Ryan Jon used to work in Perth as a radio presenter and now is off traveling Greece with his fiance (whom he ran all the way across Australia to propose to)! At a young age, he was adopted and has spent the last several years in search of his birth mother. Ryan also happens to be the owner of the official 'Gronk Jacket' and loves a good time!
Ryan's Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ryan.jon
Ryan's Website:
https://www.ryanjon.com/
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“Because 97 wants it all for himself, like a greedy man.”
“I think a lot of the socials should focus on Mason's inability to be a great boyfriend. Yeah, I think that should be a heavy focus.”
“Strategy is about future. So my strategy was to be short and fat, and it's paid off because I didn't want to go to the Olympics. Because that was my strategy all along.”
“Yeah, Trump saying I came up positive for a negative.”
“592? Yeah, if I had known we were this close to another milestone, I would have pushed back to next Thursday.”
“So you got to just think, is it worth the ATO's time to chase your small thing?”
“Commercial Radio Australia has made a list that only includes commercial radio podcasts, which is 2% of podcast listening... it's, it's fraudulent.”
“Sam Kavanaugh toured around and said, fans, not listeners, fans, not listeners... And not a single person listened to him.”
What's the right way to think about business strategy?
Strategy should be a forward-looking plan for the future, not something invented after the fact to justify results that already happened — many businesses get this backwards.
How should podcasts differentiate themselves from radio in building an audience?
Focus on building genuine fans who actively choose to listen and will advocate for the show, rather than chasing raw listener/download numbers, and avoid gaming numbers with repackaged or clipped content.
How should former radio people position themselves when applying for jobs outside radio?
Reframe your resume around transferable skills like producing, content strategy and communications rather than 'radio announcer', because outside employers often don't recognise the breadth of skills radio people actually have.
Should you commit fully to a local radio/media job or keep options open?
Commit fully to where you currently are rather than always having one foot out the door looking for the next opportunity, because half-committing stops you from making the most of your current role.
Should you buy a house or invest in something like an index fund?
Buy a place you actually want to live in and save as big a deposit as possible, since a bigger deposit reduces the interest paid; investment apartments are generally not considered great investments unless you have a substantial deposit.
How can you get fit without paying for an expensive gym membership?
Rotate between free introductory trials at different gym franchises (e.g., F45 locations), since each outlet often runs independently and won't necessarily share customer data, allowing repeated free sign-ups across different suburbs/towns.
Ryan Jon describes running an amber/red light during his driver's test, which the instructor treated as both a red-light violation and technically a speeding offence (since the speed limit at a red light is zero), resulting in an immediate test fail.
Ryan Jon recounts failing a random drug test after the Australian Volleyball League finals, having smoked marijuana during schoolies about a week prior. The positive result was passed to the Australian Olympic Committee, who ruled he could not be selected for the Olympics, despite Australia having no real chance of qualifying in volleyball at the time.
Ryan Jon describes playing volleyball in Serbia and attending Exit Festival, watching The Prodigy perform to 100,000 people in a castle, and being crushed by the crowd despite his fitness as an athlete.
Ryan Jon recalls a producer at his former radio job celebrating an extended podcast segment that got 600 listens, which staff found absurdly low compared to their regular content.
Ryan Jon recalls working at music retailer Sanity the day after Guy Sebastian won Australian Idol, when almost all CD sales that night were his single 'Angels Brought Me Here'.
Ryan Jon recounts being denied a day off to fly to his best friend's mother's funeral because he was still on probation and hadn't accrued leave, so he quit on the spot after finishing his breakfast show, telling his boss he might not return, and says he's never regretted it.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
He tested positive in a random drug test after the Australian Volleyball League finals, having smoked marijuana during schoolies about a week earlier; the Australian Olympic Committee subsequently ruled he couldn't be selected, though he says Australia was nowhere near Olympic qualification in volleyball anyway.
From episode 787→Tommy argues the legal rule is that the person entering the freeway must give way to traffic already on it going full speed; Ryan Jon agrees that's technically correct but argues ethically the driver already on the freeway should make room.
From episode 787→Josh and Tommy argued the ranker only included commercial radio-affiliated podcasts (about 2% of all podcast listening) while presenting itself as a definitive list of Australia's top podcasts, which they and Ryan Jon called misleading or fraudulent.
From episode 592→Ryan Jon explains it as a phrase from radio executive Sam Kavanagh describing how successful shows build genuine fans who actively choose to engage and support them, rather than just passive listeners counted in ratings, and that podcasts like Hamish & Andy and Shameless succeed because of this fan-building.
From episode 592→Ryan Jon says newspapers multiply physical circulation by 4 assuming multiple readers per copy, calling it an 'industry standard,' and questions whether radio ratings exclude non-listeners properly, suggesting similar inflation issues exist in radio audience measurement.
From episode 592→In the episode they discuss moving from an earlier high price (over $1,000 per episode) to a more affordable rate, and settle on selling Ryan Jon a 7-day ad package for $1,000, reasoning from a benchmark CPM of around $75 per thousand downloads.
From episode 541→His boss refused him leave to attend his best friend's mother's funeral because he was still on probation and hadn't accrued annual leave, so he told them he was leaving immediately and might not return, prioritising the funeral over the job.
From episode 541→Cameo is an app where celebrities (and in this case podcast hosts) record personalised paid video shout-outs, like birthday messages, with the platform taking a cut (around 20%) and referrers like Ryan Jon earning a small percentage; prices range from $20 for lesser-known reality stars up to $1,500 for someone like Snoop Dogg.
From episode 402→Mentioned on 1 episode Ryanwasn’t on.
Ryan Jon calls Tommy during the show and is briefly put on air to ask about the word 'bonbonniere', but declines to share his idea live.
Every episode featuring Ryan Jon on The Daily Talk Show.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 787 (10 July 2020) — "Banned From The Olympics With Ryan Jon". Ryan Jon is back to chat about giving way on a freeway, failing a driver's test, meeting Grace before any of us, a volleyball drug test, and BMC management styles.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 592 (28 January 2020) — "Fans Not Listeners With Ryan Jon". Ryan Jon joins us to chat about nightclubs we went to when we were growing up, the Australian Podcast Ranker, chilling wine, and playing the game in commercial radio.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 541 (8 December 2019) — "Diversifying Revenue With Ryan Jon". Ryan Jon is back! We chat about annual leave and redundancies, job titles, diversifying our revenue, and Ryan's advertising offer.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 441 (30 August 2019) — "Freelancing, Business And Contracts With Ryan Jon". Ryan Jon is back for Weekend Banter! On his 8th appearance on the show, we chat about our experience with invoicing for freelance work, when to start charging, and ways to separate yourself as a beginner freelancer.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 402 (22 July 2019) — "Six And Out With Ryan Jon". Ryan Jon joins us today! We talk about Tommy's habit of using loudspeaker while on the phone, Ryan's new idea for the show, and how to get fit for free.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 306 (18 March 2019) — "Game Show Host Ryan Jon". we're joined by our mate Ryan Jon. We discuss: - What Ryan is doing down in Melbourne - Negotiation power moves - Frequent flyers and insider trading - Ryan's Business coaching - The most annoying things about us - Ryan's radio plans - Learnings from pitching - Starting and figuring it out l...
On today's episode of The Daily Talk Show we discuss: - Our Fat Fridays sugar meltdown - The new face of consent with Ryan Jon - Who owns the content you make when you're an employee - Ryan's new internship - Working for free - A squeegee cult update
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 244 (20 December 2018) — "Ryan Jon & The Ham Delivery!". Ryan Jon visits us from Perth. We chat about why giving no advice is sometimes the best option, we visit Quad Lock to drop off the ham prize, putting up your hand to talk, what social media channel should we focus on, buying too many books and making podcasts independently.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 175 (16 September 2018) — "Ryan Jon & what's best for your child". Our mate Ryan Jon is in our office in Melbourne today, so we thought we'd get him back on the show! We chat raising money for charities, owning domain names, having a manager and where to spend your creative time.
Ryan Jon joined Tommy Jackett and Josh Janssen on Episode 65 (15 April 2018) — "Finding my birth mother | Ryan Jon". Ryan Jon popped in to Tommy's studio today, so we decided to get him on The Daily Talk Show. He's a radio host in Perth, Western Australia with a powerful story of a search to find his birth Mum.
