AM is one of Australia's longest-running current affairs programmes. It is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's flagship radio current affairs programme. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australias national non-commercial public broadcaster. ...

Its tagline is "Ensure you are informed."

History and Timeslots

It was created in 1967 for what were then ABC Radio 1 & 3 (now ABC Local Radio). Aired every morning at 8am (after the 7.45am news bulletin), it soon became Australia's most-popular morning radio current affairs programme. ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly-owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ...

Two years later, ABC Radio's evening current-affairs programme, PM was created as a companion programme. It is now the ABC's flagship evening current affairs programme.

AM was later introduced to ABC Radio 2 (now Radio National) with an early edition at 7.05am after the 7am news. In recent times, the 7am news was lengthened from the standard 5 minute duration to 10 minutes, meaning that the early edition of AM had to be truncated to 20 minutes in length. As a result of this, the early edition carries one or two less stories than the full half-hour long 8am edition still broadcast on ABC Local Radio. ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide radio network with many various programs, involving news and current affairs, arts, music, society, science, drama and comedy. ...

The early edition of AM is broadcast during Radio National's Breakfast programme, which is presented by journalist Fran Kelly.

AM is also broadcast on Saturday mornings at the same time on Radio National, 7.10am, as Saturday AM. Like its weekday counterpart, Saturday AM is also presented at 8am on Local Radio and 10am for Local Radio in Western Australia. AM is not broadcast on Sundays as the Correspondents' Report programme is broadcast at that time.

The programme, fast approaching its 40th birthday, is compiled every morning at 5am for its early bulletin at 6.05am. It is presented live three times a day - 7.10am and 8am for the East Coast of Australia and 10am AEST for broadcast in Western Australia (where it is 8am).

Transcripts, Streaming & Podcasting

The ABC's recent wave of streaming links and MP3 podcasts has allowed people to access and listen to the latest AM programme for a full 24 hours after it was first broadcast as streaming Windows Media or Real Audio. In addition to this streaming capability, MP3 podcasts are available of not just the full programme, but selected reports. Streaming can refer to either of the following : In online media, Streaming allows data to be transferred in a stream of packets that are interpreted as they arrive for just-in-time delivery of multimedia information. ... MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented and standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers directed by the Fraunhofer Society in Erlangen, Germany. ... Podcasting is a way of publishing sound files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. ... Windows Media is a framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. ... RealAudio is a proprietary audio codec developed by RealNetworks. ...

MP3s and streams of reports going back one or two years are also available. Transcripts of reports going back to June 1999, too, are available online.

Comperes

AM is compered by journalist and former ABC News anchor Tony Eastley on weekdays. ABC News and Current Affairs is the division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that controls content some classify as News, Public Affairs and Current Affairs. ...

Saturday AM is compered by journalist and former correspondent Elizabeth Jackson.

Theme

The current themes to both AM and PM are two of the most recognisable in Australia. The two themes, composed by Tony Ansell (who composed many themes for the ABC News and Current Affairs Department in the 1980s), were based on a similar theme and performed in a similar manner (presumably on a synthesiser of some sort). This represents a significant link between the sister programmes that, strangely enough, does not exist with The World Today in the same manner.

External links

• The main AM website
• Radio National's AM website
• Radio National's Saturday AM website
• ABC News and Current Affairs programmes