John Laws was one of the most influential, commercially successful yet polarising figures in the history of Australian radio broadcasting. He has died at the age of 90.
He was among a handful of pioneering presenters who swiftly took advantage of a critical change in the broadcasting laws in April 1967. Until then, regulations enforced by the Postmaster General’s Department and the Broadcasting Control Board prohibited telephone conversations being put to air.
Laws was at the Sydney station 2UE when this epochal change was made, and his deep resonant voice, combined with an instinctively combative style, gave him a competitive edge over his rivals. In his biography, Lawsie, Laws quotes Paul Keating as saying: “The most important thing to say about John Laws is he really made and created the medium of talkback radio in Australia.”
