BACKGROUND

Bob Kirchner has spent practically all of his working life (30 years) in the media or as an advertising/marketing/media consultant.

From 1994 to 2000, he was a partner in the Tamworth (NSW, Australia) based marketing consultant and event organiser Max Ellis Marketing.

NEWSPAPERS
Born and raised in the small country town of Manilla (near Tamworth) Bob moved to Sydney in the early '70s where he spent just over a year as a copy boy with Australia's leading newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald.

He spent almost a year as a cadet journalist with the Sydney suburban Forest & Shire News before moving back to Tamworth and working with The Weekly News.

RADIO
In 1975, he joined Tamworth radio station 2TM as an advertising copywriter.

MARKETING
In the late '70s, he become an original member of the BAL Marketing team responsible for the early success of Ag-Quip (the biggest agricultural field days in the southern hemisphere) and the Tamworth Country Music Festival and Country Music Awards.

RADIO MANAGEMENT
In 1984, he was appointed manager of radio station 2MO in Gunnedah where he stayed for 10 years, successfully guiding the station through one of the most turbulent periods for the radio industry in Australia.

MARKETING CONSULTANCY
In 1994, he returned to Tamworth to join Max Ellis and Kate Nugent in Max Ellis Marketing Pty Ltd (MEM) working with a number of clients as a marketing consultant.

He was also heavily involved in the organising and staging of MEM events including the biggest consumer exhibition in northern NSW, the Tamworth Home & Leisure Show and the launch of the Directory of Australian Country Music, the information bible of the Australian country music industry.

The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) was one of the MEM's major clients and Bob gradually became more directly involved with the country music industry in his latter time with MEM.

FREELANCE CONSULTANT
With a restructuring of CMAA operations and winding down of MEM, Bob is now working as a freelance consultant for advertising, marketing, public relations. the Internet and graphic production.

Community-wise, Bob has been heavily involved on many levels.. including Rotary, chambers of commerce, Skillshare, Toastmasters, Gunnedah Rural Museum and the Australian Country Music Foundation.

For further information, email bobk@optusnet.com.au