Pat Panetta on radio’s night shift: “I’m blown away by the calls I get”

Pulling mid dawns – radio’s ‘graveyard shift’ – isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

But for Pat Panetta, host of national Weekend Overnights on 2GB, 3AW and 4BC, the strong and intimate connections forged with the audience during this time are unlike any other you’d experience on radio shifts across the day.

As Pat tells Radio Today, at night, we are often alone. We’re also more reflective.

“The world is not moving at its crazy pace and all the voices and sounds that come out of the radio during this time are a kaleidoscope of colour that pierces the quiet, dark night and connects with the listener.”

For Pat, Overnights are pretty much a six-hour blank canvas, just waiting to be filled.

And often, Pat doesn’t have to say a thing.

“A caller will talk and it’s all there.”

“People wait for midnight, after a lonely day, to connect with their radio family. They send me emails saying this, and I am blown away by the types of calls I get.”

They include the 70 year old woman who finally fled an abusive relationship – free and safe.

“She phones to tell me that she is, at last, happy and content,” says Pat.

Then there’s the son who’s just found out that his mum has leukaemia.

“In tears, he doesn’t know what to do, so he calls us,” says Pat.

Dating scams, the ghost living in the back room, the spider on the wall, family feuds, the dog who ate the caller’s undies … people from all walks of life phone Pat to share. And yes, sometimes over-share.

The second oldest of six kids who hankered after his Nonna’s pasta, Pat grew up in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

“I was a bit of a show-off at school – the happy kid who was everyone’s friend – but radio or performing professionally didn’t really enter my mind or imagination.”

“As a western suburbs, working class boy (forgive me if I’m sounding like Anthony Albanese with the poor little boy from the west!) I had no links to the media, so it never entered my world.”

That was until Pat turned seventeen, and a boy down the street introduced him to local community radio station 3WRB.

As Pat recalls, in those days, the station was broadcasting from a shipping container plonked in the middle of a paddock.

“I scored a show, and the roller coaster of being a radio presenter began: What music do we play and when? What do we talk about?”

Pat was hooked.

“I was monotone and hopeless, but 30 years later I’m finally working it out,” he laughs.

Having trained with well-known Melbourne radio identity Bob Taylor, Pat sent out aircheck tapes to stations around Australia.

At 21, he landed his first commercial radio gig at North West Radio in Karratha, WA.

Pat had been studying economics and commerce but pulled the pin on university to chase his radio dream.

Suffice to say, his mum and dad weren’t terribly happy about it.

Pat regards Love and Marriage, the radio segment he hosted with then-wife Amanda on Melbourne’s 3AW, as his introduction to the big time.

“Amanda and I met while doing the Breakfast program at 3GG in Warragul,” says Pat. “She is a super talent and the mum of our three beautiful kids.”

“It took a little convincing, but she agreed to come on 3AW and talk about the small/fun/silly/frustrating details of being married with children.”

The segment – which he pitched to 3AW’S Denis Walter – proved a hit, and Pat says people still mention it to him today.

It’s often said that getting fired from a job can end up being the best day of our life.

Pat was initially sceptical of this claim. But, he says, it turns out it’s true.

When changes were made at 3AW during the Fairfax/Macquarie Media ownership days, Pat says he ended up being collateral damage.

So, he created a content media business called Tell Your Story Media, in which commercial clients enter his studio space to be interviewed.

This year’s content will include a regular You Tube/Spotify video program called Standing Room Only and a podcast series honouring the life of a radio personality.

“I’m very excited to simply do what I love,” says Pat. “Creating content that connects and serves an audience without seeking the ‘permission’ of a major media organisation.”

During his two-year stint filling in on Overnights for Luke Bona at Triple M, Pat worked with radio great Troy Ellis and they both happen to live in the same neighbourhood.

“I bumped into him the other day and we were chatting about the crazy hours of working in radio,” says Pat.

“I was reminded that when I started in radio, I was working in WA, living away from home for the first time, and I was doing the Breakfast shift, so I would walk down the dark road towards the studio (we lived in the ‘jocks’ house’ down the road) at 4am and I would think to myself ‘Surely this is not going to last forever, having to work at this dumb time ???.’”

“30 years later, I’m still working all the bizarre hours.”

Pat also previously worked at Geelong’s K rock and says Peter Mobbs was the first bona fide radio rock star that he met.

“Mobbsy understands the medium of radio intrinsically and is a gracious and generous performer who still praises me on Facebook (when he doesn’t have to).”

“He is a true star.”

Rex Hunt is another person to have made a positive impression on Pat.

“When I worked with 3AW Football, Rex made us laugh and it was fun to come to ‘work.’”

“A true performer, Rex understood that we are paid to present a ‘show’ that is all about entertaining and engaging an audience.”

“Denis Walter and Darren James have also been very kind to me and allowed me to feature on their shows over the years.”

Pat says the beautiful thing about this ‘new world’ we live in is that we no longer have to wait for that elusive phone call from a radio Program Director in order to get a job.

You forge your own path.

“You simply do it,” he smiles.