Julia Zass doesn’t take herself too seriously. She knows how to have a laugh, including at herself.
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Her bubbly and lighthearted personality comes out in the radio studio at Power FM Ballarat.
“We try to keep it as light and fun as possible,” she said.
The Power FM breakfast show host moved to Ballarat nine years ago to take the regional radio role.
An original intention to stay in the city for only a few years turned into almost a decade. She fell in love with the city, and the man who is now her husband.
Zass admits she would likely have remained a Melbourne girl if it wasn’t for opportunities in radio, but she is now settled in Ballarat with a house, a mortgage and a husband who is an owner of the Lake View Hotel.
“I love that Ballarat has a great sense of community. You only have to go to something like Run Ballarat to see how people come together to support a great cause,” she said.
Radio wasn’t always Zass’ chosen career. She discovered her love for the airwaves while completing a visual merchandising course at RMIT University.
“I did a lot of community radio and community television and loved it way more than set dressing or window dressing,” she said.
I love pop music, it is lucky I work here, and I love talking.
- Julia Zass
Volunteering at Melbourne youth media organisation SYN gave her the freedom to experiment and make mistakes in radio.
“The shows I was doing on SYN were ridiculous. I had a show called ‘Total Random Crap’… But it gave us the freedom to learn to be yourself and how to use the equipment.”
Zass went on to do a postgraduate in commercial radio at Swinburne University before taking a job in Taree, New South Wales. She then found her fit at Power FM.
“I love pop music, it is lucky I work here, and I love talking.”
Zass has come to form close relationships with co-hosts and staff at the Ballarat radio studios and has taken on the role of music director.
The early hours of breakfast radio hasn’t been too much of a challenge for the early riser, who loves finishing work in the afternoon and getting to the gym.
Zass and her husband take advantage of Ballarat’s burgeoning food and wine scene, trying all the city has to offer.
And she takes those stories from her personal life to the studio and the airwaves.
“I often make fun of my husband on air knowing he won’t hear it. But others relay it back to him later and he will ask me why I told everyone about his Santa underwear.
“When it is just Chris (co-host) and I in the studio you feel like no one is even listening. I find out later they are.”
For more information on Committee for Ballarat’s More than Gold campaign search @morethangold.ballaratstories on social media.
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