Former radio boss Jay Walkerden launches new podcast business amid court battle with Nova

With a claim against his former employer before the courts, sacked Nova boss Jay Walkerden has revealed his new gig, saying he was never tempted to stay away from radio

AXED Nova boss Jay Walkerden has moved on to a new gig, founding a podcast company out of his Brisbane home.

Walkerden, who has filed a claim against Nova 106.9 over his dismissal from the station in March, has established podcasting platform Podshape, which already houses 10 podcasts including his wife Katie Mattin’s popular Am I Bad Mum?

“I love people’s stories, so there was no temptation to stay away from radio or media,” said Walkerden, who was Nova 106.9’s program director and head of podcasting. “We’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”

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Jay Walkerden, with twin daughters Holly and Amelia, has launched his own podcasting company, Podshape, out of a home studio in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Josh Woning

He will launch a new weekly podcast, This Is Me, on Monday, which shares the life-changing stories of ten everyday Australians, who have dealt with issues such as domestic violence, addiction, adoption, gender reassignment and mental health.

The podcast – which Mattin, a Nova presenter, helped with – is inspired and hosted by their close friend Siobhain McGirl, a mother of two and bowel cancer survivor, who tells her story in Monday’s episode to coincide with Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.

Bowel cancer survivor Siobhain McGirl will host Podshape's new podcast, This Is Me, from Monday, Jun 22.

Each episode will promote a different community charity.

“I had this idea that if we were going to work with podcast we wanted to share stories that could shape the world,” Walkerden said. “I didn’t want to just do comedy or two people having a chat, I wanted them to be meaningful.”

The new business is a way to look to the future for Walkerden, who had been with Nova for more than eight years, and in the media landscape for 20 years, at the time of his dismissal, which followed an internal investigation, in March.

He filed a statement of claim against his former employer in May, alleging they breached his employment contract by failing to pay him $216,316 when they sacked him “with immediate effect”.

A Nova Entertainment spokesperson said: “Nova Entertainment has responded to the claim but as the matter is before the courts we cannot make any further comment.”

Walkerden said “there’s no bad blood” between them, adding: “It is what it is; I want to make sure that the right thing is done … but I truly believe you have to look to the future.”