Brad McNally, well respected Canadian-born Australian radio programmer, has died after a long battle with cancer. His wife Margaret McNally announced: ”I wish to advise former radio colleagues and friends of the passing of her beloved husband, Brad McNally. Brad enjoyed a stellar 45 year career in the radio industry in Australia and abroad. Brad passed away peacefully last night, Saturday 6 November 2021, in St John of God Hospital, Subiaco. Courageous to the end.”
In 2016, McNally was forced to retire as content director at Gold Coast’s Hot Tomato after being diagnosed with brain cancer. He underwent surgery in July 2017 before returning home to Perth. He is best known for his time as a programmer and Content Director in Perth radio.
Growing up in Toronto, McNally enjoyed a career with Toronto’s CFNY during the 1970s. He also worked in programming across in other countries including Finland, Sweden and Ireland before adopting Australia as his home.
Sadly, I’m writing about another mentor who played a major part in my career – and a wonderful genuine person who we have lost.
I first met Brad, around 2014 or so as part of a mentoring program established by Fairfax, when I was ND at 4BC. I was paired with Brad as part of a corporate mentoring program, in which I was to learn more about broadcast operations. Brad was the ideal mentor. He was at 96.1 Perth at the time (Then owned by Fairfax). His knowledge was incredibly vast and the pointers he provided were incredible.
We kept in touch and I was so delighted when he moved to the Gold Coast as PD of one of our local stations here. He was just 10 minutes up the street from me.
Sadly, this is where it was revealed that he was not well. He went back to Perth to be with his family, but we kept in touch. He was very proud to boast about an online radio station that he was involved in. NYthespirit.com – I still remember how enthusiastic he was about providing his voice to this station.
To me, Brad was such a warm inviting person. It was a joy to be mentored by him.
I thank him for the vital operations experience he provided, but he was more than just a mentor. He was radio.
My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children. You can be very proud of him.