Derek Guille (born 1951) is an Australian radio presenter. He presented the ''Evenings'' program on

774 ABC Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

and ABC Victoria from 2003 to 2011.

Career

Before beginning his radio career, Guille worked for the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

and Batman Records and also travelled overseas where he worked as a

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, silkscreen printer and photographer. He fulfilled his childhood ambition when he began his radio career with 3HA in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

in 1984. In 1987 he joined the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC) at the Horsham studios of 3WV/WL, presenting the local current affairs morning program before moving to the breakfast shift and regional manager. With the creation of the ABC's

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

studios in 1993, he moved to central Victoria to take up the challenge of building an audience for that new station as the breakfast program presenter and station manager. After spending three years presenting the statewide afternoon program on 774 ABC Melbourne and

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

throughout Victoria and southern New South Wales, in 2003 Guille took over the reins of the ''Evenings'' program for Victoria. While the program was typical for ABC Local Radio, with a wide range of subjects covered by talkback or interviewed guests, his programs regularly featured live performances by musicians from Australia as well, as well as touring international artists. Early in 2011,

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop (music), pop and country music, country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical perfor ...

and the Siss Boom Bang performed a set live to air with an audience made up of 400 ABC listeners who had won tickets to attend. In June 2011, Guille announced that he would be leaving the program and the ABC.Derek Guille announces his retirement from ABC Local Radio
''774 ABC Melbourne'', 23 June 2011 He presented his final show on 22 September 2011 and is now working as a freelance MC and interviewer. In April 2013, he released a book for younger readers called ''The Promise'' and published by One Day Hill. It is based on his visit to Villers-Bretonneux while covering the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's tour of Europe in 2007 for ABC Radio. ''The Promise'' is illustrated by Melbourne street artist Kaff-eine. In October 2018, Guille became the acting ''Breakfast'' presenter on ABC Central Victoria based in Bendigo while the usual presenter, Fiona Parker, was on long-service leave. In 2022 he began as a volunteer on community radio station KLFM, presnting Breakfast on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

Personal life

Guille plays guitar,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

and

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifi ...

with varying degrees of proficiency and sings with a sort of

jug band A jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of conventional and homemade instruments. These homemade instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, bones, stovepipe, ...

called the Ugly Uncles. His passion for music and live performance is often extended with his regular visits, as a performer or compere, at festivals such as the Port Fairy Folk Festival and the Queenscliff Music Festival. He also enjoys reading (from the widest range of genres but especially comic fiction) and theatre and has an appreciation for fine wine and food. His latest passion is riding his

motor scooter A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles ...

. Married in 1974, he and his wife Barbara have two children and five grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guille, Derek Radio personalities from Melbourne Living people 1951 births