Eps. 9 - 'End Of An Era'

This week, hosts Rod and Gary delve into the significant transition period for Geelong's iconic radio station. They talk to Gary Roydhouse and explore Reg Gray's remarkable 46-year tenure as station manager and his retirement in 1977, followed by Terry Taylor’s efforts to modernise and revitalize 3GL for a new era.

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Transcript

GARY:  Hello and welcome to Episode 9 of The Station – Remembering 3GL. I’m Gary Newton.

ROD:    And I’m Rod McLure.

GARY:  And in this episode Rod and I will be looking at what really was the end of an era for radio in Geelong.

ROD:    And probably much further afield.

GARY:  But first, just a reminder that The Station – Remembering 3GL is being brought to you with the help of our sponsors Nature’s Cuppa and Safe Solutions care …

GARY:  So, it was December, 1977 when the man who had been directing the course of the Geelong Advertiser station for forty-six years decided to  hand over the reins.

ROD:    Reg Gray was 73 years old.

GARY:  Just to do a bit of a recap of Reg’s story. He was six years old and living with his mother in Melbourne when he developed polio. His primary schooling was interrupted but Reg was a determined young lad and went on to complete his formal education at Caulfield Grammar School.

ROD:    Reg joined the education department and became a primary school teacher at Miller Street State School in North Fitzroy.

GARY:  After 3 years of teaching Reg felt the need for a change. He resigned from the education department, packed his bags and moved to Sydney where he found employment with Paton’s Advertising Agency.

ROD:    Reg worked in Paton’s production department, producing layouts and writing copy for newspaper advertisements.

GARY:  All was going well until the Great Depression arrived. Paton’s closed their Sydney office and Reg was out of work and returned to Melbourne where as luck would have it he bumped into one of his clients from his time with Patons.

ROD:    That client was Mr. George Sutton of Sutton’s music store who informed Reg that Sutton’s had a third share in the newly opened Geelong radio station, 3GL.

GARY:  George Sutton told Reg that the radio station was struggling to make money and was in need of a sales person. He asked Reg if he would be interested in filling the role.

ROD:    He didn’t have to ask twice.

GARY:  Reg caught the train to Geelong and presented himself to the station manager and part owner, Mr. E.J. Haynes who promptly handed him a copy of the Geelong Advertiser with various sections highlighted and directed Reg to read the news.

ROD:    Reg tried to explain he had come to sell advertising.

GARY:  Haynes said, “yes, but we need an announcer.”

ROD:    Reg did as he was told and was offered a position as announcer, selling advertising in his spare time.

GARY:  By the mid-1930s Mr. Haynes and Suttons had relinquished their shares in 3GL and the Geelong Advertiser had become sole proprietor – with Reg Gray as station manager.

ROD:    A position he would hold for the rest of his working life.

GARY:  From 1931 until 1977, Reg Gray guided 3GL through five decades of broadcasting. He was well-known, well-liked and well- respected in the radio world. In fact, at the time of his retirement Reg Gray was the longest serving station manager in Australia.  Even when he retired as manager of the station he continued to be involved with 3GL when he joined the Board of Directors.

ROD:    We should mention too that a few years prior to Reg’s retirement the Geelong Advertiser – along with 3GL – had been sold to the Herald and Weekly Times … I think, in 1973. It was a business decision and did not greatly affect the day to day affairs and programming of the station.

GARY:  Okay, so Reg is stepping down … who was stepping up?

ROD:    I thought you would never ask! A man who we both know of course – because he was our boss for a number of years, Terry Tayler – who at the time was manager of 3BO in Bendigo.

GARY:  Terry had a background in radio and television advertising and he and Reg had got to know each other when they attended the regular FARB meetings – that’s the Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters – in Melbourne.

ROD:    Reg had been thinking about retiring for quite some time but according to Terry because Reg had been running the station for so long the Board of Directors felt, well, he was … irreplaceable.

GARY:  At one of the FARB meetings Reg informed Terry that he was going to retire and that the board were looking for a replacement and he asked Terry if he would be interested.

ROD:    Terry said it would have been a few weeks – perhaps even longer – when he received a phone call from Reg Gray telling him that the Company Secretary of the Geelong Advertiser Group, John Morwood would like to meet him.

GARY:  John Morwood by the way was one of those people who despite his role of running the show, pretty much knew everyone by their first name. He was very well liked and respected at all levels throughout the Geelong Advertiser Group – including of course, at 3GL.

ROD:    When describing his first meeting with John Morwood Terry said it was one of the funniest things because Mr. Morwood felt it would be inappropriate to meet at Terry’s place, at Mr. Moorwood’s place … or at anyone’s place.

GARY:  So where did they meet?

ROD:    Well, according to Terry, they met on the 23rd step of the Bendigo Post Office. Maybe it was the 21st step. Terry wasn’t quite sure.

GARY:  Let’s just say it was a step in the right direction because John Morwood was suitably impressed and offered Terry the role of station manager at 3GL. When asked what attracted him to the position Terry explained that he was aware that 3GL had been servicing the Geelong community very well for a very long time and financially it was making a significant contribution to the Geelong Advertiser Group.

ROD:    On the other hand, Terry was also aware that on the programming side of things, to use Terry’s words, “3GL was stagnant.”  He said that 3GL was doing things that had been dispensed with by more progressive stations and he saw that as a challenge.

GARY:  3GL was certainly appealing to an older age group and Terry felt the station needed to look at the total Geelong market and access how3GL was being accepted.

ROD:    While the Board of Directors was open to change it was made clear that things were not to be done too quickly. No “wholesale changes,” so to speak. 

GARY:  Terry had helped with the modernization of 3BO in Bendigo and he came to Geelong with plans to give 3GL a more contemporary position in the market place. He wanted to attract a younger audience – not necessarily at the expense of the station’s older listeners – but Terry realized that going into the future it would be that younger audience that would be loyal supporters and loyal listeners to the station.

ROD:    He felt 3GL had no clear identity. While appreciating it was obviously local in its sound and appeal there were so many turn-off factors for a large part of its potential listening audience. 

GARY:  Horse racing, greyhound and trotting meetings all cut into the regular progams and Terry was well aware that part of the driving force behind 3GL’s coverage of these events was that 3GL was being paid to broadcast the meetings. Financially it was an attractive proposition.

ROD:    On the other side of the coin, Sunday mornings and evenings were devoted to religious programs –and there was an hour of Greek music on Sunday nights. While the financial factor was not involved here, it was once again a case of the station attempting to provide a service to the community – even if it meant losing a large part of its listening audience.

GARY:  A conundrum. Identifying the problem was one thing, convincing the Board that changes could and should be made was another. 

ROD:    What Terry did was arrange for some surveys to be taken.

GARY:  It wasn’t extensive research but it did show that only a small portion of 3GL’s potential audience was tuning in to the station

ROD:    And not only that, there was a sizeable number of listeners who tuned out when these specialized coverages and broadcasts went to air – and they didn’t come back.

GARY:  With the results of his research in hand Terry went to the Board and explained how radio had changed over the years. 

ROD:    He spoke to the Board about things like “continuity of listenership” and “cumulative audience” – things that were necessary selling tools to potential advertisers. 

GARY:  He detailed how for 3GL to increase its audience and by doing so increase its revenue, it was essential that the station reinvent and reprogram itself without all the interruptions that caused people to constantly tune in and tune out again.

ROD:    Terry said that prior to accepting the position at 3GL he had made it clear that he would want to introduce new elements to the station. He recalled that it was also agreed that these changes would be made gradually and with as little disruption as possible. He said that overall he was given a fairly free hand by the board.

GARY:  Terry also recalled a conversation he had with the Chairman of the Herald and Weekly Times – Sir Keith McPherson, when Sir Keith said: Terry, after you’ve been with this company for a while you’ll realise that we do things by degrees. It was Sir Keith’s way of saying … okay, we’ll do this now but that can wait ‘till later. Terry got the message – things were not to be done too quickly.

ROD:    So, roll on 1978 and judging by some of the advertisements that appeared in the Geelong Advertiser in January of that year, Terry was wasting no time in at least promoting that change was in the air at 3GL .

GARY:  Literally in the air in fact with a promo saying … You’re Flying with Summer Radio 3GL – stay tuned this weekend for beach and bay reports from the 3GL/Johns SKYWATCH.

ROD:    The “summer” theme on 3GL would be heavily pushed throughout December, January and February but in the summer of ’78 sport still dominated as this half page advertisement in the Geelong Advertiser made clear …

GARY:  YOU’RE ON THE BALL WITH SUMMER RADIO 3GL. Victorian Country Cricket Week starts Monday with Geelong playing Wangaratta at the M.C.G. Hear daily reports from Graham Rawlins.

ROD:    And don’t miss Ken McPhail’s Motor Sports Magazine this morning (that’s Saturday) from 10.30 to 11.

GARY:  But wait, there’s Racing this afternoon at Sandown, there’s the Geelong Cricket Round-up tonight and be sure to tune in for the Murrays Menswear Golf and Bowls results.

ROD:    Oh, and in between all of that don’t miss half an hour of more music in the Brash’s Show with David Coburn.

GARY:  Hmm, change didn’t come easy … but it was happening. One individual who was part of those early days of Summer Radio 3GL was Gary Roydhouse.  Gary wore a number of hats during his time at 3GL. He was a salesperson, announcer, promotions manager and Sky Watch reporter.  

ROD:    Come the summer of ’79 and the Summer Radio theme of the previous year had been replaced by … 3GL – SUMMER LIFE. Gary Roydhouse played a significant role in the Summer Life promotion. He got a friend called Daryl Thomson involved – Daryl ran his own sound business and had a van that had been converted into a type of outdoor studio. 

GARY:  Gary said that he and Daryl discussed with Terry Taylor the idea about having beach promotions around the coast with all kinds of competitions and sponsor give aways – including Beach Discos sponsored by Coca-Cola.  I spoke with Gary about some of his recollections about his time at 3GL …

SELECTION OF GARY AND GARY INTERVIEW

ROD:    1979 would see a gradual change in the voices heard over 3GL. In the early part of the year John Mason was still doing the breakfast session and June Thomas presented the Women’s Session. 

GARY:   But in March of that year, the late morning/early afternoon shift was presented by Richard Dowling. The Drive Time Show was hosted by John Allen and the evening shift had Peter Barltett still juggling the music program with regular cross-overs to the trots and greyhounds. 

ROD:    And the station was still closing down at midnight.

GARY:  Oh, and another major change had occurred when Ivor Grundy and Leo O’Halloran hung up their boots and the football commentary was taken over by Bruce Peake, Polly Farmer and Noe Thom,

ROD:    The sponsors continued to be Heaths Motors and Murrays Menswear.

GARY:  So, as agreed to by Terry and the Board, changes were taking place but it was a gradual process. 

ROD:    Religious programs had been moved to the evening and on Sunday, March 27, 1979 3GL presented its first “all hits Sunday” – A History of Rock-n-Roll, hosted by Graham Braddy.

GARY:  Change – as they say – is never easy. Terry had employed Denis Lee as program manager and was relying on Denis’s experience in the larger metropolitan markets to help 3GL attract a younger audience that would remain loyal to the station.

ROD:    This would see some of the station’s longest serving employees shifted into new roles that were not always suitable … or appreciated.

GARY:  David Coburn, June Thomas and John Mason found themselves without regular air shifts.

ROD:    June and John were moved into sales and David was used to voice commercials and assist in the production department.

GARY:  Come September, June gave notice that her time was up at 3GL and she returned to where her working career had begun back in the late 1940’s – the Geelong Advertiser. She worked in the advertising department and also wrote a regular column for the paper.

ROD:    And for a short period, David Coburn also found himself in uncharted territory. A story in the Geelong Advertiser on November 26th, 1979 was headed … NEW VOICE FOR 3GL. 

GARY:  The “new voice” of course was not referring to David Coburn but to journalist and news presenter, Ron Lock. The article related that Ron Lock would be joining “well known news personality” David Coburn in heading up 3GL’s local news operation.

ROD:    “Well-known news personality?” I’m not sure how David would have felt about that. Come to think of it … I am sure I know how David felt.

GARY:  The article went on to explain how the News expansion was part of the overall new look/new sound being created by 3GL – resulting in increased coverage of local news and current affairs.

ROD:    Prior to all this taking place – perhaps a month or two earlier – there were two other new additions to the 3GL workforce.

GARY:  Really? Who were they?

ROD:    Well, one was a unique character who would go on to be a household name with 3GL listeners … Don “Mad-Dog” Dwyer. We’ll delve into Don’s time at 3GL in more detail a little later.

GARY:  And the other?

ROD:    Well, I’m looking at him right now, aren’t I? The one, the only … GARY NEWTON!!! (PAUSE). Okay,  being serious for a moment, why don’t you tell us a bit of the how, when and why you found yourself at 3GL.

GARY:  (AS ROD DOZES OFF) …

ROD:    Looking at a 3GL program in the Geelong Advertiser in November, 1979, Don Dwyer was hosting the breakfast program, Gary Newton was doing the morning show, Mike Menner was the afternoon announcer and Ken Henderson was presenting the drive home entertainment – pretty much a  whole new line-up.

GARY:  And this was close to two years since Terry Tayler had taken over from Reg Gray as station manager.

ROD:    And there were changes to the off-air staff as well – particularly in the sales department where Terry’s sales manager from 3BO in Bendigo joined the team.

GARY:  His name was (and still is) John Humphrey. John would go on to succeed Terry as manager of the station and we will talk to John about his time as sales manager and manager of 3GL in a future episode.

ROD:    And before we wrap up this episode, there was one other notable event that took place before 1979 came to a close.

GARY:  And that was?

ROD:    On December 1st 1979, 3GL went 24 hours.

GARY:  On that note, on behalf of our sponsors – Nature’s Cuppa and Safe Solutions Care, we hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Station – Remembering 3GL.

ROD:    But be warned – there’s more to come!