Richard was born in Melbourne and completed his schooling in Sydney.
After spending time at university he did a number of jobs including administrative work on Bougainville Island, prospectors assistant in western Queensland and driving trucks and selling timber in Sydney.

It was a keen interest in music that lured Richard to radio. His first ‘on-air’ job was in Bunbury, south of Perth. Then he travelled to 2WG Wagga Wagga and 2UW and 2WS in Sydney. In the 1980’s Richard went back to ‘school’ and completed a social science degree at The University of New England in Armidale. In 1985 he moved with his family to Newcastle.

After more than thirty five years working in commercial, Richard, for the first time, Is now getting up at 3am to do the breakfast shift and loving it.  

John Laws has been given the nickname 'Golden Tonsils' and the title 'King of Radio' because he is the trusted voice of 'Dial In Democracy', an Australian legend and to those in and outside the radio industry, John Laws is an icon.

At a dinner to celebrate John's 40th anniversary in radio, Australia's former Prime Minister Paul Keating hailed John Laws as 'the broadcaster of the century'.

John Laws worked as a Jackaroo around country New South Wales, before hitchhiking to central Victoria. He was 18 when he took on the position of general hand at the local radio station of 3BO Bendigo in 1953.

Lawsie's first jobs were to make the tea for the staff and pack away the sixteen-inch long play records of radio serials, like 'Doctor Paul', 'Hagon's Circus' and 'When A Girl Marries'. One of his first on-air shifts was broadcasting via wire recorders from the Bendigo Mayoral Ball and the first commercial Lawsie read on-air was for a haberdashery store called The Beehive.

Lawsie also worked at 4TO Townsville, 2PK Parkes for one night before leaving because they didn't allow him to smoke in the On-Air studio, and 2GZ Orange.

John Laws made his debut in metropolitan radio at 2UE in 1956. The station was Number 1 with a format of Top 40 and the star Disc Jockey line-up started with Gary O'Callaghan, running through the day with John Laws, Howard Craven, Brian Henderson and others. John Laws became a friend of Lee Gordon who moved to Australia from the states and became the top promoter of overseas music artists of the 50's and 60's. Lee delivered the latest singles to Lawsie before anyone else. He flew the biggest acts to Australia from around the world and brought them straight to John Laws.

John struck up friendships with artists like Roger Miller, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Connie Francis, Bill Haley, Neil Sedaka, Tom T. Hall, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Tom Jones and Nat King Cole.

Local Australian artists were just beginning their careers, and John Laws was the Disc Jockey giving them the contact with the biggest listening audience. Again, John made friends with many of our legendary artists, the King of Australian Rock & Roll Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joye and the Joy Boys, Rob E G, Little Patty and many others.

'Talk-Back' was also introduced at 2UE and John Laws adapted his own unique style, which became a hit with the audience.

In 1959 John joined 2SM before moving to the Hunter Valley where he purchased a farm and for several years broadcast a nationally syndicated programme from the nearby Newcastle station 2KO.

In 1962 he moved back to Sydney with 2GB before re-joining 2UE two years later, and remained at 2UE for 5 years.

In 1969 John changed stations to 2UW, where he stayed for a decade. 2UE lured him back in 1979 for another 5 years, before a return to 2GB, where Lawsie was earning a wage that was greater than the Australian Prime Minister's.

John Laws returned to 2UE when the station had plummeted to 8th place in the Sydney ratings, but quickly returned to the top of the ratings.

After Lawsie's shock decision to retire from the radio industry in 2007, John has since been enjoying some quiet times. Thankfully it didn't take long tho for the radio bug to bite again with John Laws now emerging from retirement taking on the morning show again... it's been 52 years and finally Lawsie has come home to 2SM.  

Meryl reckons working as a kitchen hand and waitress whist she was studying communications at the University of Newcastle was possibly the best training she could have had to work in the media.

Her first real media job came when she was employed by NBN Television and it wasn’t long before she was working two jobs. She used to get up at 3.30 in the morning and work at 2KO on breakfast and then drive over to NBN at 9.00am to start her TV job. The days were long but it was a great start in a tough industry.

From there she spent a brief period with the ABC in Newcastle and Sydney, where she worked as a researcher for Andrew Ollie.

Meryl returned to the Hunter take up a position with Newcastle Council and eventually became the Business Manager for the Hunter Region Organisation of Councils, from there she spent time as a media adviser in federal politics and then as Executive Director of Hunter Tourism.

After getting the taste for radio again she went back to school at a station called 3SA in Melbourne – this was run by Clarke Sinclair. He has since passed away but is a legend in radio circles and Meryl still feels indebted to him for his guidance and tough love.

After two years of hard work she returned to the Hunter to be closer to family and was employed for the first time with 2HD, after working at the station for twelve months Meryl was offered a position with sister station NEWFM as a breakfast announcer, from there she moved to KO and then back to 2HD, in her present role.

Meryl says, “My program and others like it provide company and connection for a vast array of people, many without family and friends – to me it is an honour and responsibility.”  

Graeme Hughes

As a sportsman, Hughes found most success in rugby league, playing for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs as well as representing his state at the age of 19. He was a key member of the Bulldogs "Entertainers" era playing second-row in the Grand Final loss against St George and starred the following year in Canterbury's 18-4 victory against Easts in 1980. Hughes retired in 1982 after a series of injuries to focus on his media career.

Gavin Robertson

Gavin Robertson is a former Australian cricketer who played in four Tests and thirteen One Day Internationals from 1994 to 1998 after a first-class cricket career that saw him depart New South Wales for Tasmania and then return to New South Wales.

Gavin is also a member of the band Six & Out with Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, in which he plays drums and supplies backing vocals.

Brett Papworth

Brett Papworth played first grade rugby league for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in the New South Wales Rugby League competition. He had formerly been an Australian rugby union international. His position of choice was usually at centre.

Papworth commenced his rugby career with rugby union side Eastwood in the New South Wales competition and proceeded to make a total of fifteen test appearances for the Australian Wallabies side between 1985 and 1987 prior to switching to rugby league the following year.

Papworth elected to sign for the Eastern Suburbs side at the commencement of the 1988 season but his progress was hampered with a series of injuries. Over the next five years in rugby league Papworth's considerable talents were rarely on show; successive breaks to his jaw, shoulders and knees limited his game time to but five appearances. At the conclusion of the 1991 season Papworth announced his decision to retire.  

For more than a decade now Graeme Gilbert has hosted Talk Tonight across the Super Radio Network.

Today Graeme is the undisputed ‘King’ of night-time Talkback radio.

Graeme first ‘saw’ radio at the Newcastle Show, while still a schoolboy. From that day his love of the industry has not waned.

Over the years Graeme has won a B&T Award (for Best News Presenter) and a Raward (for Best Current Affairs Commentator).

Radio: “I love it – it’s never a chore turning up for this job!"  

If you’re looking for a friendly voice and companion to keep you company throughout the early hours of the morning Gary Stewart is behind the microphone to keep you informed and entertained. Gary’s extensive career has seen him work at many radio stations including:
4LG Longreach
2PK Parkes
2GZ Orange
4CC Gladstone
2EC Bega
2RE Taree
4WK Toowoomba
MIX 104.9 Darwin
2MC Port Macquarie
2CS Coffs Harbour
2MO Gunnedah
2TM Tamworth
2HD Newcastle

Call Gary on 13 12 69 or email him This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Carter Edwards started his show biz career playing drums as a teenager; started singing at 25, won Perth's New Faces at 26 and became a comedian at 28. At 36 his Taubman's Paint Commercial won a Clio Award in New York as the best TV commercial in the world his Taubman's Paint contract ran for 9 years.

In 1980 he was invited to perform in a Royal Command Performance at the Sydney Opera House. He wrote and starred in the Stepping Out Theatre Restaurant show that was awarded best NSW theatre show for 2 consecutive years. Over the years he's done many corporate shows as a performer, staff trainer and motivational speaker.

He started at our sister station 2HD Newcastle in 1989 with "Carter Edwards Country" which dominated the ratings for 20 years. He was later inducted into the Australian Country Music Broadcasters Hall Of Fame.

Possibly the most amazing single factor in the success story of this versatile entertainer is that he never really intended a career in show business! So far Carter Edwards has done at least 9,000 live shows in the 53 years he has been a performer, and he's still in a constant demand.  

Coming soon...

 

Poppy has enjoyed a long and successful radio career having commenced at 2VM Moree and has called Canberra's FM 104.7, Melbourne's FOX FM and Sydney's 2DAY FM home over the years. Nowadays, Poppy looks forward to entertaining you with 'Straight Talk'.  

Also known as “TDO” and “Dr.Dave”.

Dave is the side kick to Richard King and Producer of the 2HD Breakfast Show.

Famous to Novacastrian’s as host of the very popular “Jukebox Saturday Night” Show which ran on Newcastle Radio for over 10 years .. finishing last year. All the fun is not lost though with Dr Dave’s Jukebox Saturday Nights again running at various venues around Newcastle & The Hunter.

Dave’s Radio career started in Gosford on 2GO, then KOFM, followed by a stint in Gunnedah on Triple G FM’s Breakfast Show before returning to Newcastle and 2HD.

Apart from working on the 2HD Breakfast Show, Dave also shows up across the Super Radio Network on occasions. When not in a studio Dave enjoys renovating, good movies ,seeing concerts, cooking and a few quiet drinks with friends.