“I love the culture here.” Lochie Antoniazzi juggles school with his dream radio job on triple j

Lochie Antionazzi. Image supplied

It was the ultimate ‘pinch me’ moment.

Just a few short months ago, Lochie Antoniazzi was on a tram, heading home from school, when he got a phone call offering him casual work at triple j.

In December, he hosted his first-ever live-to-air shifts, filling in on Weekend Lunch over summer.

Today, life’s a blissful juggling act for Lochie. Not only is he hosting shows on triple j part-time and working behind the scenes at Melbourne youth radio station SYN – he’s still at school.

“I’m heading into the pointy end with Year 11 next year followed by Year 12!” Lochie tells Radio Today.

It’s impossible not to feel inspired by the sheer passion and determination of young people like Lochie.

Growing up in Melbourne’s inner-city – literally surrounded by music – it’s hardly surprising that Lochie ended up in radio.

“There was always live music happening somewhere nearby and the mix of people and creativity that comes with inner city living made everything feel exciting and alive,” he says.

Music quickly became the focal point of everything he did.

When Lochie was seven, Santa (aka Mum and Dad) gave him the ultimate Christmas present: his first DJ controller.

“That gift was inspired by the music festivals I created every year at my granddad’s property where we could play music as loud as we wanted.”

“I remember these events starting out small, but the productions grew bigger and bigger every year just so I could get on a mic to entertain everyone.”

Never one to do things by halves, Lochie had his future all mapped out: he had visions of being a DJ, a pilot and working at Apple – all at the same time.

Music won out.

“Something that surprises a lot of people is I actually come from a podcasting background,” says Lochie. “The story behind that stems from my DJ controller.”

“I remember sitting on the lawn, setting it up and watching a tutorial on how to do so by DJ Joey Santos.”

During his music festival days, Lochie used the pseudonym DJ Ted.

This inspired the names of his future podcasts. At the tender age of nine, Lochie launched the Tedcast podcast, which then evolved into Tedblast.

Lochie shared both on podcast platforms.

“I thought I was making podcasting gold with this, but it was definitely more of a way to play around and practice my craft,” he says.

“These have since been archived never to see the light of day!”

Nevertheless, the pods became the launchpad for Lochie’s radio career.

Encouraged by his parents, Lochie started exploring the possibilities at SYN.

At thirteen, Lochie signed up for SYN’s radio announcer training course and was selected to co-host The Hoist every Thursday night with Amy Wooller.

He found himself spending all his spare time discovering emerging Australian artists, going to tiny gigs and diving into all the hyper-niche local scenes that his friends had never heard of.

“The Hoist just became this amazing outlet that gave me the purpose and ability to bring these discoveries on air and champion the artists I believed in!”

“That was probably the first time I realised radio could actually play a role in helping build culture and connect with music they might not find otherwise.”

Lochie went on take up a leadership role as executive producer for Amplify, SYN’s dedicated under-18s show, whilst also presenting his own seasonal show, FWD/RWND.

Having found his voice via community radio, Lochie came onto triple j’s radar.

“triple j always pays attention to talent in community radio all across Australia, and SYN had been one of the stations triple j had eyeballs on and were listening to at the time.”

During his second season of The Hoist, Lochie reached out to the Content Director at triple j to introduce himself.

“She asked me to send through a demo, listened to a few of my live shows and a while later I was offered the opportunity to host an episode of the Hottest Seat, which was a summer show on triple j, having bands, artists, sports stars and personalities presenting their shortlist for the Hottest 100.”

Then came the offer of work at triple j.

“Everything was really falling into place and suddenly felt very real.”

Lochie says one of the biggest things that struck him about triple j was the passion of the people who work there.

“Everyone really cares deeply about what they do and collaborates really closely. There’s such a strong shared belief in Australian music and youth culture.”

“Being able to contribute to that is incredibly energising!”

For Lochie, it’s impossible to count on one hand the people who’ve influenced and supported his radio dream over the years but he considers Anika Luna, Concetta Caristo and Claire Mooney central to his triple j journey.

“Anika was an induction trainer at SYN while also working at triple j Unearthed at the time, and she was one of the first people in radio who really championed me. I remember sitting in a training session at SYN and telling her I wanted to work at triple j one day and she became someone I could go to for advice and encouragement early on. She also gave me my first aircheck!”

“She’s an incredibly positive and vibrant person and I learn a lot from just being around her.”

“Concetta and Claire were both people I looked up to, and as I was hosting The Hoist and trying to get my foot in the door I messaged them both on a whim – not even expecting a reply – and got so much thoughtful and generous advice from them both.”

“But honestly, I’m constantly inspired by everyone in the triple j office! Walking into a station filled with people you’ve grown up listening to is in itself pretty surreal but getting to observe how passionate, creative and hardworking everyone is has taught me so much already.”

“And of course I couldn’t forget SYN. Darcie James was my producer when I was presenting The Hoist and I learnt so much from her about the industry, about local bands but also teaching me how to think about music programming as well as interviewing techniques and approach everything more intentionally which made a huge impact early on.”

As for what the future holds, right now, Lochie’s main focus is on finishing school.

He hopes to keep juggling casual work in radio and continuing to pick up opportunities at triple j.

Further ahead, he’s interested in studying Media and Communications.

“My ultimate dream is to host radio full time, and I’m hopeful that the experience I’ve been fortunate enough to gain so early in my career will help create a seamless pathway from casual work into a long term role within triple j.”

“I love the triple j culture and community and feel like I’ve been given a real head start.”

“I’m excited to keep building on that.”

Images: LinkedIn and supplied