At many artistic awards ceremonies the recipient will acknowledge the talents of the others in their category who are doing much the same job. After all, particularly in acting circles, you may end up working together at some point.
The latter part of the above is particularly true of the radio industry, but the first part not-so-much. Which is why it was so refreshing to hear Matty O’Gorman, winner of The Gudinski Award for Australian Music Champion at both the 2023 and ’24 ACRAs not just pay credit to his fellow nominees Nova Entertainment’s Maddy Rowe, Grant Broadcasters’ Chris Holland and ARN iHeart’s Brett ‘Nozz’ Nossiter, but share that they were not only in a group chat together but that he’d been hoping Maddy would win!
left to right Triple M’s Matty O’Gorman, Nova’s Maddy Rowe, K Rock’s Chris Holland and ARN iHeart’s Brett ‘Nozz’ Nossiter at the 2024 ACRAs
THE GUDINSKI – AUSTRALIAN MUSIC CHAMPION
Brett ‘Nozz’ Nossiter, iHeartAustralia, Sydney, NSW, ARN
Great Ocean Odes; Chris Holland, Krock 95.5, Geelong, VIC, Grant Broadcasters
The Maddy Rowe Aus Music Show; Maddy Rowe, Jodie Williams, David Lennon, Brisbane, QLD, NOVA Entertainment,
Triple M Homegrown with Matty O; Matthew O’Gorman; Kalun Townsend; Andrew Very; Shaun Gough; Julia Di Gregorio, Triple M Melbourne, VIC, SCA
My conversation with Matty O, and the love for Australian music shared in that coolest group chat imaginable, remains a highlight of my radio news year to date.
I mentally imagined Maddy texting:
“How good are Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers?”
Chris replying: “Saw them Sat night with Pearl Jam!”
Nozz: “First non-male band to win the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist Award at the ARIAs too. You and the band are Gudinski award twins Matty 😉”
And then one of them shares a new song.
Turns out I wasn’t far off.
The day I spoke to Brett Nossiter, who will hitherto just be referred to how everyone in the music and radio world knows him as Nozz, he’d literally just posted in that chat and added off the cuff that he wished Nova Drive show presenter Tim Blackwell was a part of it, because:
”I know he does so much for local music as well. It’s sharing with truly passionate people about Australian music. There’s nothing better to connect on.”
The main picture is Nozz (right) with Tim Blackwell at the 2024 ARIA Awards. I’d bet my vinyl collection that the chat grew by one that night.
Nozz hits 30 years in radio in February 2025. It’s actually longer than that but he was fired from his first radio job, six hours on air at night, because he was doing it for free.
Yes, you read that right.
Prior to that he worked for Telecom as a Telephony Exchange Switching Technician, a job that came in very handy in early days setting up television and radio outside broadcasts. His previous life as a swimming instructor and lifeguard I’m not sure he’s ever needed again, but never say never.
Nozz has been everywhere, met most everyone and seemed almost embarrassed when I mention the t-shirt he was wearing from a US iHeart Music Festival. There artists would get 20-minute sets with a quick fire turn around for the next player. Nozz’s heart is still filled and focused on his day-to-day role of staying on top of new TikTok acts (for DAB+ station TikTok Trending), supporting country (iHeart Country) and local music through iHeart Australia.
If you’ve listened to any of the those DAB+ stations you’ll know that they are so much more than just a selection of songs from their respective wheelhouses. All have podcasts, music specials, curated concerts and prizes. iHeart Australia has self-selected playlists from artists like recent ARIA Hall of Famer Missy Higgins.
I asked Nozz what any normal day at work looks like.
“I’ve got kind of a new, unique position because whereas a lot of people will work on one single brand, whether it’s WSFM, triple J. Triple M or KIIS, their sole focus is that one broadcast.
I’ll work across multiple stations and brands with iHeart, across DAB. And that’s probably what invigorates me the most, because I don’t sort of feel like I’m staying in one lane.
Today I spent a fair bit of time working on a brilliant Missy Higgins special. We’ve been collating interviews and adding voiceovers. We had Kaylee Bell in the building and she did a staff performance. We did an intro for that because country is a huge priority for us. Aus music is also a huge passion for me, but then we’ve also got an 80s station. We’ve got a 90 station, a dance station. I’ve always done this anyway, but I love listening to all the new music that comes through and thinking, where does that fit and what audience will love it? And that includes in-store radio for Chemist Warehouse or for Woolworths.
A song might come in that fits on country, on iHeart Australia and perfectly on Woolworths. I love trying to find all the opportunities for those tracks that come in. The main thing is with every brand and whatever I do, it’s always working for the listener and who the target audience is. What they want, what they expect and trying to deliver all of that and also curate and introduce them to stuff that I think that they would love too.”
With such a diverse portfolio of music I wondered if he ever had colleagues come in and say, I’ll do whatever you need Nozz, but no country music, thank you.
Nozz laughed and said:
“I had a person in the team who I loved working with, and I told them I wanted to build a country station. She looked at me like I may have said, can I have one of your lungs?
But consistently, every single time, whenever I get someone to work on a country brand, they at first will think, oh, I’m not sure. Once they get involved with it, they love it passionately. And that person, who was really not looking forward to it, built a Christmas station as well!”
We then wandered down a country road for a while, Nozz telling me that Keith Urban is the G.O.A.T, before returning to where we are now.
The month of November is a celebration of Australian music. This year has seen the highs of the multitude of new and older talent and genres on display at the ARIA Awards and the lows of music festivals ending, ticket price oddities and the ongoing battle to be paid for their creative output.
I asked Nozz about radio and audio’s role alongside our music industry:
“What I would love to see more of is trying to solve the problem collaboratively, trying to come up with a solution that’s just going to benefit live music venues, record companies and artists, and media too, because everyone’s got pain points.
That was one of the drivers of me putting the iHeart Australia station together. I built it wanting it to be a destination for legacy artists who have been around for a long time, but didn’t necessarily continue to have hits on top 40 pop radio. That’s been where Double J has also played a role.
But there’s artists who’ve been around for a long time that don’t get played on Double J either. The idea was to create a church for a great Australian music. The Fanning Dempsey National Park is a good example that probably gets played on Double J, but not a lot on mainstream commercial radio. But I wanted it housed somewhere.
There’re more options, particularly with music, to engage and present it and be part of it. Having previously worked in music television, which is now mostly defunct, the role of radio in music is important and still incredibly powerful.
There’s still plenty of radio people with a passion for music. I love the office where we’re at, because I get to work with Phil O’Neil and a lot of other passionate people like Jackie O. And I can just talk endlessly about music.
I reflect on Phil in particular and after survey seven (Phil ended Ray Hadley‘s long reign at No 1 on Mornings, WSFM for the first time was No 1 station in Sydney) it delights me that a real music person can get those results.
Phil has done so many interviews. He has so much knowledge to draw upon to make a 22nd talk break more than just a talk break. It becomes a really compelling piece of content and information.”
I thought a lot on that afterwards. Nozz’s response is also why people would choose to listen to Phil and not an AI generated voice who can tell you the stats, online info and upcoming gigs. Phil makes you feel like you were there too.
Nozz championed in our chat about 15 different humans and various other radio stations and networks. When I mentioned that he said:
“I’ve always been quite agnostic when it comes to what network I work for. I just want to work with great people, and the people I know and work with today might change tomorrow. I love connecting with anyone passionate about music and Australian music. There’s nothing better.”
Amen to that.
Ausmusic T-Shirt day is this Thursday November 28. If you want to do your own part beyond pulling out your Kate Miller-Heidke T, you can also donate to SupportAct here. iHeart Australia will feature local artists sharing with listeners what they will be wearing on the day.
You can listen to iHeart Australia here: https://www.iheart.com/live/iheartaustralia-7050/
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.