In the latest episode of Jacky Road Studios, Jack Post asks Christian O’Connell to look back on his time in Australian after 500 episodes of his breakfast show on Gold 104.3.
After a tough year, Christian says he is looking forward to the end of the year, “…and having a proper break. It’s been such an intense time for everyone in the last couple of months.
Christian talks about his love for radio, “When I see a radio studio I get excited about the potential that can happen in there…the things you can do, the things you can say, how you can use that microphone. The conversations you can have with listeners,… that’s what excites me.”
Who is the best music guests he has interviewed, “Sometimes the ones that are very, very famous aren’t always the most interesting or entertaining people, they don’t often correlate.
“However, the exception to that was Elton John. He really is very very funny; he could be a stand-up comedian. Bitchy, gossipy, a natural storyteller.
“Of the ones I have really enjoyed, Elton would be there, Noel Gallagher, Bono, and I’ll tell you why, because they’re very interesting people and they’re natural storytellers”
On his obsession with Evel Knievel and how that relates to his radio program “ …he actually wasn’t a very good stunt man…he came to London and he did try to jump over 12 double decker red London buses and I think he like fell into bus number two and like broke every bone…but as a kid for weeks you’d be wondering, is he gonna do the job.
“And so, for me, I think it’s like that every radio show. Am I gonna get you to the other side of the Grand Canyon? Probably not and there might be some broken bones, but it’s all about the anticipation the rev up, and the audience going ‘Yeah, will he do it’.
“It’s the journey, not the destination, and that’s all of our lives isn’t it?”
His impression of Australia before arriving and has it changed? “So my first preconceptions of Australia came from watching a documentary called Neighbours and Home and Away and a movie called Crocodile Dundee. I thought it was going to be very laid back here. The Australians that I’d met and worked with (are) very laid back, no time for the rules and regulations that us British people love.
“When I got here I thought I’d be saying goodbye to rules and regulations. I didn’t realise you actually like them more than us guys. I actually have a dog permit and suddenly there was a problem with off and on leash dog parks, you couldn’t just walk your dog. So everything suddenly had a lot of rules and regulations.
“And we all know how the first couple months went (onair) that the ratings went down down down and then suddenly …I realized that actually there’s a bit of a disconnect between me and the audience. Every time I speak they’re reminded I’m not from around here.
“Then coming through the other side of that was something which has been one of the highlights of my whole life, where you go from being an outsider arms crossed, ‘you’re not from round here who invited you’.
“Growing through that and going through all of that, it’s been the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my career.”
The full interview touches on mentors, moments, memories and more.
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