It's time out for Jane
Article from the Melbourne Herald Sun - Wednesday 25th November '98.

Jane Gazzo's looking to do her thing away from the media spotlight, writes Paul Dowsley

Fans of Jane Gazzo take note: soak up the last drops of her sparkly, goofy aroma while you can.

Next year she'll pretty much disappear from our televisions and radios after just a year of national prominence.

Whispers through the industry last week suggested she had fallen victim to the syndrome of too much exposure too soon.

But Gazzo tells a different story, and argues that initial reports from ABC executives saying she was abandoning both mediums are exaggerated.

The 24-year-old says she simply wants time out to try other things and maybe return to full-time media work in 2000.

She muses that she might get back into making music, finish learning Japanese, rediscover her social life, dabble in some acting and writing or travel.

Gazzo hit the big time this year as Triple J's night host and co-host on ABC-TV's youth music show Recovery with Dylan Lewis. Previously, she'd been a weekend host for Triple J and Triple R.

"It's been a brilliant year and I reckon I've had the best job in Australia, but basically I had to evaluate whether I wanted to keep doing nights on the radio, and the answer was no," Gazzo explains. "The 6-10 timeslot didn't agree with my body clock or my social life."

The most recent ratings saw Triple J's night shift suddenly skyrocket from 7.2 to 9.6, streaking ahead of Triple M and 3LO with the highest night result in years.

"I don't judge my success on ratings," she says. "Fun is incredibly important. I've been in radio for seven years and I'm really young and I've got all this grounding behind me, so I'd love to take a year off. I know I can always fall back on radio."

It's a similar story with her TV work: "It was an incredible role to land, but when a show's based around somebody like Dylan, who really turns up the volume for his personality, it's kind of hard to step in as I did, and it's probably a little restricting. I've had one week off this year and I feel I've coped incredibly well. It's not too much too soon at all. I just felt that while I had this wonderful job, I was missing out on a lot of things, personal life wise."

She wants to remain a fill-in host for Triple J and maybe do reports or an occasional segment for Recovery next year, but nothing is confirmed.

Gazzo is noticeably uncomfortable talking about herself and refuses to discuss anything outside of work, such as her boyfriend.

Like any newcomer to high profile jobs, Gazzo has attracted criticism for her style and areas which may need improvement, such as her interviewing skills.

"I'm not going to go into that," she says, when asked to give a critique of her own performance. "It's nobody's business what I think about myself."

Gazzo says here priority is enjoyment at work and breaking Australian bands.

"That, to me, means more than any accolade," she says.

Super Request, Triple J, weeknights, 6-10pm; Best of Recovery, ABC-TV, Saturday 9am-noon

See also: "Recovery Reduced"

Special thanks to Jobaby for finding and typing this up for me, and scanning the photo.