Ron E Sparks was not only one of the best on-air personalities in radio history, but he was also a man of great influence and guided many on their radio journey.  In fact, when it comes to music radio Ron E was the King.  His knowledge of music formats and how best to make them work was extraordinary.  A great strategic thinker who could imagine the sound and how it should be executed on-air.

When it came to his role as a program director Ron E was one of the best and he was a tough judge as well.  I remember when I joined the team at the New 2UW in May 1981 I felt so honoured to be working with such talented people.  Ric Melbourne – breakfast, Ron E – mornings, Trevor Sinclair – afternoons, Pete Rudder – drive, Graeme Stone – nights and Jamie Walter – late nights.  What a line-up.  It didn’t take long for me to learn just how high Ron E raised the bar when it came to on-air performance.  After a couple of weeks into my time at the New 2UW I noticed that Ron E had rostered me to work Saturday breakfast (6 to 10), Saturday night (8 to midnight) and Sunday afternoon (2 to 5).  Ron E used to write the rosters out in black pentel and post them on the notice board.  I thought that maybe he’d made a mistake, so I asked him about the three weekend shifts.  I certainly wasn’t complaining because I was thrilled to be working with Ron E and the team.  He explained that it wasn’t a mistake because we had some people on holidays.  He also said: You could do with the practice.  Brutal, oh so brutal – but he was right.

One day I got excited when Ron E asked me to lunch at the golden arches.  At the time I wasn’t into McDonalds food, so I thought he was taking me to a Chinese restaurant.  As we walked along Military Road towards Cremorne, I saw the golden arches.  Yes, we were off to Maccas.  It’s something we did many times as we would eat and discuss at length what was happening in radio – particularly music radio.  Ron E’s passion was second to none and he expected the people around him to share his passion.

Over the years we experienced some very difficult challenges.  None more so when 2UW launched as Magic 11 in early 1984.  Ron E was doing breakfast with Glenn Shorrock and I was the producer.  I remember that our American based consultant, Todd Wallace, arrived in Sydney for the launch and to give his feedback on the station.  After the first breakfast show, which was called the Magic Morning Zoo, we all met in the boardroom to discuss how things had gone.  Ron E and I knew the show was very ordinary and it needed a mountain of work.  In the meeting was Ian Lane (general manager), Ron E and me, along with Todd Wallace and Bill Clements (Australian based consultant).  Ronnie didn’t waste any time when he asked Todd: So how do you think the show went this morning, Todd? The room was tense with everybody on edge.  Todd eased the tension with his response, which was: Ron E, I was underwhelmed.The rest is history with Magic 11 only lasting four months before we went back to Better Music 2UW.

But as so often happens you learn much more from a disaster compared to when things go well.  And speaking of learning, Ron E was a great teacher and I know there would be many people in radio that absolutely agree.

I left 2UW in January 1985 to become program director at 2KY – and that turned to be a real challenge as well.  Ron Casey – breakfast and John Singleton – mornings were the stars.  Ron E, always the enthusiastic teacher, would give me feedback on Ron and Singo and it proved to be invaluable.  2KY, a perennial bottom of the ratings performer, improved in the ratings and life was good.  However, the Labor Council of NSW (2KY’s licence holder) were not happy that Singo was criticizing Medicare, so they decided he had to go.  Unbelievably they decided to replace Singo with Ita Buttrose, which is when I decided to leave.  It’s no surprise that Ita was a disaster on 2KY.

Ron E and I kept in touch over the years but when I moved to Melbourne in 1995, we didn’t stay in touch.  It’s times like this that make you regret not trying harder to keep the relationship going.

A lot of people label Ron E as a legend and he surely is.  But I would add that he was a great mentor whose passion for radio was so infectious that those around him can truly be thankful that Ron E gave them a magnificent education and experience in radio.  I can’t thank him enough.

Graham Mott was inducted into the CRA Radio Hall of Fame in 2015 after an illustrious career culminating as General Manager of Fairfax Radio, now Nine Radio.