Leigh Radford

President

ABC Rural Journalist, Broadcaster, Executive Manager and International Rural Media Advocate
Inducted 9th December 2016

The decades since Leigh commenced his media journey in 1988 have been marked by contribution and achievement.

He was the most senior member of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s executive management team to have ever been based in Adelaide, having managed the largest rural media broadcast group in the world.

And Leigh has been responsible for shaping the careers of many of today’s top rural journalists, including a number who have gone on to become internationally renowned Foreign Correspondents.

Leigh Radford has made his mark on the international stage, representing the entire Australian rural media sector, private and Government, as the Australian delegate to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.

He has travelled extensively overseas to represent our national interest, convening the judging panel of the world broadcast rural media awards and influencing rural media policy internationally.

Leigh Radford graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Arts – Bio Geography, with a major in English.

He’s worked as a storeman, truck driver and in a potato processing factory.

He toyed with the prospect of spending his life as an Environmental Officer for Western Mining at Roxby Downs.

But in 1988, Leigh was successful in his application to ABC Rural for a trainee position, making him the third generation of Radfords to work at the ABC. His son, Luke is the fourth generation.

After initial training in Melbourne, he was posted to Sale and Horsham as the Rural Officer.

From there he transferred back to South Australia in 1990 as the ABC Rural Officer at 5CK 691 Port Pirie, the town where his father had established the GTS 4 television station and where Leigh had spent a number of his childhood years.

The next move was down to Adelaide as the ABC Country Hour radio presenter and ABC television weather presenter.

In 1996 he rose to become the Country Hour’s Executive Producer.

In 1999 Leigh enjoyed a temporary role heading the ABC’s Rural Department across Australia as National Editor, prior to becoming permanent head of ABC Rural in South Australia.

In September 2016, Leigh was also awarded the status of Honorary Fellow of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation in recognition of exceptional service and commitment to rural and regional.

And in 2019 he was awarded the Order of Australia medal.

Prue Adams

Vice President

Prue is a veteran of rural media. Starting out at SES Channel 8 Mount Gambier in the late 1980's, she later moved to a ski resort in California, working on the local newspaper and presenting a radio program called The Prue Review. Returning to Australia in 1989, she spent more than 30 years at the ABC, working as a TV news reporter, producer and current affairs journalist with The 7:30 Report. But it was the 25 years spent with the flagship rural program, Landline, that were the most fulfilling and productive. In 2016 she was judged the world's best agricultural journalist, winning the Star Prize in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Awards - for a documentary on Q-Fever. Now running Prue Adams Media, she is contracted by Anvil Media to produce agricultural extension videos and podcasts.. She regularly hosts conferences and events including Solstice Media's Regional Showcase Awards and Rabobank's Farm to Fork. In 2022, she picked up a video camera and starting shooting her own documentaries - producing three of them while on IFAJ international Congresses. She continues to tell the stories vital to rural and regional Australians and has been a member of RMC SA/NT since 1997.

Robert Snewin

Treasurer

Bob has always been a country lad at heart and spent much of his younger days living with his grandparents on their farm at Keith.

Bob started his working life in the ANZ Bank until the middle 1970s when he joined the dairy industry working for the Mount Gambier Dairy Co-op. Eventually he was appointed as Manager of the Australian Dairy Corporation (ADC) in South Australia in 1987. This role ultimately was expanded and Bob was then made Regional Manager for South Australia, West Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory. During his time in the RM role he completed many projects for the dairy industry in the regions. In 2005, Bob was made redundant from the ADC and was appointed CEO of the Craniofacial Foundation where he finished his working life in 2019 and retired.

It was during the late 80s and early 90s Bob attended Rural Media luncheons and struck up a friendship with then President of RMSA, Ian Doyle. In 1992, Ian Doyle restructured the committee of the RMSA and asked Bob to become the Treasurer of the organisation. Further in 1993 Bob took over the Secretarial role for RMSA. Bob was made an honorary life member of RMSA in 2005 - an award he truly cherishes.

Now fully retired Bob still enjoys the RMC roles and the challenges of taking the organisation to a new level.

Caroline Winter

Secretary

Caroline is a passionate storyteller, content maker and trainer with excellent communication and relationship building skills, who is highly motivated, creative and detail oriented.

She is an award-winning journalist with two decades of experience reporting, producing, presenting and managing teams, across radio and television news, current affairs and programs, for commercial stations and the ABC.

She is the co-owner of Podtalk corporate podcast and video agency and is a co-host and Senior Producer at Dog Podcast Network.

Caroline’s additional skills include training journalists and facilitating groups, tutoring university journalism students, as a media advisor in federal politics and as general manager of a public relations agency.

Alistair Lawson

Director

Chief Judge Rural Media Awards - Journalism

Alistair has been working in rural media and communications for more than 10 years. He grew up on a dryland dairy farm east of Meningie before studying a Bachelor of Journalism at the University of South Australia. Upon graduating, he got the opportunity to combine his passions for the dairy industry and journalism when he was appointed dairy reporter for Stock Journal.

Since May 2014, Alistair has worked for AgCommunicators - a communication, marketing and education consultancy based in Adelaide. This sees him work with a number of clients across a range of sectors including RDCs, advocacy bodies and corporates.

Alistair joined the Committee in 2021, and is Chief Judge of the RMC SA/NT Rural Media Awards - Journalism categories.

Miranda Kenny

Director

Chief Judge Rural Media Awards - Photography

Karen Holthouse

Director

Karen is employed by the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of SA as Sponsorship Manager for the Royal Adelaide Show. She has been a committee member of the former Rural Media SA - Now Rural Media & Communicators SA/NT since 2007. The RA&HS supports RMC SA/NT in numerous ways and has traditionally had representation within the RMC SA/NT committee. Karen’s role on the committee, in addition to linking RMC SA/NT to the RA&HS is to look after RMC’s Corporate Member program and assist with awards sponsors.

Louise McBride

Director

Louise McBride has a family background in agriculture, particularly the pastoral and wool industries. She worked as a rural journalist for Stock Journal covering the Eyre Peninsula and pastoral regions of SA before moving to Arnhem Land, NT, and working in the Indigenous art sector. Louise now lives in Roxby Downs, SA, and is busy raising a young family.

Mon Saunders

Director

Cassie Hough

Director

Elizabeth Anderson

Director

Jacinta Rose

Director

Paul Szentirmay

Director

Paul has spent the best part of the past 20 years working in Marketing and Communications, initially starting his career in the corporate sector at Coca-Cola Amatil and moving into the Healthcare sector, working for familiar names of Pfizer, Schering Plough and Organon (Intervet).

For the past 12 years Paul has worked as the Managing Director of zentir, a creative communications agency based in Sydney NSW. Despite running a business based in Sydney, Paul chose to relocate to south Australia over 10 years ago and resides in the Adelaide Hills with his wife and children, and has a keen interest in the agriculture sector and is a primary producer running both Speckle Park cattle and a flock of Dorper sheep.

Paul now has the opportunity to spend more time in Adelaide focusing on his farming and working on communications projects closer to home in South Australia. Paul recently joined as a member of RMC and looks forward to contributing to a topic he is passionate about - Rural Media & Communication in his home state and is pleased to join the committee for 2023.

Sharon Watt

Director

Having been raised on a mixed farming property in Victoria’s Western District and with an extensive and distinguished career in rural-regional journalism, public relations and communications, Sharon has a passion and enthusiasm for promoting all things agriculture, and is particularly keen to encourage and mentor the next generation of rural media and communications professionals.

Sharon has worked at a number of regional, rural and metropolitan newspapers, and was editor of Stock Journal before moving into public relations/communications as a rural-regional specialist.

As Hort Innovation’s current national Industry Communications Manager and having worked for the Grains Research and Development Corporation as a communications manager for many years, she has an intimate understanding of the agricultural R&D landscape.