A behind-the-scenes attempt in 2010 to break up Sunrise's top-rating breakfast team, Melissa Doyle and David Koch, helped convince Adam Boland to quit his role as executive producer.
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In his new memoir Brekky Central – secretly released yesterday afternoon in defiance of legal action from Channel Seven – Boland reveals the details of the plan to remove one of the popular hosts. (Today, a Seven spokesman announced the network has dropped its court order, saying "we have read [the book] and found there is nothing in it".)
A few years ago, Boland tells readers, Sunrise's weakest market was Melbourne – with research showing that viewers admired the way Nine's Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson stood up to her on-air partner, Karl Stefanovic. Doyle, they believed, seemed "passive" by comparison.
Yet the audience did not blame her, Boland says, and she remained popular. Rather, it was a case of "the Kochie and Mel partnership appearing increasingly out of balance".
Boland considered fixing the problem by giving Melbourne its own local edition of Sunrise – he imagined it being hosted by Steve Vizard and Jennifer Keyte from the Crown Casino boardwalk – but his plan was deemed too expensive.
Replacing either "Kochie" or "Mel", as they are known to viewers, was seen as the solution.
"There was a feeling it was time to freshen the line-up," Seven's then-news and current and affairs chief, Peter Meakin, says in the book. (Meakin is now at Ten.)
Boland emphasises that "wanting to make a switch didn't mean we thought one or both of the hosts had reached a use-by date. Any change would guarantee them new and potentially higher-profile network roles. The question was: what form should that change take?"
Research showed that Doyle was by far the most popular of the two; Koch tended to polarise viewers. Yet Koch was deemed a bigger ratings draw.
Meakin recalls the verdict of Seven's then-chief executive, David Leckie: "Kochie is the heart and soul of this show and I don't give a f--- what the research shows, Kochie is untouchable."
By this stage, Boland had shifted into the role of Seven's social media manager and morning TV consultant, with former partner Michael Pell taking over as Sunrise's executive producer.
Should Doyle be tapped for removal, Boland wanted Sunrise's Natalie Barr to take her spot while Pell preferred Samantha Armytage. Later, Boland threw his support behind The Morning Show's Kylie Gillies.
"The research and ratings trends worried me, and I pushed for change to happen by the end of the year," he writes. "I never stopped once to think I might be hurting long-time friends like Kochie or Mel. My priority was to help the show."
Boland says that although he disagreed with some of Pell's decisions at the time, Pell was soon proven right. "This reminded me why I could no longer be the show's executive producer," he writes.
Ultimately, Doyle stayed for another two-and-a-half years – after which Armytage replaced her. By this stage, Boland was planning the launch of rival breakfast show Wake Up on Ten.
Yesterday, Boland told Fairfax Media he was not out to wreak revenge on former colleagues. This is true: most of those he worked with will be breathing a sigh of relief today. But that's not to say there aren't plenty of juicy bits in his book.
In part, it's a revealing look into the inner workings of television, best illustrated by the chapters on the Beaconsfield mining disaster (and the resultant media circus); the Asian tsunami fundraising concert he initiated; the Kokoda Track Sunrise special and the so-called "fake Dawn service" fiasco that had Kevin Rudd screaming.
He's frank about his failings: the programming missteps, the power plays gone wrong, his youthful tendency to lash out when angry. He is at his best, however, when addressing his type II bipolar disorder. This is not used as a catch-all excuse for past transgressions; rather, he writes with genuine insight about the condition, its effect on him and those around him, and how he manages it.
Mostly, though, it's a cracking read; a book with a mass audience in mind. Breakfast television seems to hold immense fascination even to those who don't watch it, which explains the media's incessant appetite for stories about the genre.
And there's plenty in the book to be chewed over.
Highlights include:
- The "legendary" feud between Seven stars Chris Bath and Samantha Armytage: "Sam was never afraid to take take digs at Chris and even dubbed her 'Bath Vader'," Boland reveals. "Chris then arrived at work one day with a light sabre. Things got even sillier when they had to appear together in a network promo but turned up wearing similar shirts. The producers had to ask a news director to intervene before Sam would agree to change her outfit."
- The time Boland and Sunrise's then-weatherman Grant Denyer had a fight in Hawaii. Crossed wires meant Denyer thought Boland had insulted his wife, and things got heated. "Production manager Dave Masala broke up the exchange by physically stepping in."
- The joke that caused John Howard to permanently shun Kochie. Ten years ago, Koch told a joke (a re-hash of an old one involving the Clintons) suggesting Howard's wife, Janette, had touched the penis of then-opposition leader, Kim Beazley. Seven's furious owner, Kerry Stokes, ordered Koch to write a letter of apology but to this day, Howard refuses to speak to Koch – even if they are seated at the same table at functions. "I suspect the joke is only part of the reason," Boland speculates. "The former prime minister is only too aware of the role Sunrise played in the rise of Kevin Rudd."
- The time Kevin Rudd swore at a rooster. Rudd and Joe Hockey were walking the Kokoda track for a Sunrise special feature, and Rudd had been woken early by the inconsiderate bird. "Someone f---ing shut that f---ing rooster up or I will f---ing shoot it!" Rudd ordered.
- The time Hockey saved Rudd's life. The pair were cooling down in a river after a day spent hiking the Kokoda trail when Rudd lost his footing and was sucked downstream. Hockey grabbed him, then yelled: "I've got money from Kim Beazley to let you go!" (Beazley, the then-opposition leader, had correctly predicted Rudd would challenge him for the job.)
- Boland on TV hosts: "Autocues never allow presenters to show their true personalities. Sometimes that's a good thing; I can think of plenty of people who should never leave home without one."
- Boland on viewer complaints: "Viewers always complain. About anything and everything. It's weird when they don't."
- Boland on media bias: "Some executives, including Michael [Pell], felt I was using [Weekend Sunrise] to preach a left-wing agenda. This was true to some extent but to me, it was warranted, given many other media outlets had moved so far to the right ... Weekend Sunrise was never afraid to challenge the merchants of hatred."
- Peter Meakin on the industry: "I think a lot of people in television are partially deranged."
Brekky Central by Adam Boland, published by Melbourne University Press, is out now.
