As Senior Producer and Brand Manager of Southern Cross Austereo’s celebrity brand Scoopla, Justin Hill treasures every moment and every selfie.
The Tasmanian went from working at an interactive theme park in Hobart all about Antarctica, to interviewing some of the biggest celebrity names in the business and lost 53 kilos along the way, that’s 13kg more than the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species the Emperor Penguin endemic to the South Pole, as Justin could tell you.
The 31 year old had always dreamt of having a career in media and when he heard 100.9 Sea FM was looking for a promotions assistant he not only jumped at the chance, but believed the job would be his and it was.
It was that belief in himself which saw him suddenly quit his radio job and move to Sydney. However, Justin wasn’t turning his back on his dream but rather looking for the next step in his career, “I had nothing to go to but I knew I could do it.” “It’s how I approach everything in life, if I want it I make it happen.”
Almost immediately he took a position at 2Day FM as a sales co-ordinator and had “a foot in the door”. Justin spent two years in the role honing his organisational skills and insight into the industry which he credits with helping him respond to the numerous client briefs that come across his desk each day wanting to be involved with Scoopla and from there it was “right time right place”.
After a discussion with Sam Cavanagh, who spent a year volunteering at 2Day FM before scoring his first paid radio job, Justin put up his hand to work free of charge on 2Day’s night program, while maintaining his co-ordinators position during the day. Twelve months later he was offered a position producing and when the station needed someone to attend a red carpet event he put up his hand up again “and it snowballed from there”.
Radio presenting, television presenting, MCing events with some of Australia’s biggest names in music all came next and Justin is pinching himself, “Anyone who tells you this is a job is kidding themselves, the fact I get to interview the world’s biggest celebrities on the red-carpet is beyond me, I still think of myself as that kid in Tassie”.
Justin doesn’t see himself ever leaving his role with Scoopla but that doesn’t mean he’s stopped shooting for the stars, “I’d like to do more presenting, more on camera work and Oprah – Oprah is on my list”.
And his tip for the red carpet? “Look the part; it’s the red carpet not the supermarket.”