Triple J staff celebrated 50 years of Triple J on Sunday 19th January. Even the ABC itself did the same thing later that day.

Hear from Rusty Nails, Dr Karl, Sarah Macdonald, Craig Donarski, Andy Marinos, Dame Lush, Hannah Thompson and other ex ABC staff and current Triple J listeners.

<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The expectant crowd at ABC Ultimo await a tight set of 15 minutes of stand up comedy from the Prime Minister.</figcaption></figure>

Here’s what happened at the Triple J 40th staff party…

Maynard Triple J Breakfast show 1989

Here’s a transcript of what transpired this time, at the 50th….
Rusty Nails: An audio dildo!
Maynard: At Triple J’s 50th birthday, and who’s the first guy I run into … drinking a cup of coffee! Is there anything in that Rusty Nails?
Rusty: Just coffee this morning, Maynard, I’ve got some serious professional work to do.
M: What year of Triple J are you covering?
Rusty: I’m covering the 79 to 85-ish era, which is sort of like the Uncle Doug Mulray, Jono and Dano, Off The Record, and the J Team of course, and the Oils on the Water.
M: How come commercial radio never snapped you up from your breakfast show at Triple J?
Rusty: I was probably too rebellious. I did actually, funnily enough, talk to Trevor Smith at one point. He said, “Nothing wrong with your talent, but we don’t like your voice, it’s not Aussie enough.”
M: Everyone knows that when an English guy speaks there’s authority. Or he’s a geezer, it’s either one or the other.
Rusty: Oh, I’m a geezer.
M: What do you reckon has been the greatest moment of Triple J over the last 50 years?
Rusty: At this fiftieth, I’m proud to announce that I’ve almost finished writing, no, not finished, but I’ve almost finished writing my book for my daughter, and it’s called “Dear Emily, Extraordinary Moments in an Ordinary Life”, and it’ll be on the bookshelves by Christmas.
M: I’ll look forward to that. Why do you think there’s never been a book about Triple J? Is it too complicated?
Rusty: Well, there was one …
M: Toby Cresswell was supposed to write one.
Rusty: But there was that Twenty years of Double J and Triple J. They never reprinted it.
M: All David Wales’ artwork through it, too.
Rusty: It had the wonderful stories like Russell Gay answering the phone to the General at Victoria Barracks.
M: I tell you what, Rusty, because I’ve got a lot of reel to reel tape, which I recorded stuff on, at the end of it, there was stuff that I hadn’t recorded over. And I’ve heard a lot of your unedited interviews, one with the Homecoming Queen’s got a Gun, Julie. I’ve got your interview with Julie Brown!
Rusty: Wow! Unfortunately, I lost a mass of tapes moving continent to continent and stuff, but I think I might even have a Yahoo Serious interview somewhere.
M: What’s the song for you that epitomises your time at Triple J?
Rusty: Oh, shit. I suppose it’s gotta be when we were doing the Breakfast Program and Midnight Oil came in and world premiered their Place Without a Postcard album.
M: Well, you have your coffee and I look forward to seeing you on stage, Rusty.
Rusty: Yeah, yeah.
M: Now, remember when you say you’re finished, wait for the applause to die down before you tell them what you finished.
Rusty: Can I dance with you later Maynard?
M: I hope so. See you, Rusty.
Rusty: See you, Maynard.

Maynard: So over the years, you’ve got all the people you hear on the radio, but then you’ve got the people who make you hear the people that you hear on the radio, like Scott. Scott, you were the technical guy. You did everything, really. You, at one stage, held up the antenna during a rainstorm.
Scott Wyatt: Yeah, well.
M: The transmitting mast.
Scott: Of course!
M: What was the most challenging thing about being a tech guy trying to run around with a bunch of ninnies at Triple J and Double J?
Scott: I don’t think anything was too challenging, it was a wonderful experience.
M: Technology wasn’t like it is now. Like, everyone just goes through the phone line now, but if you wanted to go through the phone line to do an OB, then it was like a thousand bucks or something, wasn’t it, from Telecom?
Scott: Yeah, you had to pay the money, yeah.
M: Or the PMG.
Scott: And turn up and find the little cable with the tag on it, and ring up the Telecom people.
M: Were you the guy that recorded Village People at the Hordern?
Scott: No, not me.
M: Oh, wow, OK, because I know, I’m going to find that person, shake his hand. I hope you don’t find a tag that costs you a thousand dollars today.
Scott: Yeah, well, hopefully.

Maynard: We’ve got Murdo here, Murdo McLeod. What do you reckon would be the song that says 50 years of Triple J for you?
Murdo: Oh, going back to The Psychotic Turnbuckles. That was of an era. There weren’t too many bands like that at the time.
M: Hey, do you think it’s really odd that there are no actual ABC cameras or recorders here today? Because this was put on by the staff.
Murdo: I know, I think it’s very much representative of what the ABC is these days. It’s a pity, because it is an era that changed Australia to some extent. Helped highlight the fact that we could be independent thinking.

Maynard: So we’ve got members of the public and ex-employees like Ms Lush.
Dame Lush: That’s Dame Lush to you.
M: I imagine it would be. What do you reckon is the song from 50 years of Triple J that goes “Yeah, that’s the Triple J song that I liked”.
Dame Lush: “You Just Like Me ‘Cos I’m Good in Bed”.
M: That’s the one they started with. Not even “Balwyn Calling”?
Dame Lush: That comes later.
M: What do you think Triple J means these days, after 50 years?
Dame Lush: Well, I’m hoping it means the same thing: an introduction to life, society, good music, and just generally dancing your tits off.
M: Do you remember the first time that you listened?
Dame Lush: I don’t remember those days.
M: I remember hearing it in Newcastle, because it was on after midnight on Radio National. And I think we’re going to hear some interesting history today. Have a good day!

Maynard: Well, we’re here at the official function now, which is at the ABC building in Ultimo, one that brings back many memories to me. And with me is someone else who brings back many memories, and that would be Craig Donarski. Hi, Craig!
Craig Donarski: Thanks, Maynard.
M: What do you reckon is going to go on? This is the official one, this is the proper one, this is the boring one, although it’s much better catered.
Craig: Oh, yeah. The quality of their food is much higher than the staff organised one that we’ve just been at for the last five hours.
Andy Nehl: I like the staff food!
Maynard: We’ve got Andy Nehl here. Look, and since you two know a lot that spread over there is better than anything I ever saw at any Triple J function when I was there.
Andy Nehl: Oh, it’s true.
M: Yeah, so why has the ABC got into catering now?
Andy: Because the federal government doesn’t give them enough money.
M: Very good point. So what’s your best memory being with Triple J, Andy Nehl, being the manager during a very tumultuous time? Was it being egged in St Kilda?
Andy: You remember that? Wow!
M: Yeah, because I felt so sorry for you. Because back in those days there was no one to put up Radio that Bites posters.
Andy: That’s right. I was sticking up posters on telegraph poles down bloody Ackland Street in St Kilda. And some idiots drove past in a car and threw eggs at me.
M: And it was like 11.30 at night, and you’d been going since the morning, and you’d been putting posters up, and it was like you thought, well, fucking great.
Andy: Fucking good memory, Maynard!
M: I really felt for you because you’ve been working hard.
Andy: Great fun launch that Melbourne line.
M: Oh, yeah, and also when everyone was chanting “Bullshit!” at you in the lower Town Hall too. I hadn’t seen that footage before and I thought oh …
Andy: I was just trying to get out what I wanted to say. Eventually I got it out over the top of a bit of bullshit.
M: What’s your one song you remember from the time of Triple J that sums up a lot.
Andy: When we were gonna start going as a national network, I thought, what song are we gonna start with as far as something that was trying to make a statement with what we were starting with? We commissioned Bart Willoughby, who was an Aboriginal musician, had been from No Fixed Address, has currently had a band then called Mixed Relations. We commissioned Bart to write a song for the station. It was recorded in Studio 221, called “Take It or Leave It”. That was the first song on air on Triple J in Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Newcastle, Hobart and Brisbane.
M: And let’s just correct a bit of George Orwell-ness that went on with the Adelaide launch. The first words spoken on air were, “This is not a fucking test transmission” by Tony Biggs. Not “This is not a test transmission.” as reported by the Adelaide Advertiser.
Andy: Yeah. And, as I kind of mentione