July 14, 2024 • 6 mins
The renowned Australian radio presenter Ron E Sparks has died at the age of 72.
WSFM's former content director Charlie Fox joins Jonesy & Amanda to chat about the radio legend.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Very sad news for us. Ronnie Sparks, a much respected
colleague of ours, passed away over the weekend. A man
who worked with him is an old boss of ours,
a man we respect enormously. His name is Charlie Fox,
and Charlie and Ronnie's careers both took off in the
seventies at the mighty two sm Charlie Fox, Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Here he is, Good morning you too.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning. What sad time to be talking to you.
You worked with Ronnie from the very beginning right through
to just a couple of years ago. How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Look, even though I knew he's been battling cancer for
quite a long time, he was battling when he was
at WSFM, but he's a very private man, so he
never told anybody. I didn't know until we both left radio,
and that's when we sort of started to become friends
and he told me then. So it's been quite a long,
(00:59):
tough battle, and to be honest, he was in quite
a bad way at the end, and it was one
of those scenarios where it was probably best if he
did pass, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, one of the things I remember most about Ronnie
and I just admired him so much for this is
the way he rode the whims of commercial radio. He
had been a megastaff for many, many years and to
come to and when at WS, he was a day
announcer and he put everything into every bit of work
he did. And he said to someone one day, I
(01:30):
announced Backman Turner overdrive every day, and every day I
make it fresh and I do my best. And when
I first started working with him, I took that on board,
because consistency and passion doesn't matter what role you're playing.
Was so admirable. I just admired him so much.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yes, he was literally the only guy I know that
really understood radio well. He was inspired by the Americans,
but he took it to new levels. And that's a
perfect example of what he was like. If you go
back through the history books, I john in two SM
in nineteen seventy two to work in the commercial department.
Ronnie was the drive jock long hair in a Monaro
(02:11):
with extra wide wheels. He was super cool. He was
number one in Sydney back then and he has basically
had more number one surveys than any music announcer in Australia.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Wow, and he did. He certainly brought a vibe, didn't he,
Ronnie when whenever he was on air, you just listened
to him and he brought that vibe.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yes, because he cared about it. You know, he went
through each single break he was about to do. And
he would absolutely detest announcers that just came on and waffled.
You know. Quite often he would say to them, you know,
they come on and talk for three minutes about nothing.
He'd go, do you really think people want to hear
you for three minutes? Or do they really want to
hear their favorite song? You know, think about it. And
(02:56):
it was a very very good point.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
How dare you we waffle on?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
As you know, it's all about It's all about content now.
And that was the thing with Sparks. You were off air,
we talk about and you should be on talkback radio
just letting fly. And he used to say to meself,
I just it's not in me that era. I love radio.
And that was back in the day when you first
started in radio. The big thing was just having all
your stuff together. You had to play your records, you
(03:22):
had to play your tapes, you had to do all
that bring the vine. There was a million things you
had to do these days got a computer that just
pretty much runs and could do its own thing. But
for Ronnie, he was the maestro at that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
He was he was a media freak and he had
some fantastic events in his life, like they back at
two SEM he swapped with the station in San Francisco
called KFRC. We got dad guy who was called Marvelous Mark,
and Ronnie went over and I know right, and he
went out and worked in San Francisco. And that was
one of the times where he was the first person
(03:57):
in America to play ac DC, which was revolutionary, the
first person in America, you know, to actually hear it
was on Ronnie Show in San Francisco, and he interviewed
famous people like Muhammad Ali and just you know, incredible career.
David Bowie hung up on him, which I have never
(04:17):
heard of before. He did tell me the story, but
I've forgotten that. I don't know what he did do
with then Bowie. He's probably talking too long, you know,
like you're talking too long.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
That's also Michael Jackson. He was hanging out with Chael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
He reported from Elvis's funeral. I mean he's like Highland.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's exactly, that's right. But my favorite Ronnie story is
just shows you how much you love radio. In a
gap between radio stations, he decided he really liked McDonald's
corporate structure, so he decided he go and do the
McDonald's university course, which he did, and they were so
impressed with him they offered him the Bondai Beach McDonald's,
(04:59):
which you treasure trove. Yea. And right about that time,
what about that time we got enough from another radio station.
He went, look, thanks guys, but I'm going to stick
the radio and turned it down.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, and he was great. When I came over here
from Triple Am all those years ago, and this place
was a lot different back then. Ronnie was like my
biggest campaigner. He'll always be talking to management. Give this
kid a go, give him a break. When they wanted
to run me out of town and the listeners want
to run me out of town, it was always Ronnie
Sparks would say, don't listen to them. We're trying to
(05:32):
change the station. We're trying to get WS into a
different sort of Yeah. Yeah, what a guy, and what
a guy.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
He was a big, big supporter of your jersey, except
when you used to run. Let too late and go
over the news time.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
That is what we're doing right now, which we're doing
now for sparksynt Well shout.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
A little little tribute man.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
It's always great to talk to you. Let's catch up
for a ber a love it.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, okay, cool butt to talk to you guys. Thank you,
Thanks chaggan Is
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Very sad news for us. Ronnie Sparks, a much respected
colleague of ours, passed away over the weekend. A man
who worked with him is an old boss of ours,
a man we respect enormously. His name is Charlie Fox,
and Charlie and Ronnie's careers both took off in the
seventies at the mighty two sm Charlie Fox, Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Here he is, Good morning you too.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning. What sad time to be talking to you.
You worked with Ronnie from the very beginning right through
to just a couple of years ago. How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Look, even though I knew he's been battling cancer for
quite a long time, he was battling when he was
at WSFM, but he's a very private man, so he
never told anybody. I didn't know until we both left radio,
and that's when we sort of started to become friends
and he told me then. So it's been quite a long,
(00:59):
tough battle, and to be honest, he was in quite
a bad way at the end, and it was one
of those scenarios where it was probably best if he
did pass, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, one of the things I remember most about Ronnie
and I just admired him so much for this is
the way he rode the whims of commercial radio. He
had been a megastaff for many, many years and to
come to and when at WS, he was a day
announcer and he put everything into every bit of work
he did. And he said to someone one day, I
(01:30):
announced Backman Turner overdrive every day, and every day I
make it fresh and I do my best. And when
I first started working with him, I took that on board,
because consistency and passion doesn't matter what role you're playing.
Was so admirable. I just admired him so much.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yes, he was literally the only guy I know that
really understood radio well. He was inspired by the Americans,
but he took it to new levels. And that's a
perfect example of what he was like. If you go
back through the history books, I john in two SM
in nineteen seventy two to work in the commercial department.
Ronnie was the drive jock long hair in a Monaro
(02:11):
with extra wide wheels. He was super cool. He was
number one in Sydney back then and he has basically
had more number one surveys than any music announcer in Australia.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Wow, and he did. He certainly brought a vibe, didn't he,
Ronnie when whenever he was on air, you just listened
to him and he brought that vibe.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yes, because he cared about it. You know, he went
through each single break he was about to do. And
he would absolutely detest announcers that just came on and waffled.
You know. Quite often he would say to them, you know,
they come on and talk for three minutes about nothing.
He'd go, do you really think people want to hear
you for three minutes? Or do they really want to
hear their favorite song? You know, think about it. And
(02:56):
it was a very very good point.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
How dare you we waffle on?
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
As you know, it's all about It's all about content now.
And that was the thing with Sparks. You were off air,
we talk about and you should be on talkback radio
just letting fly. And he used to say to meself,
I just it's not in me that era. I love radio.
And that was back in the day when you first
started in radio. The big thing was just having all
your stuff together. You had to play your records, you
(03:22):
had to play your tapes, you had to do all
that bring the vine. There was a million things you
had to do these days got a computer that just
pretty much runs and could do its own thing. But
for Ronnie, he was the maestro at that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
He was he was a media freak and he had
some fantastic events in his life, like they back at
two SEM he swapped with the station in San Francisco
called KFRC. We got dad guy who was called Marvelous Mark,
and Ronnie went over and I know right, and he
went out and worked in San Francisco. And that was
one of the times where he was the first person
(03:57):
in America to play ac DC, which was revolutionary, the
first person in America, you know, to actually hear it
was on Ronnie Show in San Francisco, and he interviewed
famous people like Muhammad Ali and just you know, incredible career.
David Bowie hung up on him, which I have never
(04:17):
heard of before. He did tell me the story, but
I've forgotten that. I don't know what he did do
with then Bowie. He's probably talking too long, you know,
like you're talking too long.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
That's also Michael Jackson. He was hanging out with Chael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
He reported from Elvis's funeral. I mean he's like Highland.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's exactly, that's right. But my favorite Ronnie story is
just shows you how much you love radio. In a
gap between radio stations, he decided he really liked McDonald's
corporate structure, so he decided he go and do the
McDonald's university course, which he did, and they were so
impressed with him they offered him the Bondai Beach McDonald's,
(04:59):
which you treasure trove. Yea. And right about that time,
what about that time we got enough from another radio station.
He went, look, thanks guys, but I'm going to stick
the radio and turned it down.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, and he was great. When I came over here
from Triple Am all those years ago, and this place
was a lot different back then. Ronnie was like my
biggest campaigner. He'll always be talking to management. Give this
kid a go, give him a break. When they wanted
to run me out of town and the listeners want
to run me out of town, it was always Ronnie
Sparks would say, don't listen to them. We're trying to
(05:32):
change the station. We're trying to get WS into a
different sort of Yeah. Yeah, what a guy, and what
a guy.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
He was a big, big supporter of your jersey, except
when you used to run. Let too late and go
over the news time.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
That is what we're doing right now, which we're doing
now for sparksynt Well shout.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
A little little tribute man.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
It's always great to talk to you. Let's catch up
for a ber a love it.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, okay, cool butt to talk to you guys. Thank you,
Thanks chaggan Is
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