John Stanley and Garry Linnell share coffee with Peter Saxon.

At first glance, GfK’s Survey 2 didn’t look particularly good for Sydney’s second talk station, 2UE. After a promising uptick in the station’s overall share in Survey One (All ppl 10+ 5:30 – midnight, Mon-Sun) it lost ground and settled back to a 4.6 share.

Yet breakfast with its two aesthetically challenged presenters has been quietly edging upwards. Left with a 3.5 share at the end of last year by Dicko and Sarah – who are now doing Afternoons and, it must be said, sounding much better than before despite the ratings yet to reflect it – John Stanley and Garry Linnell have put on 1.1 to reach a 4.6* share in the wake up shift. They’ve also managed to increase cume by around 18,000 listeners. Not what you’d call spectacular results, but enough of a start to convince management to extend their shift from an 8:30 finish to 9:00 am.

The ‘pair sans hair’ is made up of 25 year 2UE veteran, John Stanley and equally experienced newspaper and TV man Garry Linnell. But Linnell’s experience in Radio is, as he puts it, about 25 days. He admits the learning curve is steep.

“It’s been a lot harder than I thought. The physical side of it is important. Getting up at 2.30 every morning and making sure you are at work and dressed. But it’s more the learning the tricks of the trade – taking the cues from John – just the ways of dealing with the audience and your tone and dealing with your voice.

“I stand up and do the program just so I can train my voice. I stand up to do the show. It helps with my voice. It helps me to project a lot more rather than sitting back and letting my voice fade away,” says Linnell.

John Stanley, though, is a seasoned broadcast professional. “I started as Brenno’s (John Brennan’s) assistant. I was Assistant Program Director and Alan Jones’ first producer . Then I went on air when Brian White died in 1990 and I’ve been on air ever since.

“I also did the program directors job for a year in 2002, the year after Alan and Ray Hadley left (for 2GB) while I was doing the Afternoon shift. It was too much,” says Stanley.

For 25 years, through thick and thin he’s stayed with 2UE. And it hasn’t been much thinner than this. Yet, he’s not phased. Stanley is nothing if not a true believer. Whether it’s for his struggling NRL team, the St George Dragons or 2UE, he remains loyal.

While others may dismiss his latest tilt at Breakfast as no more than a hail Mary play by his bosses who’ve run out of fresh ideas and talent – or at least the money to pay for it – Stanley sees opportunity at every turn, “The station has reached a very low ebb in ratings terms, but we think we’ve got a good opportunity to rebuild it in the space of the market that isn’t being occupied.”

Few people may remember, but about four years ago after Mike Carlton vacated the Breakfast spot on 2UE and before the station took a sharp right turn to become a ‘mini me GB,’ Stanley was partnered with Sandy Aloisi to present a lighter, less political show than the one it replaced – in essence, not unlike the current John & Garry show.

The John & Sandy show actually rated in the sixes – a figure management would kill for today. Stanley says, “Sandy’s a news person and she’s one of my best friends but it never quite jelled. We were rating six or seven per cent. I figure this show is at least twice as good as that was. I’m figuring we should be able to get those same numbers. We should be able to get the same people who were listening then them, back listening now.”

Neither Garry or John are under any illusion about the long road ahead to rebuild what was once the Colossus of Sydney radio stations. But they’ve got time and uncurbed enthusiasm on their side.

In the next few days we’ll be back with Part Two of our chat with John Stanley and Garry Linnell to discuss that long road back from the wilderness and the challenges along the way.

* Although Survey Two shows the shift having a 4.1 share of the Sydney Breakfast market, which is traditionally measured between 5:30 – 9:00 am, the share of John & Garry’s actual shift, which was 5:00 – 8:30 am is 4.6 (over the survey period ending April 12).

Peter Saxon