Radio legend ‘Uncle Doug’ Mulray dies at 71: Pioneer launched Triple M and was a ratings winner in the ’80s – but his TV career was sabotaged by Kerry Packer after a celebrity run
Legendary radio presenter Doug Mulray, known to listeners as “Uncle Doug,” has died at the age of 71 after suffering from a chronic illness for several months.
He died in intensive care at a Sydney hospital late Thursday night.
One of the leading voices on Australian radio in the 1980s, Mulray is best known for his time in Triple M, which he helped launch and in which he spent most of his career.
It was a ratings winner at the highly competitive breakfast spot, with one radio industry icon describing it as “the Kyle Sandilands of his time – maybe even better”.
While the cause of his death is unknown, Mulray was said to have been a recluse and to struggle with poor health in his later years. He was hospitalized in December.
Legendary radio presenter Doug Mulray, known to listeners as “Uncle Doug,” has died at the age of 71 after suffering from a chronic illness for several months. (pictured in the 1990s)
It is believed that his last public appearance was at a Triple M meet that took place at a Sydney hotel seven weeks before he was admitted to hospital last year.
Known for his outrageous sense of humour, Mulay gave a moving speech at a broadcasting veterans rally.
“We were the right thing, at the right time, in the right place, with the right attitude,” he said, recalling the days when Triple M music radio dominated.
Mulray, who cut his teeth at ABC station 2JJ in the 1970s before rebranding it Triple J, left to join the brand new station Triple M in 1982.
He said of his days in Triple M: ”It was an amazing thing to be a part of. We were blessed with this thing… It was a joy to be there.”
He continued, “When I left radio, I got over it. I wanted privacy and kind of distanced myself…it was like a fantasy.
Despite his success on radio, Mulray was unable to achieve the same success on television – partly due to a notorious quarrel with Channel Nine owner Kerry Packer.
He was hosting an episode of The Naughtiest Home Videos in Australia in 1992 when he Submit a video A boy pulls the testicles of a kangaroo.
Watching from a party at his Sydney mansion, the hard-headed Packer was so angry and embarrassed that he phoned the studio and shouted, “Get that off the air!”
The show was abruptly pulled and replaced with a reboot of the American sitcom Cheers and was never shown again. As a result, Moulay was fired and banned from working at Nain.
However, he returned years later as a judge on the talent show StarStruck in 2005, the year of Packer’s death.
He also appeared briefly on a talk show on Channel Ten Beauty and the Beast in 2002 and headlined the short-lived Mulray on Seven in the early 1990s.
