"Time for a rest": John Laws retires from radio
Radio veteran John Laws has announced his plans to retire from radio in the coming weeks.
The radio host, 89, shocked his loyal listeners on his 2SM show on Tuesday morning, after reading out a letter from a fan who wrote how much they enjoy listening to the show each day.
“You’re not going to be hearing it for long, mate,” Laws said in response to the email. “I think it’s time for a rest.
“I’ve done it for a very, very, very, very long time,” Laws said about his broadcasting career. “And I think that I’ll just call it a day, and call it a day pretty soon.”
Laws said that he will “probably” hang up his headphones at the beginning of November when he celebrates 71 years on air.
“I don’t want to be greedy,” he said. “I’ve had 71 fantastic years … and loved almost every minute of it.”
He also made clear that after his final show, he will not be returning to radio.
“I’m not going to go away and then come back again and say, ‘oh, it was all a mistake,’” he said on 2SM. “It may well be a mistake, but there’ll be no return. That’s it.”
Laws then outlined his plans for his long-awaited retirement, saying, “I’ll travel, I’ll sit about, I’ll read more… and I’ll catch up with things that I should have caught up with a long time ago”.
The retirement announcement came as a shock to many loyal viewers, as Laws said in an interview in 2023 that he can't picture himself ever stepping back from the coveted radio role.
Just last year he told The Daily Telegraph, “I don’t think about retirement. I suppose I will have to one day but no, I don’t want to stop, I’d like to be doing it when I am 100.”
Image credits: 9News / 2SM