Howard Sattler

Howard Sattler (February 1945 – 11 June 2021) was an Australian talk back radio host.

Sattler began his career as a cadet journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald before performing national service during the Vietnam War, during which he completed officer training and moved to Perth in a public relations position with the Australian Department of Defence.^[1][2] From there he moved into broadcast radio,^[3][4] although he also was a newspaper editor and columnist.^[2]

He was considered to have introduced the shock-jock style of radio to Perth.^[5] Although well known in his state of Western Australia after a 30 year long career on radio,^[6] he gained national notoriety in 2013 when he was fired from radio station 6PR over a controversial interview with former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in which he asked her whether her partner Tim Mathieson was gay.^[7][2]

In 2018, Sattler was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.^[8]

In his later years he developed multiple health conditions, including throat cancer,^[2] and was diagnosed with PSB Steele Richardson syndrome (from which he eventually died^[9]), which so affected his speech that listeners would often call in thinking he was drunk.^[9] He became a vocal advocate for voluntary euthanasia laws.^[10][2]

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