Navigating Panic Attacks in Broadcasting

In 2024 Nate Byrne went from presenting the weather to making the news when he acknowledged live on air that he was experiencing a panic attack. Keeping cool under pressure is a skill Nate developed in his first career as a Naval Officer, and perhaps also from his days as a go-go dancer in a Perth nightclub.

Nate Byrne is the Weather Presenter on ABC News Breakfast.

In August this year Nate went from presenting the weather to making the news when he acknowledged, as he was broadcasting live, that he was experiencing a panic attack.

It's something that had been happening on many mornings for the past few years whenever Nate stood at one of his favourite places in the world: in front of the weather wall in the ABC TV studio.

Nate has decided this is just his body being 'a doofus' and has found a way to redirect his brain once the panic starts.

Keeping cool under pressure is a skill Nate developed in his first career as a Naval Officer… and perhaps also from his days as a go-go dancer in a Perth nightclub.

This episode of Conversations explores family, marriage equality, science, meteorology, TV Broadcasting, the weather, origin stories, weather forecasts, military history, World War Two, the navy, submarines, sea mines, naval mines, Arab Spring, and dancing.