| Maynard | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Other names | Maynard F# Crabbes |
| Occupation | Television host Radio Host DJ |
| Known for | Triple J, Madd Club, Foxtel: Red & Channel V, ABC, 2SER-FM, FREE-FM, The Skeptic Zone, The Dirty Disbelievers |
Maynard is an Australian entertainer, television presenter and radio announcer.
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Maynard F# Crabbes started his radio career as a volunteer at community radio station 2NUR-FM at Newcastle University. In December 1985, he had his own program Radio Stupid, on Saturday nights from 11:00pm to station close at about 1:00am. The format was partly based on The Castanet Club stage show. Music featured 1980s dance, electronic and alternative with obscure songs, adverts and mash-ups of his own creation. Radio Stupid had competitions and audience participation, such as a "Find the Record Competition", where a record would be hidden in Newcastle. By stretching the mike boom from the console and the distant wallphone handset together, Maynard had talk-back; if only one caller at a time.
Fellow Castanet Mikey Robbins contributed on alternate weeks in studio and by phone. On weeks where Robbins was not in the studio, Maynard was often accompanied by Geoff the Shopkeeper. Castanet Club characters Steve Abbott (as Johnny Goodman), Warren Coleman (as Bowling Man) and Russell Cheek (as Tron Wexler) occasionally contributed songs and skits and the evil Dr Leopold Kickboxing provided an evil advice line, purportedly all the way from his 'Center of Evil' in Dubbo, New South Wales. Doreen Cheem would occasionally join in on the fun. On one memorable occasion, Dr Evil revealed he had installed giant fans to the North of Dubbo and was waiting for a 'cool, calm, clear day', when he would power up the fans and blow Dubbo clear off the map. A cursory examination on Google Earth reveals, alas, that Dubbo is still there to this day. Towards the end of his tenure on 2NUR, Maynard and most of his regular callers and guests embarked on an epic Radio Stupid night with 'Maynard in Space', in which Maynard's Volkswagen Beetle was used as a low-budget Earth to LEO shuttle system.
A classic Maynard signature was his closing down of the 2NUR transmitter at the conclusion of a Radio Stupid show. At the end of the show the transmitter would switch over to sending a 'station close' tone, which Maynard would toggle on and off for a classic 'shave-and-a-haircut' effect.
He was a presenter on Triple J from 1987 till the early 1990s. He now works at ABC local radio and is an online video presenter. One of his projects was "30 Second Special" with Jaimie Leonarder [1].
His latest show The Dirty Disbelievers will debut on ABC Digital Radio across Australia Saturday & Sunday evenings in December 2011. Maynard will have as regular guests Richard Saunders, Dr Rachael Dunlop & Jaimie Leonarder plus music segments.
Maynard moved to television, hosting several children's programs for the ABC, His stage name was then Maynard F# Crabbes. He has also written two books under the name. Maynard's Guide To Dag & Maynard's Dag Quiz Book He took his stage name from the fictional character Maynard G. Krebs.
Since 1994 he has been known as Maynard, or Maynard Crabbes. He hosted regular shows on Foxtel from its first day in Australia, "Planet Fx" on Fx, "Rewind" on Red & later Channel V Australia till 2001.