Doug Mulray

Douglas John Mulray (born 1 December 1951, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), was a former host of the breakfast time slot on Sydney FM radio station 2MMM (Triple M) in the 1980s. After a break from Triple M, he worked for a brief time in the PM drive time slot on 2SM with Peter Fitzsimmons before moving to Sydney radio station 2WS eventually leaving that station in July 1999. He never regained the ratings he enjoyed at his former station Triple M.

Like many in radio, he began his career at a small country station. His first gig on radio was for 2AD in Armidale. In the late 1970s, Doug landed his first permanent Sydney radio gig with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's alternative rock station 2JJ (later Triple J), where he built up a sizeable following and perfected the format that led to him being to the newly established Triple M in 1982. becoming the first in a long line of Double Jay / Triple J presenters to gain popularity with the Jays before making the lucrative move to commercial radio, including Stuart Cranney, Club Veg (Mal Lees & Vic Davies), Jonathon Coleman and more recently Merrick & Rosso.

Mulrayt often referred to himself as Uncle Doug, Doctor Dougie, or the Reverend Doctor Doug and typically signed off with the punning catchphrase "Cop ya later".

One of the distinctive features of his Triple J / Triple M shows was its cast of fictional characters and comedy skits. One of his best known was Jack Africa, a permanently paranoid chap who was constantly convinced that the chooks (Australian slang for chickens) were out to get him. Also featured were the Prime Mincer, a parody of Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke (which originated on Triple J as a parody of former PM Malcolm Fraser, voiced by Ken Stirling)), and Gloria, a parody of Sydney AM radio talkback host Alan Jones. Others included Hymie Fymie, who made an art form of using the phrase "son of a bitch", and Madam Zenda, whose cosmic predictions of the future were accompanied by the punning entreaty "Cross my palm with saliva". (Jack Africa, Gloria and Hymie Fymie were voiced by Dave Gibson.)

During his career behind the microphone, Doug Mulray's shared the microphone with Andrew Denton and many others including "Miss Lizzie", his real-life girlfriend (and later wife) Liz Muir (sister of then station owner Rod Muir), part-time "barrel girl" Fifi D'Armour, who he called the "exotic lettuce leaf dancer and radio producer extraordinaire". Outside of radio, Doug Mulray has also featured on Australian TV shows such as Beauty and the Beast and the infamous Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos where the show's only episode was famously pulled from broadcast by Nine Network boss Kerry Packer, with Mulray being fired from the Nine Network as a result. (On Full Frontal, this was made fun of with a skit of Mulray hosting a lottery draw, making sexual remarks as the balls drop. Oddly, New South Wales' Lotto draw was being seen on Nine Network at the time.) He was also the host of the eponymously-titled program Mulray, which ran briefly in the early 1990s on the Seven Network. He also hosted Beauty and the Beast on Network Ten for a brief stint in 2002. In the early 90's Doug was part of the Channel Seven Australian Touring Car Championship Commentary team headed up by Mike Raymond until Seven lost the rights in 1997.

Doug had his share of infamous moments outside the broadcast studio. He released a record called "You Are Soul" which reached number 34 on the ARIA singles chart in 1986 but was banned from the air. The B side was the equally notorious "Smoke Two Joints" (described by Mulray as 'The Butcher's Song').

In August, 2008 Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos was re-aired on the Nine Network. Mulray reportedly refused requests from Nine management to reappear as the host. One commentator wrote that "it may be that Mulray, a very smart man, knew he would have been open to a few cruel comparisons between the relatively youthful Mulray of 1992 and the solitary Mulray of 2008. The years have not been particularly kind."

Doug has twins (with his wife Liz) named Tom and Rosie

Discography

Albums

• 1982 - What A Rude Album
• 1984 - Too Rude (aka 2 Rude)
• 1993 - Nice Legs, Shame About the Fez

Singles

• 1982 - I'm A Punk / Doug's Dub [as The Rude Band]
• 1986 - You Are Soul / Smoke Two Joints
• 1993 - Werewolf