Em Rusciano breaks down in tears as she reflects on her past failures in radio

Em Rusciano broke down in tears on Thursday as she reflected on the ups and downs of her former career in commercial radio.

She explained how she had just signed a contract with Spotify Australia to make her Emsolation podcast a Spotify Exclusive while still granting her full creative control – after years of having her output carefully managed by radio executives.

‘[Spotify] enjoy me and don’t endure me, which has so often been the case in the past with previous employers… It’s so validating,’ the 42-year-old said. 

‘They have been incredible. To have one of the biggest listening platforms in the world love what I do and believe and back what I do and not ask me to change a thing,’ she said.

‘I’m getting teary. For those of you who have been along for the journey of my career, it has been hard fought.’

Em continued: ‘There have been so many times I had been laid flat and my soul bared and thinking my career was over and thinking something was wrong with me, because I kept getting these jobs in radio…’

Em revealed that in the past she felt like radio bosses wanted her to be ‘smaller’ and not her true authentic self. 

‘I was constantly being told who I was, I needed to make myself a bit smaller, not be as opinionated, don’t talk about periods, the messy stuff of life. “We need you to do this for this advertiser.” I kept feeling that who I was, just wasn’t quite right,’ she said.

She concluded: ‘Then to have Spotify say, “It’s great, who you are is exactly right and we want to align our brand with you.” I can’t tell you how exciting it is.’

In February, Em opened up about her ill-fated stint as breakfast host on 2Day FM.

In a series of Instagram posts, which have since deleted, she shared her experience of having her tone ‘policed’ during her employment at the radio station.

‘I was constantly told I was angry, I needed to be nicer to people, I needed to smile more and my tone was policed,’ she said.

‘I was under this microscope the whole time. Meetings would be on a screen and if I didn’t smile the whole time, there would be emails about what’s going on with Em.’

Em claimed it was an ‘exhausting’ time made worse by having a miscarriage and being told the format of her show would be changing. 

She also alleged her colleagues ‘were leaking bulls**t stories about me’ to the press, and felt there was an overall ‘really toxic work environment’ at the station.

For her part, Em acknowledged her own behaviour at 2Day FM ‘wasn’t great’, but said no one around her was willing to ‘cut me any slack’.

‘I’m still dealing with it all but I feel like I understand it a bit better,’ she concluded. 

Em was hired to host 2Day FM’s breakfast show in 2017, alongside Harley Breen.

In September 2018, she announced she was leaving the show in order to focus on having a baby.

Before her departure, multiple reports alleged employees had left 2Day FM and others were looking for new jobs due to Em’s ‘attitude’. 

In May 2018, Em herself admitted she could ‘turn’ if she felt slighted by colleagues.

‘Something just goes in my eyes and I become a different person. So I’m not very good at crescendoing my moods,’ she told Wil Anderson’s Wilosophy podcast.

During that same interview, Em also complained about her co-hosts Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee, who had been drafted in to replace Harley Breen in late 2017.

She said: ‘I, all of a sudden, got two co-hosts that I’d never really met or spoken to, and then I’m expected to have this instant chemistry with.’

Em added that she took a ‘big ego hit’ upon discovering she no longer had top billing on the show.

‘It was just hectic,’ she said. ‘It was The Em Rusciano Radio Show. It was my show, and all of a sudden Ed’s anchoring, the show’s called The 2Day FM Breakfast Show.’