Ugly Pretty Breakfast Show

‘Ugly’ Phil O’Neil and Sami Lukis join forces from Monday morning to present Triple M’s new breakfast show. Following on from The Shebang’s failures and The Cage, Triple M desperately need a breakfast show to reignite the station.

O’Neil had been widely tipped by the op-inion for a number of months as the likely candidate to front Triple M’s breakfast show. Sami Lukis is perhaps the odd choice as co-host as she will be returning to Sydney after a stint with Triple M Brisbane’s The Cage.

Lukis previously partnered Merrick & Rosso on NOVA 969 as the newsreader/co-host during 2006 and 2007. O’Neill is an accomplished broadcaster having worked across a range of Austero syndicated radio stations and in the UK. His persona, however might not correlate with the Triple M listener.

Which begs the question, what is a Triple M listener? What sound will Triple M be trying to create?

The Spoonman finished up last night so it appears that from Monday, Triple M will be putting a line through what has been done and start a fresh.

Where will Peter Burner be? Will Paul Murray have a gig?

And what will happen to Anthony Maroon and Rob Duckworth who are two radio veterans whose voices would correlate with the old Triple M sound. If The Spoonman has been shown the door then will Maroon and Duckworth also be heading the same way?

Jamie Angel is being heard on air during the mornings, Alexis Saviddes has been tipped to move into the morning show and the younger voices of Drew, Fridgy and Lizzie Loveit have been heard on the station over the last couple of months.

Bianca Dye is still without a confirmed gig and could front a drive time team and another radio talent, Jabba has recently left NOVA 969.

With O’Neil and Lukis on breakfast, a new Triple M maybe introduced, targeting a younger audience and perhaps a little more female skewed.

Attacking a younger audience might be an odd strategic decision because Triple M would not necessarily want to steal listners from sister station 2 DAY FM but with rock genre not as clearly defined in 2008, a new direction is needed.

This still doesn’t answer the music charter question. Will it be rock? Will Triple M persist with “the awesome 80’s”? I think nostalgia is out of the question, especially if The Spoonman has been shown the door.

Ugly Phil and Sami Lukis get a free ride, starting Monday, December 1 during the Christmas non ratings period – good luck!