Zack Syrianos: Making radio Magic in South Australia’s Riverland

Zack Syrianos. Photo credit: Kyahm Ross

For Zack Syrianos, 2025 was a year of firsts: First time he’s ever left his hometown. First time he’s ever rented a house. First time he’s ever taken on a Breakfast gig in commercial radio. And all at the ripe old age of 37.

For Zack, landing the brekky co-host role alongside Tabby Goodier on Magic 91.3 in South Australia’s Riverland was something of a beautiful surprise.

“It’s not something I’ve ever done before,” Zack tells Radio Today.

But rest assured, he’s raring to go.

“What I look forward to most is getting involved in the community. It’s a completely new area. Everything’s new!”

A self‑proclaimed businessman, stand-up comic and sports nut (oh, and did we mention he wrangles chickens and guinea pigs too?), Zack’s cheeky sense of humour was shaped by a lifelong love of British comedy.

Zack grew up in a family of produce farmers in the small farming town of Virginia, north of Adelaide.

He started working for the family business around the age of six.

Radio was something that fascinated Zack as a kid. From around the age of eight, he started ringing up Adelaide’s 5AA at night. He would wait until everyone else in the house was asleep, then tiptoe out of bed and phone the station to chat with the mid-dawn announcer.

By his mid-twenties, Zack’s ambition to one day work in radio himself was starting to take shape.

Studying for a business degree at uni, Zack crossed paths with a few people who were working in film and TV.

“I ended up getting some volunteer work at Channel 44, the local TV station,” he says. “Through that, I networked with a lot of people in the creative field.”

Six months after, he started doing stand-up comedy.

Bolstered by the experience of performing live on stage, around three years ago, Zack finally felt ready to take the plunge into radio.

He started volunteering at Three D Radio, the community station in the Adelaide suburb of St Peters.

Zack was in vinyl heaven.

“They’ve got some amazing stuff,” Zack enthuses. “The CD and record collection they’ve got is just incredible.”

It further fuelled his desire to work in radio.

Midway through last year came the breakthrough: Zack made the Top Ten of Fresh 92.7’s Generation Fresh competition.

Finally, he felt like he was getting some industry clout.

“Making the cut in Generation Fresh gave me a little bit of recognition,” he says. “I thought ‘Wow. Maybe I AM doing the right thing.’”

Eager to get as much training and hands-on experience as he could, Zack signed up for the introductory course at Sean Craig Murphy’s Australian Radio School.

In September, he saw a job ad pop up for the Breakfast gig at Magic 93.1.

“I was two weeks into the course,” Zack remembers. “I’m like, Ah, shit. I’d love to apply for that, but I don’t have a demo. And I think I need to do this course first.”

Zack completed the radio course. Then, on graduation night, Murphy mentioned that Magic 93.1 was still looking for a brekky co-host.

“That just got me straight away,” Zack remembers. “I thought, Shit, that job’s still available!”

“I messaged them that morning at seven o’clock, and by 9.30 I had an interview. Within a week, I had the job.”

It came as no surprise to Murphy, who says Zack’s radio potential was clear for all to see:

“He’s a unicorn, he’s very unusual and eminently likeable,” Murphy tells Radio Today. “There’s this warmth about Zack that makes me feel he’ll really connect with the audience.”

“He’s also one of our Generation Fresh success stories. Seven of our finalists have gone on to land jobs at Fresh or in commercial radio.”

Prior to scoring the Magic job, Zack didn’t know his co-host Tabby. But he certainly knew of her.

“Obviously Sean mentioned that she did the course as well,” says Zack. “We’ve only known each other maybe three weeks.”

And they’ve already clicked as a team.

“We’ve been very supportive of each other,” says Zack. “Tabby is really helpful. She’s patient with me. I’m also not afraid to take criticism. And she’s not afraid to give me feedback, which is really good.”

Given Zack’s background of working in the produce markets – which often required 2am starts – Breakfast radio hours don’t faze him at all.

“I do the split sleep,” he says. “I have a sleep straight after I finish on-air.”

Along with Murphy, Zack says Three D Radio’s Tiff Stoddart has always had his back.

“Tiff helped me out a lot at Three D Radio when I was starting. She was always very supportive. She’d come in on Fridays and have a chat with me and really helped me when it came to the reference for the (Magic 93.1) interview as well.”

“Also Emmanuel Photakis, who works as a producer at 7 News Adelaide. He helped me out at Channel 44.”

Connecting with people is what Zack loves most about working in radio.

“I think it’s mostly that you are engaged in the community, especially when you’re doing something like community radio or working regionally.”

“The most important thing is that you’re immersing yourself in that community. You are part of that community. You are the voice of the community.”

“That’s what I really like about it.”