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.