Ray Hadley
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Ray Hadley OAM (born 27 September 1954) is an Australian radio presenter. He presents 2GB Sydney's morning show, and leads the Continuous Call Team, a rugby league commentating team.
He grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney but spent a great deal of time with his grandparents in a small village called Eungai Rail on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
He decided at a young age to become a sports broadcaster, but reports being questioned by his family and friends whenever his ambitions were brought up. After completing his Higher School Certificate in 1972, he tried unsuccessfully to gain a job in sports broadcasting. He soon found work in auctioneering, and after getting his Auctioneer's license, he was an auctioneer for 8 years.
He soon quit auctioneering and became a taxi driver, so he could spend his weekends getting casual work as a race broadcaster. By 1980, he was calling the greyhound races at Appin, Bulli and Nowra.
One night he was called to Radio 2UE in Sydney to pick up news director Mark Collier, who gave him casual work at the station.
Within a month, he was presenting traffic reports for Gary O'Callaghan's breakfast program, and did on-air promotions for various 2UE programs. He eventually landed up as an understudy race caller, behind Des Hoysted and John Tapp.
In 1987, Ray was chosen to head up 2UE's Rugby League coverage. The station had ratings victories 10 out of the 13 years 2UE had the rights to cover the game during his tenure. Much of this early success and Ray's improving knowledge of the game can be put down to the guidance and influence of the great Ray Price who schooled Ray in the early years, a debt of gratitude Hadley himself is quick to acknowledge. In 1994, he was the first league broadcaster since Frank Hyde to attract 200,000 listeners per quarter hour.
During that time, he was also understudy and fill-in presenter for morning show presenter John Laws.
In 1999, 2UE lost the rights to the National Rugby League to 2GB. Faced with a difficult challenge to retain listeners, 2UE asked Hadley to present a rugby league program without access to the actual game. Despite this hurdle, the Talking League Team won every rating period between 2000 and 2001. At times 2GB complained that the frequent "updates" given on the show extended to near real time commentary, which 2UE denied.
In 2002, Ray joined fellow 2UE presenter Alan Jones over at 2GB, and was chosen to present their morning show. In addition, the Talking League team was also brought over to 2GB to present their league broadcasts. Having worked at both stations, Ray keeps in contact with people over at 2UE like Stan Zemanek whom he has known "in excess of 25 years," as said on his show on 11 May 2006. Stan was briefly mentioned due to the fact that he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and Ray wished him a speedy recovery.
During his time at 2UE, Ray also broadcast at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was commentating on Cathy Freeman's memorable 400m race, where she had won gold. Freeman had later heard the replay of the race, and said that Ray's call made it sound better than she thought it was.
He has been named the best Radio Sports Broadcaster at the "Rawards" for the 5 out of the past 10 years, and was awarded an Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's Birthday 2002 Honours List for services to rugby league (as a broadcaster) and the community, through fundraising initiatives for charitable organizations.
To prove that he is more than a sports broadcaster, Ray won an accolade at the 2006 ACRAs (also known as the RAWARDS) for "Best Current Affairs Presenter".
Ray lives in the north-west of Sydney with his wife Suzanne and four children Daniel, Laura, Emma and Sarah.
With his talkback show, his favourite music genre is country and western (both traditional and modern) - especially new releases and some old favourites. He always broadcasts his show from studio 1 (the one with the Australian flag on the window) always wearing business casual clothes as well as formal business attire, and can be seen on the webcam. He also has his trademark blue windsock on his microphone that is distinctly accentuated. Don Moxham and Ian Wallace always report the traffic during his shift, with Erin Maher as the newsreader whom he talks to from time to time as well as his panel operator, Chris Bowen (often called "Bowen" by Ray). During the show, at every hour, after every hourly news update, he always plays parodies of well-known songs such as the "Happy Days" theme, the Leo Sayer hit "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and "Oh, What A Night (December 1963)" by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Before the news, John Singleton always advertises the Loaves and Fishes Restaurant at Ashfield where "everyone is welcome, every day."
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[edit] Olympic outburst
In 2004, Hadley was recorded in the middle of an outburst aimed at now-former 2GB news director Justin Kelly at the 2004 Athens Olympics, after Hadley's call of an event at the Games was not used in a news bulletin. His use of the word "spastic" outraged organizations that deal with people which such conditions, and Ray made a quick apology and offered his services to the organizations affected for no charge. Also during the outburst, the profane word "fucking" was used 20 times. Despite being a private off-air moment, it was illegally leaked onto the internet.
A dance version of the outburst was soon created and played on Triple J and bootlegged around the country.
[edit] Leukemia Foundation Appeal
Ray Hadley earlier in the year told his audience and colleagues that he would dye his hair if his callers raised $20,000 to raise funds for the Leukemia Foundation. The response was overwhelming. Businesses all over Sydney and beyond put in money to help raise funds, and they raised well over $20,000 in his normal 3 hour shift on Thursday 4 May 2006.
Many people donated up to $200 each. Some even gave $500. John Singleton donated $20,000 to the cause for Tommy Raudonikis to dye his hair. Ray was a bit concerned at first because his hair went purple as could be seen from the webcam at the time.
He was told by his hairdresser that within half an hour of him finishing his shift it would go to the colour he intended (blonde). His panel operator Chris Bowen also participated and dyed his hair from strawberry blonde to black.
They have both regained their respective natural hair colours since.
[edit] Future Endeavours
While Ray has attained a great voice for broadcasting, it has been widely established that he doesn't possess a melodic streak. In order to rectify the problem, it is strongly mooted that he is likely to appear in the next series of Channel 7's singing contest "It Takes Two" (which is a program in which a celebrity not known for their singing prowess teams up with a well-known professional singer) where Ray is likely to team up with Beccy Cole, Melinda Schneider or even the great Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (who is also the co-patron of the rugby league team New Zealand Warriors). This is the most likely solution to improve Ray's singing ability and add another string to his vocal bow.
