Former Fresh FM DJ on spiralling life after being sacked

Jo Altman is better known as DJ Josh but behind the fun and frolics of the radio and club scene, she reveals the highs and lows of life as a DJ.

SA Weekend Jo Altman aka DJ Josh pic 3 Picture: Supplied

Known and loved as Adelaide’s DJ Josh, Jo Altman prides herself on being a hard worker. Blindsided while doing a job she loved, she was determined to put a positive spin on the experience.

After I left the Mars Bar, I went mainstream, deejaying at Heaven.

When it first opened in the early 90s, one of the major acts was Dead or Alive and they wanted someone who represented the community to play. I became the ‘It girl’.

All of a sudden, one day in the mid noughties, I disappeared from air on Fresh FM.
I had done a lot for the (community) station, had been the person on the committee to get the 24-hour licence. I was going to go for the job as station manager, but there were a couple of people that didn’t want me in that position.

I had a tangle with them over (me) trying to assist some young artists who had got into some sort of pickle. I went into bat for them. Unfortunately, I got taken off air and pulled away from the station.

When you’re in a situation where you really love what you do, and you’ve got no control … and some of your people that you thought you could trust turn their backs on you …

It was one of the most heinous things because I didn’t even get an opportunity to say goodbye to anyone on air.

People were getting in contact with me behind the scenes. There were 2500 signatures (on a petition) to get me back on air but, unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

I’m a really positive person. I’m a believer that if you’re standing on the edge of a cliff and you’re not taking the opportunity to jump, something’s going to push you. This was one of those moments where you have to choose to say, ‘Okay, what am I going to do now?’.

City Gym on Light Square was a big part of my life back then.

Jo Altman, known as DJ Josh, shared her story with SA Weekend. Picture: Supplied

SA WeeJo shared how her life went a little south after being sacked from Fresh FM. Picture: Supplied

I had a breakdown in ‘99 and had gone cold turkey on everything.

I wanted to get fit and healthy, so I trained every day with the owner Shayne Budgen who offered me a traineeship and after I lost my job at Fresh it pushed me into getting a new career. I was still involved in music, putting DJs in the gym, but I was learning how to be a personal trainer and I became the manager.

I didn’t disappear completely but I kind of stopped with the music industry for a reset.

Industries change. There’s an influx of young kids and they call you a dinosaur. Facebook was becoming more prominent, and people can be a bit brutal. You have to sit back and ask yourself, ‘Am I too old to be trying to impress these kids? What am I doing?’.

Most of the people I played to when I was 33 were 23 and now they were getting married, having kids, had mortgages … they just stopped going out.

I give kids advice and say, ‘There are things in life you love to do, and there are things in life that you have to do to make money.’

That career between ’94 and 2004 was absolutely what I loved to do. Loved it, but it was easier to step off because I had other things already on the go, and that’s important.

When Covid hit, for the first time in my life, since I had a paper round job in year 8, I couldn’t go to work. It was probably even
worse than being kicked off the station because I didn’t know what was next, none of us knew.

She has since rebuilt her life. Picture: Supplied

But had a huge fan base back in the 90s and 00s. Picture: Supplied

You can get really upset about getting emotionally attached to something like a job, but the universe is throwing you into chaos for a reason, and it’s not all doom and gloom.

I stayed home, homeschooled my stepdaughter and learned how to stream. I would have 800 people online and I set up streaming parties (deejaying) on Saturdays. There was one point where Lion Arts Factory opened up and I streamed live from the venue.

You’ve got to create something for yourself. I’ve always been a hard worker, a go-getter.

When we were allowed to come back to work, (my wife) Kylie had lost her receptionist (at her physiotherapy practice). I sat straight in the seat and learned about allied health.

I DJ now just for the fun of it, like I used to, because for a while there, I hated it. The first maybe 20 years, I hit myself hard. Getting back on track and learning how to live a sober life and enjoy the music again; going back out there (to DJ) at this age, at 58, I never thought that would be the case …

I always thought ‘my nieces and nephews, when they are old enough to come out to gigs, that’s when I’ll hang up my headphones’.

Golden Years was created because I thought, ‘at 50, I want to be fabulous’. I did the K.D Lang (inspired) photo shoot and then I said, ‘I’m going to have a show, and it’s going to be called the golden years.’

I put it on at The Arkaba and it was the biggest risk I had ever taken and it sold out three months before the event.

That kind of made up for everything. When I look back, that’s when I reached my full potential, on my own, as a one-woman show. No one helped me.

I have had some of the best years of my life since I turned 50.

If you’re optimistic, you always land on your feet.