One of Timaru’s best-known broadcasters has released an autobiography detailing his time in front of the lens and behind the mic.
It’s Over! A Broadcaster’s Story
has been crafted with the experiences and memories of sports broadcaster John McBeth who arrived in Timaru as a 3-year-old.
His parents owned a Four Square on the corner of Regent St and Church St West, down the road from Fraser Park.
McBeth said this was where his fascination with sport began.
‘‘I was exposed to rugby at a very early age like most New Zealand kids.’’
He attended St Patrick’s High School, an all-boys’ school, which would eventually merge into Roncalli College.
‘‘I started playing rugby when I was 7 or 8 for Celtic.’’
He said his sporting background was no different from any other child.
‘‘Rugby in the winter, cricket in the summer, going down to Caroline Bay and heading to the West End baths for a swim.
‘‘It was free and easy, we biked everywhere and just had a good outdoor time.’’
McBeth started his broadcasting career at local station 3XC, later known as Radio Caroline.
He worked as a music programmer but it took a rugby injury while playing for Celtic to set him on his true path.
‘‘I went and asked my boss whether I could go on the radio on a Saturday afternoon and ring around the rugby grounds to find out how teams were getting on.
‘‘This was the time before cellphones and email, so normally we’d have to wait until half-past six to get the local sports results.’’
From there McBeth transferred to Dunedin and began a new fulltime role with 4ZB as a sports reporter and commentator in 1975.
Despite his shift south he avidly kept up with South Canterbury sports.
‘‘In my book you’ll find a lot of names of people I admired while growing up in Timaru.
‘‘Sports people in South Canterbury, no matter what sport, were widely known, so I couldn’t help but be involved and support a lot of South Canterbury people.’’
Despite leaving more than 50 years ago, McBeth said he still retained a strong connection to Timaru through family, like his nephew Wayne Doyle who designed the covers for his book, to the 1974 South Canterbury Ranfurly Shield-winning team who still invite him to their reunions.
McBeth would go on to immense success at a national and international level with broadcasting.
‘‘Initially it was rugby but it became the America’s Cup, nine Olympic games, Commonwealth Games and more.
‘‘It surprised me looking back how versatile my career has been.’’
McBeth puts a lot of his success down to a little bit of good luck.
‘‘It was being in the right place, at the right time and opportunities presenting themselves that I never anticipated.’’
Opportunities included getting the chance to do commentary from the old Carisbrook ground and moving from Dunedin to Wellington and finding himself to be the first replacement for rugby commentator John Howson.
‘‘All of a sudden I’d gone from being a content and happy sports reporter in Dunedin to travelling with the All Blacks.
‘‘Writing this book made me cast my mind back and wonder how on earth it happened.’’
The idea for the book came about when one of his sons wanted to interview him about his life and background to keep for later on.
‘‘We spent an afternoon chatting. He never followed up on it but it got me thinking and rekindled some memories of mine.’’
He began to go back through diaries and old notebooks with interviews he’d conducted over the years and jotted down some notes.
‘‘It was a lot of work but I just got engrossed in it but then I would get tired of it and put it away, go back to it and then put it away again.’’
He eventually asked some friends to make contributions to the book.
‘‘Their contributions came through quite quickly, so I thought ‘well can’t let them down’, so I had to finish.
‘‘For the last 12 months I pushed hard, completed it and thought ‘OK, that’ll be fine for the family’.
‘‘Since then it’s kind of taken on a life of its own. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with the interest in it.’’
He said one story to look out for in the book involves himself and Peter Leggett making a lessthan-sober dart across the halfway line at Lancaster Park during a South Canterbury Ranfurly Shield challenge in 1970.
McBeth is still doing commentary as well as enjoying his work with funerals, spending time with his family and bowling.
‘‘Looking back I can’t believe how fortunate I’ve been. I was a young man in Timaru with no ambition, I took a brave step to move to Dunedin which iswhere I thought I’d stay.
‘‘I made brave decisions to shift around the country and say yes to requests when I possibly should’ve said no.
‘‘I’ve been extremely lucky but I do think maybe I deserved a little bit of that luck.’’
McBeth will be speaking alongside Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dick Tayler at the Sail and Anchor tomorrow at 6pm.
They will discuss the new book and have a good yarn about life.
