Meet the Aussie totally uncensored on radio in the UK

Huw Joseph.  Heard of him? Maybe. 

He got the long desired start in ‘cap city’ radio, lost the gig after a line-up change, went to Star FM in Gippsland then left his show with Stacey Wren to end up unemployed in the UK.

 
“Yeah I was only in Adelaide for 6 months with the Hayley and Angus Show, on SAFM. I guess it was my first gig with SCA and they had me there as the comedy guy on the show so after they decided to change the line up to Hayley, Burgo and Michael I moved to Star FM Gippsland.”
 
And Huw agrees sometimes that’s “just radio”.
 
However, after three months without a job in the UK, Huw landed a gig.
 
“Yeah I was very lucky to get a job so quickly, it came around because I had some link up’s over here which prompted the move. I’d been to the UK twice before to do a couple of gigs and had made new connections during the 2014 Melbourne Comedy Festival so I was very fortunate to get a job with a great (wait for it…) UNCENSORED Radio Station.”
 
Huw works at Fubar Radio which was launched in 2014 targeting 18- to 35-year-olds, through a subscription-based app which allows you to both listen live and save shows for later.
 
Fubar is a second world war military term, meaning “fu*@&# up beyond all recognition”, hence the station describes itself as being dedicated to “broadcasting irreverent, uncensored and unapologetic talk radio”.
 
“It’s so much fun I can pretty much do anything I want, no holds barred. It’s taken a little while to get used to but I’m getting into the swing of it haha.
 
“Everyday is a cheeky little new adventure. My boss even encourages me to do more messed up stuff and get crazier it’s amazing I’m like “Are you sure? No, are your really sure? Ok then I’ll prank the cops.”
 
How does that compare to your time on Commercial Radio in Australia?
 
“I found the relentless crushing air checks difficult, I think we all do. Also the repeated songs over and over was very mind numbing, it almost (not quite but close) made me not like Pink anymore… and if that day came I would have quit radio forever.” 
 
 
So a job after three months in the UK, after such a short time does that mean there are more opportunities for radio announcers there?
 
“As far as opportunity goes there is definitely more stations but I’m not sure that equals more opportunities because there’s so many more people which equals competition. I’d say you’d definitely need connections of some sort or you’re just shooting in the dark. Same in Australia though I guess.”
 
 What’s your advice to young announcers wanting to work in the industry in the UK? 
 
“Spend a lot of time researching the market, areas to live/work and then make connections before you come. It’s very different here and having the Australian accent can potentially be difficult too so you need to work extra hard to do a fake English accent at all times, which is what I do init.”

 

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