Radio’s most hare-brained April Fool’s Day prank – that never saw the light of day

Gary O'Callaghan. Image supplied by Rob Duckworth

From Jonesy & Amanda being appointed as the hosts of KIIS Breakfast to Sammy J and Jackie O teaming up on air at Nova, the radio industry April Fool’s Day gags are rolling in thick and fast today.

But there’s one particular April Fool’s Day joke which – although it never saw the light of day – remains to this day one of radio’s most hare-brained schemes.

It was the mid-1980s and the cream of the Sydney radio industry crop had come together in honour of the great Gary O’Callaghan, following his departure from 2UE.

All of Sydney radio’s Breakfast announcers met at Ron Casey’s place for a drink or three.

As former Triple M Sydney host Rob Duckworth told Radio Today in 2023,“You’ve got to imagine, this is a bunch of Breakfast announcers – it’s two o’clock in the afternoon, we’re well and truly lubricated.”

“I don’t remember who came up with the idea, but somebody said ‘Why don’t we do an April Fool’s Day joke where we all turn up at a different radio station?’”

“We thought this was just the best idea! We were going to get our producers to organise access pass keys and things that we needed. The behind-the-scenes people were going to put it all together.”

A solid plan. But it was never executed.

“It was all travelling sweetly, but then 2GB’s Mike Carlton, thankfully, showed some common sense and sent all of us a letter (pictured here), pretty much calling himself out and calling the thing off,” said Duckworth.

In hindsight, Duckworth is glad that Carlton pulled the pin.

“In my opinion, it would have been a disaster.”

“I think I drew the 2GB straw. So you’ve got a hack music DJ on a proper talk station that (a) was never going to work and (b) was never going to work!”

“I mean, Mike Carlton on Triple M would have been hilarious. He would have been great.”

“I would have been terrible on 2GB. I would have been terrible on 2CH.”

“It was a funny idea. But it never came to fruition.”

Reflecting on that memorable day, former 2WS Breakfast host Pete Graham posted to Facebook, saying “It would’ve been chaos, fun, and absolute radio history.”

“Still, what a moment. What an idea. And what a time to be in Sydney radio.”

Images thanks to Rob Duckworth and 2WS.