Bern Young presents Breakfast on Friday and Saturday at ABC Gold Coast.
Bern grew up on the south side of Brisbane but every summer, and many weekends in between, the Gold Coast was her playground - camping at Tallebudgera Creek, day trips to Burleigh, the prerequisite childhood photos with hungry rainbow lorikeets and performing dolphins.
In 1997, after five years of working in and around regional Queensland as a TV reporter, Bern moved to the Gold Coast. She worked for Nine Gold Coast News as a journalist before being poached by Channel 7 and becoming their only Gold Coast Bureau reporter. But being on-call 24/7 reporting on car chases didn't give her any job satisfaction and when three of her favourite things were demolished (The Playroom, the old Burleigh Catholic Church and her house!) she decided to head to Sydney and see if she could finally get a break in the industry she dreamed of working in - ABC Radio.
She landed in Sydney just in time to take advantage of Olympics fever. She worked for ABC TV as a producer, reporter, chief-of-staff, anything they needed her to do or be. After a few shifts on the TV Foreign Desk she managed to convince a radio boss to give her a chance and that was all she needed.
After freelancing as a journalist for news and as a producer for 702 ABC Sydney she became a permanent member of the triple j news team the following year. She loved every moment of it, combining two of her favourite things in life - good music and information.
In 2004 she spread her wings and became the Mornings Presenter for ABC Radio in Alice Springs. It was only for 10 months but the Red Centre has left an indelible mark on her.
For 6 years Bern was the Afternoons presenter in Perth as well as occasionally filling in on national programs for Tony Delroy and James O'Loghlin. She interviewed the famous and not-so-famous but her most important interview was with a Perth musician, Fletch.
Now Bern, Fletch and their two children call the Gold Coast home.
Good music and information are still two of her favourite things and she’ll give you plenty of both every Friday and Saturday morning.