Legendary radio broadcaster dies after cancer battle
A veteran Adelaide broadcaster has died peacefully at age 77, after a battle with acute leukemia.
Leon Byner was born on September 17, 1948, and started his radio career in Shepparton, Victoria, in 1966.
He worked across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Hobart and spent more than two decades hosting a top-rated morning talk show on Adelaide’s own 5AA.
Byner’s relative Sean Dinning remembers him as a “fantastic fella” and his best friend, after the veteran Adelaide broadcaster died peacefully at age 77, following a battle with acute leukemia.
“Leon’s like my best friend, and we used to travel to Hollywood together and do some amazing interviews,” he said.
“We’d go to people’s houses like Jane Seymour, Jackie Collins, Charlton Heston, go to the set of NBC and bring the packages home, edit them up at Channel 9 and Channel 7, and then put them onto television on the early morning shows, which was fantastic.”
Dinning said Byner later flourished on 5AA and in the radio scene, before hanging up the microphone in 2022.
“It’s such a shame that he retired so early, because he was so keen to keep going. He had a drive where he just kept wanting to help people and kept doing what he wanted to do,” he said.
He said Byner “loved being able to help people and make a difference”.
“I think he was a beacon of light to help people through the tough times, because the tough times are now … and he was the person to be the voice to help people get through those tough times and be able to make a difference,” he said.
Dinning said he was at Byner’s side almost every day for his last month battling acute leukemia, playing music for him and enjoying a pint of stout together.
“I wasn’t sure when it was going to happen, when he was going to go, so I made sure every moment I could fulfil to be there before he passed away,” he said.
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“I’m still processing it, to be honest, because it’s a little bit empty without him here, but at least he passed peacefully and pain-free, and I guess that’s the main thing.
“There was just so much in life that was just so good, and then he became a grandpa, which was even better.”
Byner is the second radio giant to draw tributes this week after Australian talkback radio star John Laws, also died, aged 90.
A member of the Australian Media Hall of Fame, Laws attracted two million listeners to his morning radio program at the height of his popularity during a career spanning more than seven decades.
