It was recently that radioinfo reported on the return to work of Ali Hill at 97.3 Coast FM.

 The breakfast radio host returned to the Gunner’s and Ali Show after the birth of her third child, a little boy named Seth in August 2016.
 
However, Ali has been taking her six month old to work with her, creating the temporary show “Gunners & Ali with Seth”, which aired over the past couple of weeks.
 
Babies grow up far too quickly and it is so nice to be able to spend those first precious months at home (if you can). I am extremely lucky that my workplace is so supportive and they let me bring Seth in with me. Plus, it’s also nice to share him with all of our listeners,” says Ali.
 
I was reading news at Triple T in Hobart when I was given a positive pregnancy result via phone. Hence, my excitement it was fellow journo Dottie who was the first to know, yep, even before my then husband.
 
I worked right up until my due date with some morning sickness and a ferocious crazing for oranges. Not ideal when you are doing breakfast news.
 
A: they take ages to peel and B: the panel buttons were always sticky.
 
Ollie was born on September 11 1994 and it was just six weeks later I returned to the news desk.
 
It was tough, Ollie was a wakeful baby, every two hours for the first ten months. I don’t know how I dragged myself out of bed at 3.30am.
 
Ollie’s Dad was a teacher at the nearby school and he would take him to child care on his way to work. To save costs and given we had no family network in the city we lived, I would pick him up after the 9am bulletin and take him back to work.
 
The radio station with the blessing of management was incredibly supportive. I had a portable cot in the news room and they even put aside a room for me to feed him and on the days when I couldn’t get away, express milk. Which the poor promo girls then had to deliver to the child care centre.
 
While I said Ollie was a wakeful baby he was also extremely passive so it wasn’t unusual for me to read the news with him in a backpack peering over my shoulder at the lights on the panel.
 
This went on for a few months and as he became more active (he crawled at 3 months) Melissa, the station’s receptionist would take care of him while I read.
 
It was she who taught him first word outside of Mum and Dad by constantly diverting his attention to the Guide Dog collection box on the reception desk – yep his first word was dog.
 
By 1999 I had morphed away from news to the breakfast show
and Ollie became fodder for content with almost every milestone playing out on-air.
 
On his first day of school I worked til 8am and then did a live cross as I dropped him off.
 
When he forgot his lunch my on-air partner dressed up as rabbit and took it to his school, as an example.
 
We would also regularly catch him on a Crazy Call, our major benchmark at the time.

This one was a classic.

 
Good luck Seth but a word of warning.
 
My Dad was a radio announcer and took me to his work, I then became one.
 
Guess what Ollie is?
 
A radio announcer. Third generation and working at EON Sports Radio.
 
Cue Nature vs Nuture debate.

Kim Napier