“A joy to host.” Olympia Kwitowski and 4BC’s all-female Weekend Breakfast line up

Once upon a time, Olympia Kwitowski honestly thought that talkback radio was something only men could do.

As a child growing up in Queensland, she remembers listening to high profile broadcasters like Greg Cary, Gary Hardgrave and Ian Maurice on 4BC.

So it is a great source of pride for Olympia that today, she herself is in the talkback hot seat, hosting 4BC Weekend Breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays.

And – as she recently revealed to her listeners – Olympia is surrounded by an all-female team in newsreader Natalie Bohenski, producer Stephanie Felesina and panel op Chelsea Deeley.

“I was beaming with pride when I said that on air,” Olympia tells Radio Today. “Everyone around me working on the show was female. I was genuinely so moved by what I realised was happening around me.”

The listeners feedback was positive, with texts rolling in.

Since adding Saturday Breakfast to her workload in September last year, Olympia – who previously only hosted the Sunday Breakfast shift – has enjoyed a ratings rise in every book.

Whilst weekend programming generally doesn’t attract the same level of attention as the weekday shifts come ratings time, Survey 6 saw 4BC Weekend Breakfast go up.

A year ago, Radio Today spoke to trailblazing former 3AW host Muriel Cooper (pictured above), who – back in the 1980s – became the first woman in Australia to rate #1 in prime time talk radio.

“I was at one stage described behind sniggery hands as the whinging feminist,” she laughed.

But, as Muriel herself noted, times have certainly changed and there are a lot more women making their mark in radio now.

“You only have to look at the ABC – it’s had some tremendous women. Virginia Trioli, Jacinta Parsons – just great women.”

Long-serving UK radio host Annie Nightingale famously once said “You don’t want just want to be there to make up the numbers. You want to be there because you are the best person for the job.”

Olympia is pleased to see how things have evolved over time on the Australian airwaves.

“I no longer think of it as ‘tokenism,’” she says. “But I do believe we still have a long, long way to go.”

Olympia says the listeners are what make talkback radio it so rewarding.

“Weekend Breakfast is a joy to host.”

Main photo, L to R: 4BC Weekend Breakfast team – Natalie Bohenski, Olympia Kwitowski, Stephanie Felesina, Chelsea Deeley.