Natalie Locke celebrates 20 years at Nova 93.7

Celebrations are afoot at Perth’s Nova 93.7 – with Nat Locke clocking up a special anniversary.

Today marks twenty years since Nat first set foot in the hallways of 464 Hay St (well, the warehouse next door anyway) before the station hit the airwaves in December that year.

Not many people can claim to have been in the same job for twenty years – let alone a woman in the fast-paced radio industry.

She’s one of the few originals left in the building – and she recalls those first few months as a whirlwind of practice shows while the studio was being built.

”It was crazy – I had zero radio experience; I couldn’t believe they hired me. All I knew about doing a radio show I had learnt from Frasier!”

And whilst December 5 was the official birthdate of Nova 93.7, celebrated by Perth original Tim Blackwell along with the Red-Hot Chilli Peppers, live – Nathan & Nat officially kicked off their partnership in early 2003.

Nathan, Nat & Shaun hit the radio airwaves together in 2009 and haven’t looked back.

Right up until the end of 2014 Nat was working at Nova as well as running a successful chiropractic business – a career for which she actually had qualifications. It wasn’t easy to let that go.

“It only took a small 12 years to realise that maybe this radio gig was actually going to work out – who would’ve thought!”

Over the past 20 years Nat has picked up a column for STM, raced a drag car, taken a road trip with the Premier, interviewed countless A list (and Z-list) celebs, dropped a car from a crane, travelled overseas with listeners, watched a cow poo for cash, had a bucket of ice dropped on her head, abseiled off a 33-storey building and even met Queen Elizabeth II. Not a bad rap sheet for a girl from Esperance.

Nat has seen a great deal of change across the years, and it’s easy to recall those early days where a 20.2% audience share was completely unheard of in the Perth market, especially for the new station on the block, Nova.

But while so much has changed, some things remain the same. Like seating arrangements.

“We’ll interview people, like world-famous people, after speaking with them early on in their careers in the early 2000s. And while they’ve been gaining fame and fortune and huge success, we’ve been sitting in the same studio seats for that entire time.’

Members of the Nova brekkie team will be celebrating in their signature style this morning – with a surprise for Nat to be announced live on air, as well as some interviews with past colleagues and some special audio and video memories.

Nova’s message to Nat is: “Here’s to another 20 years. We’re never letting you leave.”