The dancing duo prove they have faces for radio after all!
One-time childhood sweethearts Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenney have teamed up to star on Sydney’s Mix 106.5 Mornings and are adamant, despite the early starts, they’ll bring a touch of glamour (and humour) to their listeners’ day.
How is the radio gig going to affect your social lives?
S: Mine won’t be affected because I’m a bit of a Nanna anyway. Todd’s social life, maybe more so…
T: It will be tricky but if you look at it, when we finish on Friday morning, we’ve got until Monday morning off! Although Sunday will probably feel really short, especially if we don’t have our stuff prepared for the next week! And if we haven’t… we’ll be sitting at Otto having lunch! Hoping someone does something outrageous at the restaurant so we can talk about it the next day!
Will there be a mirror ball in the studio?
S: They have ‘blinged’ my microphone. They have covered my microphone in Swarovski crystals. John Laws would be seething if he saw it. Gold Schmold!
T: I had to hang my own lighting up… and toss a sequin shirt over the back of my chair.
S: Todd’s a bit upset because his car park was initially outside the building, next to the wheelie bins. My car park is right next to the lift.
T: It took me four days to crawl in! I’ve now pinched Amanda Keller’s parking spot and I’m inside the building. Sonia also has a desk she can fit her knees underneath… it’s all the little things… there’s some serious girl power going on.
S: But on Todd’s desk… he’s got a bigger lamp… and a bigger ego.
T: Sonia called me an ‘ego covered in skin’.
S: I got that from Jeremy Clarkson’s book.
How many coffees do you think it’s going to take to get you going?
T: Mum bought me a De Longhi coffee machine for Christmas so all I have to do is set it and I wake up to coffee! I’ve bought a special coffee cup too to take in the car. At 5.30am, I’ll be hitting the ground running! Sonia will ‘wake up’ at 7am and think ‘What am I doing?’
S: Looks like I’ll be rattling around the tea room with the Nescafe Gold…
What advantages does radio have over television?
S: We’ve got three hours of live radio and live interaction with the audience. It’s far more immediate because you can interact with the listeners.
T: We’ll be able to ‘feel’ the energy because the phones ring. Whereas in television, for us, we have a bank of mechanics between us and the audience. Even with a live audience, we have a wall of cameras in front of us so you don’t get to ‘feel’ the audience or their reaction.
S: We want our listeners to be the stars of our show. We want them to tell us what they think. We want them to critique us.
Do you think your ‘real’ personalities will have even more of a chance to shine?
T: Yes. Definitely it was one of the reasons I wanted to do it. So I’m not just the acid-tongued person on television. We are three-dimensional people with feelings.
S: I-am-not-an-animal… I-am-a-human-being…
T: I’m also single so I’m hoping to get a few dates out of it…
What audience/demographic will you be aiming to appeal to?
T: We’re aiming to make our show unique. What we want to really do is make a show we’d want to listen to. From Kyle and Jackie O there is really a big gap. There’s nowhere for people our age group to go. I don’t want the show to just be bitchy. I want the show to explore the other side of our personalities as well so there is a bit of depth there. It’s not just young ‘ra ra ra ra ra’, it’ll be useful information with wit.
S: Music and lifestyle is what we’re all about. The demographic is predominantly women 30-49. It’s 60/40 women to men. We don’t want to do stuff that turns the guys off either. We feel like we know that market really well because that is ‘us’. We’re smack bang in the middle of it.
How old are you both?
Sonia: I’m 42.
Todd: I’ve gone backwards to 41. I had such a great time at 41 I decided to go there again.
Sonia: You’re two months older than me, aren’t you? We’re both born in ’65.
Have you been busy preparing over the holiday season?
T: Yes. I’ve carried my dictaphone around with me everywhere.
S: You’ve actually abused your dictaphone…
T: Yes. I used my dictaphone all through Christmas. I got it from Santa. Every time I thought of an idea I’d click it on!
S: Todd hasn’t transcribed any of those ideas yet though… I’m not sure how pressing ‘play’ on the Dictaphone is going to make for great radio…
T: I think it will be unique. Sonia has stories that only have a beginning… and so I’m going to have to do a bit more work because I like a middle and an end to a story. Sonia can start them and I’ll finish them.
Do you make notes when something funny or quirky happens to you?
S: I have been writing notes down and then testing segment and story ideas out on Todd.
T: We’ve got so much material. One of the things that has come out of this is…
S: I’m the teacher’s pet. They really like me. Todd… not so much.
T: They do like her a lot.
S: I am carrying the show… but I knew that was going to happen…
Read more of this interview in Woman’s Day (on-sale January 21, 2008) — Sonia and Todd share their thoughts on Daryl Somers leaving Dancing With The Stars, and the possibility of Hugh Jackman quick-stepping into Daryl’s hosting shoes.
