Queen of the airwaves! - LANA'S MORE IN LOVE THAN EVER

Twenty years on air and the popular broadcaster has still got radio ga-ga!

- Elise Cacace

It's been a year to remember for radio star Lana CochraneSearle, who married her longtime best friend last November, reignited her passion for playing rugby and, most recently, celebrated a whopping 20 years working in radio.

The More FM Breakfast Club co-host was just 16 when she first set foot in a radio station - to record an advertisement for Dargaville High School, where she was a boarder.

"Do you know what?" asks Lana incredulously.

"I didn't even realise! My mum reminded me and I was shocked that it's been 20 years since I was in seventh form! "I remember being like, 'Oh, my gosh, what is this place?' I always loved music and radio as a teenager, but I never thought it could be a job. I was like, ‘You get paid for this?’ It seemed too fun!” she says, adding she’s still looking for the bad side of the job.

“It must show itself soon, it’s been 20 years!

“I remember thinking, ‘Surely there’s another part of this that I don’t know about yet’ when I first gave it a go.”

And although her love for radio hasn’t changed over the past two decades, Lana, 36, has seen the industry “evolve for the better”.