Vale radio format pioneer Rhett Walker

The man who thought up the slogan ‘Where No Wrinklys Fly’ at the height of 3AK’s Top 40 era in the 1970s, has passed away. His funeral will take place at Maldon in Victoria on Friday. Rhett Walker had over 25 years in marketing and management roles in the radio, TV, music and entertainment industries in Australia and internationally.

As well as high profile stints on AM radio, he also played a central role in the establishment of FM radio in Australia, as the format consultant and first General Manager for Fox FM Melbourne.

In the 1960s Rhett Walker helped build 3DB’s music format, then in the early 1970s, when he was at 3AK, he changed the “The 3AK Good Guys” slogan to “Where No Wrinklys Fly” as the station battled 3XY for dominance in the top 40 music genre.

3XY ultimately won the battle, however the wrinkly format proved to be a staggering ratings winner for a short time.

In a tribute to Walker, Gary Mac writes: “At that time 3AK programs lifted dramatically under Walker’s leadership, and he enjoyed a personal day-part ratings figure that has yet to be matched.” He later worked in Perth at 6PR and was also a format consultant for 3KZ.

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When he left radio he became a Professor at Latrobe University in Bendigo and made a great contribution to education in his post-radio career. 

 

Wayne Mac, author of Don’t Touch that Dial, has sent radioinfo this story about tracking down Walker for an interview when he was researching his book on the history of Australian Commercial Radio:

 

When I was researching “DTTD” many moons ago there were several radio players I considered ‘a must’ to get comment from. Rod Muir and Rhett Walker were the two big guns. Arguably the most standout radio programmers of their time. Oddly enough, Rod was reasonably easy to track down and I secured a day with him in person and he spoke freely. Rhett, on the other hand, was much more difficult. However, when I managed to speak with him for about 20 mins by phone it was apparent that he had checked me out to ensure I was credible. This fact will not be lost on those who know well of his almost obsessive ‘dotting of i’s/crossing of t’s.

He listened to my spiel about how I felt it important that “DTTD” contain some of his comments. He agreed to comment for the book on the basis that he felt what I was doing was worthwhile. He said he respects well-researched work and it was pretty much on that basis that he agreed to go on the record for the sake of accuracy.

Rhett answered my questions fully but left me in no doubt that we there would be NO follow up call. At the end of our call he said something like: “I’m not comfortable living in the past and I’d ask you not let people know where I am and PLEASE don’t put my address in group emails. I prefer to leave the past back there and don’t wish to be contacted by people from that time”. Obviously I respected his wishes.

Suffice to say that after I extracted his comments about 3AK and 6PR I felt it could all come undone to have him comment on his pop star/DJ days, circa 1959 as ‘RW on UW’. Nor did I ask him about the setting up of FOX in 1980. I’d been tipped off that was a no-go area for him.

I can’t say that I knew the man at all, but I’d known ‘of him’ and his reputation and achievements during my time in the biz. There’s a whole bunch of people ‘out there’ who worked closely with Rhett. It will be for these folk to post tributes to the man. I’d just like to say that in the wake of his passing that I’m glad we have a few of his vital historic comments in print because he was a significant figure of his era.