Bianca Dye: “In radio you accept that you live by the sword and die by the sword”

Bianca Dye misses radio. And radio listeners miss her.

Just recently – while Bianca was seeing a naturopath on the Gold Coast – a woman came over and hugged her.

“She said her mornings have a huge gap now because she felt like I was her best friend,” says Bianca “And then that was suddenly taken away.”

From starting out as a 4GG ‘bikini girl’ in her teens – cruising around in a soft top convertible, literally handing out icy cold cans of Coke – to co-hosting breakfast radio on the Goldie, it’s an industry Bianca knows and loves.

Eight months on from the axing of the Bianca, Ben & Lakey Breakfast show on Sea FM, Bianca’s been living the freelance life.

In a frank and funny chat with me for an upcoming episode of the Food Bytes podcast, Bianca says every day is different.

She feels lucky that, given the profile she’s worked so hard to build, she’s still getting lots of fun gigs.

“Some days, I’ll make more than I made in radio in a week. Then some days, I don’t work at all.”

“My girlfriends are like, ‘Just enjoy it! Go away! Take your Kombi. Piss off. Go to the Sunny Coast. Have some time out. You’ve worked your arse off for 31 years in radio. Just slow down!’”

“And I’m like, I’m TRYING to, but as you know, this industry is so tiny that I feel like if I’m not out there hustling all the time – you know, texting all my old bosses, going HIIIIIIIIII! Remember me?? … ” Bianca trails off, roaring with laughter.

Life is unfiltered, and Bianca is a big believer that we need to share the messy side of it.

She notes that much has changed for women in broadcasting: Namely, the freedom to have open, honest conversations.

“I listen to Abbie Chatfield’s podcast, and that’s how my friends and I all talk. Even at 50. The real, naughty conversations that a lot of women have.”

“Abbie has a platform where she can talk about that, and no-one bats an eyelid now.”

Bianca wishes it could have been the same for her when she was in her twenties. But her own personal experience was light years away from Abbie’s.

“I get a bit shitty about it sometimes,” Bianca admits. “But it was a different time.”

Bianca recalls once trying to do a radio show whilst struggling with the pain of endometriosis, and remarking on air that it felt like her uterus was being booted around a footy field.

The listeners were knocked for six. Not in a bad way, Bianca says, but in a shocked way, the reaction akin to Oh my God. A WOMAN speaking like THAT. On the radio!

She remembers a boss once telling her “Bianca, you ARE outspoken and cheeky and you have the best personality, but you’re going to have to pull it back. You just can’t talk like that on the radio.”

“And I’m like, WHY? Why can’t we just be honest?”

One thing Bianca isn’t missing about radio is the ridiculously early starts.

“I realise now how ‘auto pilot’ I was,” she says. “I don’t know how the f**k I got up at 4.15.”

Breakfast radio hosts, she says, are a rare breed. It’s a prize shift and the adrenaline it generates is addictive.

“Now, I’ll be up until 1am bingeing Baby Reindeer and then sleeping until 9am,” she laughs. “I’m loving the sleep ins.”

It was less than a year ago that Bianca was served up a multi-pronged whammy.

“Within three months, I turned 50, lost my job and got diagnosed with ADHD, and was single.”

Add perimenopause to the mix, and life’s been far from a picnic at times.

Today, Bianca describes herself as an ‘introverted extrovert,’ melancholy and quiet at times, then hyper from the mood boost she gets from simply being around people.

She now realises how much her energy feeds off communication with others.

“You get your daily ‘hit’ when you’re on air every day,” she says “But when you’re not, you realise … ‘Oh God, am I worthy? Am I shit?’”

Bianca says in radio, you accept that you live by the sword … and die by the sword.

“When you agree to be in radio and TV, you also agree that some young dude will sit there and go ‘So, we’re going in a different direction.’ And I’m like ‘Ah, that old chestnut!’”

“You try not to take it personally, but of course you take it personally.”

When it comes down to it, Bianca says it’s all about playing the game.

Bianca loves and has known Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson for many years and – whilst nothing shocks or offends her – even she admits she blushed when she heard the KIIS duo’s thoroughly x-rated opening show on Melbourne breakfast radio.

“But good on them. That’s the way we’re going. This is the new world. Media has absolutely turned on its head, and we all just have to hold on for the ride.”

“Who knows where it’s going, but it’s totally different to the world I entered 31 years ago,” she says.

As for what’s next … that’s still up in the air.

“I’m putting it out into the universe for the right gig with the right people something that aligns with who I am – with wanting to go to work every day with other passionate, kind, open minded, creative people who want to make great broadcasting that inspires people.”

“Whether that be a podcast or a radio show, who knows?”

*Photos supplied.