Liam Stapleton reflects on his radio journey on Jack Post’s podcast

Liam Stapleton is the latest guest to join Jack Post’s Jacky Road Studios podcast, with the pair recently recording an episode titled ‘My New Voice’.

Stapleton is one half of Nova Adelaide’s Breakfast team Ben & Liam, a pair who have exemplified the road from community to commercial radio in recent years.

After launching on Fresh 92.7, they got a shot at a national audience with three years on triple j.

Stapleton candidly shared advice for young radio heads with Jack Post, the longtime ‘sidekick’ of Hamish & Andy and more recently, The Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show on Gold104.3.

Speaking about moving to triple j, he said there was a lot to learn, especially heading to a station with such a massive music focus.

“I really love music, Ben more so… I liked bigger Australian bands but coming over there’s a hell of a lot you don’t know and you need to learn… get up to speed really quick,” he said.

“It’s rare that you work for a radio station where even one out of ten songs they play are actually on your playlist.”

Post then asked him how the transition has been to Nova, where Ben & Liam are interviewing hitmakers like Guy Sebastian rather than the indie bands of triple j.

“I love it, it’s weird because it’s a whole different world,” said Stapleton. “At triple j you start to get the same people… but you end up making friends with some of those artists which is really cool.

Fast-forward to 2020 and Stapleton is now the face of a commercial station in his hometown.

“It was pretty cool for the first few weeks [seeing his face on a billboard], but then you kind of get over it. A lot of the time I get on the bus… which [our faces] are on and nobody recognises me.

Stapleton also revealed he and Ben Harvey are still at Nova til 3pm most days, a fact that shocked Post: “We are super passionate about what we are building,” he said.

Post takes inspiration from each interview and writes a song, which can be heard at the end of the pod. Listen to the episode in full below: