I have to apologise in advance, just in case this article doesn’t do the person I’m about to write about justice.
I’m just one of the people she has positively impacted, but I felt her impact and her story had to be shared with everyone.
We lost one of the good ones this week, and a person who meant so much to myself and many others.
Alison ‘Ali’ Drower was a pioneer, trailblazer and giant of the media industry. Her career spanned decades, starting at 2WL (the old Wave FM) as a news intern before a career which took her to the likes of Triple M with Doug Mulray, RPM, V8 supercars, Southern Cross Austereo News – finishing up with our network at Australia Radio Network. At heart, she was a Wollongong girl.
It’s hard to sum up a life which crossed paths with so many people, and so many organisations. The best way I can tell you who Ali was as a person, is to show you the impact she had on myself.
Just over two years ago, I applied for the Newsreader job here at Wave FM. To put everything into context, I was basically a fresh university student who didn’t have really any experience beside a couple of video and audio pieces I recorded as part of a few passion projects.
Low and behold, I get a call just a few days later – it was Ali Drower. From the start, you could feel the friendliness and willingness to help from the get-go. We spent an hour just chatting about careers, life goals, and car racing. It was like catching up with an old friend. Little did I know it was a job interview. Five days later I was offered the job, and I was already intrigued. How could someone pick what they needed from a phone call like that?
I knew I had a very unique training experience on the way from then, but as a 23-year-old at the time – I had no idea who the person hiring me was. Until I got home, told my mother, and then was informed I pretty much had one of the greatest newsreaders to of ever existed in this country hiring me. I quickly found out how lucky I was.
Ali’s ability to train, nurture and mentor was nothing like I’ve ever seen before. She only needed seven working days to get a complete rookie from start, to ‘on-air’ reading the news. I’m convinced if anyone else other than Ali was training me, it would’ve taken months.
But it was the fact she offered me the job in the first place which baffled my brain. Surely there was someone with more experience out there. I was lucky Ali saw something in the demo I sent. I have no idea what she saw but I’m glad she saw it, because I’m confident in saying no one else in the country would have and I wouldn’t be here writing this now.
I think the quality which stands out the most to be about Ali was her ability to nurture and build confidence in those who needed it. She made you believe in whatever ability you had, and you could use it anywhere. Not once did I feel like I couldn’t achieve my goals under Ali, if anything I felt like I could over-achieve.
Technically she was my boss, but it never felt like it. When people used to ask who Ali was, we always said she was our mentor and friend – because it’s who she was to us, and you can’t say that about many people in this world. You could say it without hesitation about Ali Drower though.
Even after her role in our company adjusted and she wasn’t our ‘boss’, the phone calls to all of us never stopped. She was always keen to hear how we were doing, what was going on with our lives, and of course to chat car racing. A passion which boiled over into her son Zach, who’s about to race his first Bathurst 1000 in two weeks. We’re all thinking of him and Ali’s husband Rick this week.
Over the course of her life, Ali was responsible for the start of hundreds, potentially even thousands of careers. It’s been a tough week for all of us, but none more so than her family. My thoughts this week are, again, with her husband Rick, son Zach, and the rest of her family. God I hate cancer.
So, on behalf of the thousands of people you have touched, thank you Ali.
Thank you for making us believe in ourselves. Thank you for teaching us the way of the industry. Thank you for the countless laughs, words of advice, and how the word ‘that’ isn’t necessary in 99% of sentences. Thank you for being the best mentor any of us could have. We all need to go out and have great careers now; it’s the only way we could do you justice.
The shock has been immense everywhere over the last few days. The grief has been real for so many people. It speaks volumes to the person you were.
From me personally, thank you for my career. I wouldn’t have one without you. I owe you everything.
Just bear with me on-air this week, the throat might be a bit choked up more than usual.
Ali, I’ll see you at the top of every hour.
Jarrod x
