Wikipedia

Jamie Dunn

Jamie Dunn (born 12 August 1950) is an Australian television and radio personality, puppeteer, comedian, and voice artist.

Jamie Dunn
Born (1950-08-12) 12 August 1950 (age 74)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Occupations
  • Television and radio personality
  • actor
  • comedian
  • puppeteer
  • satirist
  • voice artist
  • singer-songwriter
  • drummer
Years active1972−present
Known forAgro

Starting his entertainment career as a drummer and a singer, Dunn moved into television, working the puppet Agro on Agro's Cartoon Connection, Seven's Super Saturday and The Super Sunday Show.

Television

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For three decades Dunn has been the voice and personality of children's character Agro.

In 1988 Agro appeared in Agro's Christmas Story, which was co written and produced by Dunn. It was followed by A Very Agro Christmas in 1989.[1]

Dunn is the narrator of the Animal Planet series Snake Boss.[2]

Radio

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Up until 2005, Dunn was a member of a radio breakfast show in Brisbane. Dunn was an original member of the B105 Morning Crew, along with Donna Lynch and Ian Skippen when the station was first launched on the FM band in 1990. Whereas originally Dunn performed on B105 as Agro, over time he came to be credited as himself, often playing dual roles as himself or the puppet. The B105 Morning Crew led the breakfast time slot ratings until the end of 2004 (for about 115 consecutive radio surveys).

Dunn performed stunts such as dressing in a gold string bikini as a meter-maid for a stroll around town, dressing as a bride for the "Bridezilla" competition, performing a cheerleader routine during the halftime break at a Broncos game, being scrubbed head to toe in a portable dog wash, and a nude dash across a stage.

Dunn raised money through the station for the Royal Children's Hospital.[3] The appeal aimed to raise money for vital equipment for the hospital based solely on donations from businesses and people in Brisbane. Dunn promoted the annual Christmas Appeal, including taking part in the 'K's for Kids' walk that stretched across Brisbane. Dunn has been an active ambassador for the conservationist organisation, Wildlife Warriors.[4]

On 21 September 2005, Dunn announced he was leaving B105 and in 2006, he and Agro began to present on the "Zinc Morning Zoo" with Ian Calder and Courtney Burns on Sunshine Coast FM radio station "Zinc 96." He left Zinc 96 on 17 October 2008.[5]

In 2009 Dunn began broadcasting a talk-back show on 1116 4BC, departing on 29 October 2010.[6]

Dunn returned to Brisbane radio nearly a decade later to host an hourly Saturday morning show on the Triple M network.

Other performances

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Dunn's early performing days were spent as a singer-songwriter and as drummer for the Brisbane band Hands Down.[7][8] He began his career on Channel Seven's Wombat.

Dunn co-starred in the film True Love directed by Robert Braiden for which he won the first Runner-up Best Actor Award at the 2012 Picture Start Film Festival in New York.[9]

In 1996, Dunn created the children's television series Spuds In Duds, a parody of Bananas in Pyjamas with potatoes. Dunn co-wrote, produced and co-starred in the series with longtime creative partner Ian Calder.[10] Originally intended to be a segment for Agro's Cartoon Connection, the series was broadcast on community television channel Briz 31. The series is now considered lost media.

Subject of stalking

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Between 2012 and September 2014, Dunn was the subject of a stalker responsible for online harassment and threats of violence. This stalker, a journalist whom he met several times but hardly knew, was sending up to 50 emails a day.[11] She pleaded guilty to stalking in Caboolture Magistrates' Court in December 2014, and was fined $1000 and put on a two-year good behaviour bond, with no conviction recorded.[12]

Discography

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Charting singles

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List of singles, with selected chart positions
Year Title Peak chart
positions
AUS
[13]
1975 "Jamie Come Home" 42
1978 "Fun Fun Fun" 79

References

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  1. ^ "25 Useless Facts About Agro's Cartoon Connection". Torrent This. 15 July 2015.
  2. ^ Ogilvie, Joseph (20 September 2015). "Life changes from high-end bake to boss of snakes". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Jamie's B105 farewell". radioinfo.com.au. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Wildlife Warriors" (PDF). awrc.org.au. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. ^ "Dunn leaving Zinc". Sunshine Coast Daily. 16 October 2008. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  6. ^ Calligeros, Marissa (29 October 2010). "Dunn and dusted: radio host quits 4BC". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Jamie Dunn". Platinum Speakers. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  8. ^ Lergessner, James (2013). Cloudland: Queen of the Dance Halls. Brisbane, Australia: Boolarong Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-1922109774.
  9. ^ "The 16th NYC PictureStart Film Festival, 2012". picturestartfilmfestival.com. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  10. ^ Dunn, Jamie. "Spuds in Duds". IP Australia. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Jamie Dunn tells of stalker horror and the real aggro". 8 October 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  12. ^ "Insult to Agro Vation for top jock as stalker wins inspiration award". Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  13. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 97. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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