Class of 2017: Meet 11 AFTRS students entering radio

It’s a period of change in Australian radio. It’s not just the big headline departures and arrivals to shake things up. There are also people coming into the industry and taking their first jobs. 

Stepping into the radio spotlight are members of the AFTRS 2017 student cohort, who’ve only just completed their studies and are already starting to make waves.

A large number of students from both the Graduate Diploma and the Advances Diploma Radio are landing jobs in various roles at stations around the country.

From the Graduate Diploma cohort, Alex Dickson is heading to Melbourne to take up the position of Content Assistant at KIIS; Jo Lodge is the new workday announcer and music director at Power 94.9 in Nowra.

She joins Grace Garde, who’s doing Drive and developing digital content for the station.

Sean Brown is working in a casual role at KIIS in Sydney, while Liam Sommerville has just secured an Audio Producer role at Power FM in Bega.

Mariam Belle was the recipient of the 2017 AFTRS/SCA Internship Award and will soon to take up six-weeks of full-time paid work experience at HIT 103.1 in Townsville.

Meanwhile, Advanced Diploma Radio student Samuel “Archie” Arenson is the new Drive announcer at Power FM at Muswellbrook and Mitchell Coombs is working as a digital producer at KIIS 1065 Sydney.

Oliver Leuver has started as a junior copywriter at Macquarie Media and Joel Hansen is working with RCS sound software.

Completing the list of the gainfully employed is James ‘Monte’ Irvine, who’s just stepped into the Breakfast announcer chair at 2NZ in Inverell.

Understandably, head of radio at AFTRS, Fyona Smith, is proud of their achievements.

“It is such an exciting time of the year when we hear back from students about their employment success.

“It’s great to see the industry giving them the opportunity to build on the many skills they’ve gained through these courses and start their careers.”

While any industry goes through periods of contraction, it’s not all doom and gloom in radio. These eleven AFTRS students have shown there are jobs to be had, you’ve just got to go after them.