Max Rowley, veteran radio and television announcer, has died at age 87.

His early career was as an actor on radio serials, working with a number of production houses and radio stations.

After the arrival of television, as well as continuing working on radio in Sydney and nationally on The John Laws Show, he ran the Max Rowley Media Academy, teaching generations of radio and voice over announcers.

In 1977, he compered the media conference for Swedish pop group ABBA on their arrival in Sydney. Given the group’s huge popularity, with 350 media representatives present, it was said to be the largest media conference held in Australia to date.

He also became a well known voice on television, working as an announcer across all three commercial networks from the 1960s through to the 1990s. As well as voicing promos and commercials, he was also the booth announcer for shows like Coles $6000 Question, The Great Temptation, High Rollers, The Norman Gunston Show, Name That Tune, It Could Be You, Perfect Match, It’s A Knockout and Ripsnorters — many with his signature sign-off, “Max Rowley speaking.”

Acting credits on television included 1960s dramas The Patriots, The Hungry Ones and Contrabandits, and later The Dismissal, Sons And Daughters, Harp In The South, Flight Into Hell and Come In Spinner.

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Source: Radio Info, IMDB. The Canberra Times, 1 March 1977. TV Week, 15 February 1975.