Page 22 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, February 5, 2014
www.MelbourneObserver.com.au
Remembering Keith McGowan
54-years magic at the microphone ■ When 14-year-old Keith McGowan left Box Hill Technical School to become the office boy at Melbourne radio station 3UZ, no-one knew that he would become an ‘institution’ of the broadcasting industry. It was 54 years later that Keith hung up the headphones, retiring after a career that saw him work in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and New South Wales. His career, spanning over more than half the history of broadcast radio saw him as the top DJ in Perth, beat Bert Newton and Derryn Hinch in the Melbourne ratings, work alongside John Laws in Sydney radio, and then chalk up close to quarter of a century as the Overnights program host on 3AK and 3AW. Melbourne’s top-rating breakfast host Ross Stevenson termed his colleague as “a legend”. Former 3AW General Manager Graham Mott, at the time of Keith’s retirement in 2011, said McGowan was “very much himself”. Keith watched the greats at 3UZ, and soon scored his own on-air time at 3TR in Sale. Whilst there he was on the early days on Gippsland television at GLV-10. In Tasmania, Keith developed a style that he was to export to Perth, where as one of the ‘Good Guys’, he convincingly won the ratings. In New South Wales, he was Program Director and on-air personality at 2KA Katoomba, that reached out for the Western Sydney market. He was headhunted for the afternoon post at 2UW, following on from the ‘Golden Tonsils’, John Laws. Keith was approached to work at 3MP, the new Melbourne radio station based at Frankston, serving the Mornington Peninsula. During his stint there, Keith helped make a hit ... Up There Cazaly, performed by a man who was to become a long-time friend, Mike Brady. Radio saw mixed fortunes, with stints at 3DB, working for General Manager Bert Newton, as well as brief sessions at 3GL Geelong and 3KZ. But it was an opportunity at 3AK to host the midnight-dawn program that saw Keith come into his own. 3AW General Manager Denis O’Kane was attempting to re-build that station, and signed Keith to host the weeknight program ... first out of the Latrobe St studios, then at Bank St in South Melbourne, and finally under the Fairfax Media banner at Media House at Docklands. Keith had a unique formula. He was his own call-taker, his own panel operator, his own producer. He made it look easy. He developed on-air friendships with hundreds of regular callers. He deciphered the winning ingredients for companion radio. He did not suffer fools, and took no prisoners. Yet his warm, humour-filled programs provided company to thousands of overnight listeners. After a brush with cancer, and some long-service leave, Keith McGowan decided to retire in July 2011, and tour Australia with wife Angela. They were active and exciting. In December, just before Christmas, Keith McGowan suffered from a stroke in his sleep. He never regained consciousness. In his Will, Keith stipulated there was to be no funeral service.
● Keith McGowan pushes the button on his show, July 2011
● Angela McGowan, Simon Owens and Keith McGowan
● Son-in-law Robert Allars, daughter Tania, Keith McGowan, and grandchildren Matthew, Laura and Ben
● Daughter-in-law Lynette, Angela and Keith McGowan, son Nathan McGowan, with grand-daughter Jessica
● Flashback: Keith McGowan at Sydney’s 2UW
● Flashback: Keith McGowan at 3MP
● Keith McGowan with Jane Holmes
● Jessica tells David Mann about ‘Grandpa’ Keith McGowan