Hope Endean: School of the air

Year twelve is a hard enough slog for any student, but imagine doing your final year of high school whilst also being the afternoon announcer on the local commercial radio station.

Welcome to the colossal juggling act that is daily life for eighteen year old Hope Endean.

Hope is currently the weekday afternoon and Saturday morning announcer at FM 104.7 in Grafton, in the Clarence Valley region of New South Wales.

As well as her six days a week on air, Hope spends a sizeable chunk of time in production – recording, editing and producing ads and station pointers.

As Hope tells Radio Today, she manages to fit her studies around all that.

“A typical day at work for me involves usually an early start getting to the station around 7am, where I work on show prep, looking through news articles, music news, new songs, etc. Then it’s time to quickly head off to school.”

“After school, I race back to the studio and jump behind the mic and go live for my show.”

During the show, Hope also works on her social media accounts, producing radio-related content on platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram.

Hope says the thing she loves most about her job is the freedom.

“I’m lucky to have a huge personality and I also love having a good laugh, so being able to really express myself and connecting directly to the audience is amazing.”

“I also love being able to jam out to my favourite songs! I seriously have the best job in the world!”

Hope was career-motivated from a very young age.

“I realised that I wanted to work in creative media such as radio there was nothing that was going to stop me!”

Hope says she first applied at her local station for year 10 work experience but was rejected.

“Picking myself back up, the next year an advertisement came out for a job as the station receptionist for the school holidays.”

Willing to do anything just to be in the same building as the announcers, Hope happily took the job, and spent weeks answering the phones and replying to emails.

“Whilst I was there, I knew it was my only opportunity to get involved with radio, so I mentioned to the breakfast announcer Cameron Kleinschmidt that I was interested in radio.”

“From there, Cam started getting me to come in before school. I was learning directly from him, doing homework tasks and sometimes even co-hosting with him.”

“After months of volunteer work and really proving my dedication, they offered me the job as the afternoon announcer, which I was over the moon about! From there I’ve worked 5 days a week on top of school, gradually increasing my skills and radio knowledge.”

Hope regards Kleinschmidt as the world’s greatest mentor, saying he’s taught her everything she knows today.

“I am always grateful to have had somebody like Cam to really give me an opportunity I never thought I would get. He has thrown me into the deep end and I have had some of the best experience from sink-or-swim situations, which is what live radio is all about!”

When it comes to the industry people she admires most, Hamish and Andy are on top of Hope’s list.

“I remember listening to them as a kid and watching them on TV and having a realisation moment of “wow this is exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

“I see many similarities in KIIS announcers Will and Woody and the fun and hilarious antics they get up to is exactly my style of humour.”

Hope’s future goals are just as big as her personality.

Short-term, she’s committed to building her online presence. She’s also looking into training through the  Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

Further down the track, the sky’s the limit.

“My long term goals are pretty crazy so brace yourself: One day I hope to have a national show or even enter the capital city market.”

“I’m also super interested in entertainment TV so I would love to gain work in that area as well, because if I can show my humorous, stupid, fun-loving personality doing the craziest things on a daily basis then I would have the best job in the world, because if you should know one thing about me it’s that I would do anything for a laugh, including embarrassing myself.”

Hope’s advice to other young people interested in a radio career is to get your name out there.

“Apply for the odd jobs, volunteer at community stations and say yes to every opportunity because you never know who might offer you a chance, just like I was given.”

“And don’t be afraid to show your personality and be uniquely yourself, because that’s what people want to hear!”