Accidental Weatherman

With special guest:

• Sam Mac
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

This show is not for anyone expecting to hear a TV weatherman in the mould of Alan Wilkie.

Sam Mac has forged a new role for himself in the Sunrise program where he goes around Australia looking for interesting people, interesting towns in fact anything that will give his morning viewers a lift. Naturally Sam will pass on the essential weather information such as do you need to get your umbrella but he will not go into the detailed meteorological analysis behind that decision mainly because he is not a meteorologist.

When you read Accidental Weatherman you get to find out what Sam has discovered in the course of visiting over 800 towns for his weather reports over the last five years, namely the real characters of Australia.

Sam is naturally funny and this perhaps derives from his close family background. His Irish parents met in Australia and decided to stay after leaving “the troubles” of Northern Ireland. Sam has always been close to his parents and sister. When he had to decide on a date to go to the Logie awards where he had been nominated for the Gold Logie he chose his mother.

There is another side to Sam who has used his position to support battlers in many communities. This was particularly the case after the floods and fires when he went to the affected areas. Sam always likes to meet the people on the front line face to face but when Covid 19 struck Sam had to become inventive just to be able to do his personalised TV interviews. He was still able to give a shout out and some free publicity to those who really needed it.

Sam has become a campaigner for mental health and is fighting to reduce the incidence of suicide particularly male suicide in Australia. HeSam was asked to be an ambassador for RU OK? and offered his services including wearing their distinctive yellow bracelet.

Outside of his TV weatherman duties Sam ventured into song and dance when he wrote and recorded a song he performed with The Wiggles called Half Man Half Cat. We are very privileged to listen to that song today. Those interested should check out Sam doing his dance routine which you can find on YouTube.

Sam is a natural entertainer who has delighted viewers in many different activities. With Sam you never know what he will be up to next. And as for his book, Shaun Micallef said “of all the books released this year this is one of them”. Don’t miss the book or the interview.

Sam Mac

Born in Adelaide, Sam Mac started his career as arguably the worst Black Thunder driver in SAFM’s history. The solution was to get him on-air to avoid any further damage to the vehicles. Sam went on to host breakfast shows, daytime shows, the national Hot30 Countdown from Sydney and later his own breakfast radio show in Perth on Austereo’s Em & Sam Mac Show. But his true passion had always been for TV. It was 2016 when Sam was offered the TV gig of a lifetime, becoming the Sunrise weatherman. It’s the role he was born for. His combination of humour and heart has seen him gain hundreds of thousands of fans across the country. He’s stripped naked for charity, released a hit song with The Wiggles and has even taken his cat to the Logies when he was nominated for gold. The beauty of Sam Mac is that you can never truly predict what he’s going to do next…

Song selection by our guest: Half Man, Half Cat by Sam Mac & The Wiggles

Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 20 May 2021.

Podcast (mp3)