Natarsha Belling up for the breakfast fight

Natarsha Belling always knew it would be a risk going from the relative ‘safety’ of a news desk to taking on breakfast television behemoths.

By any definition, TEN’s Wake Up has been put through the wringer. It lost its Executive Producer straight out of the gate, then one of its three co-hosts. Reviews have not been kind and ratings have been disappointing. The network CEO has said the show needs to improve, and a new Executive Producer and Head of News and Current Affairs are now on board. It must be hard to get out of bed every day under those conditions.

But Belling remains upbeat in the face of such adversity. Ever the professional, she never lets down her guard with audience or media. Despite the rocky start, she holds fast to the point that a breakfast television role is her ideal.

“I love coming into work and not knowing what will be thrown at me,” she says.

“It’s been a tough challenge, but it’s my dream job.

“What other avenue can you talk to the PM in his swimmers and then get him back in a controversial time in his leadership, give people a voice that would never have had a voice and probably prompt change and then meet a snake in bed?

“It’s everything you could possibly imagine and more.”

An impromptu Tony Abbott interview is one of Belling’s highlights since the show began in early November. He was collared after a morning surf at Manly.

“As a die-hard journo I was told that Tony Abbott had left the beach, so I grabbed Johnno our cameraman and said, “No!” I took out my earpiece and ignored instructions, to go and find him,” she recalls.

“So I ran down the beach and we found Tony Abbott.

“What other show can you interview our Prime Minister as he has jumped out of the surf? I asked him if he wanted to be interviewed and I would have been happy to walk away.

“But that’s our point of difference and what I love is that we are building something from scratch.

“Subsequently he came back on the show and we did not let him get away with being a pushover show. We asked him the tough questions, the questions were not provided to him and we were allowed to ask him anything we wanted.”

Another personal highlight was interviewing a woman who was fronting the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.

“We gave her a voice. She was giving evidence at the Royal Commission. Being part of a vehicle to give people a voice and to prompt some kind of change, is extraordinary,” Belling explains.

“But as a mum that was probably the first time I got very emotional. Because as a mum you put yourself in that position and say ‘Governments are supposed to check us’ and ‘What if that had happened to my child?’”

Yet audience feedback indicates viewers are responding to some of the lighter moments with co-host James Mathison.

“People don’t want to be too serious first thing in the morning. So our audience feedback is a lot of positive stuff about us having lots of fun. They love the content, and it’s important that we have good content, but you need to have variety.”

Belling’s day begins when the alarm goes off at 3am, before she heads in to prepare the show with Mathison and producer Steve Wood.

“I have brekkie, and go through all of the overnight stuff online, read through the international and national newspapers. I pick 3 or 4 things out that I really like. I come in and we go through make-up and hair, which takes about 7 hours –I’m kidding– and we have a conference call. Woody, our executive producer, is always on set with us, which is fantastic. So Jimmy, Woody and myself will chat through what we think are the big stories that will resonate with our viewers on the day,” she says.

“Something I love about the show is that I don’t like having everything locked in the night before. Of course you have to have some kind of format, but we want to be across the stuff that’s breaking that morning.

“Woody is very inclusive for what we want to put together with the show.”

Mindful that it is too easy to exist in “a media bubble,” Belling taps into stories engaging a wider audience via her extended circle.

“The show has to be for our audience, what our audience wants. We are very much about evolving as a show, knowing what works and what doesn’t work,” she notes.

“I do a lot of research about the show’s content with my non-media friends. I will go to a social bbq and listen to what resonates with people.

“I had dinner with friends the other day and everyone was fascinated with the Malaysian Airlines flight.”

But while building an audience is still a work-in-progress, the reality is the numbers are still a concern.  On Tuesday the show had 34,000 viewers, behind Sunrise (358,000), Today (306,00) and ABC News Breafkast (75,000 / 32,000 across 2 channels).

Belling concedes Wake Up has to improve in the ratings.

“I’m in commercial television and ratings are a commercial reality. So of course we would be looking at the ratings. I always said it was going to be a tough battle. I never thought the show would get in there and get fantastic figures,” she insists.

“Of course we have to build our ratings figures, but that’s about also knowing what works, what doesn’t work, we have a new EP on board, we’ve got Peter Meakin who is the most experienced guy in the business. His guidance and experience is invaluable, to be able to steer us in the right direction. I’m just thrilled that we have a really experienced team now on board.

“He is of the same opinion as me, that ratings are a commercial reality and that this is an evolving show.”

Changes are coming to the show including Nuala Hafner relocating to the remodelled studio at Manly, and the hiring of a weather presenter.

Such changes are also not uncommon for the show which has endured more than its share of challenges since its November launch.

“I would say from the outset it hasn’t been an easy ride. We lost our Executive Producer on Day 2 of the show, who was the creator and visionary of the show. Day 2,” Belling stresses.

“Adam (Boland) was incredibly unwell.

“So we have had to regroup and rebuild and I would have to say it’s character-building. In life, and I’ve said this before, I absolutely love a challenge and I came into this job knowing it would not be an easy ride.

“But I will fight and fight and fight because I think it’s all about providing great content for our viewers.”

Wake Up airs 6:30am weekdays on TEN.