Dial 1179 The 3KZ Story 111!lank4, \\ II air... _4_, ., A___ i ellir .- ... w '...“." all ille• an on» R. R. Walker Dia11179 The 3KZ Story Norman Banks, Eddie Balmer, Uncle Doug, Jack Davey, Nicky, 'Joan', Terry Dear, Don Joyce and Jack Dyer... these are just some of the great names that have been part of the 3KZ Story. This book is the history of that radio station, and its substantial role in broadcasting in Australia. It covers the programmes, personalities and promotions, and the contemporary events that have made radio such abig part of the lives of most Australians. It is full of marvellous stories and anecdotes that come from the tension and excitement of being on the air. For those who can remember, and for others too young, but who would like to know, this book tells acolourful tale about the past and present sounds of Melbourne radio and offers aglimpse of what is to come in the future. Journalist, copywriter, broadcaster, advertising man, television commentator, author, R. R. (Bob) Walker has spent his entire working life in the communications business, part of it with 3ICZ. This is his fifth book on media-related subjects. Journalist, copywriter, broadcaster, advertising man, television commentator, author, R. R. (Bob) Walker has spent his entire working life in the communications business, part of it with 3KZ. This is his fifth book on media-related subjects. Dial 1179 The 3KZ Story R. R. Walker Currey O'Neil First published 1984 by Lloyd O'Neil Pty Ltd 56 Claremont Street, South Yarra Victoria, Australia for Currey O'Neil ISBN 085550 596 6 © R. R. Walker Designed by Guy Mirabella Typeset by Meredith Trade Lino Pty Ltd Printed by Globe Press Pty Ltd This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes ofprivate study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publisher. Dia11179 The 3KZ Story By the same author Communicators People, Practices, Philosophies in Australian Advertising, Media ,Marketing The Magic Spark The story of the first fifty years of Radio in Australia Scft Soap, Hard Sell In Adland Australia Writing for Radio 'Contents Acknowledgements vi 1 In the Beginning I 2 Early Days 6 3 Emerging Stars 12 4 Ups and Downs 26 5 The Roster Grows 30 6 The Distaff Side 47 7 The Spectrum Broadens 53 8 The Writers 57 9 The Serial Saga 66 10 Drums of War 73 11 New Voices, New Programmes 83 12 The Roaring Forties 90 13 The Managers 103 14 The Spectre of Television 110 15 Weathering the Storm 121 16 The Swinging Sixties 125 17 'B' Comes before 'A' 130 18 Music, Maestro, Please 133 19 More Music 144 20 Sports Parade 148 21 A Word from our Sponsor 157 22 Here is the News 170 23 The Sound of the Seventies 177 24 UFOs 181 25 Top Shows 188 26 Helping Hand 191 27 Stand by, Studio 194 28 Now is the Time .. 197 Appendix 201 Index 202 Acknowledgements It should be noted that in commissioning this book the Directors of 3KZ Radio Pty Ltd agreed to give the writer free rein in what he wrote and how he wrote it. Inevitably other stations and other interests form part of the background against which the 3KZ story is told. Old colleagues, former station personalities, acquaintances and correspondents, all contributed to source material. Their memories of past events, many of them from half acentury back, often differ in detail, sometimes substance. Authors, organisations and publications are also drawn upon, among them: The Listener- In, Radio Times, Radioprogram ,Broadcasting Business, B & T Weekly, AdNews, the Age, the Herald ,the Sun, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, the Australian 3roadcasting Control Board, the Federa- tion of Australian Radio Broadcasters, The Timetables of History (Thames & Hudson), George Patterson, Captain Blood by Jack Dyer (Stanley Paul), Boots and All by Lou Richards (Stanley Paul), the Radio Marketing Bureau, the Industrial Printing and Publicity Company, AWA, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Weevils in the Flour by Wendy Lowenstein (Hyland House), Wireless Weekly, McNair Surveys, the Anderson Analysis, and An Eyewitness History of Australia by Harry Gordon (Rigby). As well the publisher and author would like to thank MCA Music Australia Pty Ltd for permission to reproduce some of the lyrics from 'She Had to Go and Lose It at the Astor' and Chappell & Co. for permission to repro- duce 'Bluebird of Happiness'. Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright. Should any infringement have occurred, the publisher and author tender their apologies. vi 1 In the Beginning Comparison, it is said, provides the only proper measure of value. But it can be deceptive. Consider the surface indicators of the year 1930. Beer was one shilling abottle; ameat pie was threepence; stamps were twopence each; a newspaper, a penny-halfpenny; cigarettes, sixpence apacket; atop-quality Gibsonia men's tweed suit, sixty-three shillings; milk delivered, threepence apint; Coles' new store in Bourke Street had hundreds of items for sale with 'nothing over two-and-six'; rental on asmall house, one pound aweek; reasonable 'full board', twenty-two and six aweek; and aDe Soto Sports Roadster, over three hundred pounds. A worker's paradise? The ultimate Eden of which men dreamed? Melbourne, no less. But contemporary costs, attractive as they seem now, hid adeep and growing malaise. The Stock Exchange crash in the United States the previous year had triggered off shock world reaction. Factories closed down, money tightened up, un- employment exploded and strikes broke out. In Australia, three crippling industrial disputes in the the timber and coal industries and on the wharves, proved long and costly to workers seeking abetter deal. By December 1930 unemployment exceeded 23 per cent, and rising. It was all so sudden, so shattering. You could go broke literally overnight. 1 Dial 1179 In October 1929, Stanley Melbourne Bruce, that 'fine flower of transplanted English c:vilisation' not only lost government but his own seat of Flinders. Frank Anstey, Labor stalwart, said of him: 'Nothing was perm: tted to ruffle the calm of his superiority. No insult could draw from him the slightest protest, only astare of curiosity such as an entomologist might give abug.' Mr Bruce expressed 'deep disappointment' at his rejection. It is worth re- calling, however, that before he became aMinister of the Crown he drew no Parliamentary salary because he thought his own in- come was adequate for his needs. 'Imperturbable,' said his supporters. 'Imperious,' said his critics. Whichever, the Honourable James Scullin took Labor to power at atime of rapidly gathering crises. Wool prices had fallen dra- matically; wheat followed. Gold reserves were drained; farmers were leaving their properties; and an Anti-Starvation Crusade started up. The trade unions called for a state of national emer- gency, plus government control of natural resources, wage in- creases and aforty-hour week. Instead, Sir Otto Niemeyer, enlisted for advice from the Bank of England, recommended cuts in wages, social services and pensicns. Shelters for the unemployed were opened at the Jolimont Rail- way Yards and Broadmeadows Army Camp. Evictions for non- payment of rents became common. `Susso' (basic sustenance) and food queues told the story of mounting travail. Nobody was really prepared for it all. The banks chopped credit. Wrote one finance man of the day in words reminiscent of recent times: 'The first steps in finding the road back to prosperity necessitate drastic curtailment of all uneconomic government expenditure and far- reaching reductions in at. costs of services and administration'. Sir Isaac Isaacs became Governor-General, the first Australian to be appointed; Amy _Pinson, in a second-hand de Havilland Moth, winged her way from England 'after nineteen days of peril and anxiety'; Bradman scored arecord 334 at Headingley; talking pictures were the talk of the town; there were revolutions in Ar- gentina and Brazil; Noel Coward's Private Lives was the big stage hit in London; Marlene Dietrich was wowing them in the film Blue Angel; the planet Pluto was discovered; France started to build 2 In the Beginning the Maginot Line; Max Schmeling was world heavyweight boxing champion; Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup; Collingwood were Premiers;- and Mickey Mouse took over from where Australia's own Felix the Cat left off in the world of animated cartoons. The most popular songs of the day were 'Georgia on my Mind', 'I Got Rhythm', 'Three Little Words', `Walkin' my Baby back Home', 'Body and Soul' and 'Time on my Hands' — a prophetic guide of things to come. All of them, curiously, still familiar today and getting occasional airplay. Such was the more eventful side of life in those straitened times. In 1930, radio was starting to emerge from what could only be described as adisturbed childhood. But its enthusiasms, cheerful sounds, at least provided acounterpoint to economic gloom. The Government had made rather abotch of the whole business. Regular broadcasting in Melbourne started in January 1924, when the Associated Radio Company (hence 3AR) took to the air from premises in A'Beckett Street. There was a long opening speech from the Chief Secretary (Dr Stanley Argyle), followed by acon- cert 'clearly heard in the suburbs', as the press next day was to report. Sets were sealed to the station's frequency and that was the only one you could get. For this, there was a'subscription' of three guineas payable to the Postmaster-General's Depart- ment.The 'sealed' system was abandoned later that year and new licences were issued to operators: 'A' class, financed by listeners' fees of one pound fifteen shillings ayear, and 'IV class, which had to rely on advertising.