Lachie goes behind the scenes at ARN

Step into reception at ARN’s Melbourne headquarters in Goodwood Street, Richmond, and chances are the first thing you’ll see is the smiling face of Josh Butler.

An engaging presence, Josh is ARN’s Workplace Coordinator, also known as the Director of First Impressions! Receptionist, sometimes counsellor and can-do radio all-rounder.

Josh (pictured above) gives us a fascinating peek into his daily routine in the latest Behind The Scenes podcast with Lachlan Hulley.

Lachie (pictured below) is one of the great success stories from the RadioVoice program, which celebrates diversity in broadcasting, designed and delivered exclusively for the disability sector.

In his chat with Lachie, Josh says “A typical day for me could be answering complaint calls, it could be listening to someone, offering them a chocolate, just listening to how their day is going. Or it could be laminating parking signs, restocking the drinks fridge, or even doing a Bunnings ad.”

During a recent tour of the ARN building, Lachie also discovered Josh is a self-confessed lover of guitars, coffee and burgers, he enjoys performing and also happens to be the voice behind some of Australia’s major brands.

Josh likens radio to an itch he needed to scratch – a door he had to knock on.

His involvement in the industry was the result of a random series of events.

“A comedy night was being run on The Christian O’Connell Show,” says Josh. “It was very, very cool. Very exciting. Listeners were being asked to call up if they’d never done stand up comedy before and wanted to try their hand at doing it.”

Josh rang the show as a wild character called Winston, who was keen to have a crack at stand up.

Subsequently, he was invited along to the comedy night.

“It was wonderful. A fantastic night,” says Josh.

“I looked to my right and I looked to my left, and I saw all the people who were making the night work, and I thought: How the hell do I get to work in this quirky industry?”

Fast forward two months and an interesting job ad caught his attention. ARN was looking for people to join its street team.

Josh applied. The rest, as he says, is history.

Previously, Josh studied singing, dancing and acting. For more than two years, he was the entertainment host on a giant Disney cruise ship, based in Florida.

Josh was also a presenter at Melbourne community station 95.7 Golden Days Radio.

He’s a big believer that community radio is a great launch pad into the commercial sector.

“Honestly, it is. A lot of people start in community radio and they go on to commercial.”

“There is no one way to get your foot in the door,” Josh says. But he recommends being persistent. “Once you’re in, you can create your own path.”

“I think (for) anyone who loves spontaneity and things coming at you at a million miles an hour – a career in media is definitely for you.”

More info on the RadioVoice program here.