Now working the mid-afternoon slot on 3AW, Denis still finds time to fit in the odd stage performance, including one at the Drum Theatre on May 7.

"I have had to cut back this year. Because of my radio commitments, I'm not doing as many shows. So I'm really looking forward to it, because there aren't that many."

Denis says he will perform whatever the audience wants to hear.

"I take a lot of requests, so I make sure that the audience get to hear what they want to hear."

Denis says there was a constant pressure on anyone working in the entertainment industry, but that he had been lucky enough to realise most of his dreams.

"You never know if you'll have a job, but I am about to be coming up on 40 years.

"I always wanted to do talkback on radio and I always wanted to do TV news, which I have just finished doing after 15 years.

Those are the things I wanted to do, and now I've done it."

But after last month's appearance on SBS music show Rockwiz, where he performed a version of Neil Diamond's Crunchy Granola Suite, Denis has discovered a new passion. He wants to record a rock album.

And judging from the comments made by bloggers after the appearance, many would support the genre change.

"I want it to be some of the songs from the charts and some of the Aussie top rock and roll songs from my era," Denis says.

He hopes a new album would attract a new generation of fans.

"You can't just sit static for too long because your audience grows old with you or if you had an older audience base anyway, one day you would just find that you don't have an audience base any more."

Denis Walter will perform at 10.30am and 1.30pm at the Drum Theatre on May 7 as part of the Encore! The Morning Music Series. Tickets: morning, adults $14, members $12; afternoon, adults $13, members $11.

Bookings: 9771 6666.