Name Trevor Chappell | Role Radio presenter | |
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Trevor Chappell is an Australian local radio presenter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation based in Melbourne. He is currently one of the regular presenters of the Overnights programme broadcast nationally from 2am to 5:30am (or 6am in some areas) on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. He is joined by a variety of regular guests each night.
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Early life
Chappell was born and raised in Western Australia where, after completing high school, he moved into working in a range of odd-end jobs - including in mines, wheat bins in the far north-west, and as a builder's labourer.
Once he turned 21, Chappell moved to Victoria where he studied teaching and then moved into youth work. Three years after this, he enrolled in an acting course at the National Theatre in Melbourne.
Overnights
Chappell hosts the Overnights program Australia-wide on Monday to Thursday mornings (Rod Quinn hosts the program on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings) from 2am to 6am AEST (midnight to 4:00 am AWST). South Australia and Northern Territory have their feed delayed 30 minutes to enable it to be broadcast in the same local time slot.
The programme features a "How, When, Where, Why" quiz on minutiae of pop culture: television, popular music, movies, comic books etc., which stimulates discussions within that framework, with only occasional excursions into real life events. Regular guests include Scott Goodings (on television). The light-hearted atmosphere evaporates for the second half of the program, when adult subjects are discussed at a mature level, with guest interviewees and talkback callers featuring heavily. An overwhelming proportion of listeners, or at least respondents who go to air, are male, many of whom identify themselves as truck drivers. His programmes may be heard live through the ABC's Internet service, and are available to be heard again online for the following 24 hours. Chappell has listeners in Monterrey, Mexico; Portland, Oregon; Cheung Chau, Hong Kong; Tokyo, Japan; and Denver, Colorado, plus "Tom from Delaware".
Some callers during the quiz have said that Chappell does not give clues out during the quiz; however the technical operator and second host, Michael Pavlich, has become known as a "massive clue giver".
He is known for his dislike of the Beatles and his recall of the TV shows Owly's School, F Troop and popular Perth children's TV characters Fat Cat and Percy Penguin.
He is also a huge ABBA fan, with a special fondness for Bjorn; and he is known as a consummate Lapsang Souchong tea aficionado.
Some listeners believe Chappell should be recognised for his compassion on 8 February 2009 in the early morning programme after the "Black Saturday" bush fires in Victoria.