Rex Hunt insists he’s not finished working in radio after departing 3AW

Rex Hunt has broken his silence after his controversial exit from 3AW, revealing he wanted to do a farewell show but was denied.

Rex Hunt says he isn’t done with radio. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Rex Hunt has promised he won’t be lost to the airwaves despite his resignation from 3AW last week.

“Put it this way I was born to broadcast and don’t think I’m silly enough to walk away if I didn’t have something already in the system. And I will keep my powder dry in the short term,” Hunt, 72, said.

“My station boss Stephen Beers kindly suggested I take a couple of weeks off, but I knew it was time. Just as I did in 1978 when retiring from the VFL, or my decision to leave the police department. I decided I was out of my depth and the time was right.

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Rex Hunt says he isn’t done with radio. Picture: Getty Images)

“My style may have damaged the 3AW brand despite the fact I was rating in the mid-20s and regularly beating the Tobin Brothers (ABC). I did want to have one more night with Tom Elliott but there was fear about what I might say.”

JA: Your best call?

RH: “Listen to the first 60 seconds of the 3AW broadcast of the 1989 Hawthorn-Geelong grand final and tell me I didn’t nail it. Bourke to Bews to YABLETT, while picking up the Yeates-Brereton clash at the same time. My finest hour on radio was after finding out that Princess Di had died on August 31, 1997.”

JA: Your peak as a caller?

RH: “Around 1995 when I was calling with The Kid (Shane Healy), who later on sacked me. We were out at Waverley and we had a section of the crowd facing our broadcasting booth instead of the football.”

Best caller today: “I’m certainly not friends with him but on radio, not television, Brian Taylor takes me to the game. If I was knee deep in trout in the Goulburn River with my ear piece in, I would want to listen to Taylor every minute of the day. The Big Man Who Travels By Train (Tony Leonard) is also a very good caller but sadly we didn’t gel when paired together 20 years ago.”