LIBERACE, GRA GRA GET UGLY
50 YEARS OF RADIO 4GG
SEPTEMBER 30, 1967. The clock is counting down to zero hour, 8pm.
Dusk has descended and the atmosphere is tense as Radio 4GG’s tiny staff of 16 prepares to go to air for the first time from the new radio station’s Bundall Rd studio.
Announcer Frank Warrick is to be the first voice heard.
He steels himself for the words that will make broadcasting history: “Good evening and welcome to 4GG”.
In the kitchen, someone turns on the jug to make a cuppa.
Bang. Something short circuits and the station is without power.
At the time it was disastrous and amid the frantic scramble to turn the power back on someone probably muttered: “We’ll laugh about this one day’’.
And laugh they will when the old crew gathers on October 1 with a wider circle of mates to mark 50 years since 4GG was launched.
They’ll meet at the Kampung Malay restaurant at Bell Place, Mudgeeraba, from noon on Sunday, October 1.
But given a half century has passed since the station opened, several old faces – good faces for radio, as the joke goes – will be missing.
With the ranks thinning, organiser Judith Ferber – who is now general manager of the Gold Coast Eisteddfod – laments this will probably the last reunion for that very reason. But a 50-year anniversary is a good way to go out with a bang.
The radio station has had several incarnations. In 1989 it moved to the FM band and became known as Triple G.
A change in ownership resulted in another handle – KROQ – and then another change brought another name, 92.5 Gold FM.
Back when it all started, the people who dreamt of setting up a radio station that would be uniquely Gold Coast were a Who’s Who of local business, including the Gold Coast Bulletin’s managing director John Rootes, Bill Hamilton, Alan Hollindale, Bill Price, Graham Rackley and Vern Thurecht.
Ralph Taylor was first manager, followed by Judith’s then partner Barry Ferber who began with the station as its first morning presenter. Ferber eventually rose to become managing director and oversaw an organisation that became famous for its showbiz element.
Ferber now lives in Las Vegas, but back in 2007 when he wrote a special feature for the Bulletin about the radio station’s first 40 years he listed a galaxy of stars who came to play: “Liberace, Tom Jones, Andy Williams, and who could forget Ugly Dave and Graham Kennedy? We put the station in the national spotlight’’.
Apart from Ugly Dave Gray and Kennedy, other stars who came to the Coast to have their own shows were Bert Newton and Bob Rogers, along with Stuart Wagstaff, Noel Ferrier, John Farnham and Colleen Hewett.
“Some on-air staff would go on to the magic box – Frank Warrick, Mike Higgins, Robert Brough and the irrepressible Darryl Eastlake,’’ Ferber said.
“Miss Midnight, Beth Francis, created a world record as the most durable broadcaster with 17 years on air.’’
Locals Maurie Service and Tony Schmidt were at the station from the day it opened. Service recently retired from 4CRB – at age 86!
“I was there (4GG) for 23 years and it was great fun working with some wonderful people but I am 86 years young and have worked with 4CRB for 16 years. It is time to move on,’’ he told Bulletin celebrity photographers and columnists Regina King and Peter Flowers in June.
Regina King once recalled how Barry Ferber managed to snare American comedian and film star Bob Hope on the Gold Coast.
“4GG always had the most beautiful bikini promotions girls, who wore these yellow satin bikinis or one-piece swimsuits with 4GG emblazoned across their derrieres,’’ she wrote in a series of articles in the Bulletin that told her life story.
“One of our favourite models was Anita Black, a tall and striking teenager with Dolly Parton proportions.
“Anita was one of the girls commissioned to meet the plane when Bob Hope arrived. Alas! The swimsuit sent for her was two sizes too small.
“I shall never forget the look on Bob Hope’s face as he stepped off the plane and cast his eyes on the delicious Anita, who looked embarrassed but absolutely sensational.’’
But away from the glitz, there was another important side to the radio station – the public service it performed.
Among Judith Ferber’s lasting memories is the around-the-clock broadcasting to keep Gold Coasters informed during the 1974 floods, which devastated large parts of southeast Queensland.
“We were the (radio) eyes and ears of the Gold Coast.
“Everybody listened to the station to find out what was happening. In fact during any crisis, everybody had their radio on and the station was able to give them up-to-date information. That was terribly important.
“(People worked) long hours, in the station … they went above and beyond the call of duty, definitely.’’
Judith’s recollections reveal a warm and very human side to the big American names who were hosted here.
“Liberace – that was a big moment,’’ she said.
“He was lovely. He turned up and there were people lined up outside the station with candelabras to welcome him. He was just lovely, so friendly and warm.
“Barry was noted for putting on big seafood lunches because all the overseas stars couldn’t believe the size of the prawns and oysters. They would hoe into the seafood.
“The late great comedian Phyllis Diller was another one.
“She was over the moon about the seafood. She scooped it all up and took the remains home with her.
“Everybody was down to earth. They were all lovely. They were royally looked after. Picked up and chauffeured around, brought to the station. They were all very nice people.’’
Australian comedian Barry Humphries made a big impact.
“He was hilarious. I could never work out whether he was serious or not. I dare say he was not,’’ she said.
“He was very quiet, conservative, very charming. A very nice person.
“My favourite memory? The camaraderie, the fantastic old days of radio, when it was not really run by accountants – no offence to accountants, but it was more fun.
“Those days have changed over 50 years. Long gone.’’