After more than two decades of balancing the scales of the broadcast industry, you might have read this week that Radioinfo and Radio Today Managing Editor Peter Saxon resigned, mostly. He has been now dubbed our Editor Emeritus and will still contribute when the mood (survey result, scandal, takeover bid, unexpected departure) takes him. However I also wanted to share some of the previous contributions that have hit a mark. Or sometimes a nerve.
For those of you who may have read Peter’s work but never spoken to him, he has a true broadcaster’s voice and knack for the delivery of a line, or searing question. I had spoken to Peter many times before I finally encountered him at the 2023 ACRAs. Dani Torresan and I were powering away during a musical interlude to get our interviews labelled and uploaded. He come up from behind and said:
“Jen Seyderhelm, I presume?”
I’m pretty sure I jumped. It was like being unexpectedly accosted by John Laws.
It was a short and sweet chat that day due to the next round of Awards being called, but in the time since, across a great many phone calls, a few leisurely lunches, dinners and a particularly memorable ice cream evening, I have come to consider Peter not just a mentor but an ally and friend, not just to me, but to our industry. And our industry needs those right now.
Towards that I have shared some of Peter’s columns that have particularly resonated. Peter has been doing this for nearly three decades and in the industry more than five. You will note that there is always Peter in these articles somewhere. Readers recalled his arrival in Australia from Hungary post war and communist takeover in the 1950s as well as his acting aspirations at NIDA (if you heard him, you’d know acting was in his past somewhere) being tied into other discussions.
The first article below had more people reach out with comments and opinion than any other during my time. Other’s remain just as relevant as when Peter first wrote them. All will remind you that a love for radio and its people is front and centre in this publication, and in our Editor Emeritus, even when paired with a searing question from his burnished tongue.
Forcing music quotas on radio is not an “encouragement” Ms Herd
Would you hire this man as a talk presenter for your station?
Parliament must level the playing field for Aussie Radio v US Social Giants game
Why the ABC will never be ‘Fair and Balanced.’ And won’t be sold either.
Radio people are never sacked they just pursue personal interests
Ordinary, Reasonable Listener Test is not reasonable: Opinion from Peter Saxon
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.