John Berks (born John Berkowitz; 24 August 1941 – 4 June 2022) was a well-known South African radio presenter. Known for his role as a breakfast presenter on Radio 702 in Johannesburg. His broadcast career covered many countries in Southern Africa and stretched from 1964 until 2001.

Early life

Berks was born in

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a major town in the west ...

to Jewish parents Louis Berkowitz and Hennie Nochimowitz. He grew up in

Klerksdorp Klerksdorp () is located in the North West Province, South Africa. Klerksdorp, the largest city in the North West Province, is located southeast of Mahikeng, the provincial capital. Klerksdorp was also the first capital of the then Transvaal Repub ...

, the youngest of three siblings. His father died when he was fourteen. He dropped out of Milner High School before finishing standard eight. He found work at Dandy Polish and on the production line of a soap factory in Rosettenville owned by a family member. He worked as a delivery boy for the ''Klerksdorp Rekord'' and then at the ''Germiston Advocate'' as a sports journalist. He then completed his national service in the

SADF The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

Broadcast career

As a child, Berks had a strong interest in radio, imitating his favourite stars and sports presenters. As an adult he took elocution lessons with Colin du Plessis, a

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

English language service broadcaster, to remove his Afrikaans accent and make himself more sellable in broadcasting. He would audition for

LM Radio LM Radio is a radio station based in Maputo, Mozambique. Historically it was a shortwave station broadcasting to South Africa and Rhodesia from Lourenço Marques, the colonial era name of Maputo, hence the name "Lourenço Marques Radio" from 193 ...

, first with Rob Vickers and then with Gerry Wilmot before being offered a position in 1964 with the broadcaster. He would become a programme manager for them in 1969 in Johannesburg before leaving them in 1970. While at LM Radio, he was sent by David Davies to Australia to study techniques for commercial radio. After LM Radio, he would work for

Springbok Radio Springbok Radio (spelled ''Springbokradio'' in Afrikaans, ) was a South African nationwide radio station that operated from 1950 to 1986. History SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financia ...

Swazi Music Radio Swazi Music Radio (SMR) was a South African radio station broadcasting from Swaziland between 1972 and 1978. It was initially established as Swaziland Commercial Radio but was soon taken over by the South African entrepreneurs Issie and Natie Kirsh ...

out of Johannesburg, Radio 5 and

Capital Radio 604 Capital Radio 604 was a radio station that broadcast to listeners in South Africa from transmitters located in the Transkei using Medium Wave (AM) on 603 kHz. Founded by Martin Rattle, the station started transmitting on 26 December 1979 a ...

in the Transkei. He then joined the independent radio station Channel 702 on the 1 October 1981 taking over the breakfast show from Clackie McKay. The music station had started broadcasting in June 1980 in competition with Radio 5 (now

5FM 5FM is a South African FM radio station that follows a Top 40 music format and is owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa's public broadcaster. SABC announced the appointment of Mr. JD Mostert as Business Mana ...

), also on

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

. By 1983, Berks was the highest paid DJ on radio in South Africa. In 1988, Berks took a year's sabbatical from the station. He was one of the key staff members that changed the direction of the station in 1988 to talk and entertainment and finally rebranding it as Talk 702, talk-news station. Berks investigated talk radio in America when Radio 5 rebranded as 5FM broadcasting nationwide in 1985 and 702 found it could not compete for audience as a medium wave channel. He would retire from 702 several times before returning one last time on the channel as ''John and Gary''. In January 2001, John Berks retired and was replaced by

Gareth Cliff Gareth Rhydal Cliff (born 26 August 1977) is a South African radio and television personality. He began his professional radio career at 702, and later became the host of the breakfast show on 5FM. During his career at 5FM, his show included a fe ...

Death

Berks died in June 2022 after a long illness. He was survived by his partner of 16 years, Manda Wessels and two children from a previous relationship, Lance and Sherise and grandchildren Joshua, Tia, Benjamin, Mia, and Jesse. He was buried in the Jewish section of West Park Cemetery on 7 June 2022.

Honours

In 2010, he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in radio in South Africa and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. He also had a laneway in Klerksdorp named in honour of him, John Berks Road.

Filmography

Films

* ''Nipagesh Basivuv'' (1987) * ''Deadly Passion'' (1985) * ''Those Naughty Angels'' (1974)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berks, John 1941 births 2022 deaths South African radio presenters South African male film actors South African Jews People from Krugersdorp