PM Howard chats to Zemanek on his last show: Audio

Stan Zemanek’s last show before Christmas had everyone listening, even the Prime Minister, who called in after his annual media Christmas party, telling Stan he had had a drink or two, but not as many as some of the other callers to the program.

John Howard recognises the power of talkback radio and is a regular on current affairs programs, but at this time of the year took the opportunity to relax a little, wishing Zemanek well in his battle with a brain tumour and discussing his holiday plans.

During the interview Howard told Zemanek he originally wanted to have a career as a cricketer, but adjusted his expectations to be only the second most important person in the country (every Australian knows the Aussie cricket captain is really the most important person in Australia).

Howard says he is still enjoying his job and still finding a challenge in his work, so has no plans to quit. He declined to say whether there would be a cabvarchar(15) reshuffle in the new year and also said he would not be taking new opposition leader Rudd for granted.

Howard concluded by saying: “Look after yourself Stan, you’re a winner!”

Recently Zemanek told radioinfo:

“Yes, it’s been worth it. I’ve had a fantastic time. I’m one of the few broadcasters who has been able to do creatively what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I won’t be hanging up the microphone completely, but I won’t be doing night time radio any more and am looking forward to the occasional fill-in jobs at whatever radio station wants me…. I’ve got plenty of plans, plenty of dreams, plenty of aspirations and you can rest assured that I will not disappear from the scene. Currently, I’m in the process of putting together a movie [and] writing a book.”

Click below to hear the phone call from the PM to Zemanek.