Arnold Frolows, an Australian radio icon and founding staff at the original Double J, passed away weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. He was 74 years old.
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According to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Frolows died while at Sydney’s Mona Vale Hospice on Sunday, Jan. 12, days before his 75th birthday. His partner, Christine King, was by his side.
ABC reported that this upcoming Sunday, Jan. 19, will mark the 50th anniversary since the original Double J first went on the air. Right before the youth radio station’s debut, Frolows had the job of delivering flowers around Sydney. He managed to get an interview at the new station.
“Arnold joined Double J before it went to air,” Stuart Matchett, one of Frolows’ long-time colleagues, explained during the radio icon’s retirement party in 2014. “Indeed, he was one of the first of its very first employees. He acquired much of the vinyl that made up the original music library. He programmed the music for many of the shows on Double J.”
Marius Webb, who had hired Frolows, said in 2005 that the radio icon’s early involvement was the key to establishing Double J’s “early sound.”
“Getting Arnold and Margot [Edwards, music librarian] on the team as quickly as we did was one of the key factors in building the station’s early success as a proper ‘music’ station,” Webb said. “Which was what Ron and I had persuaded ABC management it had to be.”
Arnold Frolows Took On Various Roles at the Radio Station Over the Years
After being hired by the station in 1974, Arnold Frolows was a research assistant in the Contemporary Radio Unit for less than a year. He then became a presenter and producer of the Double J.
Two years later, Frowlows headed overseas to pursue other music-industry roles. However, he made his return to the station in 1981, which became Triple J. He was a presenter and producer for various radio programs.
More than a decade later, he became the music director and was the producer for Helen Razer and Mikey Robins’ Triple J breakfast program.
Frolows stayed at the station until May 2003. Just before he departed from Triple J, he spoke about why he didn’t believe his age impacted his job performance.
“I would say if you’re still interested [in music] and your ears are still excited, it doesn’t matter how old you are,” he shared with the Sydney Morning Herald. Triple J is always ebbing and flowing with the currents of fashion and style. Questions like, ‘Are we playing too much metal and not enough dance music and Aussie hip hop?’”
He then stayed at ABC for an additional 11 years before officially retiring.