Kochie reveals the ups and downs of his time on Sunrise
Fifteen years, 12,075 hours of live TV and 3450 shows gives David ‘Kochie’ Koch the title of one of the longest-running Australian breakfast TV show hosts. For a numbers man, the financial expert loved calculating these statistics. Visiting Kochie and his wife Libby’s city apartment, the couple shares the good, bad and hilarious moments of Kochie’s Sunrise tenure.
Meeting her hubby more than 40 years ago, Libby – who reveals she watches him every morning – says she never expected to be married to a TV star.
‘I’ve been around well before all this happened. We’ll be married 39 years in January,’ Libby explains. ‘I’m so proud of him. I pull him up when he needs it and when he works too hard. Now he’s got three jobs, it’s pretty tricky pulling 65hour weeks in your 60s. He’s definitely a workaholic. [When
we met] he was a nerdy wouldbe accountant. He’s definitely surprised me, but I always knew he was headed for big things.’
Surprisingly, Kochie had a controversial start on Sunrise.
‘I was only supposed to fill in for three months, and it’s been 15 years. After a year, the then managing director of Seven approached the board to get me fired because they thought I was too opinionated. Thankfully, I’m still here!’ Now, he’s a household name. ‘Because I’ve got a bit of a nickname, everyone yells my name – it’s “Kochie!”’ he laughs. ‘It’s the weirdest thing when someone brings their 14-yearold child up to me and says: “I started watching you breastfeeding my daughter here, and look at her now!” It makes me feel really old!’
A celebrated finance journalist, Kochie, 61, knows he divides people: ‘People either love me or hate me because I have an opinion, but even the ones who disagree with me, they respect I know what I’m talking about. They may say: “He’s a boofhead and I disagree with him, but he’s good at finance and politics.”’
The father-of-four also admits he has no regrets.
‘What you see is what you get. Over three hours of live TV a day, you can’t pretend to be someone you’re not. And we’ve won 14 straight years of breakfast TV, so something is working,’ he explains.
‘Fifteen years ago when we started, we were 10 per cent of the Today show’s audience and we reeled them in in 18 months, and have won every year since.
‘Plus, at breakfast, you can’t be beige – you’ve got to make people think and laugh.’
While he may have no regrets, he does wish he hadn’t embarrassed Libby so much.
‘He loves to embellish a story, so sometimes there have been a few irate text messages,’ Libby recalls, smiling.
Adds Kochie: ‘Years ago, I’d gotten back to the office and there was a text from Libby saying: “How dare you?!” I sent her some flowers to say sorry and waited for the flowers to be delivered before I went home!’
The other women in Kochie’s life, his co-hosts, he cherishes.
‘I relate to women, and I’ve been really lucky because the women on the team – Mel [Doyle], Sam [Armytage], Nat [Barr], Eddy [Bartholomew] – are fantastic,’ he raves.
‘The culture of the program is so strong – it doesn’t get any better. That’s not to say we don’t have arguments, or you’re sick to death of each other, but you can have your say and no-one ever takes offence. And above all, we take huge pride in our work and definitely love to have a laugh.’
Kochie is grateful for starting on Sunrise later in his career.
‘This job has not changed us,’ Kochie says, before admitting Libby would never let him get a big head. ‘ Sunrise came to us relatively late, I was in my mid-forties, and we’d already had a life, our own business and kids [Georgina, Alexander, Samantha and Brianna], so we’ve never been carried away with the whole TV stuff. We basically have no close friends in the media. Our closest friends are all the friends we had before.’
When talk turns to stresses of the job, Kochie won’t hear of it – admitting he feels lucky and cherishes his position.
‘TV is a bubble, it’s so incredibly privileged. You can never complain – you get so many opportunities.’
From reporting on war-torn countries to interviewing a grumpy Harrison Ford, Kochie’s seen and done it all.
‘If you can use this job to get things achieved, it’s completely worth it. If after 15 years I could only say I loved meeting Bette Midler – it would have been an absolute waste.
‘For me, the other stuff is more important. Sunrise transformed the organ transplant system in Australia. It has allowed us to get on board with Youth Off The Streets and the Koch Centre For Youth, and help the Port Adelaide community. I just really love to help people.’
LOV E AND WAR ‘At breakfast, you can’t be beige – you’ve got to make people think and laugh’