“We’re still out there and they haven’t taken our skills”: 2GO’s Paddy Gerrard tells his side of the 2GO departure story

Radio can be a brutal industry. One day you can be doing your thing and the next you’re called into the GM’s office to be told your services are no longer required. It’s not personal, it’s business.

It’s been a rough couple of weeks with many having ‘that’ conversation as ARN, Nova Entertainment and Southern Cross Austereo make changes to their rosters.

Among those changes were departures of the 2GO breakfast team of Sarah King and Paddy Gerrard. After a combined 45 years in Gosford, they were told the station was “changing direction for the breakfast show”.

King had been with 2GO for 27 years, while Gerrard had racked up 13 years with SEA FM before moving across to GO in 2012.

Brutal.

It’s been a week since the news broke and Gerrard says the reaction has been overwhelming.

“The amount of support has been phenomenal. People have texted and called me. People who I haven’t heard from in ages and others, who’ve been in radio and we’ve swapped stories on how we’re doing and feeling. That really, really helps.”

“I’ve spoken on the phone, in the last five days, more than I’ve talked on air in 18 years. It’s been brilliant.”

In it’s media statement, SCA announced the brekkie duo would be “hanging up the headphones”, but Gerrard says they’re both keen on staying in radio either as a team or separately.

“They decided go for change and that’s their prerogative. But I think what we wanted to say was that we haven’t retired. We’re still out there and they haven’t taken our skills.”

“I love radio and once you’ve got the bug, it’s hard to leave and I don’t necessarily want to leave it.  Hopefully, we can get back in and sooner rather than later. But the thing is, at this time of the year, most (stations) have got everything in place for 2018.”

Gerrard is philosophical about this departure from SCA, and admits to having a couple of bad moments since being told it was the end of the line.

“This is just a little bit of a hiccup and they happen. An opportunity may arise tomorrow or next month. I hope it does,” he adds.

“I did Google ‘what you go through when you’ve been made redundant’ and I’ve gone through a few of those steps. But, you’ve just got to understand that it’s not a personal thing.  It’s just a business decision and that’s it.”

As for the future, Gerrard is heading off on a holiday with the family and may pursue opportunities in real estate auctioneering until the right radio opportunity comes along.

“I still want to do radio. I absolutely love it and that’s my lot in life. It’s a bug.”