Eps.7 - 'And Then There Was David'

In this episode, hosts Rod and Gary explore the career of a regional radio icon whose voice captivated audiences for over four decades. 

From interviewing prime ministers to handling studio mishaps, David's journey is filled with intriguing stories. 

Discover his role in shaping 3GL, his interactions with legendary personalities like John Laws, his pioneering role in shaping the sound of radio, his knack for community outreach, and the humor that made him a beloved figure in Australian broadcasting.

Nature's Cuppa 100% Organic Tea & Coffee
Helping 1 Million Tea Lovers Discover The Superior Taste Of 100% Organic Tea at Woolworths S/markets

Safe Solutions Care
Respite and Care Services for Aged & Disabled

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

_________________________

Again, thanks for listening to our podcast The Station | Remembering 3GL!

We welcome your feedback and will do our very best to answer all your emails.

Let's know if you have questions or if there's something you would particularly like to know about regarding 3GL.

You can reach out to Rod and Gary by email with your comments - thestation3gl@gmail.com

With special thanks to Dean Gray & Geoff Brown for their tremendous support of this podcast and to all our sponsors being Natures Cuppa Organic Ceylon Tea and Safe Solutions Care.

Transcript

The Station | Remembering 3GL

 Episode 7  - 'And then there was David'.

GARY:  Hello and welcome to another episode of The Station – Remembering 3GL.  I’m former 3GL announcer, Gary Newton.

ROD:    And I’m the other bloke.

GARY:  My research guru and old friend, Rod McLure.

ROD:    That’ll do.

GARY:  The Station - Remembering 3GL is sponsored by Nature’s Cuppa Organic Ceylon Tea. Thanks to the makers of Natures Cuppa for supporting this project. Natures Cuppa comes in English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Chai Spice Tea & Organic Freeze-Dried Brazilian Coffee. Ethical. Sustainable. Carbon Neutral – Tea the way nature intended. Available from all good supermarkets.

Also, a big shout out to Sue from Safe Solutions Care, another of our supporters. Safe Solutions Care offers boutique specialist respite care with tailor-made short term stays and unforgettable experiences for your loved ones. Go to safe solutions care dot com dot au for details.

Now today Rod, we’re going to be talking about a man who had a voice “ready made for radio.” His dulcet tones were heard over 3GL through four decades … the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties. He played music, he voiced commercials, he read the news, he broadcast the football … he even interviewed four prime ministers!

ROD:    And his name was …?

GARY:   Who else could it be but David Coburn.  So, let’s set the scene. It’s the 23rd of June, 1990 and you rolled up at David’s Leopold home just as the footy was getting underway on the radio. What happened next?

ROD:    That’s right. We sat down in the front room with the Leopold football oval in the distance and David introduced me to two young pooches that had recently arrived at the Coburn residence after the passing of the much loved “Duffy.”

GARY:  I thought you said one of those cute little dogs bit you on the bum, anyway back to the story. David joined 3GL in 1957 but radio was not his first occupation?

ROD:    Amazingly he had worked as a printer at Norman Brothers in Melbourne for eleven years before venturing into radio. But he was always interested in music and the wireless. He told me as a young kid he used to practice reading newspaper advertisements out loud, as if he was an announcer.

GARY:  He also told you – and I find this is hard to believe – he delayed getting into radio because he didn’t think he had a good enough education! (I mean … radio and a good education!).

ROD:    Yeah, what was he thinking?! Anyway, David said he eventually found the courage to enroll at the Vincent School of Broadcasting in Melbourne. He attended radio school for about six months and then he sent off an audition tape to AWA –Amalgamated Wireless Australasia – who owned, among other stations, 3BO in Bendigo.

GARY:  Now this was 1955 and the quality of David’s voice and delivery - even in those early days – must have been evident because he was offered the position at 3BO, packed his bags and headed north – not to Alaska but to Bendigo! So, where did he stay?

ROD:    He stayed at … wait for it … Mrs. Wally’s Boarding House.

GARY:  Hmmm, Mrs. Wally’s Boarding House. Sounds classy?

ROD:    David said there were a number of young fellows staying there, including a young announcer who, like David, was also working at 3BO.

GARY:  David said this lad had a voice that defied his age? People thought he sounded much older and very sophisticated. What was his name again?

ROD:    His name was John Laws.

GARY:  John Laws?

ROD:    Yes, the John Laws who would go on to become one of the biggest and best known voices in Australian radio. David said in those early days John was a member of the local repertory society and David remembered seeing him in a play at the historic Shamrock Hotel.

GARY:  So John Laws and David got along pretty well and David recalled a couple of other things about Mr. Laws …

ROD:    David said that John always beat him at table tennis and that he had the best collection of dirty jokes and the ability to tell them than anyone David had ever met.

GARY:  Well, I’m sure John Laws would be happy to hear that! Surprisingly, David said his time at 3BO was short-lived. Apparently – the station manager was expecting someone with a little more experience and David found himself transferred to 2AY in Albury – which was also owned by AWA.

ROD:    It turned out to be a good move. David got on well with the manager at the station, he fine-tuned his skills, and before long he was made chief announcer. 

GARY:  And then in 1956 – just in time for the Olympic Games – he landed a job back in Melbourne.

ROD:    At 3DB – a big sporting station. David was there during the Olympics and all was going well until early in 1957 when the Argus newspaper – which was big on sport – closed down.  David said that 3DB was keen to take on some of the former Argus journalists and some of the less experienced staff at 3DB - such as David - were replaced.

GARY:  Another blow for David was that his father had just died. David was out of work for a few months when the job at 3GL came up. He took the job, more or less on a temporary basis, not expecting to be at 3GL more than a few months.

ROD:    It turned out to be a bit longer … about 30 years longer!

GARY:  When David came to Geelong he stayed at the Corio Hotel for about a year and then when one of the 3GL announcers – Ian Nichols – left the station to go to Melbourne he recommended a private boarding house to him.

ROD:    I’m sure David must have wondered if anything could match Mrs. Wally’s boarding house in Bendigo … but this place certainly did! The place was in Manifold Heights and according to David the lady who owned the home – he didn’t mention her name – he said she looked after him extremely well and he stayed there until he met and married his wife, Jean.

GARY:   So, we’re talking 1957 and some of the on-air people that David recalled included Don Taylor who was chief announcer at the time …

ROD:    Yes, Don Taylor had replaced Ernie Carrol who had moved up to Melbourne.

GARY:  Ernie of course would become the voice of a rather famous (or infamous) character called “Ozzie Ostrich” on the popular Saturday night T.V. Show - Hey, Hey, It’s Saturday.

ROD:    Some other names David mentioned included Ashley Knowfell who was the breakfast announcer, Clair Kincaide who was hosting the women’s session and Ingrid Asche who was a copywriter and presenter of the children’s program.

GARY:  You were a copywriter at the old 3GL…did you ever host a children’s program? Now, David made something of an adverse start at 3GL.

ROD:    In those days 3GL was on air Monday to Friday from 5.30am to 11pm. But on Saturdays it stayed open until 11.30. At the end of the day the announcer would play something called “the epilogue” – which was a pre-recorded message from a local minister, followed by God Save the Queen.

GARY:  And David got his days muddled up?

ROD:    Yes, on his first Saturday he closed the station down half an hour early. I think he received a little rap over the knuckles from the management but nothing too serious.

GARY:  According to David, when he started at 3GL the station was still very much locked into pre-television type programming – and this continued throughout the sixties. Neither David nor Reg Gray were particularly fond of rock-n-roll.

ROD:    David recalled that announcers could choose the music they wanted to play – under the supervision of the chief announcer. David believed that in the late 1950’s 3GL would have had one of the most comprehensive record collections in Australia. He said that both he and Don Taylor had generous allocations for keeping the record library well stocked.  

GARY:   And while many radio stations were beginning to target a particular audience, 3GL continued to be a bit of a smorgasbord. Classical music, symphonies, music from famous ballets and opera all got a good airing – along with a little bit of whatever was popular at the time.

ROD:    Block programming continued at 3GL when other stations had decided it could be a bit of a turn-off. David recalled quarter or half-hour sessions being sponsored. To quote David, “They all had dinky little titles.” Shows like Gems of Opera, Singers of Renown, Themes from the Movies. David even recalled - with a bit of a chuckle - a program presented by Bill Ackfield called, Records Seldom Heard.

GARY:  Of course, in the late fifties, even though television had made big in-roads, night time radio still had a large following. Jack Davey and Bob Dyer were hosting their quiz shows. There were serials and plays produced in Sydney and Melbourne and sent around the country on disc.  And according to David, Sunday night shows such as the Lux Radio Theatre and the Caltex Radio Theatre continued to be popular.

ROD:    Well, in terms of 3GL, I started at the station in 1963 - and as I think I’ve mentioned before – part of my job was to package up the serials and other shows, carry them up to the post office and forward them onto the next station in the loop. I worked in a little office that was full of records – none of them music – they were all national commercials, serials and religious programs.

GARY:   I thought it was interesting that David said many of 3GL’s old 78’s featuring world renowned singers like Dame Nellie Melba and Gladys Moncrief – and many others – were donated to the National Sound Archives in Canberra. But before that happened, having those records in the 3GL record library enabled David to continue to present a program that we mentioned in one of our earlier episodes. And that program was Sweethearts of Yesterday.

(Add audio of SOY)

ROD:    Yes, it first aired in 1938, presented by John Brebner. Forty years later - thanks to having those old 78’s in the record library - it was still being broadcast. David took over hosting the program in 1959 and he said he used to receive between 20 and 25 letters each week from all over Victoria, even from interstate. And, to quote David again … “That was pretty good.”

GARY:    Sweethearts of Yesterday continued to be broadcast Saturday evenings between 9 and 10 o’clock until 1978 when 3GL – under new management – reinvented itself. But more of that later. Before we leave “Sweethearts of Yesterday,” David said that during the program he began the practice of cross-fading records in clusters of three or four and back announcing titles and artists. He joked that he liked to think he was one of the first to do that.

ROD:    “Twenty minutes of commercial free, wall-to-wall nostalgia,” he told me. Then, David being David, and not wanting to take undue credit he said that he believed a legendary radio man named John Masters started the practice in the 1930s on 3AW.

GARY:  David also felt that saying “commercial-free” on commercial radio downgraded the sponsors. One might say it’s like saying ‘the flickering sounds of 3GL live on’.

ROD:    He was probably right.

GARY:  Another area that was noticeable by its absence was the news department – 3GL didn’t have one. It took the national news on relay from 3DB and the local news was read straight from the pages of the Geelong Advertiser. (It wouldn’t take long to read the news from the pages of the Addy today, would it?)

ROD:    David said that was a real challenge for the breakfast announcer.

GARY:  Remember, in those days 3GL was closing down at 11 or 11.30 in the evening and coming back on air around 5:30 in the morning, so the brekky announcer would arrive around five o’clock and collect several copies of the Advertiser that had been left at the front door.

ROD:    He would do whatever was required to switch the station on air, play some test music for a few minutes and scan the Addy to “read the news” at 5.30.

GARY:  After that, the announcer would have to cut and edit a news bulletin to be read every half hour following the national news from 3DB. He would be doing this in between presenting the brekky program, cueing up and playing music, reading live commercials and trying to sound bright and breezy. I think that’s one of the reasons why radio was always so much fun. It really kept you busy…no time to dose off!

ROD:    Another problem – according to David (and I can recall this happening) – 3DB weren’t always on time with the news. The 3GL announcer would try and time out a record leading into the news service only to find 3DB was running a bit behind.

GARY:  And so…To try and alleviate this problem, David introduced a News Theme – a well-known piece of music at the time called “Heart of Oak.” (COULD POSSIBLY DROP IN A SNIPPET).It was on an old 78 recording before being dubbed to cassette in later years.

ROD:    It was a good idea but there were occasions when 3DB would be running so late that Heart Of Oak would play all the way through and the announcer would have to start it again.

GARY:  When the National News did finally turn up it at least gave the 3GL announcer a bit of breathing space – around 10 minutes – to get the local news sorted from the newspaper.

ROD:    There were no inserts or grabs in those days and David said that there was only one announcer he could recall that mastered this difficult challenge and his name was John Mason. David said John was the best sight reader he’d ever heard. 

GARY:  I understand on one occasion when a visitor was having a tour of the station he asked David “where’s the newsroom?” And David smiled, handed him a copy of the Geelong Advertiser and said: “Here it is.”

ROD:    Yes, it was well into the 1970’s when Terry Taylor had taken over as manager that 3GL finally got its own news department.

GARY:  Just as Melbourne stations could be heard in Geelong, 3GL of course could also be easily picked up in the capital city, and this may have been why so many announcers in the fifties and sixties  - and probably earlier – used 3GL as a stepping stone to further their careers. David referred to people like Bill and Peter Ackfield, Ernie Carroll, Geoff Hiscock, Happy Hammond, Barry Casey and Graham Walton.

ROD:    And of course John Paige who went on to become one of the most sort after voice-over announcers across the country.

GARY:  On the lighter side of things, when you interviewed David, he had jotted down a few memorable moments when things didn’t quite go to plan.

ROD:    I’ll quote David word for word on this one: “There stood in the studio of 3GL a magnificent Chinese gong, a genuine one, which hung on a small hook from a six foot stand. After remaining inanimate for God knows how many years, it suddenly decided to fall over, smack in the middle of a live news bulletin read by one D. Coburn.”

GARY:  A Chinese gong, that went wong during the news?

ROD:    Yep, why it was there. Where it came from … who knows?

GARY:  And then there was the occasion when David locked himself out of the studio while a half hour program was going to air on relay from 2GB in Sydney.

ROD:    David thought it was probably a Jack Davey or Bob Dyer quiz. He was relaxing in the studio when he got a call to say a courier had left a parcel outside the door. He left the studio to pick up the parcel but when he bent down to pick it up he let go off the door and it clunked shut, locking him out.

GARY:  No key?

ROD:    No. He said he never made it back into the studio until a good 25 minutes had passed. By which time the quiz show had finished and 2GB in Sydney was booming out over 3GL.

GARY:  Now, David had borrowed a ladder from the Metro Inn across the road from 3GL but the studio window was also locked. No mobile phones in those days so David had to locate a phone – probably from the Metro Inn – and he called another announcer, Gordon Munro, who drove in from Belmont with his key.

ROD:    Mentioning Gordon Munro reminds me, David said Gordon had a great voice, a warm personality and a humorous style and many 3GL listeners would remember Gordon as the regular presenter of the Sunday morning religious programs.  I remember Gordon more for the time one of the other copywriters – not me – wrote a commercial for Tate’s Toyshop. Remember these were the times when most local commercials were read live to air by the announcer. Anyway, the last line of the ad went like this … Be sure and see Gerald Tate’s coloured balls hanging in the window. Gordon returned the ad to the copy department with a little note. All it said was: Fair go mate.

GARY:  Okay so, moving on to 1961 and David became involved with 3GL’s football broadcasts. The football commentators back then – and for many, many years – were Leo O’Halloran (who had played for the Cats) and Ivor Grundy. (ANY CHANCE OF AN INSERT OF LEO AND IVOR?). David would go to all the games and he used to broadcast the last quarter of the reserve grade match. He also attended training on Tuesdays and Thursday nights when Reg Hickey, Bob Davis and Peter Pianto were coaching the team through the various years.

ROD:    During the football broadcasts, David would sit with the commentators and read the sponsors’ commercials live to air.

GARY:  The sponsors were … Heaths Motors and Murrays Menswear. David recalled on more than one occasion (because of some kind of mix up) the 3GL commentary team was not allocated a position in the broadcast box and had to describe the games from the grandstand of the opposing team surrounded by their supporters.  These were the days when Collingwood played at Victoria Park, Hawthorn played at Glenferrie Oval and Richmond’s home ground was Punt Road. David said Leo, Ivor and himself copped a fair bit of abuse because the Cats were generally well In front and David said sometimes people were trying to snatch the commercials out of his hand.

ROD:    David also interviewed a wide range of coaches, footballers and officials. He said he rated his best interview as the one he did with John Coleman, who David described as the best footballer he ever saw.

GARY:  Back in those times David was recording his interviews on what he described as his “… trusty Emmy tape recorder.”  He recalled that with his Emmy in hand he was able to get into all sorts of places, He remembered being present when the Geelong Football Club recruited Denis Marshall from Western Australia. The Cats were accused of breaking the Coulter Law – a rule which defined what could and could not be paid in the way of player transfer fees.

ROD:    He was also present when the infamous “Blue In the Race” occurred. Geelong had just defeated North Melbourne at Kardinia Park by two points and as the players were leaving the ground an altercation occurred between Geelong ruckman Geoff Rosenow and North Melbourne coach, Alan Killigrew.

GARY:  After the match David witnessed the Cat’s secretary, Leo O’Brian and the North Melbourne secretary exchanging words at the back of the grandstand, resulting in the North Melbourne secretary tearing up the tickets to the after match function and throwing them at Leo O’Brien’s feet. (funny voice…yeah you’re not coming to our party, knick off!!)

ROD:    As we’ve mentioned before, sport was given a lot of coverage on 3GL – to the point where the on air announcer’s head would be spinning. David related how on Thursday nights 3GL would present the Teams for Saturday, sponsored by Roger David Menswear – and of course 3GL always got the Geelong Team First.

GARY:  As well as reading out the footy teams there might be an interview or two, a couple of trotting events, a country greyhound race meeting … David said he’d be halfway through talking to a guest and he’d have to cut in and say “ … sorry George, we’ll have to leave it there and cross to Bill Collins at Pakenham.”

ROD:    David never met Bill Collins but he said they got to know each other well through the conversations they had down the line while waiting for the cross-overs. The other commentator who sprung to David’s mind was Bruce Skeggs. Bruce covered the trotting meetings. According to David, Bruce was “a nice bloke” but he was always after more time to talk about the trots. In David’s words, when it came to the trots, Bruce was as blinkered as the horses.

GARY:  So, as chief announcer, David’s roles were many and varied. And like June Thomas, Jack Mathews and others from those days, David had mixed memories of the many outdoor broadcasts that the station got involved in – particularly the ball broadcasts.

ROD:    Surprisingly, David told me that although the entertainment value of these broadcasts varied he felt they were popular and loads of fun for the 3GL staff that usually comprised a technician, a lady announcer and a gentleman announcer.

GARY:  And to quote David, the gentleman announcer had to be … “dressed to the nines.”

ROD:    Yes, and as with June Thomas and Jack Mathews, David was full of praise for the magnificent suppers that were turned on.

GARY:   He also recalled a ball broadcast from Queenscliff where the entertainer was a young Geelong lad just starting out on his career … Barry Crocker.

ROD:    From entertainers, to footy legends, to prime ministers … David interviewed them all.  In that latter category, I’m referring to Gough Whitlam, Harold Holt, John Gorton and Billy McMahon.

GARY:  David also interviewed a young Bob Hawke when he first stood for parliament.

ROD:    David admitted that the job of chief announcer could certainly be challenging. He said that while he and Reg Gray respected each other’s role at the station, they often differed on what was “good listening.”

GARY:  According to David, Reg wasn’t all that keen on music. Sport was his thing … football, cricket, rowing, bike riding, trots, greyhounds … if it moved, Reg was keen to get it on the radio – and of course he was also keen on the sponsorship that came with it.

ROD:    David on the other hand loved his music. He felt that when the trots and greyhounds came on air a lot of listeners switched off. He said there were some evenings when 3GL would be covering three different race meetings. He believed the main reason for 3GL’s involvement was that the station was being paid by the Trotting Control Board to cover its meetings whenever and wherever they were taking place.

GARY:  With the arrival of the transistor radio and with television making inroads many radio stations reinvented themselves. Block programming, serials, quiz shows and the like – including some sporting coverages – began to disappear in favour of music, music and more music!

ROD:    But not at 3GL. And to be fair, 3GL was catering to a local audience and continued to give local organisations plenty of coverage. On Sunday afternoons for example,3GL covered Geelong West matches in the Victorian Football Association with commentators Harry Stapleton and Brian Brushfield. (bit from Brushy if possible in here)

GARY:  There was the Saturday morning sports show and on Sundays … The Bellarine Football League Show!

ROD:    David’s role as Chief Announcer would continue until a major change took place in December, 1977 when, after 45 years at the station, Reg Gray retired. 

GARY:  Reg was 73 years old but he didn’t hang up the boots altogether – he took up a position on the board of directors.

ROD:    The new manager was Terry Tayler who came to 3GL from 3BO in Bendigo. We’ll look at Terry’s time at 3GL in more detail in a later episode. For now, in terms of David’s role at the station – and for people like June Thomas and John Mason – it meant their time “on the air” would come to an end, or be greatly reduced.

GARY:  David would continue to be used to voice commercials. He had a brief stint as a news reader when 3GL – under Terry Tayler’s management – established its own news department with Ron Loch as news editor.

ROD:    Just when David may have been thinking his radio days were coming to an end, John Humphrey - who was sales manager under Terry Tayler before taking over as manager -recognized that there was a unique role that David would be suited for.

GARY:  Yes! And that role was Community Services Co-Ordinator. John wisely recognized David had a wealth of experience that could be put to use. Charitable and non-profit organizations, rotary clubs and the like were invited to contact David to receive free publicity about up-coming events.

ROD:    David – along with another long-serving 3GL employee – Joan Neilson, who had been secretary to all of 3GL’s managers, retired in December of 1988.

GARY:  Sadly, four years later in November 1992 at just 65 years of age, David passed away.

ROD:    From his early days as a printer … to his time as a guest at Mrs. Wally’s boarding house … to his many years as chief announcer at 3GL, David Coburn’s was a life well-lived.

GARY:  To quote John Humphrey: David was a loyal, dedicated employee who served the company in a variety of roles for over 30 years. He was a terrific bloke who was extremely well-liked by staff and the community.

ROD:    I’ll second that.

GARY:  So, that wraps up another episode of The Station – Remembering 3GL.  We’ll be back with more next week. In the meantime, put the kettle on and enjoy the taste and aroma of Nature’s Cuppa.