Australian Jocks

The story about the nurse committing suicide after being punked by two Australian disc jockeys shocked the world a few weeks ago. Turns out this sort of thing wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for this station. According to Tom Taylor's column today...

"Austereo has pushed talent before – even suggesting a woman get pregnant to help the ratings. Not only did station management suggest the unnamed personality have a baby to boost the numbers, they suggested an optimum time for the birth – “between ratings survey five and six,” says The Australian. The paper says “the ratings-at-any-cost culture existed long before Mel Greig and Michael Christian made their call to Kate Middleton’s London hospital.” For instance – “penis enlargement surgeries are offered as giveaways, and ‘guess who?’ games involving women’s genitalia are brainstormed in staff meetings.” Former Austereo personality Amber Petty says she finally had enough, when management got her father to record a fake obituary for her and ran it during the news. Another former jock says there was an idea tossed around for a “celebrity sperm” competition."

Not exactly the brainstorming meetings we had at the Oldies station.