There is a phenomenon among expats in Switzerland that WRS presenter Pete Forster calls the “I was only…” syndrome. It comes from the phrase, “I was only here on a one-year contract and that was 15 years ago”.  Usually this is delivered with a shrug of shoulders as if to say, “ What can I do? Is it my fault Switzerland is such a nice place to live?”.

Well, it’s not been quite 15 years since he came here from Australia, but Pete’s getting there and yes, he too, or more accurately, his wife, came here on a short-term contract for the United Nations.   And now, two dogs, a house, two kids and thousands of radio hours later he can be heard saying the “I was only … “  line from time to time. 

In the years prior to coming to WRS, Pete describes his experience as broad: travel agent, before that café owner, assistant house master at a posh school, train graffiti cleaner, toll collector on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, woolpresser and farm hand. And that’s not the whole list. With his job as a radio presenter, he thinks he’s found his calling. As he puts it, “Where else do you get paid for being nosey?”

pete.forster@worldradio.ch
direct: +41 58 236 74 50