Former and current presenters share 50 years of memories at ABC Classic

ABC Classic turns 50 on Saturday, January 24.

For many, the network was more than just a radio station. It was also a source of beauty, joy and companionship in good times and difficult times.

We asked former and current hosts to share what ABC Classic means to them and some of their most memorable stories.

Time and time again, these stories remind us of moments of connection, a shared love of music, and the power of radio to build a community of music lovers.

Music that can reach everyone

Many hosts say ABC Classic is special because it’s available to everyone.

“You can be a child, a king, a prince regent or a punk rocker, they’re all available to you,” says former presenter Damien Beaumont.

Hanging up his microphone in 2024, Beaumont speaks from personal experience as someone who grew up in regional Australia.

“On my little isolated farm the world was open to me and I could experience and understand that there was something out there.”

It’s the same for ABC Classic Breakfast presenter Megan Burslem, who hails from a small rural town in Victoria.

“Every time I broadcast, I think about that little boy in a rural town discovering and hearing classical music for the first time,” Burslem says.

Connecting people with the power of music

Throughout the years, ABC Classic has been the platform for unforgettable moments and extraordinary stories.

In kitchens and cars, homes and hospital wards Presenters and audiences connect through the love of music.

Christopher Lawrence recalls the overwhelming support he received from real-life audiences when launching the hugely popular Swoon compilation series in the late 1990s.

“[The Swoon compilation] “There was a playlist before there was a playlist, a real innovation in those days,” he says.

The first Swoon albums became the best-selling classical compilations in Australian music history, selling more than 500,000 CDs.

When ABC Classic released the third album in 1998, the team decided to broadcast the launch from its store near the famous Queen Victoria building in Sydney.

“[When] I opened the doors and literally hundreds and hundreds of people came in,” Lawrence recalls.

The Swoon segment was a long-running feature of ABC Classic Breakfast and was intended to bring people a moment of calm on busy mornings.

Ed Le Brocq recalls a woman who shared how she was reunited with her daughter by listening to the episode.

“They had a bit of a rocky relationship, but they found out they were both listening to Swoon’s episode [from] different cities,” says Le Brocq.

“They texted each other every day after the episode and discussed how they felt about the music. [rebuilding] their relationship.”

Building a community of music enthusiasts

For generations, presenters have valued the connection classical music lovers have with audiences.

Before smartphones and social media, viewers wrote letters and made phone calls to share their reactions to what presenters said or played on air.

Veteran broadcaster Marian Arnold remembers the many letters she received from listeners throughout her 34-year career.

“It was very important for me to engage with listeners who entrusted me with their stories,” Arnold notes.

He particularly values ​​a program called Love in the Afternoon; here, he invites requests from listeners for music that they will associate with their love stories later in life.

“I was inundated with requests and letters of all kinds, from published stories to the most incredibly beautiful stories to the most heartbreakingly sad.”

While technology has changed the way we communicate, our longing to connect with other music lovers remains the same.

In 2020, at the height of COVID-19 restrictions and when singing together was banned due to health concerns, ABC Classic launched the national virtual Classical Choir.

First Nations composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon wrote Christmas With You and 1,500 people from across Australia submitted videos of her singing it.

Russell Torrance vividly remembers the first time he pressed “play” on the air.

“I burst into tears because I was alone in the studio,” she says.

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“So many people had such high hopes for that Christmas that everything would be okay,” he says.

Instead, many people were separated from their loved ones during that Christmas, and the choir was a way for them to come together or remember what they missed.

The gateway to a world full of musical discoveries

Even in an age of curated playlists, many people still value ABC Classic’s extensive music offerings.

Since its debut as ABC FM in 1976, the station has played “everything from Gregorian hymns to contemporary songs,” says Arnold.

“There was rock music, folk music, light music, drama, poetry, sound arrangements, experimental and new music.”

Pop and other music found its way onto other ABC networks, and classical music was enshrined in ABC Classic’s name.

But the network still plays a wide range of music in the classical genre.

Torrance, who is originally from Scotland, says: “Learning about Australian music has been a huge revelation. [particularly] “What a vibrant and living tradition classical music is in Australia.”

“There are so many different cultures in the sounds of ABC Classic,” adds Torrance.

This is a sentiment also expressed by Vanessa Hughes.

“Last year alone, ABC Classics featured 1,138 female composers, and all but a few are new discoveries to me,” says Hughes.

Hughes highlights the impact of various programs on the classical music tradition in Australia.

“Our audience is the people who make, compose and perform music, that’s all,” he says.

Hughes says this is a counter to the perception that classical music is “a bit exclusive”.

“[Instead]”The most diverse, beautiful and interesting world to explore.”

These stories are just a few of the memories shared by past and present hosts of ABC Classic. We will continue to share these stories live, on our website and social media as our celebrations continue throughout 2026.

To celebrate the big year, tune in to ABC Classic on Saturday, January 24, starting at 6am With your favorite music, artists and sounds from five decades of classical music broadcast on ABC.

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