Glenn had had heart trouble for many years since being treated with radiation for lymphoma when he was aged 25. Two weeks ago he had stents put into his heart in a non invasive surgery procedure at the SAN hospital in Sydney and was taking time to recover before planning to return to work this month.

Paul Jackson, NOVA Entertainment’s Chief Programming & Marketing Officer has told radioinfo:

“It is with a heavy heart that we at smoothfm have to share the devastating news that Glenn Daniel passed away peacefully in his sleep yesterday.

“Glenn was a true gentleman, he had a beautiful soul, was kind, generous and had time for all. He was a consummate professional for his entire 39 year career in broadcast radio and journalism. In a career filled with many highlights and numerous awards, including the Brian White Memorial Award for journalism and his pride at being at the finish line when Cathy Freeman won Gold, Glenn worked across all formats during his distinguished career and had a huge impact on so many in the industry.

“Glenn cared so much for smoothfm and the station’s listeners. He would arrive at work at 2am to craft the news in his own imitable style and was a trusted source of news for many years for millions of loyal listeners. More recently he found a new passion in podcasting and created two award winning series of The Worst Day of Your Life, where he shared the stories of people who’d survived adversity and traumatic events and used their experiences to help others change their lives for the better.

“Glenn loved his kayaking, cricket and The Eels, but more than anything he loved his two boys Mark and James. They are very much in our thoughts now as is Glenn’s on air partner Bogart and the entire smoothfm family.”

Glenn was a trainer at AFTRS and mentored the careers of many journalists now working in Australia’s news industry. He was always available to give advice and support to up and coming journalists, and gave many their first jobs in his newsrooms.

Glenn can truly be said to have lived his life in radio. in fact it was the subtitle of his book.

The book details a career spanning seven iconic radio newsrooms and shares stories of behind-the-scenes events from 1982 to 2017.

He began as a cadet reporter at 2WS and has since held the position of News Director at four of Sydney’s key radio stations (2SM, WSFM, 2Day-FM and Triple M) and spent 10 years as Group News Director of the Australian Radio Network. In his career Glenn covered historic world events including reporting from the killing fields of Rwanda in 1994, the 9-11 tragedy in 2001 and being on the finish line as Cathy Freeman won gold at the Sydney Olympics.

After 35 years in radio news and beating both cancer and heart disease along the way, the opportunity to co-host a metropolitan breakfast show was something Glenn didn’t really believe would ever happen – let alone be the success it is. Characteristically humble, Glenn attributed the show’s success to his co-host, Bogart Torelli in an interview with radioinfo in 2017. In 2018 Glenn gave Radio Today an insight into his working day.

Ever one to champion good journalism, Glenn called out political harassment of journalists in a conversation with radioinfo in 2013 and offered his opinions on Jordan Shanks’ style of social media journalism in this article on Friendly Jordies.

Glenn’s whole family is involved in media. His brother Terry has worked in radio journalism most of his career and is now the proprietor of AIR News. His other brother Richard works in media in South East Asia. Glenn’s son Mark works at Triple M Melbourne and his other son James is in media in America.

Despite his recent health issues Glenn celebrated his 60th birthday last month with most of his family around him. They were also there to support him during his operation and recovery.

Funeral arrangements are now being made. We will update readers with details when they are available.

RIP Glenn