Mike Carlton
Mike Carlton AM | |
---|---|
Born | Michael James Carlton 31 January 1946 |
Nationality | Australian |
Alma mater | Barker College[1] |
Years active | 1963–2009 |
Known for | Former host with radio network's 2GB and 2UE |
Spouses |
|
Children | 3 |
Michael James Carlton,
Carlton was known for his criticism of conservative public figures such as former prime minister John Howard, former Liberal leader Alexander Downer,[3] former radio announcer Alan Jones, and conservative governments, including the United States' Bush administration.[4]
Family
Carlton's father, James Carlton, was an athlete who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1930, he set an Australian national record for the 100 yards, which was not broken until 1953. He would have been selected for the 1932 Olympics but left sport to become a Catholic priest. During World War II he was assigned to teach the Catholic faith to a non-Catholic woman who was engaged to a Catholic man. He fell in love with the woman and left the priesthood. They had two sons, Mike and Peter. Jim Carlton died in 1951.[5]
Mike Carlton has been married twice. He has two children with his first wife, Kerri. He met his second wife, Morag, when he was 52 and she was 23, working as his producer at ABC Radio. They have one child together.[6]
Early career
Carlton began his career with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) as a cadet journalist in 1963, aged 17. His file reports as an ABC war correspondent in Vietnam earned him great admiration within the industry and a promotion to chief of the ABC's news bureau in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Garnering further accolades on his return with the pioneering 1970s ABC-TV current affairs program This Day Tonight,
He moved to his first radio program as host at Sydney commercial station
Talk show host
In 1994, Carlton returned to Sydney to host a morning program on music station
Peter FitzSimons left the show at the end of 2007, and was replaced by Sandy Aloisi from 2008. Carlton's former workmate, now rival, Alan Jones continued to dominate Sydney radio talkback.
A long-running feud with fellow 2UE broadcaster Stan Zemanek, noted for his conservative views, had become a feature of Carlton's recent career prior to Zemanek's death in mid-2007. On 17 July 2007, Carlton made comments regarding his late rival. Responding to a listener's question as to why he wouldn't attend Zemanek's funeral, Carlton replied that it would be "an act of sheer hypocrisy ... I loathed him."[9] He continued: "I'd only go to check that he was actually dead."[9] Carlton later apologised for the remarks,[10] which had been the subject of criticism from fellow radio presenters and 2UE staff.[11]
A highly popular feature of Carlton's long-running radio program (and indeed his previous radio career before he joined 2UE), was the weekly political satire segment,
On 18 September 2009, Carlton retired from his long-running 2UE Breakfast show after over 26 years on Australian morning radio citing an unwillingness to continue with early morning hours and a desire to spend more time with his family and newborn son.[12]
Newspaper columnist
Carlton was a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald, initially being sacked from the position on 29 August 2008, for refusing to write his column during a strike by journalists at Fairfax Media.[13] After a lengthy campaign by Herald readers and the appointment of a new editor he was invited to rejoin the newspaper in 2009.[14] He resigned from the paper when disciplinary action was taken against him by the Sydney Morning Herald for using offensive language in several responses to emails received from readers after criticism in his column of Israel's 2014 Gaza offensive.[15]
Author
Carlton has published four books on Australian naval history:[16]
- Cruiser: The Life And Loss Of HMAS Perth And Her Crew (William Heinemann Australia, 2011)ISBN 9781864711332
- First Victory (William Heinemann Australia, 2013)ISBN 9781742757636
- Flagship: The Cruiser HMAS Australia II and the Pacific War on Japan (William Heinemann Australia, 2016)ISBN 9780857987778
- The Scrap Iron Flotilla: Five Valiant Destroyers and the Australian War in the Mediterranean (William Heinemann Australia, 2022)ISBN 9781761042003
Memoir:
- On Air, William Heinemann Book published by Penguin Random House Australia, 2018, ISBN 978-0-85798-780-8
Co-authored:
- The Great Australian Writer's Collection 2013 (RHA eBooks Adult, 2013)ISBN 9780857983619
Awards
In the
References
- ^ "Barker's historic students". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ Carlton, Mike (29 January 2011). "Whinger! Salute to another great Australian trait". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- ^ "The More Things Change". ABC-TV 'Australian Story'. 23 April 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
- ^ "Innocence lost amid Labor's list of horrors". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 November 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
- ^ Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 22 May 2016
- ^ "Don't call me granddad". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
- ^ http://johnallen.com/lbc/newstalkschedule.html
- ^ "Dance star stumbles in the ratings". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 May 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
- ^ a b Connolly, Fiona (18 July 2007). "I loathed Zemanek, says Carlton". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
- ^ "Carlton under fire for on-air Zemanek attack". IBN News. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
- ^ Connolly, Fiona (19 July 2007). "Zemanek slur puts Carlton's career 'on the line'". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
- ^ "Carlton off the air, back in the herald". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
- ^ "SMH columnist Carlton sacked over strike". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 August 2008. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
- ^ "Mike Carlton quits radio, returns to SMH". News.com.au. 7 September 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ "Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton resigns following furore over Gaza column – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
- ^ "Carlton, Mike". austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
- ^ http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/mike-carlton/cruiser-the-life-and-loss-of-hmas-perth-and-her-crew-9781864711332.aspx
- ^ http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/mike-carlton/first-victory-9781742757636.aspx
- ^ https://penguin.com.au/books/flagship-9780857987778
- ^ https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-scrap-iron-flotilla-9781761042003
- ^ http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/judy-nunn/great-australian-writers-collection-2013-ebook-9780857983619.aspx
- ^ "Michael James Carlton". Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 8 June 2020.