Peter Stewart McArthur (27 September 1937 – 2 February 2017) was an Australian politician and broadcaster. He worked for the ABC as broadcaster, and Channel 2 as a newsreader, weatherman and interviewer. At Radio 3LO, he was a weekend breakfast presenter and sports panelist. He co-founded 3ECB Radio Eastern 98.1 FM in 1991 and continued as a presenter and EFL Sports announcer with them till his death. He was born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

to woolclasser Stewart Campbell McArthur and Phyllis Marguerite Darling. He was educated at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia **Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an international ...

and also at Upwey,

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

and

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

. In 1960 he worked as a radio announcer in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, and after a stint overseas spent two years in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. In 1964 he became a newsreader for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, working in both television and radio. On 21 November 1966 he married Margaret Ann Yeoman; they had two children. From 1970 to 1976 he was a Councillor on Croydon City Council, serving as mayor from 1974 to 1975. In 1976 he was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presiding ...

for Ringwood, representing the Liberal Party. He was the Chairman of the Victorian Parliamentary Road Safely Committee when the .05 legislation was introduced in Victoria. Defeated in 1982, he returned to broadcasting with the ABC, working there until 2002. From 2005 to 2010 he was the president of Channel 31 Television in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. From 1979-1982 he served as chairman of the Victorian Parliamentary All-Party Road Safety Committee. In 1991, he co-founde
Radio Eastern 98.1 FM Eastern Community Broadcasting (3ECB)
station. Peter along with Herb Lilburn and Gerald Smart formed Radio Eastern in 1974 and the three worked for 16 years doing test broadcasts(directly from the base of the radio tower) and lobbying the government until a permanent license was granted in 1990. He also served as Secretary/Treasurer and Program Convener. In 1994, before regular community television transmission occurred, McArthur became involved i
ERA TV (Eastern Regional Access Television Inc.)
one of the eight original founder groups of Channel 31 (Melbourne Community Television Consortium). He created in 1995 and was the Producer of a Television show called " Eastern Newsbeat" which aired 1078 shows on Channel 31 over 22 years. He was also a Scottish Bagpiper. He had been President at

3WBC 3WBC FM is a local radio station in Melbourne, Australia with a frequency of 94.1 MHz. The station is operated under licence by Whitehorse-Boroondara Community FM Radio Incorporated. It often involves local school students in its program ...

and also President from 2005 to 2010 at Channel 31 Television in

. McArthur had extensive family political connections: his grandfather Peter Campbell McArthur and great-uncle John Neil McArthur both represented Villiers and Heytesbury in the Assembly, while his uncle

Stewart McArthur Fergus Stewart McArthur, (born 27 October 1937) is a former Australian politician who served as a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Australian House of Representatives from February 1984, representing the Division of Corangamite, Victori ...

was the federal member for Corangamite from 1984 to 2007 and his cousin is Ted Baillieu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, Peter 1937 births 2017 deaths Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly People from Brighton, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne Australian television presenters Australian broadcasters Australian Broadcasting Corporation people Television personalities from Melbourne Radio personalities from Melbourne People educated at Haileybury (Melbourne)