Photo: Tracy Lee Stark
It has become a year of showbusiness legends shuffling off this mortal coil. Yesterday morning, as the sun rose at 5.15am, it set on the life of radio and TV personality Jeremy Mansfield.
The broadcast legend lost his battle with liver cancer on Monday after moving into palliative care two months ago. This year three other greats, journalist and raconteur Barry Ronge and radio heroes Kevin Savage and John Berks, passed on, too.
Sam Cowan, who cohosted 947’s breakfast show with Mansfield for 13 years and later joined him to deliver the same irreverence on community station HotFM for another three years, wrote on Facebook: “Jeremy lived large, he didn’t know how to do small.
“He loved hard, laughed loud and managed to combine mischief and mayhem with heart and soul. The city was brighter and lighter with him on the airwaves, he changed lives every day. When he wasn’t raising millions for charity, he was raising fresh hell!”
Former colleague Darren Scott said: “Another giant has left us. Jeremy Mansfield was one of those handful of radio personalities, like the late John Berks, who had a significant impact on the radio landscape in this country.
“The word legend is attributed to many… Jeremy transcended that and ranks up there with the few that can be called icons!”
Scott remembered Mansfield’s irreverence when they worked at Capital Radio: “Back in those days, Jem [Mansfield] brought one of his myriad of brilliant, hilarious characters to my show – the fictitious Hump Hanepoort, the rugby-loving station “security guard” – and up to the last time we saw each other, he would always greet me with Humpie’s traditional ‘Jirre Jissus Mr Squat! How are it?’ greeting!”
Mix 93.8FM afternoon drivetime host Al Your Pal broadcast a moving tribute to his mentor. His radio career started on Mansfield’s show Rude Awakening. He got the job when he pranked Mansfield.
ALSO READ: ‘Benchmark for Breakfast radio’ – tributes pour in for Jeremy Mansfield
“I remember my first days on radio when I pranked Jeremy with ‘Koos the Traffic cop’. He then asked me to join the Rude Awakening and dubbed me ‘Al your Pal’.We came up with crazy stunts and pranks. Got to work with him and the rest of the team on charities that touched my heart, broke my heart and made one feel good to be part of his magic,” said Al.
“Today is the day that he breaks my heart and I think many others as we say goodbye to the legend that entertained over a million of us in the mornings. Thank you for seeing what you did in me. Give them hell up there!”
Cowan remembered Mansfield for his soft and giant heart. “Under a naughty exterior Jeremy had a huge soft heart. A lot of people got to see and hear that over the radio, but he saved his vulnerability for a select few.
“He was determined that the world be a better and shinier and funnier place and he drove the road to that destination at 1 000 miles an hour with no rear view mirror, all of the rest of us clinging on for dear life!”
Scott added: “I’m sure you and [Kevin] Savage have already found a Brewer’s Tavern in Heaven, sharing stories and on your umpteenth beer by now!”
ALSO READ: Jeremy Mansfield passes away aged 59
Mansfield’s broadcast career has seen him host one of the most popular radio breakfast shows of all time on 947. He also presented M-Net’s show Front Row and was on SuperSport and HotFM. Recently he had been vlogging on YouTube with his show Mansfield2Day.
– news@citizen.co.za
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