Axed Nova 106.9 announcer Katie Mattin opens up about her redundancy and life after radio
Left feeling “lost” after her sudden axing from Nova 106.9, with syndicated Sydney shows now airing in Brisbane, radio announcer Katie Mattin has told of her reaction to the news, as she reveals her plans for her next move.
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Radio announcer Katie Mattin admits she felt lost in the wake of her sudden axing from Nova after nine years with the network.
Mattin, who presented the morning show, as well as afternoon presenter Jack Tree were made redundant earlier this month – despite both their contracts extending until December next year – as part of Nova’s cost-cutting strategy in response to the ongoing challenges of the global pandemic.
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Sydney presenters DC and Smallzy are now being broadcast to Nova’s Brisbane audience, while Adelaide also lost their local daytime shows.
Similar syndications have been made across TV and radio networks including Triple M, while the Hit Network recently axed the majority of their regional breakfast shows.
“It was Friday 11:55am doing my last (talk) break, I had a feeling, ‘this is my last break’. At 12:30pm they said ‘We are making your role redundant and that was your last show’,” Mattin said.
“It wasn’t a shock, I was expecting it, but for nine years I’ve been on the radio in Brisbane and then all of sudden that was it. It was definitely sad and I think that first Monday … I felt a bit lost.
“But I do feel lucky I had such a long run. I had so much fun. Everything has changed now … and I feel like it’s a good time to move on.”
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Mattin, a mother of twin daughters, had been working in radio since she was 19 when she walked into her local radio station in England every day asking for work until she eventually got offered an audition for the street team.
When she moved to Australia she did a test run at Nova to see if listeners would respond to her English accent, leading to an eventual six years hosting a daytime shift on the network.
Still hosting her popular podcast Am I A Bad Mum? with Rachel Thaiday – who she met through her Nova radio show with Sam Thaiday – Mattin is already planning a move full-time into podcasting through her husband Jay Walkerden’s new company, Podshape, which has recently notched up 1 million downloads.
Mattin and Thaiday will add a second podcast, called Girls + Wine = Inappropriate Conversations, next month, which will be a weekly girls night where nothing is off limits.
She is also planning another podcast with an elite athlete that will launch in October.
“I do feel like new beginnings and I feel excited about the future,” she said.
“I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason and I feel this is a blessing in disguise.”
