Former radio boss reveals Em Rusciano's one major problem

ONE of Australia’s most well-respected former radio bosses has spilled on embattled radio host Em Rusciano’s one big problem.

The Sydney breakfast show identity hit the headlines this week after radio insiders revealed that she created a “toxic work environment” at her station, 2Day FM.

Now, former Southern Cross Austereo head of content Craig Bruce, who gave Rusciano her start in radio back in 2006, has opened up on how the radio star has always struggled to work with other people

In an exclusive chat with news.com.au, Mr Bruce leapt to Rusciano’s defence after her profanity-laden rant in a podcast where she criticised co-workers and admitted she was not suited to breakfast radio.

“When she finished up in Perth [where she hosted the 92.9 FM breakfast show from 2006 to 2009] she came back to Melbourne and what she’s done from that period to now, she’s just completely created a brand out of grit and hard work and obvious talent,” Mr Bruce said.

But her one big problem, according to the former radio boss, is she struggles to succeed in a team environment.

“She’s a solo performer and her career up until a year and a half ago [when she went back to radio] was all off her own bat,” he said.

“Everything she did, from the way she developed her audience on social media, the writing that she did for news.com.au, the stage show, all of that was off her own bat.

“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.”

Rusciano is a woman in the spotlight after her sensational statements on Wil Anderson’s Wilosophy podcast in which she called members of the Sydney media a “bunch of c***s” and admitted she was “sh*t” in a team environment.

“When someone I feel is getting in my way or is slowing me down or isn’t listening I just f**king turn and I’m impatient and I’m mean and I’m a bitch and I’m not a team player,” she said.

Rusciano also complained that after Harley Breen left the 2Day FM breakfast show last year, she had no say in picking his replacement.

“Ed [Kavalee] and Grant [Denyer] were, like, they were put in the show,” she said.

“And 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. 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, the show’s called The 2DAY FM Breakfast Show, like I took all these big ego hits.”

News.com.au understands her comments were not well received by some of her workmates at 2Day FM, one of whom spoke anonymously to news.com.au yesterday and described the “toxic work environment” Rusciano caused.

Another station insider told The Daily Telegraph that “things are at breaking point, people just cannot work with her energy”.

But according to Mr Bruce, the rumoured tensions within the 2Day FM team weren’t that surprising.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, every single breakfast show on Australian radio has some form of dysfunction,” he told news.com.au.

“Every radio executive in the country is dealing with some sort of creative tension within a team, that’s the nature of the business. 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 [on Wilosophy], they’re arranged marriages and it’s really hard work to get people connecting.”

Mr Bruce, who hosts the world’s number one radio podcast, Game Changers: Radio, said there were only a handful of people like Rusciano in the industry today.

“There are very few people in radio that are absolutely 100 per cent certain as to how they want to present themselves on the air, people like Kyle Sandilands and Alan Jones,” he told news.com.au. “Now Em hasn’t had that level of success but the thinking is the same; she knows her value and she knows what she wants to do and she knows her strengths and weaknesses.

“She’s really smart. She knows where to find content, she knows what is going to resonate for her audience. She is brave, she’s honest, she is articulate, she’s a one-off in lots of respects.”

Since Kavalee and Denyer joined the team at the start of 2018, the show’s ratings have improved, slightly. But given Rusciano’s recent explosive comments on Wilosophy and the rumoured tension within the breakfast team, many are wondering if Rusciano will remain on air for the rest of the year.

“In a perfect world I’d imagine they’d [2Day FM] want to continue with the combination they have but sometimes these things don’t always work out the way you’d like them to,” Mr Bruce told news.com.au.

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