Spencer Howson (born 9 March 1972 in England) is an Australian radio presenter. He was the host of ''Breakfast'' on

612 ABC Brisbane ABC Radio Brisbane (callsign: 4QR) is an ABC Local Radio station in Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of the largest stations in the network, serving as a base for Queensland programming - many programs are broadcast across the ABC Local Radio ...

and when he resigned he had worked for the ABC for 25 years.

Career 1990-2016

Howson's family migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1981, settling in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He obtained a Bachelor of Business (Communication) – Journalism (1989 - 1991) at the

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

. Spencer's first radio experience was at

community station 4RPH,Radio serial is back!
/ref> part of the Australia-wide

Radio Print Handicapped Network RPH Australia is the national peak representative organisation for a unique Australian network of radio reading services designed to meet the daily information needs of people who, for any reason, are unable to access printed material. It is est ...

, from 1990 to 1993. In 1991, at the age of 19, Spencer was elected Vice President of the 4RPH board of directors. After an absence of 26 years, he returned to the 4RPH board in February 2019 and currently holds the position of President. Howson joined

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 ...

in the Queensland city of

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

in 1993 and stayed until 1995. He co-produced programmes presented by

Andrew Lofthouse Andrew Lofthouse (born 1962 or 1963) is a television and radio newsreader based in Brisbane, Australia. The former teacher is the weeknight presenter of ''Nine News Queensland'' with Melissa Downes, having previously presented on weekends. Prior ...

and David Anderson as well as presenting the Friday breakfast shift on 4RK (now re-branded as

ABC Capricornia 4RK, better known as ABC Capricornia is one of the ABC's original regional radio stations, predating the corporation's inception on 1 July 1932. 4RK, as it was known at the time, began broadcasting on 29 July 1931 and was owned by the Australi ...

). In 1994, when

moved to Brisbane, Spencer took over 4RK's 8.30 am – 11 am shift. The first 15 minutes was a

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...

round-up, networked across regional Queensland. In 1995 and 1996, Spencer fronted the regional statewide 2–4 pm shift. The programme emanated from

until the end of June 1995. Spencer then moved back to Brisbane, whence he continued to present the statewide regional 2–4 pm shift. From 1997 to 2000, Howson presented the 4QR (now re-branded

) Breakfast Show. In 2001, he returned to his afternoon slot, this time broadcasting into Brisbane as well as regional Queensland. In 2004 and 2005, Howson hosted the

4–6 pm "Late Afternoon Show". He was named

"Broadcaster of the Year" in 2005. At the beginning of 2006 Howson returned to the 5 am – 7.45 am Breakfast shift. By the end of the year, the programme was No. 1 in Brisbane. It was the first time since 1984 that

(formerly 612 4QR) had topped the coveted Breakfast ratings. In May 2007, Spencer was listed in the inaugural Queensland edition of "Who's Who". The book "recognises and reveres" the 4,000 Queenslanders from the arts, community, business, sports, entertainment, rural, environment, medicine, science, media and politics "who have helped make Queensland what it is today". In July 2007, Howson joined a "roster" of fill-in presenters back-filling the maternity leave of

Jillian Whiting Jillian Whiting is an Australian television presenter. Whiting has previously been a presenter on ''Nine News Queensland.'' Early life Whiting was born in Mackay, Queensland on 12 July 1971, moving with her family to Brisbane after her parent ...

on 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 ...

television show ''

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

''.

Resignation

In November 2016, Spencer announced that he would be leaving his coveted breakfast show, but will stay with

. He had been the presenter of the Breakfast shift for eleven years. In December 2016, it was announced that Spencer would be replaced by '' Queensland Country Hour'' presenter,

Craig Zonca Craig Zonca (born 1984) is an Australian radio and television presenter. He is currently a breakfast presenter on ABC Radio Brisbane and a weather presenter on ABC Television. After presenting the Queensland edition of ''The Country Hour'' for ...

as the host of the station's breakfast program in 2017. On 6 January 2017 Howson announced that he had officially resigned from the ABC. He had worked for the ABC for 25 years.

Career 2017-

In February 2017 Howson announced that he would join event podcasting company Pop Up Radio. Founded in 2015, ''Pop Up Radio'' provides live-broadcasts of conferences, events and trade shows online. Howson also writes a daily news email The Gateway for newspaper ''

The Brisbane Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. The service launched on 6 February 2017 is written in a conversational style and is sent each morning at 8:30 a.m. Along with this, Howson began tutoring radio students at USQ Springfield. Howson joined the Nine Radio-owned conservative-focused radio station

4BC 4BC is a radio station in Brisbane, Queensland on 882 kHz AM. 4BC is Brisbane's only commercial talkback station. While the station's broadcasting facility is at Cannon Hill, its transmitting tower is located alongside the Gateway Motorway ...

in January 2021 for the 9-1pm shift on Saturday and Sundays.

Private life

Howson was born in England but has lived in Brisbane since 1979. He attended primary schools at Bald Hills,

Toowong Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 10,830 people. Geography Toowong is situated between Mount Coot-tha and the Brisbane River and is made up of rolling hills w ...

and Manly. High School was Brisbane Grammar and he then attended the

. He married his wife, Nikki, on

Mount Coot-tha Mount Coot-tha is a mountain and a suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , there were no residents in the suburb. Visible from much of the city, Mount Coot-tha is a popular bushland tourist destination including the Mou ...

in June 1996 and they have a son Jack born in 2000.

Awards

2005 ABC Local Local Radio "Broadcaster of the Year" 2006 Won the ratings slot for Breakfast Radio.

References

External links

Profile at 612 ABC Brisbane
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howson, Spencer English emigrants to Australia 1972 births Australian radio personalities Living people People from Brisbane Queensland University of Technology alumni