Host with the most: Elaine Lees was glowing in her praise of the Rochester community’s response to Ian ‘Macca’ McNamara’s decision to conduct a live broadcast of his Australia All Over show in the town. It was Elaine’s passion that led to Macca offering his services for the November event.
Iconic Rochester Sports Museum identity Bob Knight offered a typical moment of levity when the ABC microphone belonging to Ian ‘Macca’ McNamara was pointed in his direction on Sunday morning.
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At the event with his wife, Marg, and proudly wearing dual hats as a member of the Rochester Lions and key part of the museum project, Mr Knight was involved in three-way banter revolving around the nuptials between the pair many years ago.
It was just one of several light-hearted moments in the four-and-a-half-hour show, which featured a live performance from singing students Evie Scoble and Shavanna Coghill.
Long-time fan: Heidi Wilcox from Shepparton has been an avid listener to Macca’s Australia All Over program since 1986. She and friend Val Knowles travelled to Rochester to capture the show on video.
They are part of Glenda Bancell and Paul Colyvan’s Rochester music school and sang Cover Me With Sunshine live to the show’s national audience.
Shavanna is in Year 6 at St Joseph’s Primary School and Evie is a Rochester Secondary College student.
Elaine Lees and Denise Acocks also had their moment in the sun when they spent a short time explaining the Rochester recovery effort and just how important the visit was to the town.
Mrs Lees had become a semi-regular on the show in the lead-up to the live broadcast, having read a poem about the sounds that were lost to Rochester following the flood event.
The event, which was not designed as a fundraiser, yielded an unexpected return for the town, as the Lions Club received several donations on the morning.
While not charging for food, Mr Knight said people insisted on giving money to the club.
“A lot of people handed over $50 for an egg and bacon roll. A Taggerty group, through the Rochester Hotel, did a raffle for us, which ended up raising about $600. We ended up raising more than $3000 on the morning, which was amazing” he said.
Live radio: Interviews were conducted with a variety of community representatives, along with random members of the crowd, all making for compelling and entertaining radio for the popular host — who began his journey as a rural journalist with the ABC.
Memorable moment: Echuca’s Sharon Brooks shares a laugh with Macca as he moves through the huge crowd to discuss the recent flood events and recovery effort, which has dominated activity in the region for the past month. She was at the live broadcast with husband Greg and daughter Alice.
Face in the crowd: Bruce Wood and Pauline Schetzer travelled up from Melbourne, staying overnight at Elmore on Saturday, to ensure front-row seats for the Sunday morning show. Mr Wood said they had seen him at different locations around Australia. Macca was staying at Kyabram during his trip to the region.
