Di Wills
Di Wills considers herself a 'regional kid', having grown up in regional towns, which only ever got one station on the wireless — the ABC.
After winning her first radio contest at the age of five while living in Charleville (which she strongly suspected her mother had a hand in), her interest was piqued.
Di's pathway to radio might seem unique, but explains her connection to community.
From being the administration manager at a seafood processing and export facility, a tour guide at a distillery, a programs officer at an art gallery, a lecturer at uni and an artistic director for an arts company, and an active theatre life of acting and directing, her journey was a little mixed.
Five years prior to joining the ABC, Di volunteered to do some work experience to better understand what happened behind the scenes in a breakfast program. That morning the producer called in sick and Di stood in, answering the competition phone line, a full circle moment from all those years ago winning some animated VHS tapes.
Radio had always been in the background of her life, now the foreground producing weekday Breakfast and presenting Saturday Breakfast on ABC Wide Bay.
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