Radio legend Gus Worland is leaving Triple M after 16 years with the network.
Worland, 55, announced his shock departure during the The Rush Hour show he co-hosts with Jude Bolton each weekday afternoon on 104.9 in Sydney.
Worland tells 9honey moving on from the show will be difficult.
“Especially when you’ve done it for more than a few years, you know what I mean? I feel like we’ve been through the trenches a bit together,” he says.
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“After 16 years, starting back in 2009, I’m leaving Triple M,” he said on the show.
“I’ve decided to focus 100 per cent on Gotcha4Life which, of course, you blokes have been a part of and the station has been very supportive of me being away and doing that work.
“I just feel it’s right. It’s at the stage now where it really needs critical leadership and critical energy … just the passion, so forth, that goes behind Gotcha4Life.”
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Worland got his start in radio off the back of work he did with best mate, Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman.
Jackman had the idea to send Worland on a series of overseas adventures for a series called An Aussie Goes, which was produced by the actor’s production company Seed Productions.
It was during a phone interview with Triple M to promote the show that Worland was invited to join The Grill Team breakfast show.
“It was just perfect timing,” he says.
“They needed a new Sydney-based show. They wanted something around sport. And so we built The Grill Team, and I was on that for 10 years.”
In 2017, Worland entered the mental health space with a three-part series called Man Up, filmed for ABC.
Next, he launched Gotcha4Life and their new program Mental Fitness Gym which teaches Aussies how to manage their mental health.
The program is being rolled out in schools around the country.
Worland has previously spoken about how his gig on Triple M has helped him cope with the intensity of the work he is doing in the mental health space.
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“To give me the balance of fun and being able to come in here after horrific stories, and then to see everyone and have a laugh and have a cuddle and eat too much sugar,” he said during his announcement on air.
“I’ve needed that. I don’t know how well I’ll go without it, to be honest with you.”
Still, he feels it is “the right call.”
“It’s going to take me probably, you know, a few months or maybe a year to work out whether or not I can just do that job without the balance of media, but I’ll still do my Wide World of Sports on Channel 9 and I’ll do my Weekend Today on Channel 9,” he says.
He says he’s also been contacted by other media organisations keen to get him on board, but he is determined the majority of his energy will be focused on Gotcha4Life.
”I’ve got to be strong in my convictions,” he says, “Gotcha needs me every day, fully focused.”
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His vision is to “make mental fitness a subject in schools.”
“We’ve just started a primary schools program and I want to really focus in on the little ones and making sure that they’re learning that it’s okay to show their emotions at a young age when a lot of us have our emotions turned off,” he says.
“And I will continue to speak to every pollie [politician] and tell me what’s a more important subject than mental fitness.”
Worland will see out the year on the show ahead of his replacement being announced.
If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Men’s Helpline on 1300 78 99 78 or Gotcha4Life. In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).