Thirty years ago this month (4th March) Steve McClelland got his first job in radio at 2TM Tamworth. We profile Steve to mark his 30th anniversary in radio.
Steve was the inaugural mid-dawn announcer in his home town, working the ‘yawn shift’ as the local paper put it in an article about him back then.
He had just returned from 12 months in Sweden as a Rotary Exchange Student for his gap year and wanted to get into media. He scored the job after pestering the manager Don Thomas for several weeks and even offering to ‘sweep the floors’ to get his start in radio. After three months he was moved to daytime shifts on the station.
In that first newspaper interview at the time, McClelland was quoted saying: “I’d like to be as happy and successful as possible through radio… and to travel.”
Thirty years on that’s pretty much what has happened. McClelland has moved around Australia, working at various stations, and is now living in Toowoomba and working for the ABC.
After 2TM, Steve moved to 4WK Toowoomba then back to 2TM for another stint in his home town, before deciding talk radio was where he wanted to be.
Management at 2TM deemed him “too young” for talk, so he applied for a talk job at 6KG Kalgoorlie (and never divulged his age). He got it and headed west at the age of 21.
He honed his skills while in Kalgoorlie and also learnt to work an audience by hosting Karaoke every weekend.
In 1991 he moved from commercial radio to the ABC, taking up a job in Tasmania where he stayed for 10 years.
While at ABC Radio Launceston he was the announcer involved in the ‘John White Affair’ where he caught a politician telling a ‘little White lie’ on radio.
The Australian reported the story, explaining that Labor state politician John White called Steve McClelland’s talkback program, pretending to be Bill Fraser from Queenstown, telling McClelland he was appalled that many ministers were on holidays while “everything around them was falling down.”
McClelland thought he recognized the voice and called him on it, asking “this is John White the Labor frontbencher speaking isn’t it?”
The caller denied it, but later fessed up, telling ABC Radio’s Judy Tierny he “told porkies” to generate some debate on the issue in the media.
An episode of the radio serial ‘How Green Was My Cactus’ was based on the event.
In 2001 Steve McClelland moved back to Queensland to take up a position with ABC Management and is currently based in Toowoomba as Regional Content Director for Queensland, overseeing the management of nine regional stations across the state.
Looking back on Steve’s three decade radio career, we wondered if radio has helped him achieve his published ambitions from that newspaper article all those years ago… that radio would bring him a happy and successful career and travel.
Travel – yep, plenty!
Happy – we asked his wife Jeanette to comment on this. She’s the one who tipped us off to Steve’s radio anniversary.
Steve married his wife Jeanette in Kalgoorlie. He was the morning announcer and Jeanette Mengel was the afternoon announcer. They have two kids and have just celebrated 25 happy years of marriage. Jeanette took time off work when their kids were growing up, but she now works casually as a radio producer when needed.
Jeanette says: “Our happiest times have been seeing Australia, bringing up our two children, and listening to radio wherever we go.”
So we reckon that’s a tick too.
Steve doesn’t know about this article. Jeanette says he is an avid radioinfo reader and when he sees this story she will be in trouble.
Happy 30th radio anniversary Steve.
Hope you’re not in too much trouble Jeanette.