HOME PICTURES		KATE LANGBROEK The Great Divide (Age article) Kate Of All Trades (Herald-Sun article) Kate talks to Ms .45 about writing for Neighbours If you ever listen to the 3RRR Breakfasters on Melbourne FM radio you won’t be asking this question and will be well aware who the Princess of the Breakfast Airwaves is. If you’ve never been to Melbourne, then the chances you’ve heard of Ms Langbroek are quite small (though she is gaining in popularity through The Panel). This is a great shame. No where else in the world will you hear the dulcet (not to mention rather sexy) tones of Kate reading the news and hear her witty and sometimes just downright piss-yourself-laughing sense of humour. More than that she has the warmest voices I’ve ever heard, perfectly suited to radio, and having met her in person this translates into a down-to-earth, and honest friendliness. The following is all information I have gleaned from my years of listening to the Breakfasters and the F & K Show (although as this was on Saturday afternoons, I often missed it). Some of the info came directly from Kate herself. I’m sure some of the info may be erroneous, so if it sounds incorrect let me know. Kate Langbroek is of Dutch and American parentage and was raised in Brisbane as a Jehovah’s Witness, which has been the source of many an amusing anecdote. Mrs Langbroek is apparently a regular listener of the show her daughter works on, and attended the 1995 Breakfasters Christmas Show. In her City Weekly column, whilst having a go at inane mothers in inane Mother's Day TV commercials, Kate had this to say... "You see, my mother is a human being. She has loved me and hit me. She is fat, and still goes skinny-dipping. She has a loud and lusty laugh. She has been on Sale of the Century, and lost. She is funny and really, really irritating. Sometimes she is embarrasing, but there is nothing beige or insipid or saccharine about her. She is interesting and complex and community-minded and honest, and she said to me the other week, 'Why don't they ever show mothers with pierced noses or tattoos?' She'd never cut it in advertising."* Kate’s background is in acting, through which she got into screenwriting, and has written for such Australian productions as Col'n Carpenter, All Together Now, The Bob Morrison Show, Medivac, Neighbours (for which she still writes), Full Frontal, and the pay TV soap spoof Shark Bay, on which she also appeared (and just as an aside she also appeared topless on Chances, but I musta missed it, 'cos it was on after my bedtime). For those of you Melbournians who remember the old TAC Drink Driving commercials that showed people getting breath tested and busted for being over .05, it was actually Kate who uttered the immortal line to the arresting officer, "Why aren’t you out catching burglars or something?!?!" Of late she has been writing articles for the new City Weekly publication, and appearing frequently on The Panel (Channel 10, Wednesday 9:30pm) with the Working Dog crew . If I remember rightly it must have been in 1994 when Stuart Round took over from Kate Paton as newsreader when Paton left to join channel Seven Sport. Stuart Round was (and I imagine still is) a very straight character, and so dry that he often left fellow Breakfasters James Young & Chris Hatzis and listeners in hysterics. I think it must have been late in 1994 when Stuart left and brought Kate Langbroek in as his replacement, and there she has remained ever since. She has since joined host of Trash Is My Life, Fiona Scott-Norman to collaborate on The F & K Show (Fiona & Kate for those wondering). It was on this show that the infamous Urine Drinking Incident took place. I originally thought Missy F and Missy K did it 'cos they lost a bet, but have since been corrected. They, live on radio, drank a glass of their own urine. Why? Because 'somebody had to'. When asked about the incident, Fiona was heard to say, "People ask us, ‘What was it like?’ Like they can’t try it themselves??" Fair point I reckon. (Kate is currently on an indefinate hiatus from F & K.) Although the likes of Duncan ‘Donuts’ MacKew like to remind Kate of her urine drinking past, it was her last major bet that left more of a lasting impression. Shortly before the 1996 3RRR X-Ball a bet was made between Kate and James ‘The Hound Dog’ Young, that if Kate shaved her head bald, James would drop his daks on stage at the ball. Well sure enough when Kate joined James, Chris, and Tony Moclair & Julian Schiller of Crud on stage for a live performance of The Wrath of Galatrikon, she was indeed sporting a most non-hirsute cranium. Although I myself was not present, James apparently kept up his side of the bargain. In November 1996 Kate led the annual 3RRR 'holiday'. For the passed few years, 3RRR announcers (including Chris Hatzis and Karen Leng) have led listeners on 'expeditions' of sorts to various places around the world. Kate led a group of lucky listeners through Laos, and down the 'mighty Mekong'. And as luck would have it, everyone got safely home. I met Kate briefly during the 1996 3RRR Subscriber Radiothon which is where I formed my opinion of her. She’s really just an ordinary person like you or me, and, I believe like most Triple R announcers, would baulk at a title like ‘personality’ or ‘celebrity’ and would be loathe to accept such fan hero worship as what I’m dishing out here. I’d like to say that I’m not hero worshipping Miss Kate Langbroek, but I am a big fan of her work and if you live in Melbourne you should definately check out The Breakfasters (6:00am-9:00am, Monday to Friday) on 102.7 FM. Once you have heard 3RRR, you will wonder how you ever put up with the mindless garbage on commercial FM radio. OTHER BITS O' TRIVIA... * Her full name is Catherine Elizabeth Wilhamena Burving Langbroek (I'm not real sure my spelling's correct) * I've heard a vicious rumour that Kate once did some phone-sex voice overs (can anyone confirm deny this?) * She also apparently did the message for Croydon Hotel answering machine??? * Her birthday is on the 8th of August. * She is a St Kilda supporter. * She was kicked out of VCA for supposedly saying something she shouldn't have. * Her fondness of 'dacking' her fellow presenters during the Radiothon Pajama Show backfired not once but twice when she pulled down Tony Moclair's pants and was greeted by his apparently impressive 'guila monster', and then was dacked herself by the Hound Dog in front of ALL the Radiothon volunteer phone answerers! * She has a brother who is a dentist in Brisbane. * Her father, Jan, is a librarian at a Christian College. * Her mother, when she came to Australia, went to get some sour cream at a shop and the person serving her asked her 'why would anyone want sour cream?' as they didn't stock it. Kate's mum went home and cried. * Also, Kate's mum works in a bank (which bank? I dunno!!) * She once owned a duck, which thought Kate was it's mother, but it quickly became a pain in the arse (and something of a mess) and was subsequently 'set free' in the Botanical Gardens early one morning, raking it's beak up and down the fence while James Young nervously waited in the car with the engine running. * She was in possession of a stray rabbit, which Dave O'Neil and Duncan Donuts had been eyeing off as a potential meal, before it strayed again. NOTE: Kate is aware of this page's existance, and I believe she is under the distinct impression that I am some sort of wierdo, which probably isn't too far off the mark. Of late I have been referred to as 'The Stalker' which I highly resent! *- (C) City Weekly 1997 Big thanks to Pats and Eddie for so graciously providing some of the above info. SM-1997-1999