17 hours ago
Not nominated for Star Awards' Best Audio Personality but Dennis Chew says The Breakfast Quartet 'should be confident of ourselves'
They've won Best Radio Programme for four years consecutively, but the four DJs in local radio station Love 972's The Breakfast Quartet were surprisingly left out of the Best Audio Personality nominations in Star Awards 2025.
Two of the DJs, Dennis Chew and Mark Lee, told AsiaOne in a recent interview that it's not something they worry about. The other two DJs in the team are Marcus Chin and Chen Biyu.
Mark, 56, shared: "I feel that the main reason for us not being nominated is because the judges have different preferences for the styles that each DJ presents.
"It could be a coincidence that this year's judges are a little 'stricter', so 'innocent and cute' DJs like us are not nominated. But it's okay, because the judges are different every year."
Dennis, 51, said: "I feel that it doesn't matter whether we are nominated or not. Most importantly, we should be confident of ourselves, just like how the four of us feel that we are good enough and that's sufficient."
The nominees this year are Yes 933 DJs Chen Ning, Hazelle Teo, Kenneth Chung and Zhu Zeliang as well as Capital 958 DJ Pan Jia Biao.
In response to queries from AsiaOne, a Mediacorp spokesperson said that as with all Star Awards' programme and performance awards, the nominees for Best Audio Personality are determined by a panel consisting of industry veterans and established media practitioners who would evaluate everyone who is eligible with a standard set of criteria.
They added: "Given how competitive this award is, not being nominated in any given year does not necessarily take away from the calibre of their work nor their popularity.
"The Breakfast Quartet remains a contender in the Best Radio Programme category, testament to the enduring excellence the show continues to deliver daily."
The quartet won the above category for four consecutive years from 2021 to 2024.
This year, Dennis' programme Mr Zhou's Ghost Stories is also in the running.
On whether they feel pressured to continue winning the award this year, both of them said the achievement doesn't affect their emotions.
Dennis shared: "To be honest, we didn't expect to go on stage to receive the award. It's a surprise to us every year. So whether or not there is any surprise this year, we would feel the same way."
"If we can receive it for another year, it's the best, but even if we didn't get it this year, it's okay also. Most importantly, it's whether the judges like it or not, because the judges are different every year. If we are awarded again this year, then 'Oh dear, we are the first again!'" Mark quipped.
Both Mark and Dennis received their All-Time Favourite Artiste award in 2010 and 2022 respectively.
The award is given to artistes who have won the Top 10 Most Popular Artiste honour 10 times.
When asked which artistes they wish to see joining them at the 'altar', Dennis shared that he hopes actor-host Guo Liang — who has been in local showbiz for three decades — would bag the award soon, because he "truly deserves it".
For Mark, it would be Marcus, 70, who debuted in local showbiz in the 1970s.
He quipped: "I looked at his fortunes before and concluded he can live till about 95 years old, so if he receives his 10th Top 10 award before 90 and goes up the 'altar', I think it's not bad because he is really very hardworking."
You can vote for the Star Awards Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artistes from now till July 6, 7.30pm on the Mediacorp website. Voters can make up to 10 votes per account, per award category, per day. On July 6 from 12am to 7.30pm, voters can make unlimited votes for each category.
Star Awards 2025 will be presented on July 6, starting from Backstage Live at 3.30pm to 10.30pm, Walk of Fame from 5pm to 6.30pm, the awards show from 7pm to 10pm and Post-Party from 10pm to 10.30pm.
Backstage Live will air on Mewatch and the Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube channel, while Walk of Fame and the awards show will air on Channel 8, Channel U, Mewatch and the Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube channel.
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