Those early mornings, on his way to swim training at daybreak, the familiar sounds of local radio underscoring those journeys – that is what Braedan Jason remembers.
These memories seem to have settled in Braedan’s subconscious in a way that has guided him towards a career path he’s now excelling in – radio journalism.
But it almost didn’t turn out that way.
Braedan has always assumed he’d pursue a career in the sport industry – it’s what he had down as his first two preferences when he was applying to uni.
He wasn’t just good at sport – he was great, competing on the international stage for swimming. It’s what had earned him a scholarship at Nudgee College in Brisbane.
But in a sliding doors moment, he changed his mind just before hitting submit on his application, preferencing Communication instead.
“The thought of being in the pool from 5am and then going to study sport science all day, before going back to the pool and doing it again – it just seemed like I'd never escape it,” Braedan says.
“Then I saw radio journalism was a course you could do.
“I was good at public speaking, I was good at English, so it seemed like it could work.”
It makes sense now. But at the time, it must have taken a leap of faith.
Braedan had grown up in the sports world, learning to swim among the rough waves of open-water beach swimming.
Despite earning podium finishes at state surf life-saving events, Braedan would later confirm what he must have realised for a while – he couldn’t see.
He only found out he was legally blind when he was about eight, the doctors diagnosing him with cone-rod dystrophy – a condition that results in about 10 percent vision.
By that time, he’d all but traded in his surf swimming for the pool, which earned him the scholarship at Nudgee – as an able-bodied swimmer.
“I was training in the squad underneath Matt Brown, who was coaching Emily Seebohm and Brit Elmslie at the time,” Braedan says.
“Seeing them head off to London 2012 – I was like, ‘Wow, that's really what I want to do.’”
In 2016, he got there – under the tutelage of Jan Cameron, who was the Paralympic swimming coach based at UniSC.
Jan noticed that Braedan’s times, which were earning him a name in the sport at a national level as an able-bodied athlete, would have made him eligible for the Paralympic team.
From there, it was a quick turnaround – within about 18 months he was training alongside some of the world’s best, who would soon become some of his closest mates.
Names such as Jake Templeton, Logan Powell, Blake Cochrane, Rick Pendleton, Mike Anderson – this was an all-star team that went on to compete at the 2016 Rio and then 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Finding journalism
If you’re getting the sense that Braedan is as driven as he is competitive, you might be right. Once he set himself on a path to becoming a radio journalist, there was no stopping him.
He was already excelling in his uni studies for written journalism. But it was in his second year – when he saw a segment on Naz Campanella, who was a blind newsreader for Triple J radio at the time, that Braedan realised working in radio was within reach for him.
“I ended up learning how to use her system, which was text-to-voice,” Braedan says.
Similar to his swimming career, once he set a goal for himself, Braedan focused obsessively on achieving it – he was going to work in local radio.
It started with an internship
His first internship at the ABC Sunshine Coast studio was a baptism of fire – literally. It was the summer of 2019 – the year rolling infernos swept through wooded areas of Peregian.
When Braedan arrived at the ABC Maroochydore offices, barely anyone was around – all the staff were out on the ground, relaying safety information to the public and telling the incredible stories of escape and survival that had happened overnight.
Tara Cassidy – another UniSC journalism graduate, who now works in the Canberra bureau for the ABC – handed him a camera to film for the television news.
“I wasn’t going to tell them I was blind – I just wanted to get into it,” Braedan laughs.
If it hasn’t come across already, it’s pretty clear Braedan has a stubborn streak – he’s never wanted to use his lack of sight as an excuse to not be able to do anything.
“For me, it’s not complaining about what I can’t do,” he says. “It’s about finding a way to do it.”
The footage he shot was good – it made it onto the nightly news. But Braedan’s heart was in radio, so when a position there was available, Braedan pursued it.
“I just love knowing what’s going on in my community,” Braedan says about his love affair with the format.
“I would really like to be one of those voices that people recognise and trust – someone like Jen Nichols, who has worked in the area for decades and knows everything that’s going on.
“That’s my goal.”
It’s a goal that Braedan is quickly getting closer to realising. Having started off at the ABC Sunshine Coast as a producer, Braedan has begun backfilling Sheridan Stewart’s role as a weekend presenter, which includes a bit of a full-circle moment.
One of his regular guests is one of his former lecturers – Dr Jane Stephens, who often lends her expertise to the news media, explaining, analysing and dissecting news and current affairs stories for audiences across radio, print and TV.
Dr Stephens says she’s thrilled to watch Braedan continue to thrive and grow in an industry he loves.
“Braedan possesses enormous drive, which is a key characteristic to excelling in journalism,” Dr Stephens says.
“It’s an exciting and fast-paced industry to be in – you’re often at the forefront of significant events unfolding in front of you, as Braedan has experienced with the bushfires.
“But it’s also competitive – you need drive and passion to succeed, which Braedan possess in spades.”
Media enquiries: Please contact the Media Team media@usc.edu.au