Memories of a simpler radio era as Wil and Adam embark on reunion tour

These days in breakfast radio, there’s generally a producer on hand to answer the phones.

But when Wil Anderson and Adam Spencer were hosting their iconic triple j brekky show back in the late 90s and early 2000s, they did that themselves.

Back then, the idea of listeners having direct access to their favourite radio hosts in this way was a bit of a foreign concept. And yet, there they were, two beloved, high-profile broadcasters frantically diving for the phones when a song was being played.

“We had one producer the whole time we were there, so anything that needed to be coordinated on the show, our producer was working,” Anderson explains.

“The producer might be out getting a band ready for an interview,” Spencer adds. “So, often, (we’d) just be talking one-on-one with those people.”

Anderson and Spencer shared this revelation whilst chatting to Double J Mornings host Dylan Lewis ahead of the first show of their reunion tour, marking 20 years since their brekky radio program ended.

Spencer says he and Anderson would often race through those phone calls, just to ‘find something.’ And find something they did.

“There was one morning where Adam literally handed me the phone and said ‘It’s Nicole Kidman on the line,’” Anderson recalls. “I thought he was joking.”

But it was the real deal. And not only did Kidman end up coming into the studio for an impromptu chat with the boys, she later kept her promise to go on a ‘date’ with Anderson.

Spencer says the beauty of being from a ‘simpler’ radio era – pre smartphones and social media – is that is he and Anderson have been able to take a walk down memory lane in real-time alongside their fans.

“One of the fun things about this is that we are from just before the era of being able to jump on YouTube and check out all the stuff we did.”

“It’s not all enshrined there, which protects the memory that people think that every time we turned the microphones on it was liquid gold!”

Now, as they embark on their reunion tour, Spencer says there’s a nostalgic vibe in the air, as they prepare to revisit on-air characters like The Stink, not to mention Salmon Hater, the ‘Norwegian fish metal’ act that famously gatecrashed triple j’s Hottest 100.

Anderson says some of his fondest memories are of working alongside Spencer in the early 2000s.

“I can’t wait to be back onstage with Adam talking about the old days, and hopefully he can fill in some gaps for me.”

Wil and Adam’s The First Time (In A Long Time) tour heads through Melbourne, Sydney Adelaide, Brisbane and Wollongong between October and December.

*Main photo: ABC