I’m nearing my third year as the breakfast show host for a radio station in Sydney. Last week I received a call from my mum, she needed help picking a verse for the my father’s headstone. The crematorium wanted to get all the details just right for the plaque.
 
Grief kind of catches you by surprise.
 
The next day, we had our regular scheduled breakfast show. While the show was unfolding I was texting back and forth with my mum sharing potential passages to include on Dad’s headstone.
 
It is one of the challenging obstacles for Radio. There are no bad days on-air.

PDs will probably disagree with this and can point to a bunch of instances. Talent though, are always trying to put the best foot forward and there are moments when what you are feeling cannot, really, truly be shared on air.
 
This week I took a moment during one of the on air breaks to share what I experienced last week. One break out of a three-hour shift.
 
I have no doubt I’m not alone in this experience. You are going through a brutal divorce, be cheery on air. You have a teenage kid who is acting up, be cheery on air. A loved one just died, be cheery on air. Your family member just got cancer, be cheery on air. You are feeling incredibly depressed, be cheery on air.
 
For the first time, I understood the challenge of the hypokrites, the derivate hypocrite is a whole lot less sexy. The Greek Hypokrites though would put on a mask, convey a different emotion to the one they were experiencing to entertain large crowds. It is really similar to what we do on the radio. We are all trying to represent ourselves with degrees of honesty and authenticity, it is what builds a connection. There are some moments when we have to hide how we feel, we have to put on the mask of a Hypokrite.
 
I want to share this more as a form of encouragement, it’s really hard. It takes a monumental amount of emotional energy to put your best foot forward when behind the scenes everything feels like it’s collapsing.
 
In my first six months in radio, dad died from cancer and at the same time, we had some of the funniest moments on air I’ve ever experienced. It’s a weird emotional rollercoaster, but we don’t ride this alone.
 
Radio is a competitive, unstable and wild ride. There are long stretches behind a microphone by yourself. You are pouring out your best on air, and sometimes that’s a slog.
 
You not alone. Sometimes that moment of open honesty about how you are actually doing will connect with a person on a radical deep level. That unexpected moment of honesty to say “I’m having a bad day and it really sucks,” for one person may really resonate. We’re professionals we have to get on with the show. I’m probably not going to give you a cuddle, but I do feel that pain.   
 
 
 
About the Author
 
Duncan Robinson is the breakfast show host on Hope 103.2.

He started out working life in IT before becoming a Pastor and then a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach.

You can find him on instagram at @ultrarobbo