Profile of John Laws on Famous Like Me

John Laws (born August 8, 1935) is a prominent and controversial radio presenter in Australia whose on-air mellifluent voice earned him the nickname 'Golden Tonsils'. He has won more awards than any other Australian radio host.

Born in Wau, Papua New Guinea, Laws was educated at Knox Grammar School and Mosman Preparatory School in Sydney, Australia. He began his radio career in 1953 at 3BO in Bendigo before working at several rural radio stations prior to joining 2UE in 1957, the first of four terms at that Sydney radio station. He left 2UE two years later, and moved to the Hunter Valley, where he ran a farm.

In 1962 Laws moved back to Sydney where he joined 2GB. Two years later he rejoined 2UE and remained with the station for five years. In 1969 he hoined 2UW's line-up and remained there for 10 years. He returned to 2UE in 1979, this time for another five years. He then moved to 2GB after a highly publicised bid for his services, but returned to the 2UE fold when the station was number eight in the ratings. The return of Laws was the primary cause of the station then being number one in Sydney for many years. However, his appeal began to wane. In 200?, station collegue and archrival Alan Jones moved from 2UE to 2GB, and soon took that station to the top talk position in Sydney.

Laws' radio program is presently syndicated throughout much of the country, especially in rural areas. Capital city stations taking Laws include 4BC in Brisbane, 2CC in Canberra, Magic 107.3 FM in Hobart and Mix 1049 in Darwin.

In 1996 a portrait of John Laws by artist Paul Newton won the Packing Room award at the Archibald Prize.

From 1998-2000, John Laws had a short lived current affairs TV program called "Laws" on Fox News and fX, which he reportedly quit despite being begged not to. In 1998, he had a program called John Laws - In One Lifetime on Network Ten.

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating called him the "broadcaster of the century".

Laws also writes a column for The Sydney Morning Herald and has written several best selling books.

Controversies

In 1999, in what has become known as the 'cash for comment' scandal, Media Watch revealed that Laws and rival talk-back host Alan Jones (then also at 2UE) had been paid to give favourable comment to companies including Qantas, Optus, Foxtel, Mirvac, and major Australian banks, without disclosing this arrangement to listeners. The Australian Broadcasting Authority estimated the value of these arrangements at $18 million and found Laws, Jones, and 2UE to have committed 90 breaches of the industry code and five breaches of 2UE's license conditions.

In 2004, both Jones (now at 2GB) and Laws were accused of cash for comment again, after entering into similar deals with Telstra. The ABA subsequently found that Laws' deal constituted cash for comment but Jones' did not.

Laws, apparently angered by what he saw as inequitable treatment, launched stinging attacks on Jones and the ABA's head, David Flint. In an appearance on the ABC's 'Enough Rope', Laws accused Jones of placing pressure on Prime Minister John Howard to keep Flint as head of the ABA, and made comments that many viewers took to imply a sexual relationship between Jones and Flint (see transcript).

In November 2004, Jones and 2UE colleague Steve Price were found guilty of vilifying homosexuals after an on-air discussion about a gay couple appearing in a reality TV show. Laws had previously apologised for another incident in which he called Carson Kressley a "pompous little pansy prig" and "a pillow biter" before urging him to "piss off, pansy".

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