ABC Radio’s AM current affairs program celebrated its 40th anniversary this week.

AM hit the airwaves in 1967 hosted by its first presenter Robert Peach. It changed the way Australians consumed their current affairs and influenced the news agenda of politicians, newspapers, and television news editors.

On the first program Philip Koch reported from South Vietnam on the conflict that would later become the Vietnam War. Koch’s experiences as a foreign correspondent in Asia were later turned into a novel and a film called The Year of Living Dangerously, written by his brother Chris Koch.

Other inaugural reporters on the AM team for the first show included Tim Bowden, Richard Carleton and Paul Murphy. Behind the scenes was the inspiring but tyrannical executive producer Russell Warner.

The first story was a lightweight piece about the first Australian Lyre Birds born in captivity.

When AM started in 1967, two new undersea telegraph cables made it easier to speak and record voices across the world. Journalists began to carry portable tape recorders that could be worn over the shoulder.

Forty years on and AM continues to set the day’s news agenda with reports and analysis from journalists around Australia and around the world.

As part of the ABC’s 75th celebrations and 40 years of AM, current presenter Tony Eastley and the AM team have been visiting Australia’s capital cities, as well as doing special broadcasts from Maningrida, Broome and at a road house in Western Australia’s Kimberley.

Director of ABC News John Cameron says: “AM has not only been a news leader and agenda-setter over 40 years on the national stage, but it’s also been both a great breeding ground and journalistic home for some of Australia’s best known broadcast talent. We’re very proud of the program’s history and we’re confident it will continue to set the pace in the decades to come.”

Other reporters who have worked on AM over the years include: Ray Martin, Charles Woolley, Bob Carr, Pru Goward, Claire Martin, Maxine McKew, John Hinde and Allan Hogan.

Audio of the first AM program can be heard at the link below. A history and more audio is available at the 40th anniversary page at www.abc.net.au/am/40years.