Alan Jones has made the announcement that on his
doctor's orders he's retiring from his radio
breakfast show on 2GB - which he's ruled over
for decades bringing in the higest ratings ever in
the harbour city. He's popularity has been unmatched
attracting more loyal followers than any other
breakfast show.

He says he's still going to continue with writing
columns for News Corp - and will still be making
guest appearances on Sky News.

Is this an end of an era?

Who else can match and hold a breakfast show like
Alan Jones did?

Your thoughts please.

Should be a rivoting read, the Alan Jones columns.

Alan Jones lost many advertisers for his comments
on Jacinta Adhern. He cost the station a great deal
of money loss that has not returned. Perhaps there's more
to the reasons he's retiring. It may not altogether be his
choice. If he's not drawing the money in - perhaps they're
re-thinking the cost of continuing to pay him millions in
salary.

I have to say, being a Melbourner, i was never exposed to such shock jocks in my formative years in my teens and 20s.

I listened to Neil Mitchell and Jon Faine mostly in the morning.

Dear Chris,

I've only ever seen Jones on TV.

He like Andrew Bolt, does have moments of
lucidity and also does get his facts
right.

To me he has always come across as a nasty spiteful person who rated people on the basis of how much money they had (or didn't have) much like most of The Forum's Old Farts Club members.

Here in SA, and as an ABC baby, I've never seen Alan Jones, except excerpts on other channels. He has always struck me as someone who went for the cheap shot, the easy, fairly brainless analysis in a faux-sophisticated way. He probably shone amongst yobbos (not that I've got anything against yobbos, being one). He won't be missed.

Joe

I have Alan on radio however on TV he was much brighter, more patriotic, more passionate and better for Australia than anyone I ever saw or heard on the abc.

I'm sure that Jones will be missed in Sydney
where he apparently has a huge following.
That has not been beating in broadcasting.

The times that I saw him on Q&A with Tony Jones,
Alan Jones did surprise me, especially his
anti-Adani mine stance. I did not expect him to
be so against the mine.

Also his stance on the Murray-Darling fiasco was
another area where he argued well and criticised
Barnaby Joyce.

As I wrote earlier - the man did have moments of
lucidity.

runner,

But then you love Donald Trump as well.

I'd like to hear from someone why Alan Jones
was so popular and why he was able to wield
so much influence on others.

To me the man is an enigma that needs explaining.
Can anyone volunteer?

I thought the news was he died! But nah, still living it seems. Be careful what you say about Mr Jones, while he's still around, he might sue you.

I think even your enemies will have some views you can agree with.

Having said that, some go out of their way to propmote their importance.

Some like that kind of approach.

In the case of Jones, many liked him and made him rich.

I always thought he was over the top.

Alan Jones listened to the talk of men in the pub, and could talk on the level of the country man. This made him accepted by the loyal dinkum Australians. He was no slouch when it comes to logical argument, and few could match him. He was articulate and quick thinking. If you were proud to be Australian you were one of his loyal followers.

Josephus,

You're partly right, Jones's 'amazing' intellect and analysis is/was always just a small step beyond that of the average bar-fly, who probably think/thought that he was brilliant. I hope the next bloke is a bit more than an inch deep.

Joe

Like him or loathe him - he was a force to be reckoned
with that's for sure. I watched famous people paying
homage to him on TV last night from John Howard,
to Tony Abbott, even John Laws, and even Malcolm Turnbull
appeared, but I didn't catch what he said. And there
were many more.

They even gave a brief history of his career. I expect
that there will be a documentary on him to follow.
And perhaps even a statue outside the 2GB Radio station?
Or maybe even outside Parliament House in Canberra (joke).

I'm sure that a book is going to follow. And it will be
a bestseller. After all if Malcolm Turnbull can do it -
so can Jonesy.

I think Alan Jones called a spade a shovel but only if there was a buck in it for him.

Alan Jones will continue with his commentary writing
for The Australian and The Daily Telegraph as well as
appearing on Sky News.

Not sure how Ben Fordham will do as his replacement on
2GB. Whether Fordham will be able to attract the over
50s audience that made up the bulk of Alan Jones
listeners. Still, I was doubtful over Hamish McDonald
as Tony Jones replacement on Q&A and Hamish has done
exceptionally well thus far.

It's truly surprising the wide mix of people who have
come forward in wishing Alan Jones well. People like
Anthony Albanese, Gladys Berijiklian, and even his
rival - John Laws. All had nice things to say.

Even Media Watch - Paul Barry had nothing derogatory
to mention. It looks like an end of an era - an
Australian kid who began his career teaching in the
Western suburbs of Sydney (Parramatta), was able to
climb so high.

Will Scott Morrison heap more accolades on
Alan Jones?

Australian of the year perhaps?

Perhaps offering him a diplomatic post?

Interesting times we live in.

Foxy,

I hope you are being cynical and sarcastic ............ please tell us you are being cynical and sarcastic ............ please!

No not cynical or sarcastic.

Just throwing a few suggestions around.

Alan Jones is 79 years old and quite mentally
alert.

Donald Trump is 70 years old and he's the President
of the US.

Go figure.

Anything is possible.

I should have added - anything is possible at
least in America.

I came across on the Amazon website something
of interest:

A book by Chris Masters titled - "Jonestown:
The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones."

We're told -

"How do you rank a man who raises millions for
people in need. How do you define someone whose
actions waste millions in support of unworthy
mates and poor public policy?"

" How do we define someone who on his own finds
jobs for those out of work but who routinely
thrashes the careers of others.?"

"These are some of the many paradoxes of Alan Jones.
Why is he adored? Why is he reviled? Why does this
talk radio host have the power to dine with
Presidents, lecture Prime Ministers and Premiers and
influence government ministers?"

"And how is it that he can survive scandals and still go on
to greater reward? Chris Masters seeks the answers to
these questions and in doing so reveals a complex
individual and the potent relationships he has both with
struggle street and the big end of town."

It sounds like a compelling and probing book.
One that I shall try to get a hold of as soon as the shops
re-open.

My bookshop has re-opened this morning. Yay!

I'll be going shopping this afternoon.

It's great to be back in business once again.

It looks like this discussion has run its course.
Which is a sign of the times regarding Alan Jones.

An interesting article in "The Conversation,"on May
12th summed things up nicely:

" His outbursts in the past suited the times. But in
many fundamental respects - time has also now passed
him by. His recent outbursts have generated social and
commercial backlashes recently - that were unthinkable
a few years ago, powered by the new force of social
media."

"For his employer - Nine Entertainment he's become a
high risk. The withdrawal of 19 big advertisers from his
program after his attack on Ardern came only a few
months after he had cost 2GB $3.75 million in
defamation damages plus costs for a baseless and relentless
campaign in which he blamed a family of quarry owners for
the deaths of 12 people in the 2011 Grantham Floods."

" It may be no coincidence that his retirement comes as his
contract with Nine approaches its end."

See you on another discussion.

"Alan Jones listened to the talk of men in the pub ...".

No he did not. Nobody with Jones's intelligence would listen to a bunch of drunks. He reflected what his sober,thoughtful fellow Australians believed - not people who lose control of their brains and mouths after a drink or two.

Please read the full post that Josephus put on page 3
of this discussion. Josephus was not suggesting that
Alan Jones listened to drunks. On the contrary.
And Josephus does sum up the audience that fully
backed Alan Jones for so many decades, quite well.
At least in the majority of opinions who've known the
man for decades.

Foxy, Alan Jones was raising issues that people were talking about. I never mentioned he listened to drunks. The "pub test" on an issue was where the community were discussing and Alan's ideas resonated with answers to satisfy concerns of persons in the street.

Much will come out about the Jones boy, but I suspect after his death.

Dear Josephus,

I think that ttbn misunderstood what you were saying
about Alan Jones. Thank you for clarifying.

Dear Paul,

I'm not sure that there's anything more to come
out about Alan Jones. It's been pretty much
covered in the Chris Masters book - "Jonestown."
The man was certainly a very powerful fixture
for so many decades in the world of radio
broadcasting. And like him or loathe him -
he was adored by many as well as reviled. But he
was never dull and boring.

"Alan Jones listened to the talk of men in the pub ...".
ttbn,
That's what our politicians should be doing !

We have 2GB on each morning and have done for many years.
I think why he knew what the peoples thoughts were about is that he
always read all his emails and letters. He says he always replied to them.
He got up each weekday at 2.30am to prepare for that days program.
He was always on top of the detail on any controversy that was current.
That was why some politicians avoided him as he usually knew more than
the bureaucrats.
Another reason was that he could get some politicians to come on at the
same day & time each week and basically give a report to the public.
Even those pollies did not get off lightly especially on the Murray Darling
plan, bushfires and drought.
His success was due to his research and background information.

Thank You Bazz.

Alan Jones obviously must have done his homework
to be able to keep the conversations going for
so long. I trust that his replacement will
follow the example set and also do his research.

At 79 an age way past most people's retirement, Jones works a punishing schedule and has had his fair share of health scares including a fight against cancer.

Any radio presenter's career is made or broken by his/her connections to the people listening. That Jones consistently had more people listening to him than anyone else made him a powerful force both economically and politically. While several comments of his infuriated the politically correct leading to a drop in advertising revenue, this didn't affect his listening numbers one jot. This meant that the boycotters while making a point were largely shooting themselves in the foot and generally returned.

That left whinge activists are claiming victory for AJ is retiring 1 year into a new $4m p.a. contract is pure hubris and ignores his recent health issue. That AJ is being paid $4m for a 1yr non competition agreement would show that he is still the 200 lb gorilla in this industry.

And while I am not generally a Bolt fan Bolt's commentary is the closest to the truth:

"Alan Jones’ enemies tried everything to turn his audience against him, telling it he was corrupt, a woman-hater and — most shamefully — gay.

But his listeners weren’t stupid. Most critically, they weren’t the homophobes the Left so often imagines middle Australia to be.

That’s what I love most about Australia’s greatest broadcaster, who this week quit after winning an unparalleled 226 surveys.

I love how Jones showed that those he fought for — the Australian workers — were basically good people who deserved the respect that Jones’ haters of the Left never showed them."

Shadow Minister,

I don't quite agree with Andrew Bolt's take on the
so called "Left" and Alan Jones.

After all Jones received favourable acknowledgement
and recognition from all sides of politics on the
announcement of his retirement.

Most people recognise the fact that he was a force to
be reckoned with. And the various scandals he was
involved in - from cash for comment to the arrest in
London and charges of indecent behaviour - had no
effect on his popularity.

Foxy,

Which part don't you agree with? The accusations made by the left are well documented.

Ah, Andrew Bolt's attack on the left. Wow, rivoting stuff for the Sky viewers.

Shadow Minister,

As are the accusations from the right.
They are also well documented.
And as is the fact that more than half
of the advertisers have dropped off and
the cost of millions in defamation suits have produced
a financial loss for the broadcasting network.

All in all there it all mounts up. Including the
health issues, of course.

But we can't really say with any certainty the
full reasons behind the retirement decision.
It will possibly come out eventually - as will
everything else once the man is no longer with us.

Foxy,

In spite of all of this AJ was still making the network $ms. Those that boycotted left the field wide open to their competitors and most of them came back as their sales fell.

To the point where the network is paying AJ $4m not to compete for a year.

Shadow Minister,

The fact remains that for whatever reason the man has
now retired from 2GB - and while his success has
been undeniable - the 9 network is looking forward
and upward regarding his timeslot. It seems that
they thought it well worth paying him out. The recent
defamation costs and loss of advertisers has taken its
toll.

Alan still talking sense: http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F3bKPuWb%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2KfILOx62GgKXfHt5g3U_Wkcwq8HkY_4KmSe4wnXmj1mZv2HFEW-qM8xw&h=AT2cwYCfitxAyjkdL8S4wUh4q3cPl4sAP1Q9Rw8pBQdfkhDDfQdg_ewT3ee5jfmUs5cafI8CCK2jTAgu8UYRcwt1Ypqq_QAHwrgh8GHHPG9P7mXebbrFrJMuIkF_LRlZ4-jN4OcNnxx7igBbQWjJnDBTv2W5rWN2dlKyWkllnD_JN7J92tIf9kpG1MG6MgHlieGlNJAww8R3u26P7SXDddqIf7RVBas1_QEhv5zuc5-suW1wIj2inXXZpOgEvu4CUXvu6JnjwnQSQAJr9DERdZrwN7-yH21LPOqVgNd1nmrhPPquBlxAjUTmifslwIR-YRXSBg3WVjU2OZ2uFh3lm1-gjfe3cRaAj-m0vBQJtgj477Ac3Ar_Fty1rI8vm2cXlYYyhy8ut_JYXeda5aTevjcmMx-VWw73IfecqjDCh-Urev8FNq3ueXI2eBEY0jgXGZA3DRR5PHKBkW93RvmGJTlJa5H2-CVJmXbuJiGBj5XcG32FGUrPNABuWOrYU49VRM-UujrSWg5XrMYORMdeGo4A365U9YciDY8iWKhPQwREhddvtm_d89xC1KrMijpHUunC7JSycRjIwiiCu7DANXCerYSByP9IeVitaUAeSZ3vlj2EsqeRvF9t2nZYP-1P57GSVLE5y68-q_hTAVzJdxjIKzLUl66ekedAytsxLgru4U5rBbtUVcYbY6-Yf9Q

Dear Josephus,

Thank You.