Vale Ron E Sparks

Ron E Sparks, the legendary TV and radio voiceover artist and broadcaster has died aged 72.

Sparks first made a name for himself in the 70s as Ron E Sparx on Sydney’s 2SM. The E didn’t stand for anything and was a suggestion apparently from his program director Rod Muir that stuck. After 2SM he headed to 2UW then 2Day FM and Triple M alongside television voiceover work for shows like Wheel of Fortune and Hot Streak.

While at 2Day FM, Sparks was doing breakfast after two young and upcoming broadcasters called Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O were broadcasting the Hot 30 Countdown the night before. Kyle and Jackie O were smoking in the studio which Kyle thought no one was aware of. Sparks knew and had asked the pair privately to stop. The below is an excerpt from Kyle’s book Scandalands:

One morning, just like every other morning. Ron E Sparks came into work and opened the studio door. As usual, he had to endure the disgusting smell of stale cigarette smoke we had disrespectfully left behind. However, when he looked around the studio on this particular morning the butt-filled milk bottles hadn’t been thrown in the bin: they were right there on top of the panel.

What happened next was a Sparks flip out that I want to go on the record as saying I completely and utterly understand and agree with.

With a permanent marker he wrote ‘Don’t fucking smoke’ all over the studio walls, the equipment, the speakers and even the computer screens. He then got the crusty milk bottles and sprayed the contents all over our offices and, finally, for his piece de resistance, he dumped a mountain of ash and cigarette butts on the carpet outside our general manager’s office.

As I said Sparks was well within his rights – he had complained, a million times to everyone at the station about the smoking situation… and, besides, I was a disrespectful thirty year old brat who needed a good arse-kicking. After the incident we never saw Ron E Sparks at the station again.

Sparks would move to WSFM for the next 15 years.

To everyone who knew him, Ron E Sparks was the consummate professional, as well as generous and funny. In recent times he’d established his own online classic hits station, alongside a website sharing his remarkable stories, like being the first to play AC/DC in America, getting hung up on by David Bowie and hanging out with Muhammad Ali. You can listen to Sparks discuss a life on radio in 2018 with Ben Fordham below (Ben and Ron E pictured).

Finally, Sparks was the voice of the Capital Radio Network station 2CA for three decades. What a joy it was to receive audio from Ron E, partly because of those wonderful dulcet tones, but also because he was always up for a fun idea and often would gift a bonus adlib to a straight read that could always lighten mine and my colleagues’ days.

Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radio Today.