A ground-breaking figure in youth radio and champion of Australian music has passed away

Chris Winter, one of the founding announcers at the original Double Jay and a fixture in the early days of triple j, has passed away.

Winter's approach to championing lesser-known music was a huge driver of what Double J and triple j's remit would become.

"What we really wanted to do was give attention to bands who might not have made a single, who might not be played by commercial radio, they weren't successful, but they were writing successful songs," Winter told Double J in 2015.

"It's hard to believe now but Mental As Anything and Midnight Oil were two such bands."

"Chris was a foundation presenter for Double Jay in 1975 and it is his free spirit and style that inspired the persona of the whole station," ABC Head of Music and Creative Development Chris Scaddan said today.

"His passion for music outside the mainstream survives now in triple j and also Double J again on digital radio."

The impetus for Double Jay/triple j

Winter was already an ABC employee prior to the beginning of Double Jay in 1975. When it came to hiring staff for the new youth-focused operation, enlisting Winter was a no-brainer.

"Chris Winter's huge afro and "cool" style ensured maximum identification as ABC radio's music guru for the new venture," original Double Jay manager Marius Webb wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2015.

As one of the main music brains at the station, Winter was one of the figures behind the infamous first song aired on Double Jay airwaves back in 1975.

"We thought, 'let's play something that will make people really cross'," he told Double J. "So, an obvious thing to do was to pick a song that was famous for being banned on commercial radio: Skyhooks' 'You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good In Bed'"

His work in championing new music was most evident through his well-loved program Room To Move, which he started on ABC radio in 1971, before moving it to Double Jay upon the station's foundation.

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Winter explained the rationale behind the show to ABC Canberra in 2012.

"The real problem for people who liked music and some of the really interesting stuff in the late 60s, well it just wasn't getting onto the radio," he said.

"So, most of the music you heard on the wireless was Top 40 and so there was a fantastic opening.

"And it was a very exciting time to just have an open slather and play anything we liked."

Paying tribute to Winter on Facebook this morning, founding Double Jay manager Marius Webb acknowledged that the program was the impetus behind starting the new youth-focused station.

"It was an independent beacon in a sea of musical commercialisation and the idea that lead to the eventual establishment of Double/Triple J in 1975," Webb wrote.

Another of Winter's greatest legacies was the classic Oils on the Water gig, organised as part of triple j's tenth birthday in 1985.

"When Triple J turned 10, Midnight Oil said to us, 'You organise something, we'll come and play for nothing'," he told ABC Canberra.

"But in the end it cost us thousands because of course they weren't just going to play anywhere, we put them on Sydney Harbour's Goat Island.

"We said to the listeners, look we're going to celebrate our 10th birthday in a particular way, it's a secret, we can't tell you, but you are invited to apply for a prize.

"We put them on a ferry, and then half way out to Goat Island, our publicist at the time, took enormous pleasure in getting up in front of them and explaining why they were on the boat, and that they were going to hear Midnight Oil play!"

A digital leader

Following his work with triple j, Winter went on to work with ABC local radio, before taking a role that would see him play a big part in the development of the ABC's first digital-only TV station, ABC2.

"His influence across the ABC’s early-2000s digital work was just as pioneering as his early work in music broadcasting," Scaddan said.

"Chris’ entire career is a testament to his never-ending, forward-thinking ideas about music, culture and media. His inquisitive mind and ability to inspire others was rare and cherished."

We will have more information as it comes to hand.