Presenter Profile: 2XX stalwart Bill Tully
Author: 2XX | Source: 2XX | Date: 26-03-08
Communique, the magazine of Canberra's 2XX, interviews Bill Tully in its latest issue. A veteran presenter of a variety of programs over the last quarter of a century, ranging from politics to books and film chat, reflects on all things 2XX.
Bill, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Well, I'm Bill Tully. I'm a broadcaster at 2XX.. I came when I was on long service leave from the National Library, by request. They wanted to get a news collective together and we used to broadcast the news every morning. Very alternative news, so to speak, and there I was, collecting and broadcasting news. Previously, I'd done a program that I'd been more or less leading at 2XX.about East Timor. That started in about 1976, so I'd had a sort of association with the station before that.
Was that related with the problems they were experiencing in East Timor at that time?
Yes, indeed. Indonesia invaded in 1975 and there was a very strong pro-Timorese activist group.
That must have been very interesting
It was very involving, like a lot community work. It was over thirty years ago now and I’ll have been twenty-five years at 2XX next year. So my program was basically news. Then I got into the book program. There was a man named Nicholas Sykes, who had the book program running and he stopped and went to Sydney and so I hopped into that. That would have been about 1985. Now that again, has been the long lasting program, Sound Print. It was far too long. Originally, it was two hours, and then it was trimmed down to an hour and a half and then to an hour, which was much more manageable. If you're working, of course, as often as people at 2XX are, to fi ll in a program and do it properly and do it with some style, you've got
to spend time preparing and recording. And frankly, you don't get a lot of
people who have got the time to help you and you've got to do it on your
own. I had somebody panel operating on the book program for several years,
but they had to stop and eventually I had to do it on my own. I've been doing
it ever since. I'm no great technical person, but I get by. But that's what it's
all about, community radio, getting by.
What about the programs you are running these days?
Now they've been added to programs. I've got a classical music program. Two to three each Tuesday afternoon, called Classic Matters. That's a Johnny come lately one; I've been doing it since February this year. The one before that, that I copped, (I seem to cop programs, people leave, people do something different, people get called away overseas), was the film program, Hot Buttered Popcorn. Dreadful title. I must change it. I hate that name.
What would you like to change it to?
Oh, CineBuzz, or something like that. CineKings or CineTalk.
Which program do you enjoy the most?
They all have their joys. Being a political animal, another one I've copped is called
Polytalk. That's a nice relaxing one on a Monday morning when I bring in people
to just talk about anything. Poly. of course, means any old group, everything, and
that’s the sort of program it was. I enjoyed that. The problem is getting in here at
nine o'clock is sometimes a bit hard! The fi lm program is good, but it demands a
certain dedication. You have to see a lot of fi lms that you don't like, and you can't
be too hard on them. You don't want to be too personal about them. The thing I've
noticed about me is, I'm certainly no control freak, but I'm very organised. I very
seldom miss programs. The only time I did was when I had an operation in late
2003, which kept me off for a few months. I'm always there. I suppose that's been
my redeeming feature. Regularity and constancy in the programs I’m doing.
Do you have any highlights from the time you've been involved in 2XX?
Well, I remember dear Batterz. He's on some of the promos for 2XX. He was on
with another young person doing breakfast shows. They were anarchic in the best
sense of that word. He died, I'm sad to say, some years ago, but he's always on
these little promos they put out. He was the most interesting person I've ever had
dealings with. He did a little program with Bill Gold, the world’s most unpublished
author. Bill would talk, talk, talk. Nothing would stop Bill Gold talking about
himself and his unpublished books. That’s a moment I remember. A funny moment.
Probably the most memorable.
Do you have any plans for the future?
Keep going, keep going, keep going. Look, life’s an adventure, and it’s often a bumpy adventure and you do have bumps along the road, but you fi ght back and you keep going for as long as you can. That’s how I feel now I’m seventy. I’ll keep
going for the next ten years, as far as I’m able to keep going. If something happens and I can’t keep going, then so be it.
How do you feel about Community Radio?
You meet people, you interview people. I’ve interviewed hundreds of people, people I know in Canberra, people I’ve got to know over the forty years I’ve been here. That’s what it’s all about. Bringing people in, interviewing them, it’s like a
whirlpool. And it’s not so much the famous people, although they’re all very nice, but it’s the people who have something to say, they’re enthusiastic about what they’re doing and they can talk about it. There’s certainly been plenty of those over the last twenty-five years. That’s how I feel about community radio.
Any last words?
Keep 2XX going. Keep it unique, keep it independent and not commercial. Keep
it doing it’s own thing, and keep the many people who have been involved
throughout the years who have made a great contribution.
Download the latest 2XX station program here!
