"Oh no, we've left half the tapes back at the office," Leigh Radford exclaimed. It was 10 minutes to the start of yet another Country Hour program on ABC radio.
It was the mid-80s when Radford started his ABC rural traineeship in Melbourne. At the time the editorial office and the broadcast facility were in two different buildings in William Street. Coincidentally, the ABC headquarters in Sydney were also in a William street.
Radford rushed back to the editorial office and with half an hour of programming set to go, he was able to reconcile the rest of the program without anyone knowing the background drama. He reckons that kind of tape mix-up happened a bit until the Melbourne ABC offices were merged.
Of course, there was no way the Country Hour would not go to air. The tradition started on December 3, 1945, and it's now celebrating its 75th year, generally thought to be one of the oldest continuous radio programs in the world.
More than that, it has been a friend and constant source of information to generations of rural people from its state-based programming, although it started with a national focus.
The first presenter was Dick Sneddon. It started: "Hello everyone, this is Dick Sneddon of The Country Hour, with a program for the farm families of Australia."
The brainchid of the then federal director of rural broadcasts, John Douglas, the program would go to air from 12.15pm to 1.15pm, with at first a national news list followed by state-based rural stories.
Mr Douglas had high intentions for the program, not only informing farmers of prices and trends, but also "the housewife" on what produce was in season and what was of the highest quality.
It was set up to "give a complete service to rural listeners and to endeavour also to present the contryman's problems in such a way as to create a more sympathetic understanding between the city and the country".
It also had an international element early on and Mr Douglas boasted that already "English, Canadian, USSR and USA Departments of Information had made material available for this session".
Market trends and prices were always a key element, but the early program tried to cover all things to all people (city and rural). It placed women, in the norms of post-war Australia, as the consumer who carried the buying power in the household.
"The buyer of the country goods, that is the housewife, will be given special attention, she will be told all about what produce is in season and is in good supply, and how to judge the highest quality."
Of course the male farmer tag has changed dramtically since then, with many women now both the consumer and the farmer.
The first presenter Dick Sneddon also toured to gather stories, making a trip to New Zealand in 1948 where he was impressed to see the state of New Zealand agriculture with some pasture growth "as high as wheat crops in Australia".
He was able to visit New Zealand ag research stations and "interviewed scientists of worldwide repute and secured recorded interviews that are to be programmed with Country Hour."
Debate flowed early on about the timing of the program and in 1953 during an inquiry into the ABC, the then president of the National Farmers Union, C.M. Williams, complained the program went to air when most farmers were in the field. He implored it be moved to 6.30pm at dinner time so more farmers could listen in.
The inquiry was also told the early Country Hour program had limited audiences to "within 30 miles of the Sydney GPO" that included "small farmers, flower growers and poultry farmers": That was 95 per cent of Country Hour listeners, an ABC chief said in 1953.
The program of course is heard a bit wider than the 30 mile radius of Sydney GPO now, and there is hardly a place in Australia that hasn't been reported on or a listener can't be found.
For Radford, who eventually rose to be the Head of ABC Rural from 2005 to 2017, getting out to get stories and being relevant has been critical to the Country Hour culture. He's drummed that "know your audience" mantra into all journalists he's worked with. He's also been keen to provide a supportive environment to staff, believing treating staff well leads to better stories and better connections with the audience.
As he started off in his career, he always found the heads of ABC Rural as larger than life figures.
Colin Munro was one of those ABC Rural legends as the head of rural from 1985 to 1995. (Munro died 10 years ago at the age of 70.) Munro is the link many people draw on when they think of the Country Hour and the ABC's rural coverage.
"Figures like Colin commanded the room," Radford told The Land. "Colin was a great raconteur, a real character, a wonderfully warm person who had the thought of his staff close at heart. That really resonated with me. It meant a lot to me when I was green and inexperienced."
When he was choosing a career early on Radford chose between being a geographer or a journalist. He chose journalism, but then geography became a big part of his life - often doing outside broadcasts in his now home state of South Australia for the Country Hour. Being in the community has been vital to the program's success. "They feel they know us," he says. He now proudly sees his son Luke in journalism, recently filing a report for the ABC from Port Pirie.
One of Radford's stories he takes great pride in was the revelation he did on the fall of the Collinsville Merino Stud into receivership due to large debts. He won a national award for his reports.
He presented Country Hour solo in South Australia for five years from 2000, "the best time of his career", and also shared the role with many colleagues who became close friends such as Cathy Parker. He rose to be the Head of ABC rural, but that role was brutally cut by management three years ago. He fears for the future of rural journalism if it is not supported properly. There is now no national head of ABC rural.
"Unfortunately the ABC has no rural department anymore," he said. "That was essentially pulled apart with my redundancy three years ago. It was clever in some ways, because all the public facing elements of the department - like the Country Hour, Landline, Back Roads etc. are all still there ... they just don't have any structure behind them, or editorially linking them.
"The Country Hour is still working OK, because experienced staff are still there, but as newer ones come through, all the editorial strength of the past will be diluted and the ethos of what was ABC Rural may well be lost."
Certainly the rural audience is keen for The Country Hour to have another 75 years.
The ABC's managing director, David Anderson, said there was no other ABC program that has had such an impact on Australian life over such a long time.
"The story of life on the land is in many ways the story of Australia itself. The Country Hour and ABC Rural have covered every aspect of everyday country life since 1945 - from droughts and floods to cyclones and bushfires, from locust plagues to cycles of boom and bust," Mr Anderson said.
The director of ABC's Regional and Local services, Judith Whelan, said The Country Hour and the ABC's rural programming had successfully moved with the times, expanding its coverage of regional and rural events onto digital and social media platforms from the mid-2000s.
"Today The Country Hour and ABC Rural bring their audiences stories on multiple platforms. Our producers and reporters are creating daily content for radio, audio-on-demand, online, social media and video for digital and television.
"One of the most important aspects of the program today - and over its 75-year history - is its ability to bring rural and urban people together and inform them of what is going on around Australia."
Ms Whelan said the recognition of being the longest running radio program was a remarkable achievement not just in Australia but in a world context. In a release, the ABC said, "she said the work by ABC Rural was complemented by other ABC programs and services including the ABC's 56 regional bureaus; Back Roads, now into its seventh season; the regional youth initiative Heywire , now in its 23rd year; and Landline - which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next March".
The stories that came out of the long culture carry on. Colin Munro related one of his in an interview.
Former Country Hour reporter Bruce Reynolds interviewed Colin Munro on his retirement in 2005.
Munro told him: "The one that I remember, a wonderful woman at the Kerragundie exchange out on the Bourke-Cobar party line, Mrs Harris.
Alec Nicholl put a microphone under her nose and said, 'Mrs Harris, where did you come from to Cobar?', and she said, 'We walked from Adelaide behind a dray, with what children we had at the time.'
And he said, 'How many children did you have Mrs Harris?,' and she said, '13, and we reared them all.'
'Mrs Harris, is it true that you pull up a cot alongside that switchboard if there is trouble in the station country, and keep it open so people can get through?'
'That's right', she said.
He said, 'How long have you been doing that, Mrs Harris?'
She said, '55 years.'
He said, 'Good heavens, Mrs Harris - have you ever been ill?'
She said, 'What Alec?'
'Have you ever been ill?'
'What Alec?'
'Have you ever been bedridden?'
'Oh yes', she said, 'hundreds of times - and twice in a sulky.'"
Radford concludes on his time at Country Hour: "it's boots on the ground that makes it relevant".
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
