Bernard King, who died suddenly at the weekend, was best known for his national TV and stage appearances, but he got his big break in radio.

During the ’60s King, a former school teacher, developed a public reputation through his work on Brisbane’s amateur theatre circuit.

Radio historian Wayne Mac points out that Bernard’s subsequent media career really took off when he got involved with radio while still doing theatre.

“In 1967, talkback was given the official go ahead by the broadcasting authorities of the day. Bernard was invited to appear in a 1 hour per night experiment on Brisbane’s 4BH using the new talkback technology . He was brought to radio by the Executive Producer of BH, Ivor Hancock, who also passed away earlier in 2002.

Although the night time talkback gig was relatively short-lived, Ivor believed he’d stumbled on a unique talent in Bernard. Rather than sack him, Ivor created a role for him in the BH morning show. This was a big team affair with Brisbane identities Don Secombe, Wendy Mansfield and Jeannie Jarrett with Ivor as the anchor”.

King’s flamboyant flair and acerbic wit was put to good use in this team which was a runaway success through 1967/68, particularly in the upper demographics.

Mac continued: “After the BH show collapsed, Bernard tried his hand as a news commentator at 4IP with a brief to be controversial. I have an aircheck in my collection from Gray Clark’s morning show dated 1969. Bernard comes on lambasting the white community over its attitude toward Aboriginal welfare. He did a ‘shame, shame, shame’ number long before we’d heard such utterances from Derryn. It was brave stuff considering the prevailing conservatism of Brisbane at the time”.

RIP Bernard King.