ASHLEY DILLON
MOBILE DJ
By Dave Roberts
Hello Ashley speaking..... pretty standard way to answer the phone, but the delivery is instantly indicative of what Ashley Dillon has been for quite some time.
No question about it, even on the phone you’re talking to an FM jock. Some time later I asked him if he was just born to it, and he noted that as you’re in the radio industry for a time, the voice strengthens and deepens, “but my dad’s got a good voice too”. As I suspected, he was given that as a break.
Ashley Dillon is making his way as a mobile disc jockey, having left behind a fairly successful career in radio. Along with DJ ing at weddings and parties, he is for hire to do voice overs and run other events like quiz nights. Surprise surprise, it works and the business is keeping the wolf from the door. The couple whose wedding I’d met him at were certainly impressed, he’s got broad tastes in music and he spent the time getting to know what they wanted from him ( yep, all night and we never heard the birdy dance).
Ashley is based in Bunbury, and though he’s been other places, this is still home. Back in the 1980s he finished year 12 at Bunbury Cathedral Grammar, and having run an astute eye over the levels he was likely to achieve at the TEE, Ash and the folks decided that a Rotary Exchange Student year would be a good idea. This was a fantastic opportunity for Ashley, he spent 1988 in South Africa. It was a time when all sorts of changes were inevitable, but they hadn’t taken place yet, the sense of the place opening up was palpable. For himself, the trip introduced him to a range of new people and to the need to engage with people he didn’t know, and the public speaking component was to inform his career choice for the rest of his life.
On returning to Perth he attended what basically turned out to be “disc jockey school” at Mt Lawley TAFE, and began the expected run of country postings, first stop Merredin. The bush apprenticeship was reasonably short though, and that voice soon enough took him to Perth and into the FM round, where at one stage he was working midnight to dawn shifts for two different stations.
It doesn’t take long for family to prove a strong attraction, and Ashley, now with a wife, came to Bunbury “which was always home, really”. Hot FM is the place where his talents were the perfect fit, and with the parents local, a good job, and the arrival of his son, all seemed set to be a happily ever after scenario.
Doesn’t it suck when it all seems ready to play out right, and then it falls apart? There’s no question that family is a major driver for Ashley Dillon. In the South West he’s got his parents, a level of work, and his son. When his marriage came unstuck, ensuring that he was the best dad he could be was the non negotiable component that displaced full time work. No worries, he thought, we’re in the age of family friendly work places, so he came to the boss with a proposal. The proposal saw him making less money but still using that deep smooth voice and the love and knowledge of music to keep the station working. Sad but true, we come up with all sorts of plans but the other party can’t always see it working out for them. With no way to bring eveybody’s needs together, the station was soon using the redundancy option, and Ashley had to figure out what to do.
Living in the country had shown one thing, Mr Dillon isn’t as farmer and there are one or two animals he’s learned to detest. Throw in a “fear of spanners”, and you’re looking at a guy who considers himself practically unemployable. Hmmm, what am I good at? Well I know heaps about music, I kind of like talking to people and I’ve got a great voice..... maybe I should be a DJ.
So the die is cast and “Dillo” moves into the great unknown with a prodigious musical knowledge and what’s colloquially known as “a shedload” of cd’s. As we noted at the start, he’s making ends meet and he likes working with people, and it lets him make a living and do the really important things.
I had to ask, though, is he sad he left the radio industry behind? “It’s a necessity I’m quite cool about really. I’ve been able to buy a van and some bits and pieces with my payout” Ashley notes. But what about dreams of greatness? Right now I’m in a survival pattern and I get to do things that are important. If I’ve got dreams though, they’re really more about the life I might get by buying five acres and planting and orchard and a really great garden. Most important is that I get to see my boy grow up happy and healthy.”
I kind of started the interview thinking the plan had fallen apart, but after some time with this guy I’m not at all convinced.
May 2006
