Former Nova announcer reveals his life after redundancy

Former Editor & Content Director

Former Brisbane Workday announcer Jack Tree has opened up about his life now, after suffering the axe at Nova last year.

Tree is now on the road with his partner Tracey in a T3500 Mazda living “the van life”.

His redundancy from his on-air position, was a shock, he said on The Van Life Series podcast, but has given him the opportunity to “slow the [fuck] down”, which has been an important lesson, he said.

“Look, if you’re listening, [redundancy] may have happened to you as well – it’s rather common [at the moment] and the way COVID affected everything. So, how was it? It was a bummer, because I loved the job I was doing, but at the same time we knew we had this plan brewing and the bank account was starting to look a little better for something like this. And so the redundancy, it was a shock, but we spent a few days mulling over ‘What now?’ And we were like ‘You know what? Let’s just do this plan we’ve been talking about now. Let’s action it. Why not now? Now’s the best time. I reckon we can get away with it now,’” Tree said on the podcast.

Living out of a van and moving around the country had been a plan Tree and his partner had dreamed of, but they didn’t have a timeline pinpointed until redundancy forced their hand.

“I tell you what helps making a plan like this get rocketed to the immediate, is a redundancy from work,” Tree said.

Moving around in the van and not working 9am – 5pm will help the couple develop new skills they want to learn, and give them time to work on “products we want to work on”.

The Van Life Series is a Podshape title. Podshape was founded by NOVA Entertainment’s former head of podcasting Jay Walkerden, who was also general manager of Nova 106.9 in Brisbane. The podcast company also hosts podcasts by Walkerden’s wife Katie Mattin, who was made redundant from her on-air gig at the same time as Tree.

This morning, Radio Today revealed Walkerden had settled his legal dispute with NOVA Entertainment.

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Louise
13 Jan 2021 - 12:11 pm

Good on him, great right attitude to have.

Mick C
14 Jan 2021 - 12:11 pm

Pitty those at the top of the tree arnt given redundancy .

Lots of dead wood at the top

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