Long time friend Graham Webb writes: Mike Ahern who passed away yesterday aged just 67 – was loved by family, friends, his contemporaries, co-workers and every listener who heard him over the past 24 years, as he had such a warm and engaging personality and he was never without a smile. You could hear it in his voice. This is the mark of a consummate Broadcaster.

Mike and I were friends from the moment he landed on Caroline South where, up intil 1966, I had been Program Controller but was asked by Rohnan O’Rahilly to set up a legitimate News format for both ships. Hence “Radio Caroline Newsbeat” and I had to recruit News Readers/Writers such as Gordie Cruse, John Hatt, Mark Sloan, Nick Bailey etc.

Whenever I was on the South ship, Mike would grill me about Australia and eventually he landed on my doorstep at the family home in Sydney where for the next 3 months he made application to many radio stations and eventually he landed the Midnight-to-dawn shift on 2UW (now Mix 106.5) and from there moved on to 4BC Brisbane and 6PR Perth and several other stations.

He became a radio star on both sides of the Continent regularly enjoying high ratings.

The last time I saw him was a couple of years ago when we gathered to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the closure of Caroline as we knew it. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Mike Ahern (right) with Ben Healy at a Radio Caroline reunion in 2007.
Photo: Martin van der Ven.