John Laws
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| Born: | 8 August 1935 Wau, Papua New Guinea |
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| Occupation: | Commentator, talkback radio host |
John Laws, CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a prominent and controversial radio presenter in Australia, whose mellifluous voice earned him the nickname 'Golden Tonsils'. Since the 1970s Laws has hosted a hugely successful morning radio program, which mixes music with interviews, opinion, live advertising readings and listener talkback. It has been syndicated throughout Australia for many years and has consistently been one of the most popular and influential programs in the Australian media. Laws is also a familiar voice for generations of Australians through his large and varied body of work as a voice-over artist for commercials, and as a celebrity endorser of commercial products, notably Valvoline motor oil, with his popular catchphrase "Valvoline, you know what I mean" and Oral-B toothbrushes (the slogan "Oral-B, the toothbrush more dentists use.")
Laws has been on Australian radio longer than anyone else and as a result of his vast and enduring popularity, for many years he has been cited as Australia's highest-paid radio personality. Although not a journalist, Laws has become one of the most influential media personalities in Australia over the last three decades, and one of the few commercial radio personalities whose interviews with state and federal political leaders are considered to have a significant influence of the course of politics in NSW especially, and Australia in general.
Tim Webster often fills in for John Laws when he is on holidays or off sick.
Born in Wau, Papua New Guinea, Laws was educated at Knox Grammar School and Mosman Preparatory School in Sydney, Australia.
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[edit] Career
He began his radio career in 1953 at 3BO in Bendigo before working at several rural radio stations prior to joining 2UE in 1957, the first of four terms at that Sydney radio station, during which time Laws, (along with Bob Rogers, Tony Withers and Stan Rofe) became prominent as one of the first Australian disk jockeys to play rock'n'roll music. Laws is said to have pioneered the practice (soon taken up by Rofe) of using contacts in the airline industry to supply him with the latest pop releases from overseas, a facility which gave him an edge at a time when many pop records were not released in Australia until weeks or even months after being issued overseas.
Laws left 2UE two years later, and moved for a time to the Hunter Valley, where he ran a farm. In 1962 he moved back to Sydney where he joined 2GB. Two years later he rejoined 2UE and remained with the station for five years. In 1969 he joined 2UW's line-up and remained there for 10 years. He returned to 2UE in 1979, this time for another five years. He then moved to 2GB after a highly publicised bid for his services, but returned to the 2UE fold when the station was number eight in the ratings. The return of Laws was the primary cause of the station then being number one in Sydney for many years. However, his appeal began to wane. In 2002, station colleague and archrival Alan Jones moved from 2UE to 2GB, and soon took that station to the top talk position in Sydney.
Laws' radio program is presently syndicated nationwide, with it especially popular in rural areas. Capital city stations taking Laws include 4BC in Brisbane, 2CC in Canberra, 101.7 HOFM in Hobart and Mix 1049 in Darwin.
From 1998-2000, John Laws had a short-lived current affairs TV program called "Laws" on Fox News and fX, which he reportedly quit despite being begged not to. In 1998, he had a program called John Laws - In One Lifetime on Network Ten. Laws also writes a column for The Sydney Morning Herald, has recorded numerous albums (mostly of Australian country music), and has written several best selling books.
[edit] Controversies
In 1999, Laws became a central figure in what has become known as the 'cash for comment' scandal. During the year, the ABC TV current affairs program Media Watch revealed that Laws and rival talk-back host Alan Jones (then also at 2UE) had been paid to give favourable comment to companies including Qantas, Optus, Foxtel, Mirvac, and major Australian banks, without disclosing this arrangement to listeners. Media Watch also revealed that Laws had evidently pursued a policy of making repeated unfavourable comments, most notably about the state of the Australian banking industry, but that Laws' stance had dramatically reversed after the signing of secret agreements with businesses which he had previously criticised. The Australian Broadcasting Authority estimated the value of these arrangements at $18 million and found Laws, Jones, and 2UE to have committed 90 breaches of the industry code and five breaches of 2UE's license conditions.
In 2004, both Jones (now at 2GB) and Laws were accused of cash for comment again, after entering into similar deals with Telstra. The ABA subsequently found that Laws' deal constituted cash for comment but Jones' did not.
Laws, apparently angered by what he saw as inequitable treatment, launched stinging attacks on Jones and the ABA's head, David Flint. In an appearance on the ABC's Enough Rope, Laws accused Jones of placing pressure on Prime Minister John Howard to keep Flint as head of the ABA, made comments that many viewers took to imply a sexual relationship between Jones and Flint (see transcript), and broadly hinted that Jones and Flint were homosexual.
In November 2004, Laws and 2UE colleague Steve Price were found guilty of vilifying homosexuals after an on-air discussion about a gay couple appearing in the reality TV show The Block. Laws had previously apologised for another incident in which he called gay TV personality Carson Kressley, of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, a "sexy beast" before urging him to "take off your pants".
Several community radio stations in regional areas began re-broadcasting the John Laws show circa 2000. Whilst not directly targetting John Laws, this focussed the attention of the ABA onto these stations, for potentially breaching the BSA, and Codes of Practice. Several ABA investigations were held, many finding breaches by the community stations.
[edit] Cultural influence
In 1996 a portrait of John Laws by artist Paul Newton won the Packing Room award at the Archibald Prize.
Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating called him the "broadcaster of the century".
