"She seems unaware of just how inexperienced she is," was how one media commentator described Virginia Trioli when she first took her place behind the microphone of the Drive program on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne.

She had by that point more than a decade of experience as a journalist — but was still relatively new to the art of broadcasting.

But Trioli was a quick study, and in the 25 years that followed, would establish herself as one of Australia’s most incisive and instinctive broadcasters, from the interview with Peter Reith that would earn her a Walkley Award, to her expansion into television, presenting Lateline, and her role as the foundation host of the now long-running ABC News Breakfast.

As part of our ongoing profile series, the two-time Walkley Award winner joins Tina Quinn to reflect on those years in broadcasting — the interviews that defined her career, the evolution from radio to television, and the pressures that would ultimately lead her to step away from daily broadcasting.

Virginia's 2024 memoir, A Bit on the Side: Reflections On What Makes Life Delicious, is published by Pan Macmillan.

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