When astronauts aboard Apollo 17 carried out a momentous mission in December 1972: the first landing on the moon of a scientist-astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, and the last chance (so far) to humans walk through the lunar landscape, a young Robyn Williams found herself making a giant leap into the unknown emission.
Earlier that year, the 28-year-old graduate in science (honors) from the University of London had applied to the ABC Science Unit looking for work and, fortunately, in what he called a moment of “sliding doors”, science journalist Max Bourke (future head of the Council of Australia and founding director of the Heritage Council) had just resigned, and Williams was hired as a “gopher”.
After graduating from the UK with a degree in science, Robyn Williams joined the ABC in 1972 as a radio novel. (ABC files)
“They needed a gopher because during that year’s Apollo missions – Apollo 16 was launched in April – they wanted someone to collect data for the stations. For example,” If you put the rocket next to the building AMP on Circular Quay, which will be higher? That kind of thing, “Williams recalls.
“We were on the air for about 24 hours a day. The ABC cleaned the decks and we went live everywhere. We got messages from the Apollo astronauts. And then they landed on the moon, and I went think, ‘Shit, this is happening, they’re actually doing it.’ It was very exciting. “
While studying in the UK, Williams had done some part-time acting, appearing as an extra on BBC television shows such as Doctor Who, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and The Goodies, and working alongside stars such as Tom Jones, John Cleese and Peter. Sellers, but had no experience in live radio broadcasts.
His work had been behind the scenes during space broadcasts. Then, as the voices of the Apollo 17 astronauts were broadcast on the ABC, Williams suddenly appeared with a moment of sinking or swimming.
“[Director of the ABC Science Unit] Peter Pockley had been on the air, brilliantly, for hours and looked through the glass of the radio studio where I was sitting, giving him information, and said, “Okay, now I’m leaving. “Come in, sit there, here’s the switch, take over.” And that was my workout! ”Says Williams.
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“But the question of doing five years of television [previously], where I was often on live TV doing very simple things, such as making sure I didn’t fall on the furniture or interfere with the dancers, I knew how to deal with a live situation and act the way you should . . I had learned to concentrate and I just thought, “Well, I’m just in a room and I’m talking to one person.”
“We were making the first phone calls [from listeners] in the ABC. Only the commercial stations had made phone calls at that stage and the ABC did not have the equipment, so we used an army field telephone. I just focused on how to change [callers] and I was very excited. “
Creating a radio show that lasted 47 years
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Robyn Williams introduced the ABC television promotion in 1977
It was the launch of a remarkable 50 years of broadcasting on ABC.
After debuting on the air during Apollo broadcasts, Williams worked on innovative radio programs produced by the Science Unit, including a three-hour episode of the “Investigations” series called The Media Game, which later he described it as “the worst radio disaster”. I’ve experienced it before. “
With media baron Kerry Packer and a training of prominent journalists and editors, he delivered a mortifying lesson on the dangers of mixing alcohol and live radio, as Williams recalled in his 1989 book Here Come the Philistines. :
“I faced this training with the experience of a single program as a ‘live’ presenter and without any formal training. I was assured that, at my signal, everyone present would attack Kerry Packer and all What I had to do was interrupt from time to time as a moderate but civilized mediator, and no one warned me of the silence time needed before presenting such a mammoth show, instead I ran to the pub for scotch tape. a distinguished company that wanted more than the little wine we had thought of. Paddy McGuinness began to open the beer cans as explosively and as close to the microphone as he could. The resulting chaos was appalling. beyond all that can be imagined, but the strangest thing is A: They didn’t take us out. [General manager] Talbot Duckmanton even sent a congratulatory note. We assumed it was the wrong date, hadn’t listened to the disastrous edition, but meant it for release. Then a nice man from the management gave me a motivating talk … and we went on. “
That he was urged to simply go through such a spectacular failure was indicative of a spirit of radical experimentation and unbridled creative energy that, Williams recalls, hit the ABC at the time.
Robyn Williams in New Zealand in 1976 doing interviews for a program on Maori culture. (Provided by: Robyn Williams)
“The Science Unit had the most extraordinarily bright people, everyone was an intellectual star, personally wonderful,” he says.
“The ABC then had something called a Radio Action Movement, [a group of staff] which included department heads, and it was about loosening old things, looking for great ideas, and seeing where new technology could take us: what could be done with satellites.
“We were inventing programs, like Lateline, that took over the airwaves, sometimes for hours; we interviewed Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, abroad, together about existentialism.
“Famous people from distant places were touched by calls from well – read Oz stations, such as Pierre Vicary. [later a star in disguise in Tony Jones’s thriller novels] who spoke French fluently, and others, such as Malcolm Long, who brought formidable intellectuals to the airwaves.
“It’s never been like this before. The world opened up. We were breaking the rules and we were also very cheeky.”
It was in this fertile environment, in 1975, that The Science Show, an hour-long program that talked about a wide range of scientific issues, developments, and debates, as well as making some controversial jokes, more about outrage. by fossilized beer later. she was born.
Robyn Williams interviews Professor Charles Birch of the University of Sydney and Dr Telford Conlon, one of the first advisers to a federal science minister, in 1983. (ABC Archives)
In his final ABC story, This Is The ABC, Ken Inglis wrote about how innovative he was at the time:
“More than its predecessors, The Science Show became a vehicle for skepticism about what scientists were doing to the rest of us and for the discussion about the political context in which they worked. Williams was sharp. well-informed, human and fun, and The Science Show became Radio 2.’s most popular show. It was a brilliant essay on the intellectual use of radio. “
About 47 years later, The Science Show continues to air on RN with Williams, now 78, still at the helm. It is one of the longest running radio and television programs in the world.
“The Science Show had to be a program of ideas, not just a clumsy vehicle for a thousand facts. We were already drowning in factoids,” Williams says.
The first episode of The Science Show covered the threat of climate change and Williams despairs at the decades of missed opportunities for action while people, politicians and vested interests doubted science.
“We interviewed [energy expert and science writer] Lord Peter Ritchie-Calder [at the 13th Pacific Science Congress in Vancouver] and gave figures on the pollution of the atmosphere by fossil fuels and said: “This will undoubtedly cause chaos in our atmosphere.” It’s very serious. ‘ And here we are, [almost 50 years later]. I find it terrible. “
In 1984, Williams began hosting a second shorter science program, Ockham’s Razor, now featuring Tegan Taylor. He does a science segment on the ABC News Channel every week. He has conducted countless interviews with scientists on ABC television programs such as Quantum and Catalyst, narrated the acclaimed Nature of Australia documentary series in the 1980s, and appeared on World Safari with David Attenborough, which aired live in 15 countries in 1986. .
“People forget how innovative Robyn was,” says Dr. Norman Swan, a four-decade-old friend and colleague.
“He created a show different from anything else on ABC and brought humor, a light touch and cultural richness to the task of communicating science. The Science Show brought out Australian scientists and showed them how important public communication for their efforts “.
Robyn Williams with author and neurologist Oliver Sacks and ABC broadcaster Lynne Malcolm. (Provided by: Robyn Williams)
Robyn Williams is especially proud of the program’s role, led by “intrepid journalist Matt Peacock,” in dealing with the deadly threat of asbestos and raising awareness of the dangers of lead in gasoline.
The Science Show has championed the work of emerging and little-known scientists, interviewed celebrities such as Sting, Cate Blanchett, Paul Hogan, John Cleese, regularly featured the late satirist John Clarke, and occasionally made headlines for outrageous deceptions. .
The first was to interview a two-time Nobel Prize-winning fictional scientist, Sir Clarence Lovejoy, who could analyze politicians for a megalomania deficiency. “Gough Whitlam did not have this difficulty,” the program reported. He ended up giving Williams and his fake scientist an invitation to appear on The Midday Show.
Robyn Williams interviewing Professor Jak Kelly of the University of NSW in 1980. Kelly was a …