The Sweetest Plum bumped to 9PM Weekdays

One of the great new shows on radio this year has been the Sweetest Plum on Triple M radio.

Declan Fay and Nick Maxwell started off doing the "Sweetest Plum" podcast in 2010, which rapidly shot up the iTunes charts. This led to them getting a gig on Triple M 104.9 Sydney in the 4-6PM Monday to Thursday "drive" shift (with Roy and HG doing their show on Fridays). They also assembled a show of the week's best bits for Melbourne's Triple M 105.1 on Fridays.

Unfortunately, since starting the show early in the year, they couldn't manage to lift ratings for the Drive slot- it even slipped a few points south.

But this was not an accurate representation of the quality of the show they put together everyday (it is/was the funniest thing currently on radio, with some calling them the next Martin/Molloy)- and it was every week-day, with a Podcast-only "Friday Drinks" podcast being released on, well, Fridays (this is something that dedicated fans really value, such as back in the day when Spoonman had his night show and released a complementary After the Forking Show Podcast every so-often).

Hopefully these continue.

You just have to put this "bump" down to the results-driven cut-throat world of commercial radio.

However, loyal listeners can at least take solace in the fact that they will be on 9PM weekdays nationally, as well as keeping their Friday show in Melbourne.

And speaking of interstate listeners, they will not really notice much of a difference in terms of podcasts, and the 9PM slot will also allow them to work a lot "bluer". The only downside to the move is that they could have built a stronger following in the Drive shift (more people listening, etc.), and it is somewhat of a "sweeter plum" in terms of a gig (if you will), however it seems that all involved are focussing on the positive.

The move will presumably have them after the Peanut Gallery (whose show airs from 7-9PM Monday to Thursday).

And I guess Triple M should be commended for keeping them on board and at least showing some commitment to producing comedy (most of their other shows have a news/sport skew) like the good ol' days of Martin/Molloy, The Cage (Melbourne), Get This, etc.

But I repeat, this is not an obituary, and if anything I hope it serves to draw more pairs of ears (?) to the program in its new timeslot to help it find a bigger following.

Those bloody scallop-industry thugs...

Radio LOL of the Day: Thursday 25th March - Andy Lee talks footy, wanting to be a certain footballer

Show: Rush Hour

Network: Triple M

Quite an awkward, and somewhat unexpected moment surfaced today courtesy of an interview between Rush Hour hosts James Brayshaw and Billy Brownless and Andy Lee.

Normally conductors of irreverent interviews, JB and Billy were throwing questions at Andy regarding football and his life. Of course, up until this point, everything but Megan Gale was mentioned.

But it was quite a good interview, and first they spoke about footy, as Andy is a mad "blue-bagger", as Billy put it.

Andy: Should be a good one. I'm looking to Matty Kreuzer coming back...

Billy: Yes indeed, and Jordan Russell's a fan of yours. I'm just reading the profile here in the (Football) "Record" at the ground here today; "if you weren't an AFL footballer, what would you like to be?"

"Hamish or Andy."

So, if you weren't a superstar in the media, what would you rather be... wanna be... a Carlton footballer?"

Andy: Carlton footballer... maybe Shaun Hampson (Gale's current boyfriend).

This was met with about 4 or 5 seconds of JB and Billy being unsure of what to say. All that can be heard is JB guffawing.

JB quipped, "I think you've been him... you can't pick blokes you've been".

Andy Lee then told the story of why he didn't end up being a footballer; his mother didn't allow him to play after his dad sustained an injury.

Conversation also turned to their deal with Nine, and how the new show is shaping up.

And it remains as unclear as ever, as to what format the show will take, as apparently they still "don't know" what the show is.

Apparently the only thing they know is that they "want to do a show".

So what have they been doing with their spare time?

"A lot of spontaneous purchases", apparently.

But that's what we love about them, anyway.

And apparently Andy Lee, of all people, was to press the button to sound the siren to kick off the 2011 AFL season.

No Falaughing Matter

Just a word on the latest Eddie McGuire furore.

You might even say the most recent "food-in-mouth" scandal... If you wanted to get punched in the nose.

It all started when Eddie was having a bit of to-and-fro with GWS coach Kevin Sheedy on his Hot Breakfast radio show on Triple M Melbourne.

Now, the context is important and it isn't. It isn't because all you need to know is that Sheedy was being his usual cheeky self, in-part being honest about their hunt for players, and in-part baiting Eddie, knowing full-well that Eddie has been acting even more Mother Hen-like after the Premiership win in 2010. Also knowing that he is just about the only man who can offer Collingwood players more money than Collingwood itself.

Therefore when Sheedy spoke of "picking a team of all players off-contract", and there being "a lot of Collingwood players on this team"... just to add fuel, "Sheeds" also said it's a "Deal or No Deal" situation.

Then Eddie had about a minute to come up with this: "I've just put a team together of your seventeen year olds who'll be sick of living up in the land of the felafel in Western Sydney..."

So the context was Eddie having a go at Sheedy... and Western Sydney.

That is, I think, what Eddie does not grasp. Eddie, today, tried to justify his comments by equating it to saying Carlton's the "land of the pizza". If you were to hear that on say, a program such as Postcards, you wouldn't bat an eyelid- so he is right. However, they would be painting Carlton in a positive light by trying to highlight its dominant ethnic identity, that of a large Italian population, with a defining reputation for its iconic Lygon Street.

So this is when context is crucial.

Eddie was using it as a slur against Western Sydney- nothing more, nothing less.

Now you might be like Eddie and declare your unbridled love for all things falafel. You might say that even in the context it was in and whatever intent Eddie had, that it isn't even that damaging in content. However, think of the connotations associated with a fried falafel and then the connotations involved in alluding to pizza or "haggis" (as he also calls his father a "haggis-muncher").

Yes, because the racial associations with these foods play no part at all, do they? These cultures have long been a part of Australian culture, or at least the ancestry of many Australians. The days of teasing someone as a "wog" are now over, so why would calling something a land of pizza be even a slight jibe?

This is why these seemingly innocent jibes against some groups do so much damage. Take Ben Elton's Live From Planet Earth. During a "public school teacher" sketch, a teacher said various made-up Asian-sounding names (one for example, sounded like "ain't-shit") and implied how ridiculously hard they were working.

Now, this seems like a compliment, and on the surface, it is. But, these sort of compliments or observations have a more insidious racism, even it is more hidden.

Either way, the person saying these "jokes" is usually feeling threatened, and uses his or her position chatting to a bunch of friends or thousands of people, to simultaneously make themselves more secure and take another group (usually in a lower position to start with) down a peg or two.

And of course, you always get the perpetrator of an offensive remark defending themselves by saying it was all a joke or some such.

And sometimes it is.

Here's the distinction; the Chaser Make a Wish Sketch was utterly lambasted for uttering the line "they are just going to die anyway". I'm not for one second defending it by saying how funny it was. I am also not saying it was tasteful or nice in any way. But! At no stage did anyone think the Chaser laughed at the fact that these kids were sick; their intention was not to make these kids or their families lose hope. They were trying- poorly- to be so outrageous that it was somehow funny. Needless to say it didn't work, but the point is- their intention was not a nasty one.

As Ricky Gervais said, comedy can either come from a good place or a bad place. And while the Chaser did not have their comedy come from a good place, it certainly wasn't the other.

And no one can deny that protective
Eddie wasn't trying to land a knockout blow with an easy stereotype of both the Lebanese population and the rest of the people of Greater Westen Sydney.