Kevin John Crease (8 May 1936 – 12 April 2007) was a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

and

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

. He was most noted for presenting

n edition of the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and 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 the five main free-to-air television ...

's''

National Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...

'' with

Rob Kelvin Rob Kelvin (born 20 September 1944) is an Australian former television news presenter. He was a presenter of the weeknight edition of '' Nine News Adelaide'' produced by NWS-9. Kelvin presented the bulletin with Kevin Crease until February 2007 ...

between 1987 and 2007.

Early life

Born in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

and raised in the working class seaside suburb of

Semaphore Semaphore (; ) is the use of an apparatus to create a visual signal transmitted over distance. A semaphore can be performed with devices including: fire, lights, flags, sunlight, and moving arms. Semaphores can be used for telegraphy when arra ...

, Crease was the eldest of four children. He was a prodigious public speaker from a young age and won the Year 7 senior school debating championship. He started his working life as a clerical worker in 1952 with

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

before becoming a copy boy and later cadet at Adelaide's '' The News'' newspaper, where he quickly "fell foul of the chief-of-staff" and was sacked. Crease completed his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, but resigned from the army following an incident where he used an armoured car to attend a party with his girlfriend.

Professional career

Crease started his radio career at radio station

5DN Cruise 1323 (call sign: 5DN) is one of Adelaide's longest running radio stations. In its 80+ years it has changed considerably. It was the first commercial station to begin broadcasting in South Australia. History Radio 5DN began operating ...

in 1957 after being noticed as a spruiker selling plastic raincoats in Adelaide's city streets. On 17 July 1959, Channel 9 began its first broadcast in Adelaide. Crease was chosen to compere the station's first program – ''Clarkson's TV Hostess Quest''. During the 1960s, he worked on a variety of different projects, from reading commercials and news, to performing on ''

Adelaide Tonight ''Adelaide Tonight'' was a nightly variety show, running four days a week at 9.30 pm on Nine Network, NWS-9 Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as wel ...

'' as compere from 1962 to 1975. In the early 1970s, he hosted the news program ''News Beat''. From 1975 to 1977, Crease was then

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier i ...

Don Dunstan Donald Allan Dunstan (21 September 1926 – 6 February 1999) was an Australian politician who served as the 35th premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. He was a member of the House of Assembly (MHA) for th ...

's press secretary before returning to television. He went on to present news for ADS-7. 1983 saw the release of his children's book ''Sam and the Dreamtime'', which was set in his home city of Adelaide and included illustrations by John Draper and photographs by Crease. He returned to Channel 9 in April 1987 as presenter for ''

'' with

. Together, the pair would enjoy considerable ratings success, taking '' Nine News Adelaide'' to the top of the ratings in the 1990s. On 9 February 2007, co-host

announced that Crease was going through a serious health issue and was taking extended leave from presenting. It was revealed on 17 March 2007 on ''

'' that he was suffering from a 'serious form of cancer'. The '' Sunday Mail'' reported the following day that Crease would be retiring from television broadcasting.

Death

Crease died on 12 April 2007, aged 70 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Honours

Following his death, Crease was posthumously inducted into the South Australian Media Hall of Fame. The award was accepted by his son, Tom Crease, at the awards ceremony held 28 April 2007, at the Adelaide Festival Centre. Later that week NWS-9 aired ''Farewell Creasey'' which was the top rating program in Adelaide for the week.

Personal life

He had three children with his first wife Josie. He was also the father with his second wife Cathy of

Frenzal Rhomb Frenzal Rhomb are an Australian punk rock band that formed in 1992 in Sydney. Though the band's mainstream success has been minimal, four of the group's albums have entered the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart: '' A Man's Not a Camel'' (1 ...

bassist Tom Crease.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crease, Kevin 1936 births 2007 deaths Australian television newsreaders and news presenters Journalists from South Australia Deaths from cancer in South Australia Television personalities from Adelaide