Go regional says Chrissie Swan

Mix Melbourne Breakfast host Chrissie Swan has given a wide-ranging and honest interview with Michael Lallo in The Age at the weekend. You can read the complete article here.

In the article, Swan discussed the path to metropolitan radio, saying that her view is that cutting your teeth in regional is the pathway to metro.

In part the article said:

Recently, Chrissie Swan got a call from a Big Brother evictee ''who shall remain nameless''. The woman had seen Swan morph from a humble Big Brother contestant into a well-known radio host, TV presenter and Gold and Silver Logie nominee. Naturally, she wanted a piece of the action.

''She said to me, 'You work on the radio and it seems really easy','' Swan says, imitating her ditzy upward inflection. ''Then she goes, 'Can you talk to these radio people in Melbourne and tell them that I'm good?'''

Having cut her teeth on the Sunshine Coast before scoring a gig in Melbourne, Swan suggested to the woman that she do the same. After all, she explained, metropolitan radio jobs are fiercely contested. Experience is essential – and what better place to learn than in a 

''Well, she didn't like that piece of advice at all,'' Swan says, unleashing that distinctive, hearty laugh. ''She was absolutely horrified and I never heard from her again.'

Is she right. Is the most effective pathway to metropolitan radio through regional? Or is there a different way to approach it in 2012.