Tim Gilbert has covered two Olympics, US golf majors, the Commonwealth Games and 11 years producing the Sunday Footy Show — but he started out earning nine grand a year at a tiny radio station in Goulburn, and very nearly lost the job in his first few months.

Gilbert takes us from his early days growing up as one of six kids in Guildford, through a thousand dollars' worth of job applications that finally landed him a start at 2GN, to the night he slept through his alarm and left the Goulburn rural news off the air for nine minutes. He shares stories from three decades in Sydney media — stripping off on the Today Show, playing schoolboy rugby league alongside Greg Alexander, and the chaos of live TV crosses gone wrong.

There are big names throughout too: a Kerry Packer safari-suit blow-up, a first-class seat next to a food-averse Tony Greig on the way home from covering cricket in India, and the story behind Beanies for Brain Cancer, born from the loss of his Channel 9 colleague Matt Calendar. Gilbert also opens up on leaving Nine "in the most public fashion" and why he has no regrets about any of it.

In this episode of Chiming In, Tim Gilbert looks back on a career that took him from a country radio booth to some of the biggest stages in sport and media.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Intro

01:36 - Welcome: Tim Gilbert joins Chiming In

02:04 - A career across the Today Show, Olympics and more

03:06 - Growing up half-Lebanese in Guildford, one of six kids

04:26 - A thousand dollars applying for radio jobs

05:06 - Landing his first gig at 2GN Goulburn

06:25 - The night he slept through the rural news

18:57 - Radio and TV bloopers, and taking his shirt off on the Today Show

20:22 - Playing schoolboy rugby league, and missing "the tackle"

21:54 - Eleven years producing the Sunday Footy Show

23:09 - Reading the news, and the chaos of live crosses

24:48 - Coat and tie above the desk, thongs below

32:08 - Covering cricket in India, and the "cream rises to the top" upgrade

39:19 - Kerry Packer, and the origin of Beanies for Brain Cancer

40:44 - A love of Sound of Music and Willy Wonka

43:03 - Life now: Lead Story, NSWRL and life after Nine

44:37 - Leaving Nine in the most public fashion

45:33 - No regrets along the way

46:13 - Wrap-up

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