Phil O’Neil: My unforgettable chat with Jamie Dunn

Much has been said and written about Jamie Dunn since the sad news of his passing at the weekend.

But one particular interview perfectly sums up the larger-than-life radio personality and the man behind the iconic character Australia knew and loved as Agro.

In December last year, 2GB host Phil O’Neil spoke to Dunn as part of the Peeping Tom segment, where prominent people talk about their lives and careers.

“It was a great chat, and I’ll miss him dearly,” says O’Neil.

Dunn reflected on his golden years on the Brisbane airwaves as part of the top-rating B105 Breakfast show.

Then came Sydney FM Breakfast alongside Wendy Harmer.

In his interview with O’Neil, Dunn recalls “I was only in Sydney about seven or eight weeks and we beat the crap out of Doug Mulray, remember?”

“I remember my first week in Sydney and we were poking the bear with Mulray. I got his little studio number and I rang it and Agro goes ‘Oh, hello. Is Mr Mulray there? I wanna know how to do Sydney radio.’”

According to Dunn, the woman who answered the phone said “Mr Mulray is currently talking to the largest Sydney radio audience,” and hung up.

“I thought, Oh well, I’ll give Lawsie a call. And I rang John Laws. And of course he must have said ‘Put him through.’”

“I did the same thing, and Agro says ‘Oh Mr Laws, I wanna know how to do Sydney radio.’ And Lawsie’s gone ‘Welllllllll, Agro. You’ve got to take care of your sponsors, like Valvoline. You know what I mean? And Toyota. Oh What A Feeling!’”

“He nailed me against the wall within seconds,” Dunn laughed.

“At that time, Agro was so popular. He was just the naughtiest puppet in Australia at one stage.”

O’Neil then recalls how, in 1993, he introduced his former partner Jackie O to Dunn following one of Agro’s shows at the Adelaide Casino.

Hard as it might be to believe, Jackie didn’t move in celebrity circles back then. O’Neil says she was ambivalent until he said “This is Agro.”

Her curiosity was suddenly piqued. Asking if she could see Agro, Dunn produced his sidekick from a dirty old sports bag.

At the height of his B105 success, Dunn also recalled leaving the station one day when a young homeless man tapped on his car window.

He told Dunn he had some ideas for Agro.

Dunn invited the young man to his office just around the corner for a coffee and a chat.

“His idea was that he could be the voice of Agro on the weekends, so I could have weekends off, and he could go and do the shows and stuff.”

“That guy was Kyle Sandilands. And he’s never forgotten that I gave him the time of day back then.”

From usurping Daryl Somers at the Logies to poking Basil Zempilas under the desk at Telethon in Perth, Dunn said there was no great secret to Agro’s cheeky personality. It was, quite simply, ‘just Jamie.’

“I put that into the puppet, and for some reason it was successful.”

Images supplied.