A special episode of the ABC’s PM on Monday will feature content celebrating its 50th anniversary, including some of the voices from the program across the ages.
The program names were the brainchild of ABC General Manager Talbot Duckmanton.
PM’s first presenters were Lawrence Bryant and John Highfield, who hosted on alternate nights and many distinguished names have worked on the show, including presenters Iain Finlay, Paul Murphy, Monica Attard, Ellen Fanning and Mark Colvin (who hosted from 1997 to 2017) and reporters Ray Martin, Bob Carr, Kate Baillieu, Maxine McKew, and many more.
Initially 25 minutes long, PM was expanded to 50 minutes in 1987, before resuming the half-hour format in 2018, matching AM.
Today the program is as strong as ever under presenter Linda Motttram.
ABC senior researcher, John Spence, says, “PM has been required listening for all politicians who wanted to know what was going on in Australia or overseas. Even crime writer Peter Corris’s fictional detective Cliff Hardy listened.”
