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Visiting Shon Walker at the ABC - the full tour

Last week was pretty unusual, in that I went out on extraordinary trips on 2 days running - when for the most part it's rarely go anywhere - stay on board - working on the yacht.

An old friend of mine Shon Walker (a St Marys boy like me - we went through school together from kindergarten to the end of high school) - is the morning newsreader on ABC NewsRadio in Sydney (which is broadcast Australia wide). He must be just about clocking up 30 years in the radio business and was doing the local news on Penrith's 2KA back when I was Mayor in '88.

He's been with ABC NewsRadio for about 8 years, and you can hear him every morning from breakfast till 10.00.

We've seen each other rarely over the past 20 years - as often happens - except for school reunions - and like always, you catch up, and say 'let's get together', or 'come for a visit', but somehow despite all good intentions, it just gets forgotten in the schedule of your lives.

But this time it didn't. So, despite my somewhat secluded lifestyle, it was arranged that I would come down to the ABC in Sydney, on the train, visit with Shon and see him on air in the NewsRadio studio in full swing, be given a tour of the ABC at Ultimo, have lunch in Chinatown - and even get a lift home to St Marys afterwards (Shon's Mum is here, and he lives up the mountains anyway). So, how good is all that?

So this was the adventure that transpired on Wednesday 13th December 2006.

What is for Shon his work and surroundings - is to an otherwise ordinary outsider - a glimpse into a different world - a world that you and I only hear about, see on TV, or read about - the world that is radio & television - news - entertainment - the actual place where the electronic media that so fills our lives every single day - is assembled - prepared - and then beamed right into our homes, cars, and everywhere.

And I suppose what we don't think about, is the fact that, what we are seeing and hearing, is the short end result, of a process involving 100's of people. A veritable army of people, co-ordinating state of the art communication technology, instantly drawing resources from around the globe - distilled and channelled in the end to Shon reading the message to you.

I was just overwhelmed with the excitement & intensity of the whole place, the buzz of a city and national newsroom - and the atmosphere of entire floors of professional 'newspeople' bombarded continuously by a sea of flashing computor and television screens filling their world with 'live' sound and images. This is a world, where dull, doesn't exist. For me, just walking through the place and seeing all this briefly, was a dizzying experience - to work here - you would either love it, and never wannt to do anything else, or, crack.

I'm sure that I walked around the whole place with Shon, with my eyes double wide, and my jaw dropped open, through newsrooms, studios, TV shows, recitals. We spoke, and shared hallways and lifts, meeting real people, who till then were faces and names on radio and TV.

Perhaps the most enlightening thing of all was to sit in with the producer of Shon's broadcast - as Shon was on air continuously delivering the news and reports. You can see the stories come in from 'wherever' to the computor screens - and be co-ordinated and programmed 'on the fly' - literally moments before they appear on screens surrounding Shon in the Studio (see Studio Photos) - where he flawlessly and smoothly broadcasts them across Australia.

The perfect synchronization of 'live feeds', overseas reports, interviews, with Shon's delivery, moments before we hear it on air, is truly impressive. Shon is being communicated with frequently and he controls, the final switches that put the external pieces to air, as he is broadcasting. It is plain to see that he has had many years of professsional broadcasting, to bring it all together, to the seamless presentation you finally hear.

I can't tell you how impressed I was with Shon and the whole damn place - and from an old campaigner like me - probably a cynic, verging on being a 'grumpy old man' - it was truly a memorable visit - and I'm so pleased Shon gave me the opportunity - and even more, that he pretty much gave his day over to me, and treated me both as an important guest, and an old and dear friend. But then that's Shon for you - he's pretty much the genuine article - and to know him is to love him. So, Thanks Again, old mate.

We even called in to visit his Mum on the way home - who I hadn't seen for too long, as well.

So take a look at the album - I just wish now that I'd taken a lot more (which I usually do) but you feel a bit awkward walking around snapping everything, like the big kid I am - and after all, Shon's still got to work there.

Rodney