Australia's favourite weatherman has some advice for Karl Stefanovic: choose between a real journo or a right-wing shock-schlock, can't be both, writes Monte Dwyer.
WHENEVER I'M ASKED what it was like to work with Karl Stefanovic on The Today Show, I usually point out he was still at school when I was doing the weather, and that I taught him all he knows. When that joke falls flat, I’m still magnanimous enough to concede he’s one of Australia’s most entertaining broadcasters, polarising though he can be.
I’m not alone in this. Quite apart from his longevity in the industry, which surely goes to his popularity, no lesser critic than the late television CEO David Leckie rated Karl the best broadcaster in the Nine stable.
It should be noted this was after Leckie had left the Nine Network and was trying to (unsuccessfully) lure Karl over to Seven, and before he decided Karl was “dead meat” for “ruining his brand” with a messy divorce from his first wife and a splashy Mexican mash-up to his second.
I was jealous of the “dead meat” comment because that meant Leckie at least considered him alive at some stage.
The highest evaluation I ever got from Leckie was once during a testy contract negotiation he warned me down the phone:
“Don’t f**k with me, Monte. I could find another one of you at the bus stop!”
This opinion was likely shared by Nine’s News and Current Affairs big dog Peter Meakin, who I contacted when Karl was having trouble finding his Today Show voice in the early days (hard to imagine now, but true enough), with an offer to return as host to liven things up for a bit.
He didn’t exactly use Leckie’s line, but I’m pretty sure I heard the bus.
History shows Nine persevered with Karl and took their pound of flesh, while Karl proved a much better negotiator than me if we are to believe the reported millions bandied about.
And now, after two decades of breakfast television, he’s breaking free from his gilded cage to pursue creative freedom on his eponymous podcast.
Of course, he might also be hankering for international podcasting glory (he did joke he’d call himself Joe Bogan in a nod to the successful American podcasting bogan Rogan).
There may even be a bit of the ‘funny man’s desire for gravitas’ a la Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Charlie Chaplin and others who felt compelled to show they could do serious as well. Or he might simply have grown tired of the seductive banality of morning television, I couldn’t say.
What I can say is things rarely turn out as planned.
I left television 25 years ago after deciding I’d rather be poor doing what I wanted to do, than less poor doing what I was no longer enjoying.
Of course, back then I didn’t realise just how poor I was going to end up, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the company car.
While Karl may never need worry about these trifling concerns, I’ll wager he didn’t realise just how unemployed he was going to end up, losing both of his legacy media jobs in the one fell Tommy Robinsonian stoop (sic).
The long-suffering Nine (did I really say that?) pulled the pin on his Today gig, and ARN followed suit and cancelled his new radio show, aka the backup plan.
Which leaves Karl with a dilemma. Does he maintain his "lovable larrikin" image supported by his still-loyal Today Show viewers (replete with mainstream advertising stream)?
Or continue barrelling down this right-wing, shock-schlock path he seems to be on and risk alienating everyone before he’s established his podcast?
Indeed, he may have even found himself in a quandary within a dilemma.
As journalist Michael West observed in a recent post on his eponymous media website, Karl seems confused about whether he wants to be in entertainment or journalism.
If it’s the former, then go, Karl, keep “ruining [your] brand” by amplifying every anti-establishment voice you can find and maybe one day you’ll pick a winner and prove us all wrong.
However, if it’s journalism you’re into, then you need to quit soft-balling screwballs and start asking some hard questions.
You’re a fine broadcaster, mate, but don’t get carried away with yourself; I have it on good authority replacements are easy to find at the bus stop.
Monte Dwyer is an independent journalist/author, best-known in Australia as the travelling weatherman on the Today Show, a role he filled for long enough to require therapy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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