Radio Personality Dies Less Than 1 Month After Cancer Diagnosis: Arnold Frolows Was 74

Arnold Frolows, the influential music director who helped shape Australia‘s radio landscape for decades as a cornerstone figure at triple j, died Sunday morning at Sydney’s Mona Vale hospice, just three days shy of his 75th birthday and days before the station’s 50th anniversary celebration. His passing comes less than a month after receiving a diagnosis of pancreatic and liver cancer.

From humble beginnings as a flower delivery driver in Sydney, Frolows rose to become one of Australian radio’s most powerful tastemakers. According to ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corporation) News, he joined the fledgling Double J (later triple j) before it went to air in 1974, becoming one of its first employees after a chance recommendation to the station’s founders, Marius Webb and Ron Moss.

“Getting Arnold and Margot [Edwards, music librarian] on the team as quickly as we did was one of the key factors in building the station’s early success as a proper ‘music’ station,” Webb told RadioInfo in 2005. Frolows initially helped build the station’s vinyl library and soon became a familiar voice on air.

News.com.au reports that after a brief departure to work as a talent scout for Richard Branson’s Virgin Records in the UK during the late 1970s, Frolows returned to triple j in 1981. He developed a cult following hosting the Sunday night program Ambience, which introduced audiences to rarely-heard electronic and atmospheric music.

His appointment as official music director in 1993 cemented his influence over Australian music culture. “As music director, Arnold had a huge effect on the musical sound of triple j, and therefore on Australian radio in general,” longtime colleague Stuart Matchett said at Frolows’s 2014 retirement party, per ABC News. “Arnold constructed the triple j playlist, balancing new and familiar, variety of styles, male and female vocals, Australian content, tempo, tone, lyric content.”

During the 1990s, Frolows wielded considerable influence in the industry, with label executives regularly courting him over long lunches to secure airplay for their artists. He also served as producer for the popular breakfast show hosted by Mikey Robins and Helen Razer.

Despite facing criticism about his age and suitability for programming youth radio in the early 2000s, Frolows maintained his passion for music never dimmed. “I would say if you’re still interested [in music] and your ears are still excited, it doesn’t matter how old you are,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald before leaving triple j in 2003.

His departure from triple j didn’t end his impact on Australian radio. He remained with ABC for another 11 years, helping launch several digital radio stations including Dig Radio (which became Double J in 2014), ABC Jazz, and ABC Country. Together with Matchett, he expanded ABC’s support for underrepresented musical genres.

Frolows was known for rejecting the term “alternative” to describe the music that defined triple j’s sound during its national expansion. “The idea of alternative is about being an alternative to the Establishment,” he said in 2000 via News.com.au. “But the problem is that most of those bands become part of that Establishment by means of their success.”

His passing holds particular poignancy, occurring just days before triple j’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Webb’s words at Frolows’s retirement capture his lasting legacy: “Arnold has been a superb example to the rest of us of what is possible at work and that it is possible, even in a public-service environment, to do something that is really bloody interesting.”

Frolows died with his partner Christine King by his side, leaving behind a a changed Australian radio landscape and generations of music fans influenced by his work.