Late Night Live (Radio National)
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''Late Night Live'' (''LNL'') is an
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
radio program, broadcast on
Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...
and also available as a
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
. It covers a wide variety of topics through interviews with the host, including current affairs, politics, science, philosophy and culture. On 15 July 2024, David Marr became the program's new host. Over 33 years from 1991 to July 2024, the program was hosted by writer and public intellectual Phillip Adams. Previous hosts include publisher and journalist Richard Ackland, and Virginia Bell, who later became a justice of the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...
. Other guest hosts include:
Tracey Holmes Tracey Holmes (born 5 April 1966), an Australian journalist, is a presenter on ABC ''NewsRadio'', since January 2014, with an extensive career in television and radio, specialising predominantly in sport. Career Born 1966 in Sydney to a surfi ...
, Jonathan Green, Elizabeth Jackson, and Andrew West. Often the setting for a serious and learned discussion of politics, science, philosophy and culture, the program aims to host cutting-edge discussion of public debate, and present ideas and issues not yet covered by other Australian media. The programme is broadcast from 10:05 pm until 11 pm Mondays to Thursdays, and is repeat-broadcast at 3:05 pm from Tuesdays to Fridays and since the start of 2025 4:05 pm. During January of each year, selected segments from the previous 10 or 11 months are re-broadcast, in lieu of fresh programming. In 2011 a special online retrospective was compiled to celebrate 20 years behind the LNL microphone, called "In Bed With Phillip". Over 200 of the best interviews from these years are now available to listen and download. To coincide with Adams' 20th anniversary at LNL he wrote ''Bedtime Stories: Tales from My 21 Years at RN's Late Night Live'', published by HarperCollins, outlining why he decided to join RN, his early experiences with producers, talent and what the time has meant to him personally.


Regular contributors

Regular contributors include
Laura Tingle Laura Margaret Tingle (born 14 February 1961) is an Australian journalist and author. She is the ABC's global affairs editor and was formerly the chief political correspondent of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's '' 7.30'' current affai ...
, chief political correspondent for the ABC's current affairs TV show '' 7.30'', who each Monday night discusses the most recent national political issues. Each Tuesday, American journalist
Bruce Shapiro Bruce Shapiro is an American journalist, commentator and author. He is executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a resource center and think tank for journalists who cover violence, conflict and tragedy, based at the Columb ...
, director of the
Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a resource center and think tank for journalists who cover violence, conflict and tragedy around the world. A project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, the Dart C ...
, and Adams usually discuss contemporary USA politics, though the discussion can often be wide-ranging and include global politics. Every second Wednesday, Adams is joined by Ian Dunt, editor-at-Large of politics.co.uk, to discuss the latest political, cultural and economic news from Britain, Ireland and Europe. Less frequent regular contributors include the economist
Satyajit Das Satyajit Das (born 1957) is an Australian former banker and corporate treasurer, turned consultant, and author. Early life and education Satyajit Das was born in Calcutta, India in 1957. His family emigrated to Australia when he was 12. Das ...
and Tess Newton Cain, from
Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...
, who reports monthly on the Asia-Pacific region.


Guests


Format

Most programs are divided into three segments, each segment delineated by a
sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...
, a short piece of instrumental music lasting about 30 seconds, though occasional one-hour conversations involving one or more guests are becoming more frequent. Adams' also refers to the program as "the little wireless program". Adams' style was conversational and casual, not adversarial. He introduces his guests using their first and last names, followed by their qualifications and notable positions and achievements, and subsequently addresses them by their first name. When a guest is a university professor occupying a named chair, Adams usually asks the guest to briefly explain who or what the chair is named after. The pace is relaxed. Adams generally exerts subtle but firm control over the conversation's direction. For many years, Adams has referred to his audience as "Gladys", the joke being that only one person is listening and that is her name. With the advent of podcasting and web streaming, Adams has since added "Poddies" to his listenership, and will often talk or refer to his "Gladdies and Poddies". He also has Noddies (who fall asleep to his program) and Maddies (who write him vitriolic letters), and now "Tweethearts" to include those who follow him on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.


Production

The program has a staff of four: Adams, an executive producer, and three producers (who each do one night shift per week). A technical producer also puts the program to air each night. Though Adams may make suggestions, the producers decide on the topic and guests, and they suggest questions, which Adams may take or leave.


Audience

In 2010 the estimated cumulative audience (number who listened during the past week) was 350,000, and the show was downloaded 217,463 times in August. Seventy five percent of downloads are to Australia, 6% to the US and 3% to Britain. Sixty five percent of listeners are university graduates; 90% are forty or older; 40% hold "AB" (e.g., white collar) jobs while 45% are not in the workforce (retired or home duties – not unemployed), and 55% are women.


Theme music

The current
theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
is from the first
movement Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...
of Giuseppe Brescianello's Violin Concerto No. 4 in E minor, Op. 1, performed by the
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) is an Australian period instrument orchestra specialising in the performance of baroque and classical music. Founders The orchestra's founder and artistic director is Paul Dyer. In 2013 Dyer was ...
. Until March 2016, the theme was "
Eliza Aria Eliza Aria is an operatic vocalise from the ballet ''Wild Swans (ballet), Wild Swans'', composed by Elena Kats-Chernin. The piece was first recorded by soprano Jane Sheldon and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and released on the ABC Classics lab ...
" from the ''
Wild Swans ''Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China'' is a family history that spans a century, recounting the lives of three female generations in China, by Chinese writer Jung Chang. First published in 1991, ''Wild Swans'' contains the biographies of her m ...
'' ballet by
Elena Kats-Chernin Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin (born 4 November 1957) is an Uzbek-born Australian composer and pianist, best known for her ballet ''Wild Swans''. Early life and education Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent (now the capital of independent Uz ...
."Have your say on the new Late Night Live Theme Music"
/ref> This replaced "Russian Rag" also by Kats-Chernin, which Adams jokingly referred to as the 'Waltz of the
Wombats Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are ...
'. Several different arrangements had been used: clarinet, trumpet, marimba, harp, violin, viola, cello, double bass; flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass; flute, piano, cello; bassoon with piano; clarinet with piano; violin with piano and unaccompanied piano. The previous theme, adopted soon after Adams took over as host, was the third movement of
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
's Concerto for two harpsichords in C minor (
BWV The (, ; BWV) is a Catalogues of classical compositions, catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990 and the third edition in ...
1060).


References


External links

* {{official, https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio programs Australian talk radio programs 1990s Australian radio programs 2000s Australian radio programs 2010s Australian radio programs 2020s Australian radio programs Australian podcasts