Ken ‘KG’ Cunningham: Radio’s most humble national treasure

Ken 'KG' Cunningham at Adelaide Oval

Ken Cunningham will often sit down on a Sunday morning, play some music and reminisce about the extraordinary life that he has lived.

Having recently turned 86, the man his FIVEaa colleagues know and love as ‘KG’ is devoted to family. His grandchildren are his world. When I catch up with him, he has a chocolate brown labrador puppy in his charge who’s bouncing around, full of beans.

To be in Ken’s company is to feel good about life, especially the bits we so often take for granted.

As FIVEaa Afternoons host Leith Forrest puts it: “He’s like a father and grandfather figure to so many of us at the station. The SA public loves him, clients love him and so does everyone at FIVEaa – from management through to the youngest of employees.”

“There’s definitely an air of excitement when ‘Kage’ is in the building.”

As the first sports talkback announcer on Australian radio, he is an industry trailblazer. A bona fide legend.

But Ken’s not having a bar of that.

The way he sees it, life’s wheel of fortune simply stopped spinning and pointed to his name.

As Ken tells Radio Today “If someone had said to me then when I was 12 or 13 or 14 that one day, I’d be lucky enough to spend over 50 years in both television and radio, I’d have said ‘You’re crazy! That’ll never happen with me.’”

“Because I talked too quickly. I slaughtered the English language. I did all the things that you shouldn’t do in the media.”

But the listeners couldn’t get enough of Ken. And that, he says, is the Eighth Wonder of the World.

“Because I still slaughter the English language. I still talk too quick! But that’s me and I can’t change, Sarah,” he laughs. “I’m not going to change at 86.”

And who would want him to?

But when you understand the extent of the speech impediment Ken had to overcome, it makes his radio career all the more remarkable.

Of his early years growing up in Adelaide’s West End, Ken says he felt blessed.

“I had the best mother and father that any young boy could wish for. Me and my sister, we were spoiled rotten.”

And they weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination.

“We struggled, but we got by. What we didn’t have financially, we had in warmth, love and care.”

The school years, however, were as tough as they were heartbreaking. As a young boy, Ken had a stutter he couldn’t shake.

His mum would send him to the local shop to buy something. “I would wait until there was nobody in the shop before I went in,” Ken remembers.

Unable to get the words out, Ken says “I’d run home crying to Mum, saying ‘Mum, I can’t do that! I can’t do that!’”

Even today, Ken can vividly remember the crippling anxiety his stutter caused him.

“It was the worst time of my life,” he says. “It was embarrassing for me. It got to a stage as a kid where I just couldn’t handle it.”

Ken told his mother he didn’t want to go to school anymore.

She took him to see a doctor.

“He said ‘Mrs Cunningham, Ken’s got a problem. A real problem. He’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown.’”

The doctor asked for her permission to speak to the school authorities. Two weeks later, he reported back to the Cunninghams.

“He said ‘Mrs Cunningham, with your permission, the Education Department has granted Ken an exemption from going to school.’”

Ken was just twelve years old, and that was that. His school years were done and dusted. Sport became his primary focus.

“I can remember my dad taking me to the Adelaide Oval here to join the Adelaide Cricket Club,” says Ken. “I remember walking into the beautiful ground and thinking, I just want to play cricket.”

Being part of a club environment helped build Ken’s confidence. He went on to play first class cricket, representing South Australia in the Sheffield Shield.

One Friday morning in 1977 – when World Series Cricket was just taking off – Ken got a phone call from Phil Ridings, then-Chairman of the SA cricket side.

Ridings told Ken that Ian and Greg Chappell were off to join the franchise. Would he like to captain the South Australian side?

Would he??! Captaining the state side in his own right had been Ken’s boyhood dream.

But then out of the blue came another phone call. Paul Linkson – Manager of former Adelaide sport station 5DN – also wanted to have a word with Ken.

Inviting Ken in for a chat in the 5DN boardroom, Linkson explained that he’d just returned from a six-week tour of the United States, where sports talk radio was all the rage.

Ken says “I’ve sat there thinking ‘Why is he telling me this?’”

Linkson told him the station planned to launch its own sports talk show on 5DN Drive – and they wanted Ken to host it.

“Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather,” laughs Ken.

Suddenly, he found himself fielding not one, but two very different job offers.

He told his wife Sandra he was going to take the cricket captaincy.

“She was quite stern with her advice to me, by saying ‘You’ve played state cricket. Take the radio job!’ She used a few colourful words,” Ken chuckles.

And so began Ken’s radio journey, starting out on a Saturday morning show alongside Bruce McAvaney and Ray Fewings, then going on to co-host one of Adelaide’s most popular Drive programs, the FIVEaa Sports Show – first with the late, great David Hookes and then alongside former Adelaide Crows coach Graham Cornes.

Today, Ken presents the Saturday Sports Show on FIVEaa with Cornes (pictured above with Ken), who tells Radio Today “We’re like chalk and cheese. We’re so different. And sometimes oil and water doesn’t mix.”

He and Ken lock horns on-air. They argue. And yet, says Cornes, somehow, their pairing works.

While Ken certainly has cause to be proud, as Cornes will tell you, he’s never been one to blow his own trumpet.

“He is so modest and self-effacing, he just runs away from any compliments.”

“It annoys me so much. You give him a compliment and he’s like ‘No, no, no, no. I’ve just been lucky.’”

“It’s not luck.”

Cornes says KG is a South Australian treasure. His dedication to his craft and zest for life are legendary.

“He loves his family. He loves South Australia. He loves working.”

Leith Forrest says professionally, KG is as passionate about the industry today as he was when he first started out.

“We always talk about the industry, the craft and what makes great radio.”

Ken’s a big believer in radio being a ‘pay it forward’ industry.

“We had legendary figures like Paul Thompson teach us – now Kage is passing that on to the next generation,” says Forrest.

“Plus, his work ethic is legendary. He’s on air at 9am Saturdays. He’s in at 6am. Prepping. Reading all the papers. On air spots with Weekend Breakfast. The man’s a true pro.”

As Forrest and Cornes can both attest, Ken is well known for his dread of ratings day.

“He’s always fearful,” says Forrest. “At the height of Hamish and Andy, there was only one radio Drive show in Australia that knocked them off being #1 in a local market – KG and Cornesy here in Adelaide.”

“When we told KG that, rather than celebrating – his reply was ‘OK, but what about the next one?’”

Away from the mic, Forrest says KG is everything you could hope for in a person.

“He’s generous, he’s modest, he’s ridiculously humble. He gets embarrassed when people make a big deal of him and his achievements.”

The ultimate family man, Forrest says Ken’s love for his late wife Sandra, his kids and his grandkids was plain for all to see.

“When I produced sport with KG and Cornesy for all those years, in every news break he’d come into my booth, get on the phone and check in with ‘Sand’ to see how the kids and grandkids were. Every single day.”

Over the years, Ken has been on the receiving end of many accolades. He’s been recognised for his contribution to sports media with an Order of Australia medal. He’s been inducted into South Australia’s Sporting Hall of Fame.

But having part of the Adelaide Oval named after him is the greatest honour of all.

Ken’s voice catches as he says “I get emotional talking about that because when I was told that this was what they want to do, I suddenly thought back to when I was twelve years of age, walking into the Adelaide Oval, just wanting to play cricket.”

“Never did I ever dream that one day the media centre would carry my name.”

“The only thing that disappointed me was the fact that the people who helped me achieve this – my mum and dad and my late wife Sandra – that they weren’t there to be a part of it.”

What does Ken put his career longevity down to?

Without missing a beat, he replies “Being a very, very lucky human being. The very best upbringing any young boy could ever, ever wish to have.”

Now 48 years into his career on the airwaves, the one thing Ken would love to achieve is to clock up 50 years on Adelaide radio.

“That’s in the lap of the gods,” he smiles.

“Radio’s a very volatile industry. There have been ups and downs. If it does happen, I’ll pull the pin and say Thank you. How lucky have I been?”

In the here and now, family remains Ken’s world. His grandkids are his life.

“And this is a beautiful life,” he smiles.

*Images: FIVEaa and Adelaide Oval Facebook page