Ian MacRae has joined radioinfo and will be showing off his bits and pieces on the pages of this site.

MacRae, who is known in the radio industry for his hugely successful 1970s 2SM breakfast show, his time on UK Pirate Radio, and more recently his radio columns and training courses, will bring his humour and views to the Bits and Pieces Column each week.

Ian MacRae began his irreverent radio announcing style as a young panel operator at a very conservative, middle-of-the-road Melbourne radio station. When the rostered announcer slept in one morning, he took over the mike and played full-on hard rock and roll. The complaints came in all day, but MacRae found a style that would make him very successful.

He sold his car and bought a ticket to the U.K. where he worked for two years on the off-shore pirate radio stations. At one point he and the rest of the crew were held hostage at gunpoint for a week by a boarding party. As a result of which the owner of the station was murdered.

MacRae went on to present the 2SM breakfast show for 13 years during which time the station became a huge number one force in Sydney radio. During that time he became famous for the many stunts pulled on unsuspecting listeners. The most famous was when he promised to take a “jumbo” beneath the Harbour Bridge. Thousands gathered around the harbour that morning having been talked into believing it would be a 747…. it turned out to be a big elephant on a barge.

With his on-air partner The “Hon” Nick Jones MacRae stood for election to the Senate on such policies as promises to build a piggery in Mosman and declare war on the Antarctic. Their slogan was “Put a stinker in the Chamber!” The couple got so many votes they were quite concerned that they would have to actually go to Canberra.

With The “Hon” Nick he recorded a comedy song in commemoration of the marriage of Princess Diana to Prince Charles. It was called “Ballad of Lady Di” and went to Top Ten both here and in the U.K. The pair went to London to perform it on the top rating T.V. show “Top of the Pops” but that same week the BBC received a number of death threats against the royal couple and pulled the song off the playlist. It disappeared from the charts the very next week.

These days MacRae runs radio training courses at his own training school (see link below), writes a newsletter and radio industry columns for various publications, and has launched an online portal for independent music and short films with a streaming online radio station at www.boostdigital.com.

Welcome aboard the good ship radioinfo Macca. Enjoy the trip, but leave the jumbo at home.