The radio and entertainment industry was recently left shocked by the Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) decision to make rising star Mitch Churi redundant.
Churi, who spoke to Mediaweek in between a flurry of meetings (“who knew redundancy could be so busy”) said while he was originally “shocked”, he’s since made peace with the decision.
“The way I work is I move on quickly. I do it with breakups, and I do it with, evidently, redundancies,” he said. “I immediately start thinking, how do I make this work?”.
It didn’t take Churi long to ‘make it work’ to his advantage. Since leaving ARN, he’s already wrapped up a plum hosting gig on Nova, that saw him host a national breakfast show while its regular programs were on break. While it was only one show, Churi said that was all it took to remind him how much he loved and missed live radio.
Mitch Churi
“This is Nova and I flirting with each other on a very public platform,” he joked. Hinting the pair “were talking about the potential of me fitting into the family and the network.”
In the meantime, Churi revealed he’s got his eyes set on the Silver Screen, after being named as a finalist for ACCTA’s Reg Grundy Award.
The prize? $50,000 to create and make a new piece of unscripted television.
Churi’s idea? What else, The Mitch Churi Chat Show.
“I’m currently working on a treatment, and I’ve got a pitch together,” he revealed to Mediaweek.
“It’s basically a Graham Norton style chat show, and I’m currently putting together a treatment. Hopefully I can get a pilot off the ground and we can shop around to networks.”
For someone who is no stranger to sharing his private life on social media, Churi has kept this latest news relatively quiet. “I haven’t really said anything publicly until now,” he revealed. “I haven’t told my followers or posted anything, but I’m putting a lot of my time and energy into this.”
“I kind of got into radio to end up in TV, so it all kind of feels like … the timing is just right,” he said.
The winner of the award will be announced on 7th February at the ACCTA Awards.
Picture: Mitch Churi