92.9fm 30th Anniversary Podcast
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of 92.9, JB sat down and chatted with the former on-air jocks who have sat behind the 92.9 microphone over the years, plus the managers and decision makers who kept the station on-air over the last 30 incredible years!
Michael Church
JB sat down and had a chat with former 92.9 staffer, Michael Church. Michael Church was the program director for the all important launch of 92.9 on May 1 1993.
JB chatted with Michael about how long it took the team to get the radio station ready to launch on-air, how they devised what songs and music to play, who the all important launch line-up should be and how smooth really was launch day? Find out here when JB chats with Michael Church.
Phil Bradley
JB sat down and had a chat with former 92.9 staffer, Phil Bradley. Phil Bradley was the FIRST VOICE ever heard on 92.9fm back at 9.29pm on Saturday May 1 1993.
Phil Bradley also had the all important job as the launch music director for 92.9fm as well! Phil gives us incredible insights into the planning of the launch of 92.9fm, *real* last minute preparations for the new studios, plus a bit of an unusual holiday giveaway for the launch of the station...!
Find out more here as JB catches up with Phil Bradley.
Anthony Malley
JB sat down and caught up with Anthony Malley, one of the original breakfast announcers on 92.9fm.
While 92.9fm had a few breakfast announcers prior to Anthony starting in around 1995 - it was Anthony and Jo King who most listeners would remember from this time period. Anthony chats about his famous "dag-quizzes" and "dag-parties" which were legendary around Tamworth in the 90s - plus Anthonys "punishment" for pushing the envelope a bit too much!
Find out what that "punishment" was here....
Mike Armstrong
JB sat down and caught up with one of the original voices of 92.9, Mike Armstrong. Mike is a rarity in the radio industry that he's lucky enough to say he launched a radio station in his own backyard... before then going on and launching another 3 FM stations during the 90s...!
Find out what made Mike launching 92.9fm the most special out of all of them though!
Gavin Flanagan
JB caught up with the man who actually gave him his first job in radio... (no pressure!) Gavin Flanagan. Gavin has done a record 3 stints at 92.9fm, across a range of roles from radio announcer through to being General Manager on 2 seperate occasions.
Due to this, Gavin shares a unique perspective on what makes 92.9fm great, some of the transformations of the station over the years ... and what question he'd NEVER ask Savage Garden again if he did a 4th time at 92.9fm...!
Find out more about that and plenty more when JB catches up with Gavin Flanagan!
Matt Whittemore
JB chatted with Matt Whittemore who hosted the 92.9fm Big Breakfast in the late 90s. Matt had fun on his breakfast show hiding various meat products around town... listen to find out more!
Plus, find out what future international superstar Matt chatted to on 92.9fm during this time on-air!
Andy Mac
JB caught up with Andy Mac, who presented the drive show on 92.9fm in the mid 00s. Andy Mac talks fondly about 92.9fm being not only his first radio job.. but first ACTUAL full-time job...!
Andy chats about what popular songs we were playing at the time, the joys of regional radio when it comes to air-conditioning in the studios plus some of the cool names that visited the 92.9fm studios in the mid noughties!
Paul Rands
JB caught up with Paul Rands, who was a producer and fill-in announcer on 92.9fm in the early to mid 00s. Paul Rands as part of being the producer at 92.9fm created commercials for the station, plus all the station promotional material.
Paul was at 92.9fm during the important switch over between analog and digital - which didn't go as smoothly as they had hoped - tune into this chat to find out more!
Ryan Nicholls
JB caught up with Ryan Nicholls, who was an on-air announcer at 92.9fm between 2005 and 2007. Ryan played non-stop Cold Chisel and Copperhead Road during the popular 'Grassy's Glass Request Show' before hosting Breakfast.
During his stint on Breakfast, Ryan was well known for all sorts of unique and bizarre comedy features such as 30-second theatre, Average Gear and Miffy The Slightly Rabid Cat.
Find out more about these unique characters when JB catches up with Ryan about his tenure at 92.9fm!
Josh Melbourne
Josh Melbourne completed not one, but two stints hosting the breakfast program on 92.9fm.
In this chat with JB, Josh chats about how amazing it was to host a breakfast program on a station in a town he grew up in, some of the crazy things him and his co-hosts got up to over his two stints on Breakfast, the creation of the 92.9fm Sports Show "The Send Off"... and the one and only (that we know of anyway!) that the 'F-Bomb' went to air on 92.9fm. Hows that for history?!? Josh also chats about the incredible first guest he had on his breakfast show... find out who that was in this chat!
Emm Hall
Emm Hall began her 92.9fm radio journey moving here from Melbourne in 2012. Little did she realise she'd be thrown in the deep end as the co-host for Josh Melbourne ...a role that saw her doing a range of crazy stunts including learning how to dance in the local Tamworth Stars Dance for Cancer event!
Emm also chats about getting some big names on the program - when other's told her it couldn't be done!
JT
What didn't JT do at 92.9fm? Starting at 92.9 in 2010, JT covered Breakfast, Workday and Drive on 92.9fm... along with programming the station's music, looking after prizes and giveaways and everything else thrown at him over a nearly 7 year stint at the station!
One of the things JT was most proud of during his tenure was the David Rixon Radiothon that 92.9fm ran in 2012 raising over $40,000 for the family of David Rixon, a local police officer who was fatally shot while on duty.
Jack Howard
Jack Howard was journalist and breakfast co-host at 92.9fm from 2018 until late 2019. In this chat with his former Breakfast co-host, Jack explains how he got the job at 92.9fm so quickly he didn't even have time to go back home and collect all his possessions!
Jack shares a story about an on-air giveaway that 92.9fm did that literally changed a life - plus his tale of feeling worst for wear while meeting the PM!
Jess Renaglia
If you listened to workdays or drive on 92.9 throughout 2018, 19 and 2020 - you would have heard Jess! Jess started her commercial radio career at 92.9fm after growing up in Adelaide.
In this chat with JB, Jess speaks with fondness about how much she learnt and grew as a person while living in Tamworth and working at 92.9fm. Jess chats about some of her favourite on-air (and off-air!) memories and the nerves of going on-air for the first time while the studio looked like a nightclub!
Drew Michelle
Drew was a station floater at 92.9fm in 1998. Drew hosted various shifts on 92.9fm over the 12months he worked here, plus, also helped out with a Tamworth World Record while he worked here! Find out what the world record was for when JB caught up with Drew Michelle for our 30th anniversary podcast!
Crystal Vas
Crystal hosted a number of shifts on 92.9fm throughout the mid-2010s. Crystal speaks fondly of her time in Tamworth as being where she had some of her biggest face to face interviews she ever conducted - including with Mr Crocodile Dundee himself.
However, Crystal wasn't all that impressed with the 92.9fm team who played a practical joke on her when they told her she'd be able to interview Angelina Jolie at the premier of the film Untouched (which was filmed in around Tamworth).
Crystal also speaks about various other fun station promotions during her time at 92.9fm including giving out Free Hugs and also Dollar Day raising funds for the drought.
Breaky with the Boys -
Stephen Walter and Kevin Rigby
If you woke up with 92.9fm during the early 2000s, you would have woken up with Breaky with the Boys! Stephen Walter and Kevin Rigby hosted a mad/crazy/comedy filled breakfast program for around 3 years - during which time they were nominated 3 times for Best Comedy Segment at the Commercial Radio Awards (they finally won in 2004, which involved Kevin's mum being star struck by Clive James who was there at the awards! Listen to the podcast for the full story!).
JB chats with Kevin and Wally about how the two of them met, some of the crazy interviews they did along the way (especially during Country Music time!) and why the duo decided to call it a day at the height of it's success in 2005.
JB also chat's to Wal about his brief stint back at the station in the early 2010s and how different that was for him and the one rumour that swelled when he returned to 92.9fm!
Jo King
To celebrate 92.9's 30th birthday JB caught up with former Tamworth local, Jo King. Jo hosted the 92.9 Breakfast program for a number of years with Anthony Maley. Jo chats about why (and how) she came up with the name "Jo King", some of the stunts her and Anthony got up to during their breakfast show which would never be allowed to be done now days... and a hilarious example of "live radio at it's finest" that just has to be heard to be believed!