Life after Mix: Jodie Oddy breaks her silence about what’s next
Talking exclusively to the Sunday Mail seven months after she left Mix, Jodie Oddy says she isn’t ruling out a return to radio but that her family must come first.
Entertainment
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Sleeping in is a tough job but someone’s got to do it and after 13 years in breakfast radio - and a 4am alarm - former Mix 102.3 presenter Jodie Oddy’s earned it.
While she is working as a freelancer for Network 10’s Adelaide newsroom - something she has done on and off for two decades - on her days off the mum-of-four takes her time getting out of bed.
“The working mornings are as busy as anything but there are some beautiful mornings when I just get to lay in bed with the girls and hug them and smell their hair,” Oddy says in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mail.
“That has been the best part about sleeping in … just lying in bed with my family in the morning. I cannot begin to tell you how good that feels.”
Morning cuddle time with her and husband Greg’s three young daughters, Payton, 9, Summer, 8, and 18-month-old Harper, has been one of the things Oddy has been catching up on since leaving Mix seven months ago.
It was a shock exit on November 19: Oddy left, effective immediately, without explanation.
But she could walk out with her head held high: During her time at Mix, Oddy clocked up no less than 81 ratings’ wins in the FM breakfast timeslot.
Actually, make that 82 because the last shows she co-hosted with Mark Soderstrom counted in the final survey for 2020.
For 13 years Oddy - who also has a daughter Taylor, 20, with former husband retired Australian international cricketer Greg Blewett - juggled parenting and breakfast radio, playing a significant role in making Mix Adelaide’s No. 1 station.
It is not unheard of, in fact it is an unspoken rule, that the reasons for an on-air talent’s departure aren’t revealed by a radio station or its former star.
But what Oddy is willing to say is how much all the years she spent at Mix mean to her.
“I‘m really, really grateful for the time that I’ve spent in radio and the opportunities it’s given me,” she says.
“As a whole it has afforded me a lot of privileges that I don’t take for granted and I was able to do some incredible things and I’m really grateful for that.”
At the top of Oddy’s list is helping a young boy Alex Tann, who “was dealt the roughest hand in life”.
Three years ago she and Soderstrom helped the then eight-year-old, whose brain cancer had left him blind, realise his dream while raising funds for the Childhood Cancer Association, of which Oddy is an ambassador.
“We made him fire chief for the day and got 10,000 people in Rundle Mall and it was just the most beautiful thing,” Oddy says.
“I like helping people. I think that’s my purpose in life. It makes me feel good to give to other people. It really does. It’s what I want to do moving forward. So, if radio taught me anything it is that it is my purpose – to give back to people.”
Since leaving Mix Oddy has made a brief radio comeback.
In January, she enjoyed a five-day stint reading the news on Nova 91.9’s Ben & Liam breakfast show while journalist Taylee Jones was on holiday.
But, importantly, being away from radio has given Oddy time to concentrate on “passion projects” previously on the backburner.
One is a website with her husband, Greg Oddy, whom she describes as “the best human”.
“He’s an amazing dad and he’s an even better husband,” she says.
“We’ve been through a lot together and I could not walk through this life with anyone else holding my hand. He’s amazing and he gets me.”
The couple is preparing to launch Gift Givers to take the stress out of buying children’s birthday party presents, which are often last-minute panic purchases by parents.
“It will be a platform where everyone benefits – from the birthday kid, to the parents, to everyone attending the party,” Oddy says.
“There will also be a big emphasis on encouraging children to give back, with Childhood Cancer and The Village Co, which assists mums-to-be and new mothers who need support, already jumping on board.”
Oddy also wants to give back through her new business Oddy Media which she says will be “all things media, communications and partnerships”.
“(I will also be) MCing and mentoring women who perhaps find ‘the juggle’ a struggle – between career and family – and even if that’s just a listening ear then that’s the path that I will go down now,” she says, adding: “The media can be a tricky landscape these days, for women in particular. There’s a lot of trolling … trying to deal with that can be a challenge.”
Also challenging is silencing your own inner-voice when you are being your own harshest critic - something Oddy says she had been “my whole life”.
“I have just made a conscious decision to help other people not be mean to themselves,” Oddy says.
“I think we are meaner to ourselves than we are to anyone else. If I can help people see that that’s something that I have done and that’s something that they shouldn’t do then that’s where I am at and I am happy with that.”
Oddy also plans to keep freelancing at Network 10 in Adelaide.
“It has been a constant in my life and to go back there has been like going home,” she says, adding: “They are a family. They’ve got an amazing group of talented, local reporters, in particular, some really gorgeous female ones that I have forged friendships with. So, when I talk about mentoring other women, that’s a real opportunity for me to help them, guide them and hopefully pass on what I have learnt along the journey. The culture of that place is exceptional and I’m incredibly grateful to be back there and be a journalist again.
“I have rediscovered that love of journalism and telling people’s stories and being invited into people’s homes (to interview them).”
Oddy is, of course, also in people’s homes on the small screen which has caused confusion for her 18-month-old.
“The other night Harper saw (Network 10’s) Kate Freebairn doing the weather and said, ‘Mummy’ and I said, ‘Daddy wishes!’,” Oddy says, laughing, adding having a sense of humour is “critical” when you’re a media identity: “I think if you don’t take yourself too seriously people can relate to you a little bit more. It just keeps you grounded.”
Asked what she has learnt during her seven months away from full-time radio, Oddy doesn’t hesitate: “My girls are absolutely everything.”
She continues: “To have had the time with them – and Harper who is only 18 months old – is life-changing for me because I have always been so busy and I’ve always been running a million miles an hour. People say stop and smell the roses... I have basically stopped and smelt my children and my husband and they all smell really nice.
“I’ve also given myself permission to slow down and breathe and just be kind to myself for a while because I haven’t always been. That’s been an absolute focus and priority for me in my life this year and I think I am doing a pretty good job of it so far.”
As for future radio work, Oddy is about to return to Nova for another short-term, fill-in newsreader role.
But she has also been in talks. Whether there will be an opportunity to return to the super-competitive breakfast timeslot, Oddy isn’t saying, as you would expect with what would have to be top-secret negotiations.
“Any of those decisions will be based around the kids and what is best for them,” Oddy says. “I would never say never to going back to radio because I do love it, but the girls will be front and centre in any career decision I make going forward.
“But for now I am focused on Network 10, Oddy Media and Gift Givers. My plate’s pretty full.”
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