So here we go into 2025

So here we go into 2025 – and a new radio year – with 2GB entering another era for the first time minus their two superstars, Alan Jones and Ray Hadley. Will the place survive in the long term without them? Will Ben Fordham and Mark Levy eventually become major stars in their own right, or will the great old lady of Sydney broadcasting continue its success on the strength of its programming – The News/Talk-Sport format? This is an intriguing time in the trade. Well, survey one shows the old girl still hanging on up the top... Only just, as number one overall ahead of those pesky FM challengers, Smooth and KIIS. Breakfast and mornings continue to lead the way so all is well in 2GB land at the start of the year. Kyle and Jackie O who have apparently been quite naughty lately (and been given a good rap over the knuckles for their trouble) have been forgiven by their audience who keep rating them number one breakfast on FM.

A final salute this month to one of the household-names in our industry, especially in Melbourne, with the death of Philip Brady at the age of 84. He was the channel nine booth announcer while still a teenager and a regular on King Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight, just a short time later. Nobody on IMT remained unknown for long... Trust me. It was a big gig in those days. Phillip remained high-profile in the trade 'til his retirement just a month or so back. That included a celebrated decade on 3AW with Bruce Mansfield, a phenomenal talent I worked with at 3XY. Both gone now.



Looking at my latest Weekend Australian and there was this monumental story, by Simon Benson, tucked away on page five, which confirms that our nation has entered a new era. This is THE AGE OF WOE, summed up by the headline, "The Great Australian Malaise: Fear, Despair and Resentment". This focus-group study is enough to send shudders through the political establishment. The 18 to 28-year-old group has basically given up on the great Australian dream. The Lucky Country has gone south with the ducks, "They are the first generation in modern history to grow up with the expectation that they will be poorer than their parents... The dream of home ownership, once a basic milestone of adulthood, has become so distant that it is no longer an aspiration... They do not talk about when they will buy a home but how they will be able to afford rent... The resentment is palpable." Imagine how older Australians feel as they watch their children try to find somewhere to live... "Optimism is absent" right across the spectrum... In just a remarkably few years hope has virtually evaporated for the under-35s. Is this our new Australia then, a land where millions of young people walk up and down the street looking at houses than can never buy?

We're heading into a federal election – have you noticed? – and your reporter is reading the tea leaves, especially those that say cost-of-living. Truly, I thought Labor would have massive problems at this stage, amid all of the wide-ranging wage increases. But Anthony looks to have got it right... He may have the last laugh over all the doubters: they really may defy the experts and be heading for a soft landing. The inflation figures are edging down, as per the Government predictions. The other critical issue this time 'round is the performance of the Greens and the Teals (hereafter affectionately titled "The Greals"). Will their inner-city devotees stick with the message and accept their assurances that they have the answer to the world's energy needs?

On the other side of the world Donald Trump has either gone stark raving mad or turned American politics upside down... Possibly both. The new Pres' is promising to make Canada a US State, to take over Greenland, sacking thousands of Government workers – including Justice and the FBI – and now looking to throw the Palestinians out of Gaza and turn it into as Mediterranean holiday resort. The Donald is a walking headline while his opponents, the defeated Democrats, are low-key and virtually leaderless. I'm a long away away I know but the most obvious question is: Where is Kamala Harris? She was Vice President just a short time ago and a very visible campaigner as the Democratic choice for President. I can't find Kamala anywhere. I mean if she wants to have another go at it why isn't she out front, taking Trump on directly in the public arena. Has Kamala been give the word that she's not going to be the party choice for the next Presidential battle? Even so, wouldn't you be out there anyway, slugging it out with Trump? Imagine the free hits she'd get these days after the Ukraine White House disaster.

I don't know where this came from, maybe it's the weather, but I suddenly asked myself this afternoon, "What happened to Rinso and Persil?" No home was complete without them when I was a lad but they seem to have left us. Persil apparently is still sold in the UK while if you're keen on doing a bit of washing in Asia and the Middle East you could probably still pick up a pack of Rinso down at your local store. Hope that proves useful and while we're doing nostalgia does anybody remember this famous old one-liner, "Put that in your pipe and smoke it"? It sounds so Australian but sorry, no it's an import. Charles Dickens made reference to it in his "Pickwick Papers" of 1836, but I've tracked it back to an Irish publication in 1800 where the writer advises his reader to "put that in your pipe and shmoak it".

Just a few week's ago we were watching one of the iconic world sports events – The Australian Open Tennis in Melbourne – but just over the road another famous piece of sporting history is disappearing... And disappearing rapidly. The Australian Open Golf title is one of the fourth oldest mens' titles in the world, behind The Open, the US Open and the South African championship. The Australian and the Canadian both started in 1904. The Australian has been won by some of the greatest names in Golf – they used to call it "the fifth Major". Have a look at some of the people who've held the trophy: Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Arnie Palmer, Greg Norman, Peter Thompson, Tom Watson, Rory McIlroy. Now, the truth is Australia is battling to keep it afloat. The Australian Open is vanishing from the world scene before our very eyes and somebody has to save it. This is bigger than Australia; this title is part of the fabric of the game. We need the Royal and Ancient and the US PGA Tour to start talking to Australian officials, inluding our government, to bring us back to our rightful place in sport. The only way is to do what they did with the Canadia... Put the Australian on to the US Tour schedule. Of course it'll be tough especially dealing with the Americans who aren't really interested in the rest of the World. Actually it's going to be really hard to convince the Americans (Brett Ogle, a two-time winner on the US Tour recently described the situation to Golf Digest, "They're earning a truck load of cash and don't give a stuff about anybody else. They just care for themselves.") So don't expect any favours over there. But we can't just roll over and die. Everyone has to roll the sleeves up and work it out. I say the start would be to delay the US West Coast leg of the PGA tour and fit Australia in after the two opening tournaments in Hawaii. Sneak us into the tour after the Sentry and the Sony. It's a 9 to 10-hour flight from Hawaii to Australia (a lot more amenable to the US Players and their families) and we would have to underwrite the agreement by laying on a couple of free flights from Honolulu to Australia. Even a couple of freebie flights back home to LA if necessary. Anything to save the 121 year-old Australian Open golf title. The other bad but realistic news is that the prize money would have to be big... Very big. It all depends on one thing... Have we got what it takes to get back to playing with the big boys? Our Open needs to be restored to its proper place in the golfing firmament: it needs to be beamed around the world... To the US, Europe, South Korea, Japan and China... Everywhere.

Late golf update... Australia has kicked off the new season in sensational style. First one of the most talked-about young players in recent years, Karl Vilips, has triumphed in the Puerto Rico Open in his fourth start on the US Tour. Then, just a short time later in comes Min Woo Lee to grab the Houston Open ahead of a couple of superstars in Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. It's only April and Australia already has two winners on the biggest tour in the world.

Along the Road to Gundagai

"There's a track winding back to an old fashioned shack along the road to Gundagai, Where the blue gums are growing and the Murrumbidgee's flowing beneath the sunny sky... Then no more will I roam when I'm heading right for home along the road to Gundagai."

Jack O'Hagan, 1922