Four decades ago, they were Wollongong and the Illawarra's top A-listers. Over the summer break, former WIN-TV (Channel 4) news anchors Michael McRae and Susie Elelman reunited at a television reunion with former colleagues.
In the late 70s and early 80s Michael and Susie were the region's best known local faces. It was a time when Channel 4 (now WIN) was the only commercial television station. The ABC (Channel 5A) was the only competition and there was precious little local content there.
"Our news at the time was rating in the 50s and 60s," Susie said. "That means 60 per cent of televisions in the region were watching our news bulletins, which was phenomenal."
Michael now lives in Bundaberg in regional Queensland where he established a local newspaper. His visit to Wollongong over Christmas-New Year was principally to visit his pilot son, Alexander. It also provided a golden opportunity to catch up with old friends, including Susie, Geoff Phillips, Bruce Pulford and organiser extraordinaire Cilla Aslanidis at the Coniston Hotel.
Michael recounted his arrival in Wollongong in 1968 when he was headhunted from Channel 8 in Orange to read the Channel 4 news. At the time, Rupert Murdoch owned Channel 4.
"I'd like to think I was one of the first news readers that Rupert employed," Michael said.
The arrival of colour television
Michael was in the spotlight on what was dubbed 'C-Day', 1 March 1975, the day colour television transmissions began in Australia.
"I was hosting a special telethon for charity and there was so much excitement as we counted down to midnight when the station manager clicked his fingers and like magic people watching at home saw their picture change from black and white to colour," Michael said.
Susie arrived at the station in 1974 to host a locally produced morning program.
"All of the staff were able to buy colour television sets early through WIN. That was before the switch over from black and white."
A great place to work
Susie looks back fondly at her many years at WIN.
"Regional television was the best learning opportunity anyone could have. We would do everything from start to finish and we were all working and learning together."
Michael also enjoyed his many years at WIN and reminisced about the night he feared he was going to be kidnapped while live on air.
"I was in the middle of a bulletin, and we could hear a lot of noise just outside the studio. John Martin, the news director, went outside and found a large group of university students who told him they would score the maximum 100 points in an end-of-year prank challenge if they abducted me mid bulletin.
"Thankfully John reasoned with them that they couldn't stop the news and he negotiated that they could 'kidnap me' as soon as the broadcast was over, and they could film it to earn their points. And that's what they did. They took me to a hotel at North Wollongong, bought me dinner and kept me till about 11pm when they let me go."
For Michael, one of his career highlights was interviewing Sir Edmund Hillary shortly after he conquered Everest.
"He was a really lovely person."
Bringing Michael and Susie together
Michael and Susie came together as co-presenters in the late 1970s. They were WIN's first male-female anchors at a time when Frank Arkell was Lord Mayor and Tony Barber's hugely popular Sale of the Century was the lead in program for the news.
"Television had been such a male-dominated business but WIN gave women incredible opportunities," Susie said.
She credits the new owner of WIN at the time Bruce Gordon, senior executive Allan Hoy, and Michael for her promotion to the news desk.
The big stories of the day
Some of the big news stories at the time included the Illawarra Hawks joining the NBL (1979), the Steelers joining the NRL (1982), the massive reduction of staff at the Port Kembla steelworks, the opening of the Northbeach International Hotel (now the Novotel) in 1983, and the closure of the Kembla Grange Speedway (1984) and soon after came the electrification of the railway line to Sydney.
It was a time when Wollongong struggled with its image as a polluted coal and steel town.
"The things that stay in your mind are the news stories involving tragedy. It was a time when there were serious accidents at the steelworks and too many fatal crashes involving coal trucks on our roads," Susie recalls.
Chemistry on and off the set
While Michael and Susie had that all-important chemistry on the news set, it also saw them together away from the studio, sharing 11 years as a couple.
Susie remembers their favourite places to unwind after work. These included the Market Street Bistro, the Green Frog, the Greasy Fork and The Italian Centre "where the nonnas made the best lasagna you'd ever eaten".
"The best bar in town was at the Downtown Motel on Crown Street which was just jumping, and the Charcoal Tavern was probably the best restaurant in Wollongong."
A community focal point
In those days WIN Television was such a focal point of the community.
"Michael and I hosted so many events, many of them for charity. The biggest was the annual Carols by Candlelight in MacCabe Park, which drew a crowd of 35,000. In summer we ran the Miss Suntastic competition on our local beaches which was hugely popular."
While Susie now lives in Sydney, she says Wollongong, as the home to so many migrants over the years, will always hold a special place in her heart.
"My parents were refugees, so when I was living on Sydney's northern beaches I felt like a fish out of water until I came to Wollongong," Susie said. "I just found so many like-minded people here, so I felt right at home."
Susie was poached by Channel 7, where she worked for many years, but was persuaded by Bruce Gordon to return to WIN in 2007 to host her own one-hour talk and variety morning show called Susie, for which she was executive producer. Shellharbour's Cilla Aslanidis was "my brilliant executive producer" and together they created 309 episodes over two seasons.
This was a very different time in local television but one that still captures so many fabulous memories.
About the writer
Jeremy Lasek has many decades of experience in media, marketing, events and PR. His career began in the Illawarra with the Lake Times, ABC Radio and WIN-TV. For eight years Jeremy was news director for WIN in Canberra and was national news director before joining the National Capital Authority as head of media and events. Jeremy was executive director of ACT Government Communications, Events, Arts, Heritage and Protocol for many years, was Chief of Staff to the ACT Chief Minister and had responsibility for the Centenary of Canberra celebrations in 2013. Before returning to Wollongong, Jeremy was CEO of the National Australia Day Council (including the Australian of the Year Awards) and head of communications for the Australian Federal Police. Jeremy is a regular Illawarra Flame contributor.
