ANNOUNCER Chris Coleman has returned to the station where his passion for radio started.

“2CC was the first radio station where my voice was heard on air,” he says.

“As a teenager, in the 1980s, I was recorded reading a joke for broadcast on the Peter Mobbs show.

“Everyone at school heard it and I realised the power of radio, it hit me. I knew that was what I wanted to do.

“2CC has always had a special place in my heart because of that – and it’s an exciting time to be here.”

Chris is the new host of the 3pm-6pm, weekday, drive-time show “Canberra Live”.

Having moved back to Canberra in January for his wife’s job, Chris says he had been planning a break following his redundancy from the ABC to write a book and do some jobs around the house. However, he says he was thrilled to get the call from 2CC.

“Things happen quickly in radio; we negotiated the deal on the Thursday before Easter, then I was on air on the following Tuesday,” he says.

“When an opportunity like this comes along you jump at it.”

Chris worked for ABC Local Radio for 15 years in Wagga Wagga, Dubbo and Canberra, presenting local and national programs. He’s also worked in commercial radio in Orange and Muswellbrook.

“It can be a tough game, every day you put yourself out there, and people are judging you on you. But you can’t control how people will react to you,” he says.

“I’m very much myself on air – a larger-than-life version, but it’s still me. There’s no point trying to be anyone else.”

Chris, who has four grown-up children and one grandson, says he has a soft spot for Canberra as the place he spent his formative years and early 20s.

“We moved here in the mid-1980s and, like any teenager, I just went, ‘why?’ I’d lived in London, Queensland, Perth,” he says.

“But it’s a great place. It’s small enough to be friendly and it’s a vibrant city, growing in a nice way with a go-ahead mentality. Not many other places are growing like that.”

Chris says his first week back on air was “non-stop”.

“With talkback you have to be over-prepared in case no one rings in, and you can’t predict how it will go,” he says.

“The tapes sounded great, but it was the duck principle, there was a lot of paddling going on under the surface!

“You might think you have the hottest political topic to discuss, but people that day want to talk about a three-legged dog on YouTube or whatever.

“I know a little bit about a lot, and I’m happy for the show to go anywhere. I like the unpredictability.”

Chris graduated from St Edmund’s College and says he has always come back to Canberra throughout his time away, to fill in on air and keep up with the Canberra Cavalry, the Raiders and the Brumbies.