On 9th July, Jonathan Coleman OAM died in Sydney, Australia after a four-year battle with prostate cancer, aged just 65.
While Jono was a huge star in Australia, he also enjoyed a massive career in the UK when he decided to return to his birthplace of London in 1990, where he stayed for 16 years.
In his time here, he was a prominent fixture on breakfast radio – initially on Virgin Radio with Russ Williams, and then on Heart 106.2 in London with, in turn, Kara Noble, Erika North, Emma Forbes and Harriet Scott. He won Sony Radio Academy Awards for both. After seven years bringing in record breaking numbers on Heart, he left in 2005, taking on the BBC London Breakfast show with.
Known on-air for a wicked sense of humour and a happy-go-lucky persona full of jokes, his off-air persona was much the same. Since his passing, the tributes and obituaries have been fast coming and plentiful.
In Remembering Jono, Nick Pitts (our Deputy Chair, and Jono’s producer of five years at Heart) is joined by four of Jono’s radio spouses – Russ, Erika, Harriet and Jo.
Join the team as they reminisce about working with him, what he was like as a man and how he affected each of them after they worked with him. There will be archive audio clips, insider stories from other colleagues and friends, and conversations with those from across the other side of the world, to help us understand how he big really was down under.
Jono was larger than life, and that’s how he lived his life. Whether you heard him on the air or not, join us as we celebrate the man who woke up the UK with a large dose of humour for 13 years.