I was so elated to have scheduled some time with soon to broadcast nationally Gold 104.3 Breakfast presenter Christian O’Connell that I did a stupid typo in my effusive thank you email to the publicist Marisa who arranged it.
“Excited to shat!”
I pressed send, looked at it again and then reeled in horror.
As it turns out, this soul filling radio announcer, author, mentor and acupuncturist (I’ll come back to that last one) delights at the absurd in the mundane.
With the news that Christian and his team including Patrina Jones, Alex Cullen and Rio (Riordan) Lee were going to expand onto Sydney breakfast radio on Gold 101.7 and Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane on DAB+, I’d expected a cautious fellow at best.
Breakfast radio is punishing. The media examination of those who choose such roles can be cruel and merciless. We circled each other gently initially before, and I believe this is thanks to Bruce Springsteen, we walked down to the river and dived in.
As we circled, Christian told me about going to see the Brad Pitt movie F1 by himself. After a period of having his daughters Ruby and Lois home before one had gone back to Uni, the movie’s themes of realising that life had sped on ahead of you made Christian start crying in the cinema.
It was NOT that kind of movie.
Christian’s wife Sarah took one look at him when he got home and said something like:
“Was Brad Pitt that bad?”
Christian was telling me this with a laugh, but the conversation had started with me sharing my own son’s current adventures playing cricket in Bournemouth, England. Where, co-incidentally Christian has begun his radio career, and married life with Sarah.
Your head knows that one day your children will no longer be within arms reach but, when it happens, your heart can catch you off guard.
I hope that all of you have had, more than once in your life, a conversation with a friend, lover, family member or unexpected kindred spirit where afterwards you have felt fundamentally altered.
I had written some philosophical questions for Christian far removed from the “how do you feel about your radio show going national?”. About two years ago Christian’s way of questioning, and answers, had subtly changed in interviews and on-air. It was now ‘for you’ rather than ‘about me’.
I’d seen something similar change in 2GB Sydney’s Ben Fordham when he decided to put aside his TV commitments and focus on his breakfast show.
For Christian, that pivot had come on turning 50. Seven years ago he and Sarah had decided that they still wanted adventure in their lives and packed up and moved from London to Melbourne. The day they became Australian citizens was one of the most emotional of their lives.
Ahead of the 50 milestone Christian planned a trip to Ireland. Solo. A walking tour with a group of people who didn’t give a squirrel’s arse he was a top rating UK and now Australian broadcaster. There he began to realise that all of it up to that point was an act.
He had become a performer who was looking ahead to a punchline. There was a sense that he no longer knew how the ‘real’ Christian would answer. Or worse, that real answer wasn’t funny or acceptable. It resulted in panic attacks and anxiety.
In Ireland he went to see his favourite artist Bruce Springsteen in concert. Also by himself. This is not a “then I went backstage and Bruce and I had a beer and I interviewed him blah blah blah” story. Christian spent time with 20,000 others in awe of The Boss.
Afterwards, with the concert still ringing in his ears and a face that would have made Sarah again ask, “Was the Boss so bad?”, Christian went out onto the streets to find it deathly silent.
Everyone was reverent and holding onto a moment, or song. No one wanted to go home.
So they didn’t. A group of new friends went and did karaoke until dawn, slaughtering the Springsteen songs into unrecognition.
I hope that you have all had, more than once in your life, attended a creative arts experience where afterwards you have felt fundamentally altered.
More than two decades ago, when I was living and working in Surrey, England, I received a gift from my younger brother Jamie. Two CDs, Norah Jones, and Paul Kelly’s greatest hits Songs from the South. I have a memory of listening to Paul, washing up, while a squirrel boinged in the back garden. I was not to know that my beloved brother would die two years later.
In 2022, as the world resumed normal activity, I committed to seeing those acts that I had put off in days past due to time, money or not being able to find a concert friend to go with me. I too decided to see Paul Kelly alone. I believed that I was taking my brother in my pocket.
The Paul Kelly song I would have voted for in the Hottest 100 of Australian Songs is When I First Met Your Ma. In the UK I was introduced to the live recording above, uniquely different others versions. I had no expectations that he would sing it that day. Across two decades I’ve only once heard it in the wild, during a special night post a different and unrelated gig.
But he did.
And like Christian I wept. I just couldn’t stop myself, for something I’d lost that could never be replaced. Afterwards I couldn’t have handled karaoke, and sat a while in my car instead.
I understood Christian’s experience totally.
I am a fine purveyer of a radio survey. They are segregated into age demographics. 18-24 might be where we find triple j listeners. 25-39 is the target of network SCA. When you hit 40 you might all of a sudden find the ‘gold’ stations are playing your songs. Part of growing up, and older, is different experiences and generational influences. You aren’t for everyone. But the ones who don’t try to ‘fit’, who just are, tend to survive because they don’t have to keep a record of the times when they ‘aren’t’ in their head.
Jonesy and Amanda, who Christian O’Connell will replace on Gold 101.7, are examples. This is a divorce. One person you love will stay in the family home and the other gets an apartment in North Sydney saying, “we love you. It’s not your fault. We are both still here. Dad will get you to school and we will always pick you up.”
You do adjust to a new normal. Sydney and Melbourne will too.
The Gold 104.3 studio in Melbourne always has an empty seat. It belongs to the listeners. Christian described it as an invitation to stand with him next to the fire and get warm. He also ran a series of mentoring and training sessions called Finding Fire. They were life changing for him.
A couple of years ago Christian was a guest on The Imperfects podcast. He talked about his panic attacks and anxiety in the wonderful and safe space that hosts Hugh and Josh van Cuylenberg and Ryan Shelton create. After he walked outside he was hit with what those revelations would mean to his on air persona and image.
One of the things I would want you to know about radio, and podcasting, is how often this happens. People forget about the recording and just be. Then they regret it. Regret being themselves. They want you to edit it out, or delete it.
Christian and his family were present when his mother-in-law died. This was no wicked MIL scenario. Christian said that no one laughed more at his jokes. She would side with him in any disagreement between he and Sarah.
The paramedics tried to save her. Afterwards no one knew what should happen next. One of the paramedics, Rob, offered the next steps and then paused.
He told Christian he knew who he was. He had listened to that episode of the Imperfects podcast. He was also struggling with anxiety.
“You normalised it Christian.”
Sarah found the two hugging in the doorway. Rob and Christian are now close friends.
Not all of his interactions work out like that.
Recently Christian caught an Uber and, due to a mix up in explanations for the trip, the Uber driver thought Christian was an acupuncturist. It went too far for Christian to deviate, despite driving past signs for his radio show.
The driver confessed to a long-held dream of training in the field. Asked for advice. Info about equipment.
I can’t remember what Christian then told him. I was laughing too much. Afterward this fellow put his hand on his knee and said,
“THANK YOU, MR CHRISTIAN”
Christian lives with the fear of encountering him again. Perhaps the Uber driver’s seen the signs and thinks he is an especially brilliant man, daytime radio broadcaster, nighttime needler of the people.
Christian enjoys solitude and needs it as much as the fire and energy of his breakfast show. He is able to empathetically explore the difficult issues as much as he can be jubilant about putting a sticker on a garbage bin. These can live mutually in one person. In this multicultural, multigenerational, gender diverse world we live in, we can be disparate things that come together. We all have things in common. Christian will find them.
And you will find him.
The most profound article I’ve read, which informs my practice, is Can You Say…..Hero? It is written by American journalist Tom Junod about children’s TV presenter Fred Rogers, better known to his audience simply as Mr Rogers. The article was turned into a movie starring Tom Hanks called A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I saw it in the cinema alone so I could process and savour it in peace.
I am paraphrasing here as I remember it. Tom was given the interview as a kind of punishment. His life was a mess and, to him, Mr Rogers was the equivalent of speaking with Big Bird. He met Fred with a chip on his shoulder and an assumption that the Mr Rogers on the TV show was an act.
But what he encountered changed him, his relationship with his father and saved his marriage. Fred Rogers wasn’t perfect, but he was a good man and consistent, inclusive and reliable. For some children, Mr Rogers was the only person who represented that in their lives.
So much did experiencing Fred in all spheres of his life change Tom that Can You Say…Hero? became Tom’s op-ed manifesto from a place of love, far removed from its initial intentions.
After we chatted Christian messaged me following up something we’d talked about.
I replied that I’d come back to him later. I was busy. I had to write a review of this acupuncturist I’d met:
***** Five stars. Reliable. Just the right pressure. Would definitely visit again. Highly recommended.
Some of you will be reading this pre Christian’s national radio launch. Some might discover it post and see in it the person who has a love for you, the listener, and a hunger to rebuild the magic of a great conversation and connection. A listener told him that he is one of us now.
He is all of us, and uniquely himself. I look forward to joining him around the fire again, and savouring the warmth.
The Christian O’Connell Show is on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne weekdays from 6am – 9am and in Sydney on Gold 101.7 and Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane DAB+ in 2026
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster. Email: [email protected]
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