Because of the awful events that occurred in Bondi last night SCA and Triple M, rightly, decided to postpone the first Pilot Week team of Swag on the Beat, Jack Say & Isaac Gibbons. Regular Triple M 104.9 breakfast hosts, Cat Lynch and Aaron ‘Woodsy’ Woods made the decision to return and did an exceptional and respectful job. Tuesday’s The MacPack with Jake, Joe & Riley McKenna have also been rescheduled. Wednesday with Paddy and Maz will start things off. Paddy and Maz were on air this morning on their regular Central Coast 107.7 Triple M, also going above and beyond to keep listeners updated.
As Allen Saunders, and John Lennon said:
‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’
I’d scheduled an interview with Jean Margaret for Monday morning. Jean is part of Thursday’s ‘wild card’ pilot week offering alongside audio producer Tim Mountford & car salesman with no radio experience but tons of storytelling ability Mark ‘Pep’ Pepper. Jean is what I was hoping to find in the Pilot Week people – going through a massive career pivot from law to radio while also a single mum to three kids. She currently volunteers at Melbourne’s Joy 94.9 where she acts as show and audio producer, occasional news reader and Saturday morning host alongside Demetra Giannakopoulos.
I didn’t want to let her down when it was clear that she’d made some significant life choices to get to this position in the first place.
As it turns out, performing and presenting was really where Jean wanted to be in the first place, but she talked herself into going the long way around:
“I remember being 17 and sitting at the computer library at high school and having to put your preferences in.
Academia always came quite easily to me. A lot of other things don’t, mind you. And so it was sort of like, if you’re smart then you do law. My favorite subject was media studies and making short films. I wanted to go to film school, do acting or radio. But, the truth is, I probably picked law because I wanted people to think I was clever and which ironically, picking something that you don’t really want to do and getting into a career that you don’t really love so that people think you are clever is the dumbest thing you can do.”
Jean was really good at it too and ended up working across unions and organisations where, I suspect, if she hadn’t kept progressing, being poached and promoted, she would have taken a look at her motivation much earlier that while with the Media, Arts and Entertainment Alliance (MEAA) where she thought:
“I don’t want to be the lawyer here. I want to be the member.”
She she did was days like today, and years like 2025 make many of us dream of being brave enough to do. She took the risk. Didn’t renew her license. Remortgaged the house. Started volunteering at Joy. Got paired this year with Demetra who she’s delighting in her differences with while still finding common ground. Went back into law a while, because, well, money. Applied for Pilot Week. Trialed with two blokes she didn’t know at all, let alone where the boundaries are.
As a result of all that, she will air as part of a national networked Triple M radio program this Thursday December 18 from 6am to 8am (and also on LiSTNR). The stakes are high.
Triple M Pilot Week Thursday with Jean Margaret, Tim Mountford and Mark ‘Pep’ Pepper
Jean said:
“Triple M Pilot Week gives people like me the opportunity to get a foot in the door. I love creating shows. I love producing shows. I love presenting shows. I love everything about radio.
I’ve now been in a commercial radio station and by Thursday, will have recorded in a commercial radio station twice. I’ve met all the great people at triple M, and I would like a job in commercial radio. Live radio. That’s what I would like. I do want it badly. And I’m not giving up.”
I can’t help feeling that Jean and I will talk again next year from a new role worth this investment.
Triple M Pilot Week begins Wednesday December 17 with Paddy & Maz live from 6–8am, before Jean, Tim & Pep take over across Triple M’s metro stations on Thursday, 18 December, 6–8am local time.
Please give the Pilot Week shows a listen on Triple M and get behind the people you’ll meet like Jean. That initiative too might return in 2027 for another group of future radio stars taking a leap of faith.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]