Bruno Bouchet

Brisbane

In 2004 Bouchet was hired as the producer of talkback station 4BC 1116am's weekend mornings show – hosted by Madonna King and Tony Johnston. During this time Bouchet also worked as a casual researcher for the Seven Network’s Today Tonight program as well as writing stories for Quest Community Newspapers. Later that year Bouchet moved onto the newly formatted weekday breakfast show hosted by Peter Dick and Ross Davie.^[4]

During his time at 4BC Bouchet produced shows for such radio personalities as Greg Cary, Claire Blake, Chris Adams, Dean Miller, Rupert McCall, Rod Tiley and John Miller.^[5]

In 2006 Bouchet moved to the Brisbane bureau of the Nine Network’s A Current Affair program where he worked as associate-producer for Brisbane-based reporters including David Margan, Amanda Patterson and Chris Allen.^[6]

In January 2007 Bouchet moved back into radio, this time for the Australian Radio Network where he produced the 4KQ Classic Hits breakfast program as well as associate-producing the Brisbane|97.3FM breakfast show.^[7][8]

Sydney

In February 2008 Bouchet took on the role of Producer with the Sonia Kruger and Todd McKenney breakfast show on Mix 106.5 Sydney as well as producing the Body & Soul program hosted by Marnie T across the Australian Radio Network's Mix stream.^[9] In November 2009 Bouchet was appointed as the Executive Producer of Mix 106.5’s breakfast show.^[10][11]

From June 2010 until July 2012, Bouchet worked at 2DayFM Sydney as the Guest and Talent Producer on The Kyle & Jackie O Show.^[12]

A regular segment on show was for Bouchet to surprise celebrity guests by entering the studio nude during the middle of an interview. As the Guest and Talent Producer on The Kyle & Jackie O Show, if Bouchet fails to deliver on getting a celebrity on the show, a range of punishments are dished out including being thrown into the Port Jackson|Sydney Harbour or having his entire body shaved. In 2011, 2DayFM was offered an exclusive interview with David Attenborough. For this segment, Bouchet hatched the idea of asking Attenborough to name animal sex noises, and purportedly played a mating Sea Turtle. Attenborough objected, explaining he thought it unlikely given that the animals only mate underwater and it is unlikely that the recording could have been made there. Bouchet later expressed his delight with the segment, counting it as a show highlight.

In May 2011, Bouchet and 2DayFM producer Matt Simpson, where they presented a range of "fan favourite" segments from previous broadcasts of The Kyle & Jackie O Show.^[13]

For a few months from September 2011, Bouchet co-hosted a trial of a weekly radio show The Producer's Edition of The Kyle and Jackie O Show with co-producer "speech impediment" Matt Simpson.

Bruno was fired in July 2012 following insensitive comments he made on Twitter about the 2012 Aurora shooting.^[14][15]

Controversies

In May 2004, Bouchet used his Switch 1197 radio show to accuse Federal Opposition Leader Mark Latham of plagiarising a policy idea that Bouchet claims he had developed. Bouchet claimed that he had originally come up with a learn or earn policy and that Latham had taken it off him without any proper acknowledgement. A spokesperson for Latham denied the claims of plagiarism.^[16]

In February 2011, 2DayFM Sydney was pressured to sack Bouchet following comments he made on air during The Kyle & Jackie O Show about organ donation and the fact that he would never even consider donating his own.^[17][18]

After Crikey contacted Bouchet about the appropriateness of some of the content on his website, "Bruno loves boobs", he removed the website.^[19] The website featured images of a man dressed in a fancy dress costume made to look like a used sanitary pad; a video of a man apparently beating up a woman in front of her child, and an "anti-Obama sticker slapped on a car featuring the phrase 'Don’t re-nig in 2012'", which Crikey deemed racist.^[20]

2Day FM termination after insensitive Denver massacre jokes

Bruno was subsequently fired from his job as guest and talent producer at 2Day FM on 23 July 2012 after making jokes on Twitter about the 2012 Aurora shooting in Colorado.^[21] He told media website Mumbrella that he did not realise the seriousness of the situation and had been drinking. A spokesman for the network said that Bouchet had been terminated because his comments violated the network's social media policy.^[22]

In a statement, 2Day FM's Sydney general manager, Jeremy Simpson said: “Southern Cross Austereo has a strict social media policy that all staff must adhere to, and Bruno's activity on Twitter was in breach of this policy. It is for this reason that Bruno's employment has been terminated, effective immediately.”^[23][24]

Bouchet has since removed both his Twitter and Facebook profiles.^[25]

The 2Day FM website was subsequently quick to remove most references about Bruno, with his profile on the Kyle and Jackie O 'team' page disappearing along with all photo galleries with Bouchet's photos.^[26]

Bruno has since issued a sincere statement in an article he wrote on media website Mumbrella. In it, he apologises without reservation and explains his actions in a detailed statement.^[27] In the article, posted on the evening of 23 July 2012, Bouchet cites a case of 'border line personality disorder' and the need for attention as being the reasons behind his 'sick tweets', which he expresses his 'heartfelt apology' over.