RIP The Cage

It was with a tinge of sadness that I sat in my car this morning (after arriving at work at my usual 8:15am or so) and listened for an extra hour to the final-ever intallment of Triple M's "The Cage" breakfast show.

Now, before you lambaste me for listening to poxy commercial radio station like Triple M, don't worry - I no longer do. But I used to, for many years. And The Cage used to be my much-loved breakfast radio show of choice.


The gang's no longer here:
Fitzy, Brigitte, Pete, Parko and JB.

So when I heard they were shutting them down and kicking them out, I was sad. For them. Sorta. You know, a bit. And I wanted to listen to their final show.

So I did. I sat in my car after arriving at work, and continued listening to The Cage's last hurrah until their delayed finish at 9:15am. They ended with a special message from Brigitte to the station bosses who'd fired them. Thankfully, it was bleeped.

I never liked Brigitte Duclos very much (I mean, she's okay and everything, and they could have had a lot worse, but she wasn't my fave), and for a while there I thought Peter Berner had had his time. But JB was good quality and even Fitzy was capable of being very amusing on occasion. But there shall never be a man as funny as Matty P. Parko. Matthew Parkinson. The giant.

He's hilarious, and is probably my second favourite Aussie comedian (after Shaun Micallef). They're both tall, lanky men, and they're both geniuses. And I love them.
















True, The Cage wasn't rating as well as its rival networks, but I really can't imagine Peter Helliar and Myf Warhurst are going to fare any better next year (once we're all over the novelty factor and have checked them out once or twice). Pete's great on Rove, but I don't think he'll be a big enough drawcard for breakfast radio (but I might be wrong). And Myf - although she's gorgeous and clever and funny and a music encyclopedia - will probably not have redeemed herself in the eyes of her Triple J audience for deserting the student-based radio station for "that commercial rubbish" (but I may be wrong).

I think Triple M have made a grave mistake, deciding to cancel The Cage as they have. But what more do you expect from the people who cancelled Get This? Easily the best radio show in the history of Australian radio (my apologies to Holly C and crew on Triple R), even better than the much-heralded Martin Molloy of the 90s, Get This saw the long-awaited return to radio of NZ-born but Aussie-owned "Where's Wally/Waldo?"-lookalike writer, actor, director and comedian Tony Martin.


They look like geeks, but they actually are.
But they're also funny geeks, so that's all right.
Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee.

Tony introduced us to Ed Kavalee (now extremely well-known thanks to his stint as Most Attractive Male Ensemble Cast Member on Network Ten's Thank God You're Here), and also brought in long-time radio funnyman Richard Marsland.


Tony, Ed and Richard had a different guest celebrity co-host
each day, creating a kind of freshness and uncertainty
of content that we've never before experienced on
Australian radio. What friggin' trail-blazing geniuses!

There's a nasty rumour out there (I read it on Wikipedia, actually) that Pete's hefty salary package was what meant Triple M could no longer afford to continue with Get This. If this is true, I'm not happy with Mr Helliar. And why couldn't Triple M turn Get This into an award-winning breakfast show?! At least I'd have been able to listen to it, then! Maybe Tony and Ed weren't keen on a 4am wake-up call. And fair enough.

I _HEART_ Get This, even though it was never on at a time that I could listen to it (and I'm too stupid to work out how to podcast). But on the occasions where I was travelling to work during the day, or called in sick so I could recover from a headache that had abated by 2pm, I would tune in to Get This will veritible delight.


A keen but doomed-to-disappointment listener
pickets outside the Triple M studios to save Get This.

But no more. Not only has The Cage gone to an early grave as of this morning, but Get This finishes up tomorrow afternoon as well.

Triple M? You're dead to me now.



----------------------------------------



PS:





TRAITORS!


.