A new Way for Triple M breakfast

From Monday morning there’ll be a new voice on the airwaves, but not an unfamiliar one.

Wagga-born entertainer Jamie Way will be up at the crack of dawn to join Leigh Ryan on the Triple M breakfast show.

“Back in the day I would sit at my desk in my room with Luke Greally doing nightlife on the old 2WG, recording songs off the radio,” he recalls.

“So my personal connection to 1152 goes back to my own childhood.

“It’s really, really exciting to be able to pick up the torch and run with it as a creator in that space rather than a consumer.”

Leigh has been flying solo in the mornings since the departure of co-host Poppy Penny earlier this year and is looking forward to having company again.

“It’s great to have someone of his calibre on board,” he says.

“I know Jamie talks about listening to 2WG, but before I got into radio full time, I remember listening to Jamie doing the Friday Live (music) segment on the radio and just being wowed by how good they were.”

Content director and former announcer Duncan Potts worked with Jamie on the Friday Live segments and is looking forward to hearing how the new team evolves.

“He’s not a stranger to the radio station because he’s been in the studios many times showcasing his extraordinary talent,” he says.

“But he’s not what I would term as a traditional radio person, so he’s coming into the role with a fresh set of ears and eyes and I just think it’s really exciting.”

Jamie is a veteran of the stage and screen, having performed widely in cabaret and music productions and as the lead singer of local band Groove Factorie.

He says the early starts will be the biggest challenge of the new breakfast gig but hopes his experience with young children will help.

“I’m very, very much a night owl,” he laughs.

“I remember it took me a while to adjust to the hours of parenting and turn my whole sleep schedule on its head from doing gigs for so many years and being up so many late nights.”

Jamie has also worked in the production side of television news and has enjoyed observing how things work behind the scenes on the brekkie show.

“Radio is interesting because you’re a performer but you’re also doing the production stuff,” he explains.

“It’s like Wallace and Gromit thing where he’s on the train and laying the tracks down in front of him as the train’s going.

“Radio looks a lot like that and I’m just looking forward to being the one laying down the tracks instead of being on the train.”

In terms of what listeners can expect, the pair are playing their cards close but Leigh offers a teaser.

“You’re going to have to tune in on Monday to find out, but there may be a return of Friday Live which was an iconic segment. So we figured that we might bring that back,” he says with a wink.

“It may be back on Friday, just after eight o’clock with Dale Allison and Jamie.”