Hector William Crawford CBE AO (14 August 191311 March 1991) was an Australian entrepreneur, conductor and media mogul, best known for his radio and television production firms. He and his sister Dorothy Crawford founded Crawford Productions, which was responsible for many iconic programs and initiated the careers of a number of notable Australian actors and entertainers. His influence on the Australian entertainment industry was immense and enduring, and one obituary described him as "one of the best-known and most respected names in the history of Australian entertainment". Biography Hector William Crawford was born in Melbourne in 1913. His parents were William Henry Crawford, a commercial traveller, and Charlotte, née Turner, a contralto and organist. He studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and later conducted the orchestra there. In 1940 he became the musical and recording director of Broadcast Exchange of Australia, a radio broadcasting house, and its managing director in 1942. In 1945 he and his sister Dorothy Crawford founded Crawford Productions. Hector managed music, administration and sales, while Dorothy attended to script-editing and casting. Hector Crawford married Melbourne coloratura soprano Glenda Raymond on 10 November 1950. They had two children. Radio productions Radio programs produced included Opera for the People, The Melba Story (which starred the then unknown soprano Glenda Raymond, who shared the role with Patricia Kennedy), The Amazing Oscar Hammerstein, and The Blue Danube. The singing competition Mobil Quest first brought coloratura sopranos Joan Sutherland and June Bronhill and tenor Donald Smith to public notice. There were also radio dramas such as No Holiday for Halliday, Sincerely Rita Marsden, My Imprisoned Heart, A Woman in Love, Inspector West, and Lone Star Lannigan. Most (if not all) of Crawford's radio programs were produced for 3DB (Melbourne), at which station Hector's brother, Curteis Crawford, was an administrator and, later, manager. Through 3DB these programs were also distributed to stations throughout Australia, particularly members of the Major Broadcasting Network of which 3DB was the founder. Television Crawfords became the first independent producer to screen a programme on Australian television. Wedding Day was a games/quiz show, in which newly married couples came into the studio straight from their wedding reception, in the hope of winning prizes. It premiered on HSV-7 on 10 November 1956 (his own 6th wedding anniversary) and ran for 39 weeks. Australia's first hour-long television drama series, Consider Your Verdict premiered in 1961, and the hugely successful