In addition to losing broadcasters Mick Molloy and Lawrence Mooney this year, Triple M Sydney also lost long time morning host Chris Beckhouse. After 13 years Becko left for the role of content director and morning host at Canberra’s 2CA.
Another new beginning this year is his podcast series The Rider which has just launched with its first episode with special guest INXS co-founder and songwriter Andrew Farriss.
Becko said: “It feels like Andrew Farriss is the perfect guest to launch The Rider. At last count, INXS has sold 75 million+ albums, and most of those were either written by Andrew or co-written with Michael Hutchence. On the anniversary of Michael’s death and recently, the 30th anniversary of Live Baby Live, Andrew opened up on how he and Michael complimented each other so well as songwriters for INXS.”
Becko added his podcast is his tribute to decades of interviewing rock and roll superstars like Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Angus Young, Gene Simmons, Billy Joe Armstrong, Kevin Parker and Mike Shinoda.
During his most recent stint with Triple M in Sydney, Becko conducted a number of memorable interviews, including heading backstage in Santiago, Chile to interview Iron Maiden for the start of their Legacy of the Beast tour in 2019.
During some of his recent years with Triple M, Becko shared the music scheduling duties with Matt White as well as handling some of the station operational chores. “You can wear a lot of hats and it helps keep you fresh. We even look after some of the social media too,” Becko told Mediaweek at the time.
He cautioned against falling into the trap of filling all the time with admin duties and not prepping sufficiently for a music show.
Becko was also a point of contact for music labels who pepper the station with new releases to get some traction with music consumers. “Most of them get it and they won’t hassle you too much unless it really suits Triple M. Some people do contact you a lot, some to the point of harassment. We have very good relationships with all music labels.
“Radio remains still the most powerful medium to introduce new music. I really saw that during the 10 years I worked for the Today Network including B105 and Fox. It is very satisfying when you are at the beginning of the career of a music artist who eventually becomes a major recording star.”