Veteran 2GB presenter Brian Wilshire has died at the age of 81.
“A lovely man and one of the gentlemen of the radio business.
He was a major figure of night-time radio on 2GB for 36 years. He dominated 2GB’s ratings holding sometimes 30+% of audience – even when the rest of us on 2GB were tanking.
Brian probably never got the recognition he deserved – but no-one has held the air on the station for as many years as he did.”
Brian retired a decade ago after hosting Weeknights on the station since 1979. For 36 years he was No 1 rated in the slot.
Wilshire began his career in radio in 1969 at 2NZ in Inverell, before moving to 2TM Tamworth then 2CA Canberra. In 1974 he relocated to Sydney as a newsreader at 2UE. Four years later he was invited to present the Saturday and Sunday night open line shows, while continuing as a newsreader on weekdays. On June 13 1979 Brian took over the 2GB weeknight program from the late John Pearce.
Brian had a variety of interests external to radio, he played drums for the band Stringybark, often playing outside the Windsor shops in North West Sydney. He also loved travel, family, pets, skiing, writing (publishing four books) and car racing.
Of the latter on his retirement he told Radioinfo:
“The reason I went into radio in the first place was that, with the fatal blow to the beachcombing industry provided by the advent of no-deposit soft drink bottles in NSW, it appeared to be the best way to fund my motor racing habit. The highlight of that hobby was a class win in the 1993 Bathurst 12-hour race for production cars, in a Nissan Pulsar SSS. Radio has been an equally wild ride and I’d like to thank my loyal listeners and everyone at 2GB.”
I have great memories of Mr Wilshire on 2GB.
First he was the first broadcaster to tell his audience in the 1980s about globalisation. Particularly the loss of local jobs being offshored to other countries with cheaper labour.
Second he talked on air about living on the corner of Chalmers Rd and Barker Rd Strathfield.
I personally met him when he gave a talk at Macquarie University in 1992 and when I interviewed him on 2SER-fm at the Macquarie University Studios in room W6B.
On both occasions I told him that my music teacher lived and taught in the very house Brian's family lived.
It's a moot point on what he thought of developments in todays world politics and economics.
A brilliant mind with forward thinking.
Anthony, Strathfield South, in the land of the Wangal and Darug Peoples of the Eora Nation
Brian Wilshire was one of the all time great broadcasters. He was a conspiracy theorist and when I was his Program Director at 2GB he would often come to me with theories that I should pass on to Alan Jones! I occasionally did. He hated working in studios where people could look in from outside. He also convinced me to use Stevia instead of sugar. I still do. Brian was nothing short of remarkable. He was grossly underrated and frequently misunderstood by management. May he rest in peace with his drum kit and his beloved old Jaguar.