Bickerstaff one of a kind

Tim Bickerstaff working in his office.

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To the current generation of radio listeners Tim Bickerstaff is best known as the promoter of remedies for impotence.

To an earlier generation he was the  man behind the Punch a Pom a Day  campaign, and one of the pioneers  of talkback radio.

Bickerstaff was not afraid to push boundaries while mixing business and pleasure.

The second child of Ian and Pat Bickerstaff, he was born in Napier in 1942 but did not look back on his childhood with any fond memories because his parents divorced and he was forced to move between homes at a young age.

Tim joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Service in 1960, and spent the next seven years compiling and presenting sports shows for radio and television.

After a stint working for radio and television stations in Melbourne, he returned to New Zealand in 1970 to become sports editor for Radio i - one of the first private stations in the country - and hosted the popular Sportsline show with Geoff Sinclair.

He earned notoriety for the on- air Punch a Pom a Day campaign he initiated when All Black Keith Murdoch was controversially sent home from a British tour in 1972.

The campaign, which included bumper stickers and jokes at the expense of the British, resulted in his Mercedes-Benz being vandalised with a crowbar, and a car dealer that sponsored his show having 40 tyres slashed in his yard one night.

In 1979, Bickerstaff moved to Radio Pacific, where he continued to host Sportsline before moving on to the daily two-hour interview show One on One.

He interviewed politicians, entertainers, sportsmen and a porn star, and considered the role the most rewarding of his career.

When Bickerstaff was interviewing real estate auctioneer Dick Gladding live on air in 1989, a probing question prompted the subject to say he felt sick.

"I thought you would say that," Bickerstaff replied, only to find Gladding had suffered a sudden heart attack and was dead in the studio chair.

As well as being a versatile broadcaster, Bickerstaff was an expert marketer who paved the way for the future integration of content and advertising.

He arranged a "contra" financial deal with Radio i in which he paid it a retainer for his airtime, in return for keeping the profits of the advertising he brought to the show.

Much of his networking was done out of hours in pubs and clubs, where he built a strong base of advertising contacts whose businesses he would integrate into his radio shows.

He introduced New Zealanders to "the Mad Butcher", Peter Leitch, by giving him a regular radio spot to promote his butcher's shop while talking about rugby league.

He also once considered changing his name to Jim Beam to circumvent restrictions on alcohol sponsorship, believing he could secure a lucrative deal from the liquor giant.

No stranger to controversy, Bickerstaff helped organise the 1986 Cavaliers tour to South Africa, which caused a backlash so strong that security officers were hired to protect his daughter, Brenda, while she was at school. He was also a heavy drinker, and colleagues were astounded he could consume a bottle of gin without appearing drunk on air.

Bickerstaff faded out of broadcasting after being dumped from his morning role at Radio Pacific in 1993, and in 1997 turned his entrepreneurial talents to Happy Families, a company he founded with former print journalist Jenny Wheeler.

Originally the pair sold bee venom projects, but later added an erectile dysfunction remedy called Herbal Ignite to their product line.

Bickerstaff drew on his own experience with the condition to voice radio advertisements for the remedy. He planned the company's corporate strategy and even answered the 0800 line from his new home in Whitianga.

A sport fanatic, he was a keen golfer and won the national Master's billiards title in 1982.

Bickerstaff also penned Heroes and Villains, a 1998 book investigating controversial moments in New Zealand sport, including the Murdoch affair and the New Zealand cricket marijuana scandal.

He suffered from diabetes and weight problems in his later years and died in a lounge chair after suffering a heart attack on October 31 while waiting for a televised rugby match to begin.

Tim Bickerstaff, broadcaster:

b Napier,  November 28, 1942; married  1967 Sue Muskett 1 d 1 s; died  Whitianga, October 31, 2009,  aged 66.

* Sources: Jenny Wheeler, Brenda Bickerstaff, Gordon Dryden