh***est in Melbourne.”
“Melbourne, I can’t wait to go there. I can’t wait for the whole show to go completely national live,” Sandilands said.
“All the Melbourne stations, they are all circling the wagons.
“They keep telling everyone in the press, ‘Aw yeah, we are not worried.’ They are sh***ing themselves and I don’t blame them. I am not here to come second.
Sandilands did confirm he considered Hawkins a friend.
“Don’t forget Jase was my protégé,” he said.
“I taught him everything he knows. A lot of slave work was also part of that protégé scheme. He had to live with me and I did treat him like a personal slave.
“They put that other flop from the Weekend Today show, he is going to read their news over at Nova. So what is his name Cl*t, Cl*t, Cl*t Stowaway?