K. G. Cunningham
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Kenneth George Cunningham | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
26 July 1939 Adelaide, South Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Left-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right-arm Medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1960/61–1974/75 | South Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Cricket Archive, 30 March 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kenneth George (KG) Cunningham (born 26 July 1939 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian radio personality and former cricketer and football umpire.
Cunningham had a first-class cricket career from the 1960/61 to 1973/74 seasons with the South Australian state cricket team in the Sheffield Shield. A left-hand batsman, he was part of the side that won the Shield in 1963/64, and went on to play 97 first-class matches in a solid career, averaging 37 with the bat.[1]
He was also an SANFL umpire in the 1960s.
Following his sport career, he became a TV and radio sports presenter. During the 1980s when the SANFL was still the number one game in town, KG hosted a 30 minute football wrap-up show on Channel 9 Adelaide called KG's Footy Show. The show was run on Saturdays during the football season and ran in the 5:30-6pm time slot. KG and guests who included players usually from the days winning teams, would give their comments and show highlights of the games. KG was also the weekend sports presenter for Channel 9 news in Adelaide for over 20 years until he joined Channel 7 in 2005. He also co-hosted the FIVEaa Sports Show from the mid-1980s until 2008, firstly with former South Australian cricket captain David Hookes and later with former SANFL player and Adelaide Crows (AFL) coach Graham Cornes. The radio show was and still is to this day among Adelaide's most popular Drive time shows.
Cunningham collapsed from ischaemic heart disease in October 2006, and underwent angioplasty.[2]
He is frequently very opinionated and pro-South Australian. Because of this reputation and his mannerisms, he is often satirised by fellow broadcaster Jon Blake on a weekly comedy skit called Behind Closed Doors (also broadcast on FIVEaa).
One well-known incident which typified Cunningham's broadcast style took place in 1998 during the Australian Football League fixture when Port Adelaide Football Club played West Coast Eagles at Football Park (now AAMI Stadium). During the match, then-Port Adelaide ruckman Darryl Poole marked the football on the goal line, entitling him to a set shot on goal, just metres from the target. Despite this, he was positioned at a difficult angle to take the shot, and was not known as a reliable kick. When Graham Cornes expressed doubts as to whether Poole would convert his shot into a goal, Cunningham exclaimed "If Darryl Poole misses this, I'll jump into the lake" (presumably the West Lakes outside of Football Park). Poole subsequently missed his shot, but despite every attempt during and after the match to make him act on his pledge, Cunningham refused, claiming it to be a "figure of speech".
In March 2009 Cunnigham broke new ground and joined former Australian basketball legend Phil Smyth to host an internet sports show KG and the General,[3] streaming live from Adelaide 3-6pm CST on weekdays and podcast on www.australialivetv.com. australialivetv.com ceased producing new content in December 2010.
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Cunningham currently presents Dead Set Legends on Adelaide's Triple M with Andrew Jarman.