Sydney community radio station 2SER have a weekly podcast and program called Fourth Estate, presented by Tina Quinn, about journalism and media coverage of news. Previous guests have included Angela Catterns, ABC Chair Kim Williams and Laura Tingle. Tina is also a producer with ABC Radio National and a reporter for 10 News First in Sydney.

For the most recent episode, Tina Quinn was joined by trailblazing ABC announcer, news reader and interviewer, Margaret Throsby.

In this wide ranging interview Throsby was asked about joining the ABC in 1967, the first woman to do so after the War. When she was employed by Gordon Scott, on a three month probationary period, she was given a clear set of instructions.

Tina: “What weren’t you allowed to do?”

Margaret: “I wasn’t allowed to do was anything to do with sport, anything to do with parliamentary broadcasts, read the news, women’s voices don’t have the authority to do that stuff. The ‘boy jobs’, or what was perceived as boy jobs.”

You can listen to the entire interview, plus early audio of Margaret above, as well as other episodes.

Fourth Estate is produced with the assistance of the Department of Communications and the Arts via the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF).