Australian hearts get soft

After the Global Financial Crisis broadcasting Down Under has taken a turn for the better with feel-good shows ruling the airwaves.

I've derived a new theorem. I believe Australian hearts (not just their wallets) have been softened by the GFC (Global Financial Crisis). I don't base this on my regular study of economics and finance but on a far more reliable indicator — Australian television and radio broadcasting! Crazy, you say? Stick with me for a few minutes and I'll show you why the theorem is reliable.

But first, a small, necessary preamble before I present the theorem: you will agree that the media is a shrewd judge of public mood and sentiment.

They have to be — that's how they make or lose money. They will schedule, adjust and revise their programming based on what's going down well with their audiences at any point in time. Conversely, they will chop programmes that aren't going down well with audiences.

Why? Just like doctors in an intensive care unit constantly study readings from a critical patient's monitors, media planners are always crunching audience research numbers.

If the numbers are bad, they pull sponsorship and advertising from the programme.

Those revenues form the lifeblood of Radio and TV stations and without them they die. So normally, a decision to run or axe a programme is based mostly on commercial reasons. But that's changing in Australia at the moment.

Now let's get into the crux of my theorem on the softening Aussie hearts:

I reviewed the progress of some of the extremely popular programmes on TV, examining their viewership figures. The big hit has been Master Chef, a programme where contestants display their talents in cooking and over a long period of eliminations, the winner is picked.

Why was Master Chef such a huge success? Was it because Australia suddenly discovered the joy of cooking? To a small extent, that may be true.

I believe the real success came because, unlike some of the other shows, the judges were always humane and constantly appreciative of the contestants. Australians loved this kindly, feel-good factor and basked in its warmth. There was no 'win at all costs' confrontational competition between participants either.

This is in direct contrast with pre-GFC successful shows like Australian Idol where judges were rude and constantly made degrading and disparaging comments to contestants.

Another example of a bad construct for a show in the pre-GFC days would be America's Top Model — where the models were constantly catty and spoke ill of each other. Clearly, a lot of Australians have had enough of this sort of behaviour.

Another big TV success post the advent of the GFC was a programme called Random Acts of Kindness.

In this show, ordinary Australians who quietly went about their lives doing wonderful, selfless deeds for others were surprised with special tributes and some of their fondest dreams were made to come true.

Again, the success of the show came from the concept of love and regard for others and immense feel-good factor that the audience received from honouring nice people and their good deeds.

Broadcasters are very alive to this change in audience mood and the softening of Aussie hearts after the GFC.

Australian Idol is just starting its new season. Very consciously, the show has suddenly dumped one of its previously popular past judges. The producers thought his presence would be counter-productive for ratings.

To understand the decision to drop him, we need to enter the world of radio broadcasting for a moment. The Kyle & Jackie O Show on 2DayFM has consistently won its slot for a long time.

They ruled the roost in breakfast FM media ratings. The show has always been risqué, lathering in a fair amount of overtly nasty content and talking down to people.

About three weeks ago, Kyle & Jackie O conducted a 'live', on air lie detector test on a 14 years old girl, quizzing her about her sexual experiences.

Australian radio airwaves were soon in meltdown mode. Listeners called every single radio station and voiced their absolute disgust with the duo.

Austereo, the 2DayFM station's owner suspended the duo pending their investigations regarding any breach of the station's on-air propriety and the Australian broadcasting code.

Further proof that broadcasters are quick to heed the more sensitive and softer Australian heart. However, the duo have since publicly apologised and the station has just re-instated them with a 7-second broadcast delay to avoid any repeat of their previous stuff-up going to air. Audience ratings are still awaited.

Incidentally, the judge who remains axed from Australian Idol is Kyle — the show's producers clearly deem that his brusque personality and just his presence on the show would turn people off and not sit well with Australia's new moral code.

Isn't it great that the financial troubles of the GFC have brought forth a more sensitive and caring attitude in people? I think so.

Eapen Verghese is a Sydney-based business consultant who writes on Australian affairs.