By Leigh Andrews

Having pointed out to Nash that I had noticed quite a few 'say it ain't so' type comments on Twitter, he replied by saying that it was his choice to leave. About his partner in crime, he believes they were extremely lucky to be taught to make radio alone first, and then as a pair, stating that Anele is a brilliant broadcaster on her own. “I can't wait to hear what comes out of that Afternoon Drive show on 94.7. She is going to rock.”

He admits radio is something he’s going to miss, having been on air since 2002. Since then, the duo have done shows both together and separately on TuksFM before moving on to Highveld and finally 5FM. For Nash, it was a journey that started at community/university radio, and something that he tweeted about at the time of the annual radio line-up reshuffle. “If you want to be on a commercial radio station, you need to start at a community station”.

So that’s how you get ‘in’, but what attracted him to radio in the first place? Nash admits that it was originally the much hyped glamour factor, citing one instance where Ian F and Sasha Martinengo were talking about a movie premiere they had just been to. “I thought ‘Wow, what a life’.” But there was disappointment in store, as Nash says, “Turns out it is way less glamorous than I thought [it would be]. Luckily I fell in love with the medium before I realised it wasn't that glamorous at all.”

But there’s much more to Grant than his radio persona. He’s long been intrigued by the Buddhist lifestyle as well as the Dalai Lama, someone who he hopes to meet and be taught by one day. After having read the teachings of equally deep thinkers such as Neale Donald Walsch and Eckhart Tolle, he began to see a link to many Buddhist Sutras, pushing him to start studying Buddhism, a philosophy that has today become a way of life for him.

It’s also what Nash has been focusing on with greater intensity since his departure from 5FM. Back then, a day in the life of Grant Nash went a little something like this: “Wake up, meditate for 45 minutes, eat, shower, go to work from 12:00 to 15:00, debrief on the show, meet with the boss, clients and the like, do Jivamukti yoga, go home, meditate again, make food or eat what my amazing housemate had made, spend time with the boyfriend, read/study and sleep.” On leaving 5FM, Nash says he will wake up earlier to focus on his new company, Revelate, which is involved in media, radio concepts, sponsorships and experiential events. It’s only when he goes away on retreat that his schedule will drastically change. He attended one in Australia in May and will take part in another in Nepal in October. Then, “hopefully more studying, more working on myself and … eventually being more influential in really giving Buddhism a great base in South Africa,” he says.

It's an interesting dichotomy, if you think about it – the noisy nature of radio and the silence/serenity of the Buddhist lifestyle, which emphasises how different a personality can be on-air and off of it, especially with the radio personalities we ‘spend’ all day with as they provide the background to our workday. When I asked how he had kept this in balance, Nash points out that Buddhism is a mind science. ‘It’s about how we perceive the world, how we think, and it gives us tools to create complete happiness regardless of the outside.” He says, “Radio has given me this wonderful opportunity to begin to see how people think, what they are feeling. And it has given me the urgency to help, in any way I can.” It ties in perfectly with what else he has to say: “I believe Buddhism can help so I am working on bettering myself, learning more and eventually bring more Buddhism back to South Africa. So the noise of radio has given me the desire to help in the best way I can. Help people by changing the way they think. But first I’ve got to start with myself.” And that’s exactly what he’s doing.

Image credit: 5FM.