Gary O’Callaghan ended his 50 year radio career when he did his last weekend shift on 2UE at Christmas. As a junior journalist he scooped all other electronic media by being the only radio reporter covering the Petrov affair bat Sydney airport.

O’Callaghan told radioinfo that covering Petrov helped his career “no end.”

“I was covering the Royal Easter Show for 2SM, but a friend who was working with the Intelligence Services said he thought I might get a better story at the airport. So I took my wind-up recorder and broke a date with Dorothy, (who later became my wife) and out I went.

I was the only radio reporter there and the story ended up going international. I couldn’t believe it, in those days we got excited when someone overseas asked us to mail them a tape, but when NBC booked an international shortwave phone circuit to get the audio we were astounded.”

Thanks to ScreenSound, you can listen to the audio of that coverage. Click below (50 sec, 800 kb).