ABC broadcaster and newsreader Peter Gee signing off after 38 years

Peter Gee in 1989 when he was commentating on sport for ABC radio.

ABC archives

At the time I made the switch from the Sports Department in Melbourne to presenting the 7PM TV News in Tasmania I was made to feel by some in the newsroom that I'd very much entered via the back door.

When I started at the ABC in 1980, staff "announcers" were still presenting the evening news but by 1998 the news desk had become the exclusive domain of the qualified news journalist.

One of my colleagues in the Hobart newsroom, Stephen Pigram, delights in telling people that in days gone by sports reporters wrote up their stories "on butcher's paper".

I totally refute that!

We used the backs of old inter-office memos.

Speaking of inter-office memos, what ever happened to them?

Here's the only one I ever authored when I acted as Tasmanian Sports Editor.

As you see, in 1986 we in the Sports Department were at the cutting edge of mobile telecommunications!

Peter Gee's one and only ABC memo in 1986 appealing for a mobile phone to be installed in a radio outside broadcast truck.

My interest in a broadcasting career began in high school with a desire to become the next Alan McGilvray.

To that end after obtaining my HSC I went to Clarke Sinclair's radio school in Melbourne on the recommendation of then ABC journalist Cliff Peel, a neighbour and school friend of my father.

After 16 months of reading advertising and news copy at night and "playing" radio stations at the weekend, Clarke thought I was ready to be let loose on the listening public.

3CS Colac was my first employer and while I played the hits for the cow cockies of Western Victoria for two years, I still had a desire to become a sports broadcaster.

Peter Gee commentating with heptathlete Glynis Nunn and Phil May at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

Supplied: Peter Gee

Cliff let me know that the ABC was after a sporting assistant in Tasmania and so, even though I had no idea what a sporting assistant might be asked to do, I applied.

The audition process involved an interview with the then Victorian Head of Sport, the intimidating Dick Mason.

The interview took place in Studio 31 at Ripponlea.

I was naturally incredibly nervous facing a TV camera for the first time in the very studio where Molly Meldrum hosted Countdown every Sunday night.

Despite swivelling on my chair for the entire interview Dick must have seen something in me and recommended me to the Tasmanian head of sport Don Closs.

By far the biggest technological change I've lived through in my 38 years at the ABC has been the move from analogue to digital.

Magnetic quarter-inch tape in radio and two-inch videotape in television were the mediums I cut my teeth on.

I well remember a new PA lifting a blank videotape and marvelling at its weight.

"How much heavier they must be when they've got a program on them!", she exclaimed.

The ability to file from the field and even edit a story via a mobile phone was in the realm of science fiction for much of my broadcasting life.

I must admit to being happily ignorant as to how much of the technology I've relied on all these years actually works.

Peter Gee interviewing golfer Karrie Webb.

Supplied: Peter Gee

I've always had to stifle a "NO!!!" when a techo confidently unplugs a working camera or microphone cable during a rehearsal for fear it magically won't work when it's time to go to air.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank every technical, camera and audio operator whose expertise has enabled me to get on air at all.

That said, the first time I ever appeared on television I had to quickly learn how to cope with a technical breakdown.

The program was Sports Night — a Friday evening combination of magazine pieces, weekend previews and live harness racing.

I'd happily arrived in the office that day ready to prepare for that Saturday's football call on radio only to be told by my boss Don Closs that I'd be presenting the TV program that night because the regular host, Roger Wills, was sick.

Don had not managed to find time to give me any of the "intensive training" he'd assured me I'd need before I could appear on television.

"You'll be right", he confidently predicted.

After he introduced me to the audience that night, my first task was to cross to Harold Park for the first leg of the daily double.

Almost immediately I received the dreaded "stretch" signal from the floor manager and I was forced to ad-lib for what seemed an eternity until I got the thumbs up.

Apparently the "bearer cable" across Bass Strait had broken down.

It only came back on line in time to see the winner flash past the post before it was straight back to me in the studio.

That experience right off the bat stood me in good stead when it came to appearing unflustered when things don't go exactly as planned.

I learnt very early that no matter how badly you might feel things have gone, no one dies and a lot of the time the audience doesn't notice.

Or if they do it's their viewing highlight of the night!

Peter Gee talking cricket with Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle.

Supplied: Peter Gee

During my time in Sport I worked on innumerable national telecasts including hosting the annual ABC Sports Awards.

I remember one year the stage was a pontoon floating on the swimming pool at the AIS in Canberra!

Thankfully no one toppled off into the water because I doubt I would have been able to smooth that over.

My Radio Sydney colleague Richard Glover has never let me forget how I stepped out of the strictly sporting arena to host the second series of Sheep Dog Trials from Tamworth.

For some reason he seems to think I'm an expert in the field despite the fact that the introductory links were all shot in the Yarra Valley and I never saw a single sheep rounded up.

I did replace John Waters as the host of the show but I'm pretty sure it was only because I was cheaper.

Working on an Olympic Games is the highlight of any commentator's career and what I feel was my finest commentary moment came at the Atlanta Games in 1996.

I was part of the team seconded to provide English language commentary for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.

We never really knew which of the ABU's client nations, if any, were taking our "off tube" commentaries so whether anyone heard my solo call of Kieran Perkin's gold medal in the 1,500 metres freestyle is still a mystery.

That night a bomb was detonated at Centennial Park in Atlanta killing two people.

The Park wasn't far away from the Broadcast Centre and when we left the building we found the whole of the area was in lockdown.

Peter Gee with Kieran Perkins after the swimmer won gold in the 1,500 metres freestyle at the Atlanta Olympics.

Supplied: Peter Gee

When we were eventually allowed into the train station to make our way home who should we find at the end of the platform but Kieran himself.

He was anonymous until surrounded by a group of excited Australian commentators.

At the previous Games in Barcelona my brush with fame was to subsequently become a brush with infamy.

Peter Gee met OJ Simpson at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, before his fall from grace.

Supplied: Peter Gee

After 18 years on the sporting road, I felt I'd done all the things I'd wanted to do — apart from never managing to become the next Alan McGilvray.

Hobart was where I'd begun my ABC career, so it was there I returned to take over the news desk.

The Beaconsfield mine rescue is the biggest news story I've been involved in covering during my 20 years presenting the 7PM TV bulletin but it's an international story involving a child soldier that has had the most impact on me as a reader.

This young lad who was deaf and mute had escaped from the Central African army he'd been dragooned into only to be recaptured at the orphanage he'd grown up in where he'd gone seeking sanctuary.

I'll never forget the look of sheer terror in this poor boy's eyes as he was tied to the back of a truck to be driven back to who knows what fate.

I don't think I managed to appear entirely composed when the camera returned to me in the studio.

I think most news readers will tell you it's the stories involving children, irrespective of whether the news is good or bad, that get to you.

Peter Gee tries to make eye contact with the viewer by looking beyond the autocue script into the camera lens.

I don't know that I have any unique insights into what makes a great TV or radio presenter, but I'll let you in on a couple of things I always try to keep in mind.

The legendary Arch McCurdie was the first presentation coach I had at the ABC and he gave me some sage advice on how to envisage just who my audience was.

He said if I was having difficulty imaging the potentially thousands of people on the other side of the camera or microphone then, if I was reading a soccer story for example, I should think of a friend who likes soccer and pretend I was talking to just him or her.

Several years into my TV news reading career my Radio Hobart colleague Lou Garnier, who's also about to retire, gently informed me that I was yelling at her each night.

I looked back at the previous night's bulletin and sure enough she was right.

Having come from a sporting background, I was projecting my voice as if I was in an open commentary position at the MCG with 100,000 people roaring rather than in a sound-proof studio with a lapel mic just a few centimetres from my mouth.

And when it comes to reading the autocue, I find a good way to actually make eye contact with the viewer is to try and look beyond the script scrolling in front of my eyes and into the lens of the camera.

Gee commentating on the 1991 swimming championships with Tracey Wickham and Duncan Armstrong.

Supplied: Peter Gee

After 38 years I'm about to become an ex-ABC employee.

I've never wanted to be defined by my work but as the years rolled by I came to realise that the ABC and I had a symbiotic relationship — the ABC suited me, I suited the ABC.

Peter Gee reads his last ABC News Tasmania bulletin on August 3.

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