The hullabaloo around 2Day FM’s Em Rusiano continues, with one of her former bosses revealing the major issue facing the embattled breakfast radio host.
Rusciano has been in the firing line of late, with one ex-staffer of 2Day FM claiming the host isn’t well-liked at the station and “makes it a toxic work environment”.
It’s also been reported that a number of staff who work on the 2Day FM brekkie show were calling it quits due to a poor work environment, with some declining to work alongside Rusciano, while tensions are understood to be running high between her and co-host Ed Kavalee.
Meanwhile, B&T has heard on the grapevine that Ash London has already been chosen to replace Rusciano, which SCA refused to confirm or deny.
Now, Southern Cross Austereo’s former head of content, Craig Bruce has admitted that Rusciano struggles to work as part of a team, given she was a “solo performer” up until when she came back to radio in 2016.
“I think potentially the challenge for her at the moment is, having come from so many years of self-sufficiency, is now finding herself in a scenario where she has to fold into a team environment,” he told news.com.au.
Bruce also said the reported tensions between 2Day FM staff wasn’t unusual in radio land, conceding that all brekkie shows in Australia are dysfunctional.
“Every radio executive in the country is dealing with some sort of creative tension within a team, that’s the nature of the business,” he said.
“Now, that’s not to excuse any behaviour that Em may have contributed to… but breakfast radio is typically three people in a small room and often, as Em said, they’re arranged marriages and it’s really hard work to get people connecting.”
The comments Bruce was referring to were made by Rusciano on Will Anderson’s podcast, where she called Sydney media “c$#*s”, accused 2Day FM’s executives of “injecting two people” into “my show”, and admitted she was heading towards “some sort of implosion in the next six months”.
“I, all of a sudden, got two co-hosts that I’d never really met or spoken to, and then I’m expected to have this instant chemistry with,” Rusciano told Anderson.
“And it was just hectic. And it was The Em Rusciano Radio Show. It was my show, and all of a sudden Ed’s anchoring.”
Bruce also stood up for Rusciano in his interview with news.com.au, describing her as “brave”, “honest”, “really smart”, “articulate” and a “one-off”.
