Guest Content August 9, 2018

Elliott Lovejoy: A Third Generation Presenter

Image: Supplied

What first attracted you to the radio industry? For a lot of people (in particular presenters) it’s the desire to connect with people on a daily basis.

For others, they were drawn to the microphone after growing up listening to their favourite presenters and wanting to emulate them in some form. For me though, it was my family. This is the story of George Burnett Lovejoy – my grandpa.

Both my parents have been involved in media. My father is the current News Director for the Seven Network in Brisbane and in his early 50s, still looks better and a suit than I.

My mother used to be the producer of Greg Cary‘s show at 4BC in Brisbane and prior to that worked in television, both on a regional and national level. Both have been nothing but supportive during my career (as has my stepfather) but today I want to tell you about my Grandpa.

George Lovejoy passed away 15 years ago and is still remembered as one of the most decorated presenters of his time. My Pa was a world-famous rugby league commentator who coined the phrase “The Greatest Game of all”.

Through the 50s and 60s, George was the voice of what is now the NRL. He at one stage called 652 games straight in a footballing career that lasted 19 years and afterwards went on to become the GM at 4BH.

Nicknamed “Mr Football”, Pa worked for 4BH and was a household name in Queensland in the days before TV was widespread. A plaque commemorating his career adorns Suncorp Stadium’s Sports Media Hall of Fame. I’m told that he’s still rolling over in his grave knowing I’ve grown up as a Newcastle and NSW fan. (I was born in Tamworth unluckily for him).

I’d absolutely love to hear from any of you that potentially knew/listened to or even has any accessible audio of my grandfather, as sadly I never got the chance to hear any audio from the games he called.

Despite having never being able to hear him, he’s still such a driving factor for me and I’ve tried to emulate his ‘don’t give a f*ck’ attitude to life Hopefully I’ve managed to make him half as proud as he has made me!