MATT Frederick knew he’d found the perfect co-host when Jenny O’Keefe passed his ”Turkish funk test”.

”We play under-represented music at the station,” says PBS’ The Breakfast Spread presenter and occasional contributor to The Age’s EG (he is also an ad sales rep at The Age).

”I’ve got quite an interest in music from all around the world, so I thought I’d see how she’d react when she heard some Turkish funk. And she loved it.”

He adds that she has taken to her new job ”like a hand slotted into a glove”.

”I’ve never heard [that expression] before,” O’Keefe says, giving him a sideways look. ”Are you being dirty?”

O’Keefe – a former presenter and youth trainer at Joy – knows her music. She writes reviews for Cherrie magazine, has a massive CD collection and used to manage a band.

”My favourite is the local alt-country scene,” she says, quick to add she’s also a jazz enthusiast and likes most other styles, too. ”I tend to befriend the musicians I interview. I’ve actually made a lot of friends that way over the last few years.”

Frederick winces when asked which music he likes most, as though he’s being forced to pick a favourite child.

”I really do love my blues and I love local music,” he says. ”Before I started doing breakfast, I was seeing bands three or four nights a week. And I’ve got a weakness for garage rock and we play a lot of contemporary bands and stuff from the ’60s and ’70s and a lot of jazz. But even in jazz we have a lot of variety, from New Orleans to 1960s bop to progressive bands …”

By the time he’s finished, he has named almost every genre. Indeed, the only thing you won’t hear on The Breakfast Spread is grindcore (a combination of death metal, industrial and punk). ”Grindcore at 6am could be a little OTT,” O’Keefe says.

Yet the program does not try to woo listeners with stunts, gags and endless banter. Its focus is music, not talk.

”We had so many calls last week from people saying, ‘That was amazing, I’ve never heard that before,”’ O’Keefe says.

”For someone to actually be moved to pick up the phone and call us and want to support the artist, that’s what we aim for.”

She also loves the intimacy of radio and the way listeners embrace it.

”You never see people put TV station stickers on their cars,” she says, ”but they’ll proudly display a sticker of their favourite radio station. It’s like they’re wearing it as a badge.”

Given PBS’ laidback feel, you might assume its presenters take a laissez-faire approach to most other things. O’Keefe, however, is something of a grammar cop.

In 1992, when she was 11, she penned a letter to The Age in which she raged against advertisers who use backward ”S’s” and childish fonts in their back-to-school catalogues.

”I still carry a red pen wherever I go,” she laughs.

The Breakfast Spread airs 6am weekdays on PBS

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/tv–radio/even-turkish-delights-hosts/2010/02/10/1265477613095.html