![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-5354.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
For Wendy Harmer, to still be able to make money from what comes out of one\u2019s sometimes addled brain is quite an achievement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been able to make a living off my wits for all these years,\u201d the radio legend marvels in her recent wide-ranging chat with 2GB and 4BC Overnights host Phil O\u2019Neil.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-5355.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there have been people who\u2019ve variously loved me, hated me, indifferent, don\u2019t care \u2026 oh, is she dead yet? I\u2019m still here, kickin\u2019. I reckon that\u2019s not bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
A force to be reckoned with in the FM space, Harmer was the first woman on Australian radio to command a million-dollar salary, long before the likes of Jackie Henderson.<\/p>\n
During her eleven-year tenure (and often 16 hour days) co-hosting 2DayFM Breakfast with Paul Holmes and Peter Moon, Harmer consistently blitzed the ratings, winning 84 out of 88 surveys.<\/p>\n
Harmer fought hard to maintain a strong voice in the days when commercial radio was like \u2018cowboy country.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever you reckoned you could get on air and say \u2013 and that included dumping on the bosses \u2013 once that door was closed and the red light was on, away you went,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure that it was quite the same as Kyle and Jackie O thesedays, but certainly there was a very free and easy way of being able to present yourself on air, and you didn\u2019t really feel the weight of management on you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wendy had a free hand in all the hijinx.<\/p>\n
There were promotions she declined to be a part of \u2013 including giving away free plastic surgery for female listeners.<\/p>\n
Though Harmer did preside over an on-air promotion in which the contestant had to eat a cockroach in order to win State of Origin tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had these giant, burrowing Queensland cockroaches (which were) spread with peanut butter,\u201d Harmer recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will never forget the crunch on air as someone ate one of them. I felt so bad for the other cockroaches, I actually took them home in a terrarium for a couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harmer started her media career as a journalist at the Sun News Pictorial, considered the biggest newspaper in Australia at the time.<\/p>\n
One day she was asked to cover a story on alternative comedy. Harmer took herself off to a venue in Melbourne, where Steve Vizard, Richard Stubbs and Gina Riley were among the stand-up performers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just sat there and thought, Oh my goodness, this is best thing I\u2019ve ever seen in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inspired, Harmer started going out to more comedy venues. A month later, she announced she was quitting journalism to become a comedian.<\/p>\n
She had no idea how she\u2019d go. She simply knew she had to have a crack.<\/p>\n
For Harmer \u2013 who was born with a cleft palate \u2013 being up front in the spotlight was an opportunity to confront her demons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d been picked on and teased so much all my life \u2013 part of me was \u2018Look at? I\u2019ll give you something to look at !!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, at the age of 70, Harmer feels genuinely content with life.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappiness and contentment isn\u2019t a thing that drops out of the sky,\u201d she says. \u201cYou have to really work on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of this moment right now, I\u2019m happy with who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Images supplied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Wendy Harmer, to still be able to make money from what comes out of one\u2019s sometimes addled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[168390,89931,133923,64,63,134,136,357652,15079,296733,357653],"class_list":["post-741801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-2dayfm","tag-2gb","tag-4bc","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-phil-oneil","tag-sca","tag-tapt-media","tag-wendy-harmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}