THE Milling Report has been an institution on commercial radio in Dubbo for more than 66 years.
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It was started by stock and station agent Herbert Milling in the late 1940s. Mr Milling’s son, Peter, soon took over the program and gained a widespread following.
The format of the radio segment has remained the same throughout the decades - an overview of happenings on the rural scene, items of local and political interest, results of property sales, and the numbers for the Dubbo livestock market.
Initially broadcast at 7.05am on Sundays, the Milling Report was later transferred to the same time slot on Saturdays.
Peter Milling clearly remembers the first time he headed into the 2DU studio, then located in an army hut behind premises on the corner of Tamworth and Sterling streets in South Dubbo.
“It was 1949 and I had been out all night,” he said.
“I had only just gotten to sleep when my father came in and told me to get out of bed,” he said.
“My father’s voice was croaky because he had the flu. He handed me a file and told me to go and do the radio program.
“When announcer Adrian Kennedy saw a long-legged lad of a boy walk in off the street he wondered what was going on.
“I said I was there to do the radio report for Mr Milling. He said ‘You can’t do that’. I told him ‘I agree, but I have to have a go’.
“I did my best to get through the program and thought it had gone reasonably well. About 9am Mr Stan Wilkins, the livestock buyer for a prominent meat company, telephoned to tell me that he didn’t think I had much of a future in radio.”
Mr Milling continued presenting the program using an ad-lib format.
“I don’t have it all written down,” he said.
“I just tell people what’s going on and always include a bit of sport because it interests me.
“I don’t mind bagging the government if I think it is necessary.
“The program must have an enormous listening audience because if I make a mistake you have no idea how many people will tell me about it.”