Graham Bowra describes a frenetic lifestyle during his time as a radio announcer. Commencing in the late 1950s in Perth, he draws vivid pictures of life in commercial radio during its ”Golden Era.” His descriptions of other announcers are rich, humourous and adroitly capture their unique characters and the sometimes risqué behaviours “behind the mike.”
Graham’s work was not confined to the radio studio. He describes flying the first shark patrols along the coast for Radio 6PR, hamming it up as WA’s first Humphrey B. Bear, reading news on NWS Channel 9, being a 6PR ‘Good Guy’, rallying production cars, and much, much more.
His career did not stop at the Western Australian border. He ventured into the Gold Coast and Adelaide, and even into New Zealand in a wide-ranging journey that even included visiting the Antipodes, all whilst “on radio.”
His story describes the rollercoaster ride that epitomised the life of a radio announcer throughout the 1960s to the 1980s. His unique personality contributed enormously to his success but was also responsible for his failures.
In an all-revealing exposé of radio in Perth, in telling his story Graham has captured a sense of the history of commercial radio broadcasting in Western Australia, a story that has not previously been told.
