“Breakfast radio is the lover that keeps on taking.” Bianca Dye and the road to wellness

“Breakfast radio is the love of my life … but it’s the lover that keeps on taking.”

Bianca Dye has a wonderful knack of articulating the sometimes unpalatable truths of radio life that we know, but might be too afraid to admit.

As Bianca tells Radio Today, anyone who’s worked in brekky radio and is good at what they do knows that the beast is never satisfied.

“You have to live and breathe your job if you’re going to be good at breakfast radio,” she says.

Sacrificing any semblance of a ‘normal’ life comes with the territory.

“That means saying yes to going to things that you possibly don’t want to because you’re tired,” says Bianca. “And it means constantly being switched on to everything that’s happening all over the world so that you know what you’re talking about on air.”

Stress, burnout and fatigue are the demons that constantly hover at the shoulders of those who work the breakfast shift.

“You have to be extremely disciplined and go to bed early,” says Bianca. “If you don’t, you are consistently in a state of jetlag and tiredness, and then you make poor decisions about your health and what you eat.”

“It can be a really f**ked up vicious cycle unless you have very strong boundaries – and to be honest, most of the superstars I know in brekky radio don’t have those boundaries because they are fabulous, crazy, wild human beings and the thing that makes us so good at what we do is also the thing that can make us become unstuck.”

Thankfully, says Bianca, things have changed a lot over the years.

“The wild, wild west cowboy days of radio ‘taking over your life’ are starting to diminish.”

“We saw with my beautiful friend Jackie O how much it can take its toll, even at her level and with her professionalism.”

It’s now a year since Bianca’s long-running Sea FM breakfast show on the Gold Coast was axed.

When it happened, she took a big step back. It was time for a reset.

Enlisting the help of her good mate and naturopath Donna Abbate (main photo) and with a new-found focus on sleep, gut health and mental wellbeing, Bianca transformed her life.

Recognising the life changing power of wellness retreats, the pair launched Revive & Thrive.

Designed to help women embrace holistic health, find balance and navigate the curve balls life continues to throw at us, the first retreat will be held at Soulshine Bali in March next year. Retreats in Thailand and Sri Lanka will follow later in the year.

Bianca says it’s not just brekky radio that throws people’s minds and bodies out of whack.

“So many of us have been through breakups, divorces, miscarriages, family deaths and really personal difficult things and having to show up every day and pretend everything is okay and perform can be exhausting.”

“This isn’t just in radio – obviously it’s life! It inevitably takes its toll even on the best of us.”

Bianca says often in life, men and women plaster on their ‘brave’ faces. We struggle to ask for help. We suck it up.

“The thing I have found is that most people struggle behind the scenes but would never admit it to anyone until they literally break down over it because brekky radio jobs are so coveted that if you admit you’re struggling, you feel you could be seen as ‘weak’ and ‘not on your game,’ and you get replaced.”

“That’s just the reality. It’s cut throat!”

Bianca remembers the time she returned to work after an overseas trip. Perimenopause had kicked in without her realising and the jetlag hit her so hard that her mental health was at rock bottom.

“I had NO idea whether I was being re-signed so I was on eggshells every day.”

“I was trying to be my best and totally stressing about what I would do if I wasn’t re-signed.”

Unable to sleep, eating badly and struggling big time, Bianca continued to show up in an environment where the last thing anyone wants is to be seen as the weakest link.

“I remember someone in management laughing and saying ‘I thought jetlag only lasted a couple of days!?’ and totally humiliating me in front of the team, making me feel like I had let everyone down by being tired.”

“I burst into tears. It was a really horrible moment for me.”

“I think people think that you’re invincible,” says Bianca.

But times are gradually changing, as high profile radio and podcast hosts like Jackie O, Amanda Keller and Abbie Chatfield show their vulnerable side and open up about what’s really going on in their lives.

In Marty Sheargold’s case, that meant stepping away from Melbourne’s Triple M Breakfast show and prioritising self-care.

“I think it’s so important when we have this platform to admit that we are just human beings trying to get through the day just like everybody else,” says Bianca.

Wellness-based radio shows and podcasts have flourished in recent years, particularly during the COVID lockdowns, where listeners hungered for advice on everything from booze consumption to the benefits of ice baths.

Broad Radio founder Jo Stanley was at the helm of the national radio show called The House of Wellness.

Former TTFM host Andi Lew (pictured above) successfully combined her TV and radio career with being a certified wellness coach.

The Hit Network’s Maz Compton became host of The Wellness Rebellion, a podcast dedicated to uncovering the truth and debunking the trends with science-based wellness information.

Former Melbourne breakfast radio host Meshel Laurie launched a daily podcast called Calm Ya Farm, exploring how to keep our wellbeing on track without the help of professionals.

More recently, The Christian O’Connell Show’s Patrina Jones has been helping women navigate life’s rocky transitions with her Rage Against The Menopause podcast.

With the COVID years having left many of us feeling flat and depleted, radio and TV personalities continue to pivot into the wellness industry, while wellness tourism and health-focused retreats have seen a surge in popularity.

For Bianca personally, the benefit of these retreats is twofold.

Not only is it an opportunity for her to refresh and reset, it’s a chance for her to reconnect with the listeners who constantly tell her how much they miss her and want her back on radio.

And – provided it’s the right gig with the right people that aligns with who she is – that’s something Bianca herself would love.