November 13, 2024 • 9 mins
Renowned radio personality and entertainer Lindsay Yeo has died at the age of 78.
Yeo hosted the 2ZB Breakfast Show in Wellington for 23 years until 1995, which was frequently the city's highest rated programme.
He created the children's character "Buzz O'Bumble," which would appear on the show, alongside other whimsical characters.
Yeo also appeared on Classic Hits FM and TVNZ's Top Dance, and toured the country with live stage shows.
In retirement, Yeo also founded music station Radiyo Richmond in 2016 out of a caravan in the Tasman District.
In 2017, 22 years after passing on the torch, he joined Tim Fookes on the Morning Show in Wellington to mark the 80th anniversary of 2ZB.
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, of course, we are remembering eighty years of tues
B news Talks HEB and Wellington. We officially started broadcasting
as tues B on this day, April the twenty eighth,
in nineteen thirty seven. And of all the people we
wanted to have a chat with to celebrate this day,
there was one person in particular that I was very
keen to have on the program this morning. For many years,
he was the voice of Wellington, the voice of Wellington.
(00:34):
He was the voice that Wellingtonians woke up to the
most influential broadcaster in the city. And you just had
some very very popular sidekicks with him as well. I'm
very pleased to welcome to the program a voice that
many of you will know. Lindsay O. Good morning to.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
You, jim me a smile, love light in your.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Eye, still sounding great?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Good ten?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I haven't met you, but I think I like you already.
I listened to you a little bit this morning and you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sound great and fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Young guy. What a funny last name.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Eighty eighty years do we say time flies?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah? It does really doesn't seem that I was nine
years old and Zedby started. It's a bit.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Frightening, isn't it, And what do you remember of it?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I remember listening to Zedby and Wellington from Nelson, where
I started on radio. Funnily enough, in nineteen seventy. I
started in radio in Indicago in fours a day in
nineteen sixty four, wanting to be on air. One day
I got the chance. They sent me to Nelson and
I used to listen to the big boys over the
(01:43):
Cook Strait at Zedby and Wellington. They were the big boys,
and I really wanted to be one of them, but
secretly I wanted to be a radio hierarchy pirate.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Ahl righty, But you ended up at Zidby, I understand.
In the late sixties as a newsreader.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I was a newsreader for a year and I don't
know why, but I wasn't particularly good at it. Although
I've heard some of my news bulletins because everything's capture
now for posterity, and i've heard some of them. They
weren't too bad. But I remember once stumbling upon the
word the maximum security prison, and I couldn't get it out,
(02:16):
and I said oh, excuse me, I'll read that again.
The maximum security prisoner prison, and they went, oh, you
know the place. And I was hauled over the coals
for that. And the guy said one more smart remark
like that during a news ballason and you're down the road. Wow.
It didn't take any of that sort of nonsense. In
those days. You had to be really, really careful. You
(02:38):
had to wear a tie to work.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh goodness me, Well, I'm just hearing jeans, jeans and
a shirt. At the moment. I just think I'm in radio.
No one can see what I look like at the moment.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, in nineteen sixty four and in the cargo you
had to have walk hose one hand bred beneath your knees,
your hair had to be above your ears, and you
had to wear a tie.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
They were the days.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely. I want to talk about the breakfast program on
TWOSAD be in a moment, But of course there were
several years between being a newsreader and when you took
over the breakfast program. What other kinds of work were
you doing?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I did lots of outside broadcasts, commercial work, and I
filled in other slots because I really was I left
Nelson to take over from Jim Healy who was on
the Breakfast then, and that was about eighteen months, an
eighteen month's wait, and then when Jim left and I
replaced him or there was all hell to pay that
(03:34):
people got really upset, and that normally happens when they
replaced one personality with another. I had a different style
and a different type of broadcasting altogether, and those that
loved Jim didn't like me, and vice versa. So it
was a setting down period. But then for the next
twenty eight years it was wonderful. We had a wonderful time.
(03:57):
There were great days.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Now I'm just trying to and I grew up with
you in the eighties and I went to I came
home to see you and a buzzer bumble show somewhere
in Karori. I remember in the mid eighties when I
was about four or five. So those who were not
listening then or may have just become zebe listeners since.
(04:19):
And this may be hard for you to describe it,
how influential were you because because I described you as
as the king of radio in the most influential broadcast
in Wellington. And I don't think that's going too far.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Is it? Not just me, but anyone on radio in
a big city in New Zealand in those days radio
was very influential. We had an outside broadcast. We would
advertise one in a men'swear shop somewhere and it would
get six or seven hundred people, and they were just
it was still novelty, the novelty value well, and truly
(04:50):
we had a tremendous number of people loving radio because
it was special in their lives. Of course, I started
in radio in Indicago, and as I said, nineteen sixty
four and we were just emerging from under the BBC
client own type in ZBS radio where things were really
(05:11):
really stuffy, and we were finding your own feet as
a nation in commercial radio. And it was exciting and
exhilarating for us behind the microphone. But imagine what it
was like for listeners who had experience so coming to
Nelson as a raw prawn broadcaster in nineteen sixty nine,
the interest was phenomenal. Here you would have an outside
(05:34):
broadcast and attract hundreds of people. In fact, we would
attract thousands to a ZB promoted or in our z
in and Nelson promoted outside event that would attract thousands.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Well, I listened back to them to an interview recently
that you did maybe about ten years ago. I think
when News Talks ha'd Be and two zib were celebrating
the seventieth and you gave a figure that when Buzzer
Bumble married Belinda, people lined the streets from Wellington to
Upper Hut.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
They did, and right out to as well. They they
said there were there could have been one hundred and
fifty to two hundred thousand people. It was extraordinary and
you won't get that reaction on radio for anything these days.
But it was novel, It was different, it was fun,
it was exciting, and it was a very special time
(06:26):
to be in radio. I loved it.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
How is buzz our buzz.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Is fine, He's really he's really fine. I just see
he's here, Buzz You're here, Hello, Tim, Say hello Tim.
Yeah he's going. He saw you probably in a hall.
Was it the was it the normal school hall way
(06:54):
back he was just a young boy. Yeah, it was
very cheeky.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yes, I was, Oh my goodness, and I was I
was going to ask about that. There was such a
focus for so many years on children's radio, which you
just don't see anymore, do you.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, I don't ask.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
We could spend the rest of the day going through,
couldn't we?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Ah? Absolutely sadly most of them are gone. As I said,
I replaced Jim Healy, Jim's gone, Justin went recently, Justin Duffrain,
Gary Ward, Patio, O'donald, Paul Holmes, Ralda Fomilton, Bears Tube,
Morris Rossitter, all these wonderful old z B names, and
they're all gone. Leyton Smith, yeah, they're all gone.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Indeed late and still with us. Well, yeah, he's still
still broke.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I mean he's past is used by a list. I've
got my mix later.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I'm sure. I'm sure he'll be okay with that.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Leyton's book and I'm going to sue him.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Are you what do you say about you?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Some inaccurate statement? He came from Sydney to Wellington radio
where Lindsay was the top was the top dog, and
it only took them two years to knock me off
the pitch. I don't know where you got those facts from,
because he never did breakfast, he did Nine to Noon.
That his percentage of his audience was never greater than mine.
(08:16):
Because I must sue him.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yes, yes, the case of his fine wine fine because
you were you were getting ratings around fifty percent. I
was amazing, isn't it. And I can't let you go
without getting a comment from you on how you would
describe the right the state of radio and us at
the moment.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, as I said, I was fortunate enough to be
part of the exciting new radio wave. I believe radio
still satisfies a need for many, but only a very
small percentage of the number. He used to listen regularly
listen now for all sorts of other reasons. And I
won't comment on standards because they seem to have gone.
(08:59):
I don't know whether that's a good thing or not.
Depends on you know, the ears beholder, I think. I
also don't want to sound like a boring old curmudgeon
who claims things were better in my day. They were
different than my day, not necessarily better. I don't need
radio to be entertained or informed these days as much
as I used to. Maybe I'm indicative of a lot
(09:22):
of people my age.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Maybe. Yeah. I've got to say, Linda, it's been an
episode on honor to talk talk to you, and thank
you so much for coming on the program this morning.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's been fun and in ten years, I'll do it again.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, of course, we are remembering eighty years of tues
B news Talks HEB and Wellington. We officially started broadcasting
as tues B on this day, April the twenty eighth,
in nineteen thirty seven. And of all the people we
wanted to have a chat with to celebrate this day,
there was one person in particular that I was very
keen to have on the program this morning. For many years,
he was the voice of Wellington, the voice of Wellington.
(00:34):
He was the voice that Wellingtonians woke up to the
most influential broadcaster in the city. And you just had
some very very popular sidekicks with him as well. I'm
very pleased to welcome to the program a voice that
many of you will know. Lindsay O. Good morning to.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
You, jim me a smile, love light in your.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Eye, still sounding great?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Good ten?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I haven't met you, but I think I like you already.
I listened to you a little bit this morning and you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sound great and fantastic.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Young guy. What a funny last name.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Eighty eighty years do we say time flies?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yeah? It does really doesn't seem that I was nine
years old and Zedby started. It's a bit.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Frightening, isn't it, And what do you remember of it?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I remember listening to Zedby and Wellington from Nelson, where
I started on radio. Funnily enough, in nineteen seventy. I
started in radio in Indicago in fours a day in
nineteen sixty four, wanting to be on air. One day
I got the chance. They sent me to Nelson and
I used to listen to the big boys over the
(01:43):
Cook Strait at Zedby and Wellington. They were the big boys,
and I really wanted to be one of them, but
secretly I wanted to be a radio hierarchy pirate.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Ahl righty, But you ended up at Zidby, I understand.
In the late sixties as a newsreader.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I was a newsreader for a year and I don't
know why, but I wasn't particularly good at it. Although
I've heard some of my news bulletins because everything's capture
now for posterity, and i've heard some of them. They
weren't too bad. But I remember once stumbling upon the
word the maximum security prison, and I couldn't get it out,
(02:16):
and I said oh, excuse me, I'll read that again.
The maximum security prisoner prison, and they went, oh, you
know the place. And I was hauled over the coals
for that. And the guy said one more smart remark
like that during a news ballason and you're down the road. Wow.
It didn't take any of that sort of nonsense. In
those days. You had to be really, really careful. You
(02:38):
had to wear a tie to work.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh goodness me, Well, I'm just hearing jeans, jeans and
a shirt. At the moment. I just think I'm in radio.
No one can see what I look like at the moment.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well, in nineteen sixty four and in the cargo you
had to have walk hose one hand bred beneath your knees,
your hair had to be above your ears, and you
had to wear a tie.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
They were the days.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely. I want to talk about the breakfast program on
TWOSAD be in a moment, But of course there were
several years between being a newsreader and when you took
over the breakfast program. What other kinds of work were
you doing?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
I did lots of outside broadcasts, commercial work, and I
filled in other slots because I really was I left
Nelson to take over from Jim Healy who was on
the Breakfast then, and that was about eighteen months, an
eighteen month's wait, and then when Jim left and I
replaced him or there was all hell to pay that
(03:34):
people got really upset, and that normally happens when they
replaced one personality with another. I had a different style
and a different type of broadcasting altogether, and those that
loved Jim didn't like me, and vice versa. So it
was a setting down period. But then for the next
twenty eight years it was wonderful. We had a wonderful time.
(03:57):
There were great days.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Now I'm just trying to and I grew up with
you in the eighties and I went to I came
home to see you and a buzzer bumble show somewhere
in Karori. I remember in the mid eighties when I
was about four or five. So those who were not
listening then or may have just become zebe listeners since.
(04:19):
And this may be hard for you to describe it,
how influential were you because because I described you as
as the king of radio in the most influential broadcast
in Wellington. And I don't think that's going too far.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Is it? Not just me, but anyone on radio in
a big city in New Zealand in those days radio
was very influential. We had an outside broadcast. We would
advertise one in a men'swear shop somewhere and it would
get six or seven hundred people, and they were just
it was still novelty, the novelty value well, and truly
(04:50):
we had a tremendous number of people loving radio because
it was special in their lives. Of course, I started
in radio in Indicago, and as I said, nineteen sixty
four and we were just emerging from under the BBC
client own type in ZBS radio where things were really
(05:11):
really stuffy, and we were finding your own feet as
a nation in commercial radio. And it was exciting and
exhilarating for us behind the microphone. But imagine what it
was like for listeners who had experience so coming to
Nelson as a raw prawn broadcaster in nineteen sixty nine,
the interest was phenomenal. Here you would have an outside
(05:34):
broadcast and attract hundreds of people. In fact, we would
attract thousands to a ZB promoted or in our z
in and Nelson promoted outside event that would attract thousands.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Well, I listened back to them to an interview recently
that you did maybe about ten years ago. I think
when News Talks ha'd Be and two zib were celebrating
the seventieth and you gave a figure that when Buzzer
Bumble married Belinda, people lined the streets from Wellington to
Upper Hut.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
They did, and right out to as well. They they
said there were there could have been one hundred and
fifty to two hundred thousand people. It was extraordinary and
you won't get that reaction on radio for anything these days.
But it was novel, It was different, it was fun,
it was exciting, and it was a very special time
(06:26):
to be in radio. I loved it.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
How is buzz our buzz.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Is fine, He's really he's really fine. I just see
he's here, Buzz You're here, Hello, Tim, Say hello Tim.
Yeah he's going. He saw you probably in a hall.
Was it the was it the normal school hall way
(06:54):
back he was just a young boy. Yeah, it was
very cheeky.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yes, I was, Oh my goodness, and I was I
was going to ask about that. There was such a
focus for so many years on children's radio, which you
just don't see anymore, do you.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, I don't ask.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
We could spend the rest of the day going through,
couldn't we?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Ah? Absolutely sadly most of them are gone. As I said,
I replaced Jim Healy, Jim's gone, Justin went recently, Justin Duffrain,
Gary Ward, Patio, O'donald, Paul Holmes, Ralda Fomilton, Bears Tube,
Morris Rossitter, all these wonderful old z B names, and
they're all gone. Leyton Smith, yeah, they're all gone.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Indeed late and still with us. Well, yeah, he's still
still broke.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I mean he's past is used by a list. I've
got my mix later.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I'm sure. I'm sure he'll be okay with that.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Leyton's book and I'm going to sue him.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Are you what do you say about you?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Some inaccurate statement? He came from Sydney to Wellington radio
where Lindsay was the top was the top dog, and
it only took them two years to knock me off
the pitch. I don't know where you got those facts from,
because he never did breakfast, he did Nine to Noon.
That his percentage of his audience was never greater than mine.
(08:16):
Because I must sue him.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yes, yes, the case of his fine wine fine because
you were you were getting ratings around fifty percent. I
was amazing, isn't it. And I can't let you go
without getting a comment from you on how you would
describe the right the state of radio and us at
the moment.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, as I said, I was fortunate enough to be
part of the exciting new radio wave. I believe radio
still satisfies a need for many, but only a very
small percentage of the number. He used to listen regularly
listen now for all sorts of other reasons. And I
won't comment on standards because they seem to have gone.
(08:59):
I don't know whether that's a good thing or not.
Depends on you know, the ears beholder, I think. I
also don't want to sound like a boring old curmudgeon
who claims things were better in my day. They were
different than my day, not necessarily better. I don't need
radio to be entertained or informed these days as much
as I used to. Maybe I'm indicative of a lot
(09:22):
of people my age.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Maybe. Yeah. I've got to say, Linda, it's been an
episode on honor to talk talk to you, and thank
you so much for coming on the program this morning.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's been fun and in ten years, I'll do it again.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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