Nigel Pierce sat down with Steven Taylor of Magic828am for an exclusive interview to talk about everything we always wanted to know and more.
Pierce started off by talking about growing up in Lotus River with his brother and listening to Martin Bailie on 5FM Breakfast.
Pierce - whose real name is Gavin Goliath - first fell in love with radio after entering an on-air competition. Once he had appeared live on air, the radio bug bit and there was no turning back.
Pierce started his radio career years later while studying Law at UCT and joined UCT Radio under the name Gavin Goliath. It would’t be long before he created the Nigel Pierce alter ego. He later joined GoodHope FM but also moved to other stations like Cape Talk as well as KFM before going back to GoodHope FM.
Since leaving GoodHope FM in 2019, Nigel has trained daily, and is in good shape for someone who is over the age of 50.
Looking back, he said he didn’t like to “replay the old movie”, he looked at “creating a new movie of (his) life”. He meditates, he does mental exercises, runs for an hour each day, does weights and has quiet time.
Pierce has never been far from controversy. He was taken off air over a joke he made about Robert Mugabe on April 1, 2002. On March 6, 2019, he was informed by the management at GoodHope FM that his contract would not be renewed, and promptly shared on air that his last day on the popular drive show would be March 31.
On March 7, he was taken off air with immediate effect.
Pierce responded by taking to social media to air his grievances. This led some to question the state of his mental health, but Pierce revealed to Taylor that all of this was orchestrated. He had planned every video, and left nothing to chance or coincidence.
Taylor probed whether or not was paid for the days remaining on his contract until March 31, despite being taken off air on March 7.
“No, I was not,” Pierce replied.
Pierce had always felt he was untouchable, but his outlook on life had changed in the last four years.
LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH NIGEL PIERCE HERE
He shared some of the lessons learnt in the last four years:
- It’s not about being cocky or arrogant, it’s about playing the game. The brand is about entertaining people. I don’t like safe radio.
- I’m not afraid of being fired, not afraid of failure or anyone. The last four years have given me clarity and power.
- I engineered all the (social media) videos and controlled the narrative.
- I look at my life and say “thank you, God, it was a blessing in disguise”. I spent some time sitting down at a desk and looking at all the positive and negative things in my life. I became emotional as I have done some bad things, and I do have regrets.
- I live life at a high level, and I’ve raised the bar over the last four years; mentally, physically, in my marriage, everywhere.
- I haven’t listened to radio or consumed any media in the last four years.
- I didn’t want to get back into the industry, and I didn’t miss radio, but the bug has bitten again.
- In my heyday, I could run a sub-35 minute 10km and a sub-75 minute half marathon.
- People I have worked with in the past, some who even hated me, have been calling me over the last six months to work with me again, because of my work ethic.
- An opinion is like an asshole. Everyone has one.
- I didn’t have the radio on in my car for the last four years up until last week.
- I discussed with my team a legal challenge with the SABC, which I later lost. But I would consider going back and rejoining GoodHope FM.
- In the last four years I have rewired and reprogrammed my brain to the new way I think and live.
- I’ve been contacted by political parties to join them. I’ve said no.
- There are tons of Voodoo artists around, who claim they are for the people. One man one vote is myth if you are an 87 year old standing in line to vote in blazing heat just to go back to live in a shack.
Pierce has started a new brand called Kinky Saints and the next event on September 16 takes place at Hanover Street and features Stan Mars and many more. You can follow him on TikTok.
You can listen to the full interview that Steven Taylor did with Nigel Pierce here.
Nigel Pierce has also agreed to do a second interview with Steven Taylor from Magic828 AM next week. You can email questions for him to [email protected].