ACRAs Finalists Fever – #14

Staff Writer

There are thousands of hard-working, dedicated and amazingly creative people throughout the radio industry – and every year a small fraction of those people make the short list as a finalist in the ACRAs.

Just like we did last year, over the next few weeks, Radio Today will shine a spotlight on the best of the best.

Today we feature David Huth, Paul ‘Browny’ Brown & Emilie-Jain ‘EJ’ Palmer and Mark Hales.

Let’s Roll Out the Red Carpet….The ACRAs Finalists Fever – counting down the days to the big event on Saturday by profiling the finalists across all categories. 

 

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION

David Huth; Mix FM & Sea FM, Maroochydore QLD, EON Broadcasting P

Quick snaphot on your career….

Spent last 15 years with Sea/MixFM in Production having spent time in both Programming and Production at various stations throughout NSW and QLD.

 

Yoiur ACRAs entry…

It’s a montage of Promo’s and Sweeps that feature some custom audio signatures.

 

 

 

BEST STATION PRODUCED COMEDY SEGMENT

Guy Sebastian’s Bad Hair Day; Paul ‘Browny’ Brown & Emilie-Jain ‘EJ’ Palmer, Hot FM, Gladstone QLD, Southern Cross Austereo P

Alreigh you two… where did it begin…

Browny: I started out as the Phone Answering Dude/Stunt Guy on The Hit List with Matty & Renee at 90.9 Sea Fm on the Gold Coast, then began my on-air career doing Red Eye Radio (Mid-Dawns) for a couple years before the crew at 105.9 Star Fm in Orange thought they’d take a gamble and hire me as their Full Time Breaky Co-Host for Breakfast with Chris & Browny. Two and a half years later I finished my time in chilly old O-Town and headed north to Anchor/Host with EJ at Hot Fm in Central Queensland. Two years after that I wrapped up with Hot Fm CQ and am currently Brisbane based, but in the mean time you’ll hear me pop up here and there across SCA’s regional today network… or involved in Twitter Wars on the odd occasion 😉 However I’m open to offers, so if you’re looking for a controversial bearded rock-loving announcer, hit me up 😉

EJ: I’ve been with SCA for approx. 9 years! My radio life really started in high school though, doing a weekly on air show for a community radio station 4CRM and I’ll always remember during one particular shift I accidentally said “….on Hot FM” to wrap up a break. It must have been fate- I got a job in 2006/2007 at Hot FM & Sea FM in Mackay learning to panel, mid-dawn announcing, promotions & the Hot Thunder! Whilst I was completing a university degree I was able to be a floater- filling in for the announcers, panelling OBs and hosting a Sunday request show. My first full time job was Toowoomba anchoring the CFM (now Hot FM) breakfast show with Hamish Carter for 2.5 years and then I moved on to Hot FM Central QLD two years ago as part of Browny & EJ and now I’m currently anchoring EJ & Ben (Ben Norris).

 

Best part of working in the biz….

EJ- To have the opportunity to become a part of your listeners lives is a real honour and we are so lucky to do just that. One of my highlights so far was broadcasting around the clock during category 5 Cyclone Marcia- you can’t describe how good it feels to be able to help a lot of people when they need it most. Oh- and the free movies are pretty good too  Gotta give a quick shout out to Kevin Waggs, Ange Julian, Rod Brice, Daniel Smithy, David Burton, Elle Bowles & Blair Woodcock- they’re absolute legends and they’ve helped me in ways I’ll never forget!

Browny- The ability to connect with an audience better than any other source of media. As announcers we open our lives to our listeners and when you get feedback about something personal you’ve shared that made them laugh, cry or hate you with a steaming passion, you know you’re doing something right in the world. That and interviewing your idols, heroes and favourite bands too is an experience I am still coming to terms with. I’ve fanboy’d quite a bit over some of the musicians I’ve met/interviewed and I don’t think that’ll ever change.
 

Tell us about your ACRAs entry…

EJ- We wanted to create an interview that had a little extra flare and I’d heard in previous interviews with Guy that he was never afraid of a good prank, so we decided to put his skills to the test.

Browny- I’ve got a mate who absolutely, positively despises Guy Sebastian and when I first started in radio she said if I ever got her with a prank involving him she’d absolutely lose it. We thought it would be funny to get him to call her up and make a complaint about a haircut he got in her store (which she literally just opened) but as an extra challenge Guy had to drop as many of his song titles into the conversation as he could. 

EJ- Guy Sebastian is hilarious! He did such a great job as she had no idea that it was us calling or that the annoying customer was Guy Sebastian.

Browny- She still refuses to talk to me and hates the fact we got a nomination at her expense haha!

 

BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR

Mark Hales; River 949, Ipswich QLD, Grant Broadcasters P

So Mark… tell us about where you started and where you have worked..

Started in community radio at PBA FM in Adelaide as a 16 year old. Got my first commercial gig a few years later driving Triple M Triple Thunders. Started doing some dawns there, moved to 5AU Port Augusta to do mornings in 1995 while commuting back to Adelaide every weekend to continue doing Triple M dawns.
I then worked at 4LM/Hot FM Mt Isa for a bit before stepping into a production role at 4CA/Hot FM Cairns.

Moved back to Adelaide in 1998 to work on the Triple M breakfast show, first in a production role and then producing. Took a bit of time off and moved back to Brisbane before doing some casual on-air work at Triple M during 2000. My wife and I then moved to Perth where I was AMD and then MD at 92.9.

In early 2002 I jumped to DMG where I was launch MD for Nova 937 (amazing experience). I then progressed to PD there before moving back to Adelaide in 2006 to program Nova 919 until late 2010.

I then became editor of Radio Today for a couple of years and mid last year moved to Brisbane where I am now Drive Announcer and Music Director at River 949 in Ipswich.

Phew – I’m tired just thinking about all that !
 

Tell us about your entry…

This is actually the first time I’ve entered the ACRAs.
I am finalist for Best Music Director (Provincial). I pretty much just outlined what I do each day to make River 949 sound the best it possibly can, including an example hour and list of the many music features we’ve run in the last 12 months.
 

What is the secret to being a great Music Director..
No secret really – play what your target want, make it interesting and different each day and deliver it consistently.

After spending many years working in the ‘Sounds Different’ Nova environment, programming a variety format targeting 35 to 54 year olds has been a good new challenge.
I have been able to include some of the trainwreck music programming philosophies from my Nova days into the River programming which has helped position us in a strong place with our listeners.

Here’s your moment… the speech.. go..

After a 4 year break from fulltime radio, it’s great getting back to what I got into radio for………MUSIC and ON AIR.
Thanks to the whole River crew, especially Drew Chapman (PD) for the fun workplace, his extreme (often obsessive) love of Taylor Swift and regular expletive laden chats
 

 

Are You an ACRAs Finalist?

If you’re a finalist in Metropolitan, Non-Metropolitan, Provincial or Country drop us a line and we’ll shine the spotlight on you. Email Blair  here.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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