Alan Jones signs off, Ben Fordham takes over 2GB Breakfast
Broadcaster Alan Jones always said his breakfast show was about the listeners and they queued up to call in and wish him well on his final show today. Jones finally switched off his microphone at 9am reflecting on stumbling blocks and stepping stones. ‘I hope over the years we have provided some stepping stones,’ he said. ‘So that’s it from me.’
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- ‘You’ll have my support’: Jones passes the torch
- Shock favourite in race to replace Fordham in 2GB Drive
Broadcaster Alan Jones always said his breakfast show was about the listeners and they queued up to call in and wish him well on his final show today.
One summed it up for all when he said: “Alan Jones is the best Prime Minister Australia never had.”
Jones finally switched off his microphone, ending his 35 year broadcast career and a record 226 ratings wins, at 9am after reflecting on stumbling blocks and stepping stones. “I hope over the years we have provided some stepping stones,” he said. “So that’s it from me.”
Drive presenter Ben Fordham will step into his giant broadcasting shoes on Monday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called in and asked Jones how he was feeling. “It’s a bit overwhelming to be honest,” the broadcaster replied.
Mr Morrison told him: “It’s an extraordinary career by any estimation … Jenny and I want to wish you all the best for your future.
“I am glad you are taking the medical experts advice, I will be doing that a little later today in the national cabinet.”
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller called in before 6.30am to thank him for his support of rank and file officers on the ground.
Former Sixty Minutes reporter Ian Leslie told the 79-year-old: “You are the finest broadcaster this country has ever known.”
Brian Smith, a former Wallaby during Jones tenure as national coach, called in from Balmoral beach on Sydney’s north shore. “It’s the last dance and the fat lady is about to sing and you should be very proud of everything you have achieved mate,” he said.
NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro rang from his foggy Monaro electorate to say Jones was “a champion for team Australia” and to thank him for his support, most recently during the bushfire crisis and in identifying fire victims. “If it wasn’t for you Alan they would never have been identified,” he said.
“You have kept us all honest, that’s what you have always done,” he said. “There has never been someone like you in my life.”
His Sky co-host Peta Credlin told him that Monday would be “tough” for his listeners. “I hope you roll over, turn off that alarm and have a good sleep,” she said.
Politician Bob Katter told listeners he first met Jones for dinner and was shown a photograph that he finally realised was an aerial photograph of tree stumps that Jones’ father had cleared by hand. “To me that explains you forever,” he said.
Former Australian soccer goalkeeper Mark Bosnich called in and thanked Jones for “taking a chance on someone like myself” and helping him beat drug addiction “out of the goodness of your heart.”
Jockey Darren Beadman said: “I would really like to thank you on behalf of the racing industry.”
Jones told the story of the launch of his radio career after being discovered by radio legend John Brennan through his updates from England during the Wallaby tour.
He signed his first contract on a napkin in the Marigold Chinese restaurant and was told he would be given $100,000 if he took ratings above 10 by the end of the year. He did. “I suppose you could say a story had begun,” Jones said.
They then discussed ratings figures. “I said what would be a good figure, he said 10 is good,” said Jones, who asked Maxwell what would happen if he hit 10 by the end of the year. “If you get a 10 I will give you $100,000,” he said. The last ratings survey for 1985 topped 10 and Maxwell turned up at the studio with a cheque. “I suppose you could say a story had begun,” Jones said.
Jones also reflected on the secret of his success. “I have always been an advocate of the KISS method, keep it simple stupid,” he said. “Sometimes you can be wrong, I have been wrong and then you have to roll with the punches.
But he added: “The fear of being wrong should not dissuade you from prosecuting an argument in which you believe.”
Waiting nervously to step into Jones’s very big shoes and “ready to rumble” on Monday morning is the popular Fordham.
“I said to Ben ‘don’t be anyone other than Ben Fordham’,” said Jones, 79, after Fordham spent Monday morning watching him in action at the studio in his Southern Highlands home.
Jones has come in for plenty of criticism on his journey to winning the ratings a record 226 times but he has never been anyone other than Alan Jones.
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“My views have always been my own,” he said.
What he will not be missing are the 2.30am wake-up calls after hours of preparation for the show on Sunday night.
“It is relentless,” he said. “And the doctors told me I needed to stop or drop.”
Nine has agreed to pay Jones out of the final year of his $4 million a year contract, which ends in June 2021. He will still be working on his newspaper column for The Daily Telegraph and Sky television appearances but he will not be tuning in to 2GB.
“On Monday I won’t be listening to the radio, not because I don’t want to listen to Ben,” said Jones. “It’s a bit like a professional tennis player who has stopped playing, the last thing they want to do is go and hit a set.”
Fordham, 43, said “no” to bosses at Nine six times when they asked him to take over the breakfast slot. Each time the voice of his legendary celebrity agent father John Fordham, who died late last year, would echo in his head. “When I was saying no I could hear dad’s voice saying ‘you have got rocks in your head if you don’t take this gig’,” Fordham said. “Losing him has given me a real realisation that there are times when you have to step up.”
He finally accepted the job and will start on the same salary and with the same team that he had on his Drive show. “Now is not the time to be talking about pay rises when people are losing their jobs.”
Fordham also knows he has to prove himself in the breakfast slot, and concedes Jones is a tough act to follow.
“There is only one Alan Jones,” Fordham said. “After accepting the job I called him up and said I am really riding a rollercoaster from elation to feeling really dark in your shadow.”
Jones invited him to his home to watch him in action on Monday morning — sitting in the same spot Fordham first sat in as a 15-year-old on work experience kid … the place where he fell in love with radio.
“When I was 15 I never imagined I would be given the opportunity to step in and take over,” he said. “Alan has been so generous with his help and advice.”
And he has listened.
He will not be trying to be Alan Jones, on Monday morning listeners will be getting pure Ben Fordham.
“I was incredibly nervous to begin with,” he said. “But now I am excited, confident and ready to rumble.
“I have spoken to a lot of politicians and told them that if they have got something to say, get on the phone just like everyone else. Pick up the phone and dial in. Scott Morrison does it on the Drive show and will be doing the same at breakfast.”
On Monday morning Fordham will be setting his new vibrating Garmin alarm watch to 2.30am and quietly sneaking out of the house to head to the studio without waking wife Jodie or their three young children.
Alan Jones, on the other hand, will be having a long overdue lie-in.
Originally published as Alan Jones signs off, Ben Fordham takes over 2GB Breakfast