Philip Satchell 5AN's calm, versatile, eccentric, concise continuum in 1980s climb despite ABC cuts

Philip Satchell (right) with other ABC radio 5AN staff in the 1980 (from left): Peter Ford, Errol Silver, Carla Claegiari, Anna Shone and Ted Bull. 
Image courtesy Warwick Kemp
 

David Hill, future managing director of the ABC, was manager of its Adelaide radio going into the 1980s. The decade – especially when 5DN dropped its news and talk theme – saw 5AN consolidate its position in the breakfast and morning shows slots.

Rex Leverington brought a multi-faceted background to the breakfast program for seven years, building on the Ralph Bain momentum. Levington later moved to nights and began a live quiz and did it from the Capri Cinema. It broke all ratings for 5AN.

5AN’s morning current affairs and talkback had been solidified by Andy Thorpe and Richard Peach in the 1970s. This was boosted by recruiting Keith Conlon, who worked with John Keneally as producer. Keneally later would be a breakfast ratings success with Tony McCarthy as the Bald Brothers.

Externally, ABC Adelaide was hit by the corporation’s federal government funding cuts and had to shed half its staff.

Through all the change at 5AN, Philip Satchell, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988, was continuing his 40 years with ABC radio that ended in 2003. Satchell also won  a Churchill Fellowship, the Archbishop of Adelaide’s media citation for outstanding contribution to broadcasting, and the inaugural South Australian Law Society’s Colquhoun Award for best feature story on radio or TV.

Satchell, who came to Adelaide after early years in Sydney and Port Moresby, proved a master of versality, filling every timeslot over his time at 5AN, including the all-important 8:30 to 9am with David Bevan. Satchell's distinctive calm and cultivated style became known for eccentricities such as long pauses and an obsession with bodily functions. Even in retirement, he sprung a surprise with fatherhood at 70.