Barry Byrne from Mount Isa was known to hundreds of people all over Australia, though most of them had no idea what he looked like.
Mr Byrne was a fan of ABC Radio's Nightlife program and regularly called into the program to take part in the nightly quiz.
"He'd been calling for years and years and he always used to say, 'Hello, Mr Barry Byrne from Mount Isa here'," Deb Johnson, moderator of the Facebook Nightlife Discussion Group, said.
Mr Byrne died suddenly in March 2020 and it was then that his family realised just how connected he had been with the Nightlife program and audience.
"I knew he was a big fan and he rang in a lot," Ronaleen "Crocky" Murphy, Barry's sister, said.
"[Nightlife] dedicated that Tuesday night to Barry and then they dedicated the Wednesday night quiz to Barry.
"There were thousands of messages."
Ms Murphy said Barry was a unique character who was passionate about Queen Elizabeth and the Royal family, despite the rest of the family not being all that interested.
She said Barry used to hold a morning tea at the Mount Isa Civic Centre on April 21, Queen Elizabeth's actual birthday, each year.
The idea to hold simultaneous morning teas on April 21, 2020, during lockdown to honour the memory of their fellow radio fan was suggested in the Nightlife Discussion Group.
"We toasted Barry and the Queen," Ms Murphy said.
"Our walls were simultaneously covered by posts and photos of people having morning teas.
"The group can really bond together over people who they love, and that was full of love."
Ms Johnson has never called to play the Nightlife quiz herself. But she loves to listen to both Nightlife and the following Overnights program if she's still awake.
Creating a community
She said the presenters built a rapport the audience and made them feel connected to a big community.
"It's a bond for the ones who can't sleep, the ones who work shifts. A lot of elderly people. People all around the country, some from overseas. I think a lot of truckies listen too," Ms Johnson said.
"There's such a bond, there's such engagement. I think in a way the members think they own them [the programs]."
The bond that started by hearing each other's voices over the radio has been able to grow stronger thanks to social media, with two Facebook groups dedicated to the Nightlife and Overnights programs giving listeners a place to chat with each other, share photos and feel connected.
And for Ms Murphy and the rest of Mr Byrne's family, that connection helped them through the toughest time.
"People just put on the Facebook [groups] a humungous amount of photos," Ms Murphy said.
"I said to my husband, 'My god, he's more loved than me. I'll have to do something about that.'
"I got cards from the Nightlife people and it was just amazing.
Ms Murphy and Ms Johnson said the night-time radio programs helped a lot of people feel like they were not alone and that they were part of a big radio family.
This is just one story of many of what the ABC can mean to people.
In the 90 years of broadcasting, the ABC has heard such stories as how a husband and wife met through the letters they wrote to a radio program, Jock getting a message through to his mum that he was safe during bushfires in Gippsland, while local ABC radio listeners in Brisbane helped an elderly woman find a new companion when her little dog died.
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