Forty years in any industry is nothing to scoff at, especially in a cutthroat industry like the media.
That is why Loretta Ryan's journey is worth celebrating.
Last month the ABC Radio Brisbane Breakfast presenter marked four decades in radio.
What makes it all the more special is that Ryan is known for walking that path with deep compassion and authenticity — in an industry known for anything but that.
"I just love making others happy," she says.
"I love letting others tell their story about their life.
But despite her sterling career, broadcasting wasn't always on Ryan's radar.
"I remember saying to Mum, 'I don't know, I just want to be something. I don't know what I want to be'," Ryan says.
"I thought I wanted to be a vet nurse from year 10 [onwards], but I did work experience and sort of changed my mind on that one.
"I didn't have the stomach for the surgery side of it."
Chance interview leads to radio
In 1983, with a Year 12 graduation certificate in hand and a part-time job at David Jones, Ryan was still unsure of what to do.
On a whim, her mother Verna decided to whisk her then 17-year-old daughter into a local employment office (Commonwealth Employment Service) in the Brisbane CBD.
"There was a job there, and all they wanted was maths, typing and English," Loretta says.
"I didn't know what the job was until they said there's an interview today, told me what it was, where to go."
Ryan and her mum made a last-minute dash to the dress shop for a new outfit.
Two interviews later, Ryan was called up and told she had got the job.
She became a schedules clerk at the Brisbane top 40 radio station Radio 10, first scheduling radio commercials and later learning how to produce and voice them.
Little did Ryan know the position marked the beginning of a 40-year radio career.
Ryan says she was scared of her new boss Helen Powell at first because she was a "hard taskmaster", but they soon became great friends.
"I can just remember being scared of Helen because I didn't want to make a mistake," Ryan says.
"She taught me resilience … I owe a lot to her and the other colleagues."
There was much to learn at Radio 10, but Ryan soon found herself eager to dive deep into the industry and soon enrolled herself in the Brisbane media school Air TV.
"I always remember Radio 10 as one of the best times of my life."
Growing up with the city
It's the stories at the heart of the city that resonate with Ryan the most.
"When I first started in the newsroom, the political landscape of Queensland was about to change in a big way," she says.
"The Fitzgerald corruption inquiry in the 80s was top of the bulletins.
"I'll never forget being in the media lock-up when the report was handed down and having to scour through it for radio reports that afternoon."
Ryan was 21 when she became a producer for then mornings presenter Billy J Smith before landing a cadetship in the newsroom.
After more than seven years at Radio 10, Ryan was offered an opportunity at the Triple M newsroom, where she stayed for 16 years.
She remembers reporting on a "terrible" accident at the Edward St and Queen St intersection.
"The Commonwealth Bank building was just being built … and a slab of concrete fell onto the sidewalk, onto the footpath, and hit someone.
"I had to go and report back to the radio news, and I just remember that time. It was awful."
Ryan says for someone who feels deeply, compartmentalising the emotion of a serious news event has been a challenge.
"When you're telling a story, and you're broadcasting, something just happens where you just switch on and do that job, and you read the words that have to be read," she says.
"You might be affected a little bit later, but in the moment, you're just doing that job that has to get out there.
"You have to tell the news. You have to tell that story.
"[But] I think about them all the time."
Surprise sacking almost ends career
Ryan was co-hosting Breakfast radio at 4BC when rumours began to swirl about a possible staff shake-up at the local station.
"They sacked us all, one by one," she says.
"There were about 18 [people sacked] that day."
Ryan and her co-host at the time, Ian Skippen had received an email from management asking them to attend a meeting with the big boss who had flown up from Sydney.
"I think Skip went in first, and I didn't see him when he came out," she says.
"Then I was called in … they gave me some spiel about costs and changes and [how] we no longer require your services," Ryan says.
"I thought, 'Are they going to end my radio career like this?'
"So I left, as we all did, cameras waiting outside. That was a hard day."
Friends help through tough time
Ryan says she is beyond grateful for the support of friends who stood by her after losing the job she loved.
"What they did was grab me, and they said we're making a getaway, and so we went down under the car park and outside the door of the building," she said.
"I think we had to jump a fence."
A good friend, Rebecca Pini, the director of the marketing and communications agency M4M, was quick to pick Ryan up and offer her work.
"I'll be forever grateful to Rebecca, who, along with my other friends, kept my spirits up and got me back on my feet," Ryan says.
During this time, Ryan's connections with media friends at ABC Brisbane led to casual work at the radio station and eventually a full-time position.
She now co-hosts the breakfast show with Craig Zonca, who says Ryan is not just a colleague but a great friend.
"Who you see and hear through the radio is who Loretta is," he says.
"She is a gem of a person who will go out of her way for anybody, often far later in the day than she should be in the office."
"She is true to herself. She is authentic, and she is sincere," he says.
"She cares so deeply for her friends and family.
"I feel so lucky to call her a friend over the five years we've spent together on radio."
Ryan says she is privileged to be able to continue telling people's stories.
"When you sit down with someone, and then you start to find out things about them, that's amazing," she says.
"I get the most joy about being able to get someone's story on the air because that gives them joy to tell their story.
"As the old radio saying goes, the listener is the star."
