"Aunt Gwen"
One of New Zealand's First Radio Celebrities.
When Miss Gwen Shepherd, as "Aunt Gwen", began conducting the Children's Hour on radio station 2YA in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1927, neither she nor her early listeners realised how incredibly popular she was to become. Within a few weeks she established herself as probably the first of radio's high profile personalities, attracting a huge audience of children who took her pleasant manner to their hearts and followed her stories and songs with baited breath.
Born in Wellington in 1893, Gwen Shepherd began learning the piano at an early age and at the same time developed a talent for reading and reciting. Later she taught both music and speech training and in 1927, with a group of friends, began broadcasting 'Drawing Room Entertainments' from 2YA. These led her to being employed to prepare and present the Children's Hour from that station, which she continued for a little over two years until her marriage in January 1930. She then moved to Sydney, Australia, where her husband, Bruce Stennett, worked.
Such was the huge esteem in which 'Aunt Gwen' was held by her thousands of young listeners that her wedding ceremony and speeches from the reception were presented 'live' from 2YA and rebroadcast from 3YA Christchurch - the first wedding ever to be broadcast in New Zealand. It was estimated that more than 2000 people crowded onto the road outside St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, hoping to catch a glimpse of the celebrated bride and groom. How many more thousands listened to the radio broadcasts will never be known.
Shortly after she had settled in Sydney, 'Aunt Gwen', assisted by her husband, in the guise of 'Uncle Bruce', made this private recording of a miniature children's programme at the Columbia studios in that city. It was sent to 2YA as a special treat for the children, large numbers of whom had written her loving letters of farewell after her final broadcast.
Some years later Gwen Stennett returned to New Zealand and remained there for the rest of her life, never resuming her radio career. She died in 1982.