Remembering some of Adelaide’s late, great radio personalities we loved to listen to
Adelaide’s lost some truly great radio personalities in recent years, including Vinnie, Daisy and Big Bad Bob. But while they may be gone, they are definitely not forgotten.
Lifestyle
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Let’s take a look back at some of the radio personalties who made their way to the big studio in the sky and remember why we loved listening to them.
JOHN “VINNIE” VINCENT
Born with heart problems, Vinnie fell in love with radio after spending a lot of time listening to it while ill as a child in Sydney.
With a career spanning 40 years, he got his start in Hobart before moving to Adelaide to work between 5AD and 5KA, before settling at SAFM in 1981.
Not that he settled. Vinnie shook things up during the 14 years he was at the station. Generation Xers and Baby Boomers will remember him anchoring SAFM’s Morning Zoo – which was the No. 1 breakfast show for years.
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“John Vincent was, in every sense, a legend of Adelaide radio,” former SAFM colleague Adam Hills wrote on his website when Vinnie died aged 67 in March 2009 after a long illness.
Hills also said: “Over the six years I worked with him, I learnt that radio is about connecting with people, establishing a relationship with the listener – and Vinnie was very much responsible for that.”
Also known and loved for being ocker rocker Ken Oath, Vinnie was inducted into the SA music industry’s Hall of Fame in 1999.
After Vinnie died, his former colleague and friend David “Daisy” Day told The Advertiser his mate was “one of the best communicators radio has ever had”.
“John Laws would come on and say ‘hello world’ but John Vincent would say ‘hello listeners’ – that’s how personal he made it,” Day said.
RICHARD MARSLAND
Widely regarded as the “nicest guy in radio” Richard Marsland tragically took his own life at age 32 in December 2008 following a long battle with depression.
Marsland got his start in the industry at community station PBA FM when he was just 16 and worked for Austereo around Australia for 13 years, after joining SAFM in 1995.
He worked alongside breakfast presenters such as Amanda Blair, James Brayshaw, Anthony “Lehmo” Lehman and Zoe Sheridan, who is the sister of entertainer Hugh Sheridan.
A radio presenter who was also a natural on television, Marsland was TV veteran Anne Wills’ co-host on Channel 7’s morning program, AM Adelaide.
Marsland was also a comic genius. That rare talent made him highly sought after by some of radio and TV’s top-rating shows, but the highlight of his career was working with his hero Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee on Triple M’s national Get This show.
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VAUGHAN HARVEY
In 2015 we said goodbye to some much-loved radio identities. In January, Adelaide’s “Mr Radio” Vaughan Harvey passed away at age 82.
Born in Broken Hill, just over the SA/NSW border, his distinguished career spanned more than 60 years.
He was an announcer, actor, program director, production manager, news editor, voiceover man at stations such as 5KA, 5AA, ABC and 5AD/5DN and the director of the Vaughan Harvey Radio School.
His distinctive voice was described as having “dulcet, smooth as aged whiskey tones” by his great mate David “Daisy” Day in his autobiography Rock Jock …
DAVID “DAISY” DAY
Just months after he farewelled his friend Harvey, David “Daisy” Day died in May at age 63 after battling health issues.
Daisy was an on-air legend, who worked for 5KA and SSAFM (before it became SAFM), Triple M and Coast FM.
He interviewed rock’n’roll royalty, including Paul McCartney and John Farnham, and famously had supper with the late Princess Diana and her then husband, the now King Charles, in 1988.
“She was very beautiful and very shy,” Daisy told The Advertiser in 2010, adding: “Her eyes were amazing – they were almost like an aqua turquoise.
“Charlie said to me: `And what do you do?’ And I said: ‘I work in radio’.
“He said: ‘Oh, what sort?’’ I said: ‘Rock ‘n’ roll’. And he turned his nose up and said, ‘Oh, Diana would like that’.”
Daisy also had his own radio school, was chairman of SA’s chapter of Support Act – a charity that assists to members of the Australian music industry going through hard times – and famously founded the SA Music Hall of Fame.
NEIL HUMPHRYS
In December 2015 Neil Humphrys – known and loved as “Cowboy Neil” because of his country music program on 5KA – died after battling cancer.
Humphrys kicked off his radio career at 5AU in Port Augusta in 1967.
After moving to Adelaide, he worked at 5AD, before switching to 5KA. He went on to work at FIVEaa and 102FM.
He also recorded original country songs on an EP titled No Horse No Hat.
Neil was also in demand as a voice-over artist and regularly asked to host charity events and award ceremonies prior to his retirement in 2012, after which he relocated to Victor Harbor.
BOB FRANCIS
Affectionately known as “Big Bad Bob”, talkback host Bob Francis passed away peacefully at home aged 77 in November 2016.
Famous, or rather infamous, for speaking his mind and some, he did the 8pm to midnight weekdays shift at FIVEaa.
In 2009 he was even named the “most shocking shock jock” in Australia, on SBS TV’s Dave in the Life, for his colourful exchanges with callers.
A legend of the industry, who listeners either loved or loved to hate, Francis was on-air for 57 years before retiring in 2013.
Not long before that he had been No. 1 in the ratings for close to 10 years.
Francis was also a big softie with a huge heart and was awarded an Order of Australia medal for his services to charity.
And, for anyone living under a rock, he is also part of Adelaide’s rock’n’roll history, having been instrumental in bringing The Beatles to Adelaide in 1964.
Big Bob Francis brought the Fab Four here — and Adelaide still loves him for it
ROGER CARDWELL
While Roger Cardwell was best known for his huge career on the small screen – in which he read the news for all major Adelaide television networks – he also made a name for himself on radio during his five-decade media career.
Cardwell, who died at age 85 in October 2019 after a short battle with cancer, was a newsreader for 5AD-FM and 5DN from 1985 to 1998.
He was also one half of The Cardwell-Harvey Report, with fellow radio legend Vaughan Harvey.
Cardwell’s other claim to fame was being a country and western performer, who was inducted into the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996 as a pioneer of the genre’s foray into television.
He was the host of the Nine network’s national show Country and Western Hour and Channel 7’s Country Style.
DI “DISEY” STAPLETON
Her real first name was Brooke but everyone knew this Adelaide radio legend as Di “Disey” Stapleton.
With a bubbly personality, Disey also lit up the small screen, co-hosting popular TV show Music Express with Greg Clark on Channel 7 in the 1980s.
Co-presenting 5AD’s night show for teenagers, Dial a Hit, with Steve Mill, and 5KA’s evening show with Mark Pedler, Disey, also worked for Austereo and 5DN.
She passed away at age 59 in May 2021 after battling ovarian cancer.
JANN SPRINGETT
In August 2021 we lost a trailblazing radio star in Jann Springett, who died at age 84.
Born Janice Springett in Bordertown in 1937, Springett began working in the record library at 5DN in 1952 when she was just 15.
Making her on-air debut at 18, she entered the record books as the youngest female radio announcer in Australia.
Springett worked for 5DN for more than 30 years, before moving to the ABC in 1985 where she ended up presenting the Statewide afternoon program for seven years.
After that, she returned to 5DN, where she hosted its travel show until 2004.
Springett was also a legend in the travel industry: She was an international tour guide for 40 years, the co-founder of Jetset Tours and a travel columnist in The News in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
She was presented with an Advance Australia Award for her outstanding contribution to tourism and the community.
During her almost 50-year radio career Springett met and interviewed big names such as Prince Charles, Richard Burton, Eartha Kitt, Slim Dusty and John Farnham.
That said, her greatest highlight was compering the arrival of, and meeting, Pope John Paul II at Adelaide Town Hall in 1986.
PHILIP SATCHELL
Another of the industry’s legends, Philip Satchell passed away after a long illness at the age of 83 in August 2021.
Clocking up an impressive 40 years on ABC radio, Satchell worked for Aunty in Adelaide for most of that time.
He was renowned for his interview skills and trademark long on-air pause.
“He would just wait until the interview subject filled the space and very often they did that with really interesting responses,” his colleague and friend, ABC Adelaide local manager Graeme Bennett told The Advertiser after Satchell died.
“He was an original. He had that rare ability to make everybody feel that their story was worth telling,” Bennett said.
Born in Newcastle, Satchell started with the ABC in 1963 in Sydney and Port Moresby.
He transferred to Adelaide in the late 1960s and enjoyed stints across every shift – including a long run in the afternoon timeslot – before retiring as host of evenings in 2003.
He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988.
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MEL DZELDE
Much-loved radio identity Mel Dzelde died at 53 in December 2022 after battling cancer and motor neurone disease.
A former teacher, Dzelde never regretted making the switch to radio.
She worked for Mix 102.3 – where she met the man who was to become love of her life and future husband, Chris Dzelde, while producing the breakfast show he co-hosted – and Murray Bridge’s Power FM and 5MU.
“She was my best friend, my partner in life, she meant the world to me,” Chris told The Advertiser after Mel passed away.
“We lived together, we worked together, and we loved it. Some people may say working with your partner, what a nightmare that would be, but we just loved being together all the time.
“We shared an office, we shared a desk, we shared a radio station, we shared a life and I’m forever grateful.”
Committed to making the world a brighter place, Mel’s lasting legacy includes her children’s book, Azzurra, which she wrote to give people hope following a diagnosis of cancer.
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MARK PEDLER
In the first week of this year Disey’s one-time co-host Mark Pedler passed away at age 66, after a five-year battle with prostate cancer.
After leaving school Pedler, who grew up in the Riverland, became an electrician before he got switched on to radio in the late 1970s.
He made a name for himself the following decade when he became a pillar of 5KA – hosting programs with Greg Clark, Paul Barry and Disey.
Originally published as Remembering some of Adelaide’s late, great radio personalities we loved to listen to
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