Why 3AW radio king Neil Mitchell could struggle to stay on air
Melbourne’s 3AW talkback radio king Neil Mitchell has been quietly battling a health condition that could threaten to keep the news breaker off the air.
Fiona Byrne
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Melbourne’s “voice of the people” of talkback radio Neil Mitchellhas been quietly battling a respiratory issue that could at its worse muffle the powerhouse news breaker.
Mitchell, who hosts 3AW’s ratings winning Morning shift, has been undergoing tests over recent months to get to the bottom of why his voice has become at times raspy, weakened or husky.
Having recorded his best ratings in 23 years at AW with last week’s ratings survey, Mitchell revealed he had been diagnosed with adult asthma and had undergone speech therapy.
“I have developed asthma, which is not unusual in my family, everybody seems to do it when they get to my age,” Mitchell said.
“We have been fiddling with medications, inhalers that you can take without affecting your voice. I am still fiddling with them. I have got it just about right.
“The other thing is I have been to a speech therapist and I have been to an ear nose and throat bloke who stuck cameras down my throat. There is no drama, but I have all these voice exercises which I should do and because of what has been going on, and working from home and everything, I have not been doing them often enough.
“You have to do all these weird things like hum and make noises like a police car, and blow through your lips.
“It is not like I feel like an idiot, I have got over that, but I have not got ten minutes to spare in the mornings before the show to do it.”
Mitchell said he was naturally concerned when he first started experiencing problems with his voice as he had never experienced issues previously.
“I have been doing this for more than 30 years, 1988 I started, and it is only now in the past few months have I found a need to do it (vocal exercises),” he said.
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