ARN congratulates WSFM's Amanda Keller on her Order of Australia honour
From a press release to news@media.info
Posted 12 June 2016, 8.30pm edt
Australian Radio Network congratulates WSFM’s Amanda Keller on receiving an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) as part of the Queen’s Birthday 2016 honours list.
The award recognises Amanda’s service to broadcast media and the community.
ARN CEO Tony Kendall said, “Amanda is a genuine media professional with a generous heart and great strength of character and this is a wonderful acknowledgement of her contribution to the media industry and the community. Amanda is admired and respected by all her colleagues at ARN and her longevity in the industry is testament to her talent but also the passion and commitment she brings to the station every day. On behalf of everyone at ARN, we congratulate Amanda on this honour.”
WSFM Content Director Charlie Fox said, “I have worked with Amanda Keller for 11 years at WSFM, and every day she brings a unique combination of intelligence, wit and poise to everything she turns her hand to. Amanda is a warm, friendly human being without a hint of ego, which is very rare for a media personality of her calibre, and it has been a pleasure to watch her continue to build on her already successful career in radio and television and tirelessly support her community through charity work.”
Charlie added, “In the ten years she has been broadcasting the WS FM101.7 breakfast show with her on air partner Brendan “Jonesy” Jones, she has only ever missed one shift. Even then, she turned up for work but had to be sent home as she had laryngitis and couldn’t actually talk. She starts work at 4AM at the radio station and quite often will still be working at 11PM.”
Amanda’s WSFM breakfast show co-host Brendan “Jonesy” Jones said, "Getting up at 4am everyday isn't easy but I feel like I haven't worked a day in the past 11 years of being on air with Amanda. Besides being talented and an absolute expert at what she does we really just hang out in the studio and make each other laugh. Over the years I've also been of great service to the Queen, well, I've played a lot of Queen ... So where is my award? But seriously, I'm so proud of Amanda, this is a great honour and it is really deserved.”
Off air Amanda volunteers her time and energy to support a number of charities. She has been a patron of The Sydney Kids Committee (2004- 2014), a volunteer organisation which raises funds for the Sydney Children's Hospital; an ambassador for DonateLife (2011-2012); is an ambassador of Save Our Sons, a charity which aims to find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) a form of muscular dystrophy characterised by aggressive muscle degeneration, which affects mainly young boys from the age of five. Amanda is also a supporter of Kidney Health Australia and makes herself available to help many other causes close to her heart.
Annually, WSFM and Jonesy & Amanda as a team support the GOLD Telethon with Channel 9 to help sick and injured kids treated at Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick.