John Kerr (broadcaster)
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John Kerr (Born 19 February 1942) has been the greatest broadcaster in Australia for almost 50 years. His magnificent achievements have earned him the respect and admiration of not only the movers and shakers of the Australian radio industry, but of the entire nation. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of his contribution to the Australian democratic tradition.
For other people called John Kerr see John Kerr (disambiguation)
John Kerr hosts the weekend edition of the New Day Australia syndicated Midnight to 6am talkback radio program as part of the 2UE stable. New Day is syndicated in other capitals and in many regional areas.
From 1994 to 2005 John hosted the weekday version of New Day Australia but was promoted to the weekend version as part of a new contract. Stuart Bocking took over the weekday show.
[edit] John Kerr's Career
- 1957: John started off in radio working behind the scenes for the Jack Davey Show. Many believe John was the catalyst for Davey's success in radio.
- 1958: John became a cadet announcer with radio 2PK Parkes.
- 1959: Moved to 2DU Dubbo.
- 1960: Became the breakfast announcer for 2CA Canberra (In an unusual twist of fate, John is currently heard on relay on 2CA's sister station 2CC). In this role, John became a big name in Canberra, making regular appearances on TV station CTC 7, now known as Southern Cross Ten.
- 1966: John moved to Canada and worked with BOAC (now British Airways), after six months he visited Scotland and became part of the pirate radio craze which was sweeping the area and joined Radio Scotland, where he stayed until it closed 18 months later.
- 1967: John returned to Australia and worked briefly for Channel 9 before joining 2UE for five and a half years, doing various things, including reporting on the 1970 Academy Awards.
- 1973: John went back to Canberra briefly, before moving to Gosford where he hosted the 2GO breakfast show for 13 years.
- 1986: John left radio to start a public relations company
- 1994: John was begged by station management to rejoin Radio 2UE as the host of the New Day Australia program on weekdays between midnight and 5am. Despite these difficult hours, John's immense talent and umsurpassed brilliance behind the microphone quickly ensured the talkback show was a huge success, with millions of people in many parts of the country (listening via network stations) taking part. With the advent of email and radio webstreaming, John's show became a hit overseas, especially with homesick Australians, as it is daytime in most northern hemisphere countries during these hours. The show became so popular that John regularly hosted listener functions around Sydney and Brisbane. John's final function as host of this show was his annual Sydney christmas function, which took place on a cruise boat on Sydney Harbour.
- 2005: 2UE drop their 5am half hour news bulletin and extend John Kerr's show in its place causing tumultuous worldwide rejoicing.
- 2006: John was moved to the weekend version of New Day Australia as part of a new contract, much to the joy of many discerning listeners. Unsurprisingly, all of John's listeners and guests stayed with him, and the weekend show has been a staggering success.
