Mad Mel (born c.1945 as Mel Potts, later changed to Mel Happy) is a Canadian-born Australian former disc jockey. He was part of the Good Guys team at radio station

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's progra ...

in Sydney.

Career

In the early 1960s, Mel and his friend Rob McAdams started a local radio station (KITN) in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. They bought air time from KONP in

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and broadcast via a telephone line from a local Victoria store from 4 pm to 8 pm on Monday to Friday, selling advertising to local merchants. In 1963 Sydney radio station 2SM was relaunched as a Top 40 station featuring Australia's first team of disc jockeys, known as "The Good Guys". Mel was recruited to present the 10 pm to midnight slot. He portrayed a zany character with alter-egos like "Granny Scoopshovel"; the opening soundtrack had him released from a cage to start the program. When

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

toured Australia in 1964, Mel asked his listeners to contribute to a Beatles gift of a woollen scarf. Over 11,000 pieces were received from as far as

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. Schoolgirls joined the pieces together in the 2SM foyer, the resulting scarf being over 10 metres long. To present the scarf, Mel hid at the Sheraton Hotel and surprised

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

in the corridor whereupon Mel was invited into The Beatles sanctum. The scarf was too big for The Beatles to take back to England so Mel kept it. It has been valued at up to $10,000. The scarf was put up for auction through

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in 2009. Mel subsequently befriended members of The Beatles and recorded banter with them for broadcast on his program. In 1965 Mel moved to CFUN in Vancouver, presenting from 6 pm to 9 pm Monday to Friday, and 4 pm to 9 pm on Saturday. Coincidentally, CFUN was also using the Good Guys format at that time, although Mel was known as the "Bad Guy". In 1969, 2SM program manager Rod Muir relaunched the Good Guys format and brought Mad Mel back to the station. Mel promoted a number of events including the Mad Mel Big Stir, a concert under the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...

featuring

Tamam Shud Tamam Shud is an Australian psychedelic, progressive and surf rock band, which formed in Newcastle in 1964. The initial line-up were known as The Four Strangers with Eric Connell on bass guitar, Dannie Davidson on drums, Gary Johns on rhythm g ...

and other bands. Mad Mel attempted a comeback in the 1980s on

2WS 101.7 WSFM (call sign: 2UUS) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Its main content is commercial music, in particular classic hits from 1960 to about 2000, but with a stronger focus from 1970 to 1995. The station is part of t ...

with additional material written by Vic Davies. It is believed that Mad Mel still lives in Sydney.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mad Mel 1940s births Living people Canadian radio hosts Australian radio presenters Canadian emigrants to Australia Nicknames in radio