David Thomas Worrall (18 June 1894 – 12 April 1968) was an Australian journalist, radio station manager and soldier. Worrall was born in

Castle Hill, New South Wales Castle Hill is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, located 34 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district and 9.5 kilometres north of Parramatta. It is within the Hills District, New South Wales, Hills District regi ...

and died in

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. St Kilda recorded a ...

Military service

David Worrall enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 14 October 1915. He saw service in Egypt, France and Sydney. He was wounded at Pozières, France in August 1916 and then spent some time in England in recovery. He was discharged on 29 July 1919.

Journalism

Prior to enlisting, Worrall had worked for '' The Leader'' newspaper in

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an urban population of 41,920 at the 2021 Australia Census, 2021 Cens ...

. After discharge from the A.I.F., Worrall returned to journalism; his first job being with the '' Newcastle Morning Herald''. Melbourne's '' Sun News-Pictorial'' commenced publication in 1922 and Worrall was one of the first journalists to be employed there. In 1925, he went to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

where he provided articles for the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

'', as well as supplying material on a freelance basis to ''

The Herald (Melbourne) ''The Herald'' was a morning – and later – evening broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia, from 3 January 1840 to 5 October 1990. It later merged with its sister morning newspaper '' The Sun News-Pictorial'' to form the ''He ...

'' and ''

The Sun (Sydney) ''The Sun'' was an Australian afternoon tabloid newspaper, first published in Sydney under that name in 1910. History ''The Sunday Sun'' was first published on 5 April 1903. In 1910 Hugh Denison founded Sun Newspaper Ltd (later Sun Newspaper ...

''. He settled in Melbourne in 1928, beginning a long association with

Keith Murdoch Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist and media proprietor who was the founder of the Murdoch media empire. He amassed significant media holdings in Australia which after his death were expan ...

and the Murdoch media. In the late 1920s, he organised the Herald learn-to-swim campaign and their Ideal Town competition.

3DB

Worrall is perhaps best known as the long-running manager of Melbourne radio station 3DB. 3DB commenced broadcasting in 1927 under the ownership of the Druleigh Business and Technical College Pty Ltd, hence the DB call-sign. However, from 1929 until 1987, 3DB was owned and operated by the

Herald & Weekly Times ''The Herald and Weekly Times'' Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests dat ...

(HWT), owners of '' The Herald'' and ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with '' The Herald'' to form the '' Herald-Sun''. ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' was p ...

''. David Worrall was appointed manager of the station in 1929, by the ''Herald and Weekly Times'' Sir

, and he was to remain as manager until 1958. He was responsible for introducing many big-budget programs covering all forms of broadcastable material which, inter alia, made 3DB the top station in all Melbourne radio surveys for many decades.

Major Broadcasting Network

Worrall also formed the Major Broadcasting Network, with associated stations throughout Australia. From its formation in 1938 until its closure in the late 1970s, the Major Network was usually recognised as being second in importance after its rival, the

Macquarie Radio Network Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and headquartered in North Sydney. The company operates radio stations nationally in the capital cities of Sydney, Melbou ...

Australian Federation of "B" Broadcasting Stations

In 1930 Worrall helped to form the Australian Federation of "B" Broadcasting Stations, now

Commercial Radio Australia Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) is the peak body for the commercial radio broadcasting industry in Australia. CRA was formed in 1930 as the Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters. It provides representation and advocacy on common statuto ...

, and he was its Federal President in 1938.

Family

David Worrall was the son of Thomas Hirst Worrall, an English-born orchardist and artist, and his wife Emily Jane née Barker. He grew up in West Maitland,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, and was educated at public schools in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

. In 1929, he married Kathleen Zoe née Norris at the Independent Church, Collins Street, Melbourne. Kathleen Worrall became a prominent broadcaster in her own right, using the nom-de-plume ''Martha Gardener''. She first broadcast on 3DB and later 3AW, 3UZ,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

radio and

GTV9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. GTV-9 is the home of the Australian Open tennis coverage. History GTV-9 was ...

. Her programs, aimed mainly at a female audience, offered handy hints to listeners, usually in answer to their questions.http://adb.anu.edu.au/biogralandphy/worrall-kathleen-zoe-27552

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worrall, David Thomas Australian broadcasters Australian military personnel of World War I Australian people of English descent 1894 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Australian journalists