In October, Abbie Chatfield made a massive jump and took her hugely successful It’s A Lot podcast from Nova to SCA’s LiSTNR. Since then, she’s also kicked off her new radio show, Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield.
On air nationally from 7-9pm weeknights, the show sees Chatfield and her co-host Rohan Edwards delve into what’s currently happening in entertainment, her own life, and the lives of special guests that are brave enough to join.
Mediaweek spoke to Chatfield about moving to SCA and jumping behind the mic on her own radio show. The first part of this interview can be read here.
Having launched on January 17th, Chatfield now has a couple of weeks of Hot Nights under her belt. She says the show has started well, and is only getting better.
“It’s going amazingly, I feel so comfortable. We have such a good team – it sounds so cliche to say ‘I love my team’ but I am so lucky to have Max [executive producer, Max Corstorphan], Rohan, and Trin [producer, Trinette Sands] on the show. I had no idea what I was doing, but it’s just been such a blessing to have them. I’m very grateful for them, and I’m feeling more comfortable now that I’m in the swing of it.”
When she brought her It’s A Lot podcast from Nova over to SCA, Hot Nights wasn’t on the cards yet. When the opportunity to host her own show arose though, Chatfield says she was up for the challenge.
“I did Love Island After Party which wasn’t quite live – it was an hour delay because we didn’t want to be recording at 10:30 at night – but acting as though it’s live TV was really amazing. Also, the podcast has been such a staple in my life for the past two years that I just felt like it was the next natural thing.
“When it first we first had a conversation about it with Dave [Cameron] I was like, I don’t know if I can do this. I called my mum and I said, ‘I don’t know, I’m a bit scared about it’. But I’m so glad that I listened to everyone around me and just took a leap of faith, and now we’re here!”
And it’s not just the excitement of being live that Chatfield enjoys – Hot Nights is also adding a new skill to her resume.
“I was working in commercial real estate two and a half years ago at an office job, so I’m very lucky to have had all these opportunities given to me in recent years.”
Jumping behind a live microphone for the first time can be daunting, and even the most seasoned broadcasters have a show or person that they admire and take inspiration from.
“The biggest person that I really love in media is Chrissie Swan,” says Chatfield. “She’s just so lovely and warm and hilarious, and she’s so good at what she does. She’s someone that I look up to. I’ve only met her once, but every time I’ve spoken to her she’s been beyond amazing.”
Looking Ahead
“Even in the first week, I feel like Rohan and I have gotten more and more chaotic,” Chatfield says. “I’m sure as our friendship blossoms it will get more and more off centre, which I love!”
Rohan Edwards
Even though Hot Nights is still brand new with Chatfield learning her way around a radio studio, the audience can expect to be front and center.
“A huge thing that we want to focus on is the listeners, because in my podcast the best content that I find – and the stuff that I love reacting to – is wild listener stories. They seem to have this trust in me that we would never have a caller call up and then make fun of them or be awful to them. So it’s nice that we can have them call up and tell crazy stories, we’re just going to laugh along with them, not at them.
“That’s the most important thing, and that’s a philosophy that we had with the show. So I think the listeners are going to make the show a million times better with their iconic stories.”
Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield airs nationally from 7-9pm weeknights on the Hit Network and LiSTNR