Two breakfast radio stars -- Laurel Edwards (4BC Brisbane, Nine Radio) and Steve ‘Pricey’ Price (102.3 Triple M Townsville, SCA) -- were tonight inducted into the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame at the 34th annual Australian Commercial Radio & Audio (ACRA) Awards.
Between them they have set more than 14,000 3am alarms.
Laurel and Pricey each received a Hall of Fame accolade in front of an audience of 1,000 peers in recognition of their decades of contribution to the commercial radio and audio industry.
Previous Commercial Radio Hall of Fame inductees include Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson, Lee Simon, Ray Hadley, Amanda Keller, the late Doug Mulray and Cathy O’Connor.
Laurel has been Brisbane’s Queen of Breakfast Radio for more than 30 years. At 4KQ she became the longest serving female announcer of the same program in Australian history, before moving to breakfast at 4BC with Gary Clare and Mark Hine in 2022.
Pricey has been on-air in Townsville for more than five decades, including 32 years on breakfast radio at 102.3 Triple M Townsville (originally 4TO). In May this year he announced his retirement from breakfast radio and will leave his beloved studio for the final time on Christmas Day.
“Laurel Edwards and Steve ‘Pricey’ Price have been part of their communities for decades – familiar, trusted and loved personalities who people have turned to for information, news, companionship and entertainment,” says Commercial Radio & Audio (CRA) CEO Ford Ennals.
“They have each made enormous contributions to their communities through their support of various causes and charities and are sterling examples of the dedication that makes radio such an enduring part of people’s lives.
“I am sure everyone who has worked alongside Laurel or Pricey over the years would agree that their individual championing of community, real concern for their audiences and their love of being a mate on the radio has won them a deserved place in the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame.”
Laurel Edward’s love of radio started in childhood, and she was inspired to pursue a career as an announcer when 4BC’s Murray Shoring gave a talk at her primary school.
She has also worked in television and hosted a children’s program on Nine in 1987 before joining 4KQ in 1992. Highlights from her long career include broadcasting from Abbey Road Studios and hosting alongside Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees.
Laurel’s induction into the 2023 Hall of Fame has been recognised by some of Australia’s best known stars across the entertainment landscape.
“You have carved your name deep in the history of Australian radio,” actor Russell Crowe said in congratulations of Laurel’s achievement.
“I’d like to extend my congratulations on being inducted into commercial radio’s Hall of Fame,” said singer Daryl Braithwaite.
Nine Radio managing director Tom Malone says Laurel has been a leading voice on Brisbane airwaves for 30 years, often holding the number one ranking due to her warm and engaging style.
"In her 31st year, she has achieved what very few have – indeed, only other Hall of Fame inductees – by switching stations and taking her audience with her," Malone says.
"It’s a powerful demonstration of her close and intimate connection with her audience and her magnetic appeal as a broadcaster of enormous appeal. She is a most worthy and fitting inductee into the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame.”
Steve ‘Pricey’ Price has been involved in radio since he was 17, and got his first on-air shift in Melbourne, midnight to dawn on 3KZ. He moved to Far North Queensland in 1982 and for over three decades was the voice many in Townsville woke up to when he hosted breakfasts at 4TO, which became 102.3 Triple M Townsville.
Pricey has covered numerous historic events, including the Townsville Blackhawk crash in 1996 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2018 for his services to the community.
Brigadier Dave McCammon, commander 3rd Brigade which is based out of Townsville, said about Pricey: “I came up here with the then Chief of Army Lieutenant General Peter Francis Leahy AC. We were going to visit the troops out of the Solomon Islands, and he said that there was no one better to take than Steve Price. We can’t thank Pricey enough for taking the time to show the great work our soldiers do.”
Mayor of Townsville Jenny Hill said of Pricey, “He’s stayed on radio through some of our worst natural disasters. Pricey has been a big part of our community, and Steve, we are not going to forget you.”
SCA chief content officer Dave Cameron says it's rare that an entire city hears one voice for breakfast every weekday for 32 years, or to have a career that spans more than five decades.
"But that is what you get with the undisputed King of Townsville and radio legend Steve ‘Pricey’ Price," Cameron says.
"His name is synonymous with radio; however, Pricey’s impact reaches far beyond the mic. He has truly affected and bettered the lives of people in and around North Queensland, with countless fundraising and community missions, in good times and bad.
"We all need more Priceys and his signature tropical shirts, and I could not think of a more worthy inductee into the Hall of Fame."
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