Talkback host ‘benched’

6PR's afternoon host, Tony McManus, has been sacked by the station after more than 13 years. The Fairfax run station are reportedly exploring new directions.

Tony says:

"6PR obviously has huge plans for next year and there are going to be some very exciting things take place, but it appeared that I wasn't going to be a part of that."

"Where it stands at the moment when the dust settles and they get an idea of exactly what they are going to do and who they are going to do it with, then I'll happily come off the bench and do programs if and when required."

"No doors have been slammed, which is good and in this market things can change very, very quickly."

"This will be the first chance I've had in around 35 years to look at opportunities outside radio so maybe it is time to have a break and do something different."

McManus told WA Today that interviewing John Cleese was one of his career highlights.

Before going on-air with Cleese, McManus told him how pleased he was to chat with him.

"He said to me in his beautiful English voice, 'that's fine Tony, but don't f*** it up', so I raced back into the studio and had to re-engage how the interview was going to unfold and I ended up not talking to him so much about the movies with which he had been involved, but with his writing, which he is really proud of."

"There was six or seven minutes of interview in which he was fantastic and afterwards a message came back from the producer who said Mr Cleese wanted me to pass on a message to you: 'tell Tony he didn't f*** it up'."

"It was a huge relief, but I still sweat when I tell the story."

Tony did his last shift last week but decided not to tell his listeners he wouldn’t be returning, instead treating his last show as "business as usual".

McManus began his radio career at 3HA then moved to 3BA in the early '80s. His talkback career has been at 3AW, Fiveaa and since 1999 at 6PR.

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