How former Wallabies coach Alan Jones rose to power in the Australian media as a shock jock

By Isabella Ross for the ABC

For decades, veteran broadcaster Alan Jones was the loudest voice in Australian radio.

The shock jock dominated Sydney’s airwaves for more than 35 years – interviewing eight prime ministers, numerous premiers and MPs.

He is best-known for his breakfast show on Sydney radio station 2GB, a position he held until May 2020.

During his career, Jones challenged and breached the media regulator’s standards well over a dozen times.

Despite being considered a controversial talkback radio host by some, Jones won over audiences repeatedly in the ratings and turned his morning show into one of the most listened-to programmes in the country.

NSW Police charged Jones with 24 offences involving eight complainants following an investigation into alleged indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades.

Queensland schoolboy

It was humble beginnings for Jones, who was born in 1941 and raised on a dairy farm in Oakey in southern Queensland’s Darling Downs.

As a student, Jones attended a local state school before transferring to Toowoomba Grammar School as a boarder.

Jones’ mother was a teacher – a career Jones would later pursue himself.

Initially with aspirations of becoming an opera singer, Jones instead focused his attention on education and sport.

He became a graduate of Queensland and Oxford Universities, with majors in English and French language and literature, politics and education.

In his early years, Jones worked in the Queensland public school system before joining Brisbane Grammar School in 1963 as a teacher and sports coach.

In 1970, Jones relocated to Sydney and began teaching English at The King’s School in Parramatta. He was also a rugby union coach for the student team.

Political ambitions

In the space of a decade, Jones had shifted his career. It started with a push into politics or rather an attempt to do so.

In the mid-1970s, Jones joined the Country Party (now the National Party). He stood for preselection for the federal seat of Eden-Monaro in regional NSW, but lost.

He then stood as the Liberal Party candidate for the NSW seat of Earlwood in 1978. He lost again.

The same result occurred when he stood for the federal seat of North Sydney in 1979.

Instead, Jones went on to work as a speechwriter for then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

A return to sports coaching

After stepping away from his politics, Jones turned to sports coaching on a far larger scale than his teaching days.

By 1982, he was the part-time manager of the NSW rugby union team. A year later he was leading the Manly rugby union team to victory as first-grade coach, in their first premiership win in 33 years.

His most-lauded rugby coach gig had to be leading the Wallabies.

In 1984 Jones was elected coach of the men’s national rugby union team and stayed with them until 1988.

The team won 102 matches, making him the most successful Australian rugby coach to date. His teams won 23 tests out of 30.

It led to Jones being honoured in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He would also be made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2004 for his service to media and sports.

The power that came with the microphone

Sydney radio kingmaker John Brennan had met Jones at a Wallabies function in 1984 – just a year later, Jones was offered the opportunity to try his hand at broadcasting.

He started his media career as morning news presenter for Sydney radio station 2UE.

In the seat with a microphone, Jones’ morning show ratings grew.

For the next three decades, Jones won the Sydney breakfast radio ratings over 221 times, beating out many popular colleagues and rivals.

He also had unparalleled access to interview Australia’s most powerful in state and federal parliament.

It resulted in Jones having influence over Australian politics – in this case as a broadcaster who shared his personal political views via the airwaves, rather than as an elected politician.

In 2002, Jones made the decision to jump from 2UE to Sydney radio station 2GB. He was the morning broadcaster for the station for 18 years until 2020.

Throughout his media career, Jones breached broadcasting rules on multiple occasions.

In 2000, an Australian Broadcasting Authority inquiry heard Jones had accepted hidden sponsorships to promote clients on air. Jones was cleared of further cash-for-comment allegations in 2004.

In the aftermath of the Cronulla riots and following comments he had made on air, the media watchdog ruled Jones had likely encouraged violence or brutality on the basis of ethnicity.

During a 2012 speech at a Liberal party fundraiser, Jones claimed former prime minister Julia Gillard’s late father “died of shame” because of his daughter’s political “lies”. In the same year, Jones suggested Ms Gillard should be hauled out to sea.

Then in 2019, Jones said then-New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern should have a sock shoved down her throat.

Along with radio, Jones had a four-nights-a-week prime-time program on Sky News Australia and a regular column in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

But by 2021, Jones’s life looked very different.

He had retired from radio, his contract with Sky News Australia was not renewed in November 2021, and his column was scrapped.

Jones had an occasional appearance on streaming news channel ADH TV, which features a slew of conservative political commentators. His last show on the streaming station aired in November 2023.

He has remained mostly out the spotlight since.

– ABC