Breakfast on the Gold Coast
Facebook has been responsible for helping quite a few people hook up. Equally it has played a part in the demise of relationships – like when a person tags you at a bar when you told your wife you had to work late!
At this stage THIS relationship is trucking along nicely.
Emily Jade O’Keeffe and Sean “Flan” Flannagan who host Breakfast on the Gold Coast’s Hot Tomato were founded on FB.
“We can really thank our owner’s wife for that”, says EJ.
“She follows me on Facebook and realised that I had moved home after having my daughter and suggested a catch up cuppa. It all snowballed from there, I now never turn down the offer of a cup of tea, you never know where it will lead you”.
It took 12 years, but in May this year Hot Tomato finally cracked number 1 on the Gold Coast.
And to prove they were no “one hit wonders,” hit number one again in the second GfK survey.
The Breakfast show has also enjoyed ratings success with the icing on the cake: “Flan & Emily-Jade for Breakfast” nominated in the Best On-Air Team, Provisional and Country category, at the 2015 ACRAS.
“It’s a combination of blind luck, gypsy curses and the steel cage my mum built in my bedroom. Like any radio show doing well, we have a great producer”, says Flan.
“We genuinely like each other. You can’t manufacture friendship so we are really lucky that when we were teamed together for this show our mutual respect turned into a firm and fun friendship”, says Emily-Jade.
For many, the Gold Coast market is an enviable one to work in… long white sandy beaches to stroll, waves to surf, a healthy night-life, free passes to all those world’s and sunshine, lots of it.
How does Flan scrub up in his Aussie shorts and t-shirts – does he make any of those classic “summer man look” errors (like long socks and shorts) as has he cuts a swathe from the studio to the beach?
“Flan has no idea. There’s no point breaking down his fashion mistakes. Flan simply stole his clothes from a pumpkin farmer’s Hills Hoist and just waits for trends to come back around.
“It hasn’t happened yet but there’s always a first time for everything. The only problem is, when you work closely together you start to rub off on each other. I now don’t wear make-up to work or shave AND I wear overalls”, says EJ.
So they are rubbing off on each other, what do they admire then?
“I deeply admire Emily’s ability to frustrate me. Conversely, I’m frustrated by Emily’s complete inability to admire me”, says Flan.
“Not true Flan”, adds EJ. “I admire him greatly”.
“He is hands down one of the most intelligent and witty people I know. The joy of working with him is watching how he cleverly crafts his comedy and that he is so generous sharing his knowledge and teaching me along the way”.
“What frustrates me is that he doesn’t know or appreciate how clever he really is”.
Finally, you can’t work somewhere like Hot Tomato and not have a favourite tomato dish.
Flan? “Slow-cooked lamb shanks in tins of diced tomato”.
EJ? “Spag Bol”.