Maynard Crabbes
Encyclopedia
Radio
Maynard F# Crabbes started his radio career as a volunteer at community radio station 2NUR-FM at Newcastle University. In December 1985, he had his own program Radio Stupid, on Saturday nights from 11:00pm to station close at about 1:00am. The format was partly based on The Castanet Club stage show. Music featured 1980s dance, electronic and alternative with obscure songs, adverts and mash-ups of his own creation. Radio Stupid had competitions and audience participation, such as a "Find the Record Competition", where a record would be hidden in Newcastle. By stretching the mike boom from the console and the distant wallphone handset together, Maynard had talk-back; if only one caller at a time.Fellow Castanet Mikey Robbins contributed on alternate weeks in studio and by phone. On weeks where Robbins was not in the studio, Maynard was often accompanied by Geoff the Shopkeeper. Castanet Club characters Steve Abbott (as Johnny Goodman), Warren Coleman (as Bowling Man) and Russell Cheek (as Tron Wexler) occasionally contributed songs and skits and the evil Dr Leopold Kickboxing provided an evil advice line, purportedly all the way from his 'Center of Evil' in Dubbo, New South Wales. Doreen Cheem would occasionally join in on the fun. On one memorable occasion, Dr Evil revealed he had installed giant fans to the North of Dubbo and was waiting for a 'cool, calm, clear day', when he would power up the fans and blow Dubbo clear off the map. A cursory examination on Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
reveals, alas, that Dubbo is still there to this day. Towards the end of his tenure on 2NUR, Maynard and most of his regular callers and guests embarked on an epic Radio Stupid night with 'Maynard in Space', in which Maynard's Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...
was used as a low-budget Earth to LEO shuttle system.
A classic Maynard signature was his closing down of the 2NUR transmitter at the conclusion of a Radio Stupid show. At the end of the show the transmitter would switch over to sending a 'station close' tone, which Maynard would toggle on and off for a classic 'shave-and-a-haircut' effect.
He was a presenter on Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
from 1987 till the early 1990s. He now works at ABC local radio and is an online video presenter. One of his projects was "30 Second Special" with Jaimie Leonarder
Jaimie Leonarder
Jaimie Leonarder also known as Jay Katz is an Australian musician, archivist, social worker, film critic, radio announcer, and DJ.-Biography:...
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200803/r235599_947679.asx.
His latest show will debut on ABC Digital Radio across Australia in December 2011.
Television
Maynard moved to television, hosting several children's programs for the ABCAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, His stage name was then Maynard F# Crabbes. He has also written two books under the name. Maynard's Guide To Dag & Maynard's Dag Quiz Book He took his stage name from the fictional character Maynard G. Krebs
Maynard G. Krebs
Maynard G. Krebs was the "beatnik" sidekick of the title character in the U.S. television sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis....
.
Since 1994 he has been known as Maynard, or Maynard Crabbes. He hosted regular shows on Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
from its first day in Australia, "Planet Fx" on Fx, "Rewind" on Red & later Channel V Australia
Channel V Australia
Channel [V] Australia is an Australian subscription television music channel, and also the newest Channel [V] channel. It is available on Foxtel, Optus TV and Austar satellite and cable services...
till 2001.