I’ve been interviewed by ABC journalists/radio presenters three times in the last three days, and it’s been really interesting, sometimes awkward, occasionally frustrating.
The first was on my birthday when I was at the dog park with Perry and I was contacted by an ABC journalist in far north Queensland who wanted to talk about community halls. He’d somehow found me because I had co-written a chapter in a book (which I also co-edited) about a particular, successful, valued community hall in NSW, about ten years ago. He hadn’t read the chapter (I wouldn’t have expected him to, necessarily) but he’d read the abstract of it. I am not entirely sure why he contacted me and not any of my co-authors but I suppose I didn’t need to know that either. This was for an online piece, not for radio, and it was as far as I was concerned a good chat. When I saw the final article, I didn’t feel misrepresented at all, but the article was essentially about how community halls were on the way out as a phenomenon and people these days had, I suppose, broader horizons than what happened in their little corner of the universe.
Six days later I got contacted by the ABC in Sydney to talk on the radio with Josh Szeps (son of occasional Homicide actor Henri) about the demise of community halls. It was weird mainly because I was never setting myself up to discuss why community halls were dying, but rather hold the opinion that, if communities can only find ways to maintain and retain their halls/community centres/neighbourhood houses, they do have value and they can be made to work – in my opinion. Well, in this case apparently I was there to talk about why community halls were on the way out. I understand radio producers are very stressed and overworked and just have to pump content into the system, so I resent no-one in this regard – I’m fine with it. But I do kind of think that maybe the final product would be a bit better if there weren’t these assumptions that were not revealed to interviewees until the very last minute. Josh Szeps told his listenership that I was interested in the demise of the community hall. But the opposite is true (or at least, I am interested in ways to revive and retain them). On top of that, when I say ‘I am interested’… it’s not something I have thought about for a long, long time, notwithstanding the fact that I was coopted into the Save Kendenup Hall facebook chat last week, or that I posted the Cockatoo Hall picture last week from Homicide, and also posted the same picture in a Cockatoo neighbourhood group on Facebook and got so many responses I had to turn off notifications (yes, I brought that one on myself).
So yesterday the ABC in Sydney called me again, this time to talk about pub rock. I told them I’d been on only a few days before to talk about community halls and the prepping producer I spoke to seemed a little baffled but ultimately unphased by this – though weirdly, there are crossovers of which much could be made, except that of course radio like everything is bang-bang-bang ideas of which there can only be one perspective at a time, which I suppose is either ‘oh, no, a terrible thing is happening’ or ‘yay, remember a wonderful thing?’
So I was surprised to be introduced by the ABC announcer this morning as someone who loves pub rock, which I absolutely do not, and if I had been asked yesterday to go on the radio and talk about why I loved it, I’d have to say – I can’t, because I don’t. I’m a historian though and I’m interested in it. But I’m not here to celebrate it (let alone celebrate it because it’s Jimmy Barnes’ 76th birthday ffs). I would note also that the announcer gave me the wrong title (that’s not really important but I did wonder where she had got her information from) and the right faculty but then said she didn’t know what my position/faculty etc had to do with pub rock to which the only answer (I wasn’t asked) is: that’s on you really. I was talking with Laura about this particular appearance last night and mentioned that the person who originally contacted me about this seemed a bit confused about it all and I joked that the thing you probably need to say in that instance is ‘don’t you know who I am?’ – the joke being I’m nobody, but at the same time, nobody wants to be misrepresented even in a little bit of pissant radio. Also, it is of greater value to them if they know why I’m there, which apparently they didn’t.
Anyway, very predictably, and true to its demographic, the segment I was on was just people calling/texting to say that the early 1980s were the best years of their lives etc, and being dazzled by the groups they saw or could see on any given night in Sydney in (say) 1981, with the obvious response being – yeah that’s amazing to you because you’re the age you are and etc etc. But whatever I suppose you can pull anything apart and leave it a husk can’t you.
So let people have their fun I guess. I do hate (most) pub rock though.*
*I was mildly gleeful though that I got them to play a bit of the Celibate Rifles' version of 'Hot Stuff'. I am not entirely sure why but let me have my fun too thanks.
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