John Blackman, the Australian radio and television presenter who was best known as the voice of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, has died aged 76.
His death was announced on Channel Seven’s Morning Show by entertainment reporter Peter Ford. No cause was given but Blackman had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer in 2019, which resulted in his jaw being removed. He underwent extensive surgeries again in 2022 when the cancer reappeared.
“Australia is a sadder place with this news,” Ford said. Other tributes included one from Melbourne radio veteran Neil Mitchell, who called Blackman a “top class broadcaster”.
Blackman grew up in Mount Waverley, Victoria, and began working in radio in his early 20s, providing voiceovers and hosting a variety of shows on stations including 2GN Goulburn, 2CA Canberra, 2UE Sydney, 3AK Melbourne, Triple M Adelaide and 3AW in Melbourne.
In 1971 he joined the Nine Network comedy variety show Hey Hey It’s Saturday, providing voiceovers and voicing characters including Dickie Knee. He remained with the show until 1999, then returned for reunion specials in 2009 and 2021.
In his later years, Blackman’s time on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and the show itself were reappraised, particularly for how people of colour were treated on the show.
Blackman was particularly criticised for his conduct towards the Malaysian-Australian singer Kamahl on the show, which included repeatedly joking about him being Black and an instance where white powder was thrown in Kamahl’s face by a stage hand and Blackman said he was now a “real white man”.
While Hey Hey It’s Saturday host Daryl Somers eventually apologised to Kamahl for his treatment on the show, Blackman wrote on social media, in response to a Guardian interview with the singer: “Goodness me Kamahl, 37 years and you’re still ‘humiliated’.”
Referencing a line where Kamahl was asked to smile so “we can see him”, Blackman wrote: “Keep in mind, we were all performing in less-enlightened (unintended pun) times back in the day and, when I look back over my career on HHIS (via YouTube), I sometimes cringe at what we got away with – but none of it with any intended malice.”
In 2007, Blackman had a seizure and was taken to hospital where a golf ball-sized benign tumour was found in his brain and successfully removed. However, he continued to have health problems for years and was diagnosed with basal-cell carcinoma in 2019.
“It’s like I ploughed into a tree and my life changed forever,” Blackman told Mitchell during an interview on 3AW that year.
He said it had “made me realise there are more important things in life than work” and that he had “a new appreciation for someone who looks different and sounds different”.
“I’ve discovered my voice doesn’t have any authority anymore,” he added.
Blackman was married twice and is survived by his wife, Cecile, and their daughter.
