Christmas Time: The two Kings of radio!

Jack Davey was the king of radio broadcasters in his day. Davey was up against American-born, Bob Dyer, who thought he was king. Socially, they were both good friends; but behind the mike they were deadly enemies.  

Jack and Bob came to Australia from different countries – Jack hailed from NZ and Bob from Tennessee, America. They were both top-rank broadcasters, in both radio and television.  

To be honest, though, there was hardly anything they weren’t good at; although Jack Davey had an eye for quick humour!  

In 1988, I wrote a story on Jack Davey when I heard that Radio National was going to release a series, They Made Them Laugh, which looks the heyday of radio comedy. Needless to say, one of the stars was Jack Davey.  

Jack Davey, who reigned for two decades as the king of Australian radio, once boasted: “True I’m pushing 50, but I’ve had 100 years of living.” Jack, whose own special brand of humour made him as much part of Australian life as meat pies and Holden cars, is back in a new series on Radio National. 
 

Top: Jack Davey, who for two decades as the king of radio, addresses a night crowd of people (some say between 100,000 and 150,000) on VP Day, August 15, 1945. 
 

The series, They Made Us Laugh, looks at the heyday of radio comedy and some of the stars that became house-hold names – Roy ‘Mo’ Rene, George Wallace, Ada and Elsie, Jack Davey and many others. 

Davey ruled the airwaves during the 1940s and 50s, and in that time, he never failed to give his millions of listeners “a good laugh” said a critic. 

“He was loved for his lightening wit,” a Sydney columnist said. “And when he spoke, Sydney listened.” When Davey died on October 14, 1959, age 49, after a long battle with cancer, a colleague described the legendary radioman as "a phenomenon.” 

“What will it be”, asks Bob Dyer. “the money or the box." 

“In the 1950s everybody seemed to laugh a lot more and Jack Davey helped them do it,” a colleague said. “Davey had more fast comebacks than anybody else around. It was the kind of talent that has not been seen or heard since. 

“In the 1950s, at the peak of his popularity as a broadcaster, Davey’s weekly schedule was five major half-hour shows, five breakfast sessions, two charity performances and a Cinesound newsreel commentary.” 

That represented about 682 shows a year for which he was earning $60,000 – about $600,000 by today’s standards. 
 

Frank Morris comments: I think it was in 1957 or 1958 that I heard the memorable debate on Anzac Day between the venerable Eric Baume, the station current affairs reporter, and the fast-quipping genius of Jack Davey. The verdict from audience: Davey won by a nose. In any case, they were excellent at what they did. 

BP Pick a Box - Bob Dyer