Pittwater Life June 2019 Issue

Life Stories
Continued from page 35
show’s deadline. It’s a 24/7 world,
because you just don’t know what
news or current affairs story is going
to break from one day to the next.
I’ve lost track of how many times
over the decades I’ve had to cancel
appointments because of a last-minute
story I’ve had to cover.”
Brady’s career started in the late
’70s at radio 2CH as an office boy. “I
was bloody good at it!” he laughs. “I
was desperate to get into the media
and I was going to make my mark. I
must have licked stamps like no-one
else because a year later I was given a
cadetship in the newsroom to begin a
career in journalism.”
In the early ’80s he moved to television
with TEN’s Eyewitness News. In 1990 he
switched to the Nine Network, where he’s
remained for almost 30 years. He admits
that his first gig with Wide World of
Sports was a challenge to say the least.
“I’ve never been much into sport,”
he shares, “And Ken Sutcliffe and the
late great Max Walker didn’t help.
Often they’d ask me live on air after I’d
read some final score details a curly
question about a particular sport,
knowing I wouldn’t have a clue. I just
about bluffed my way through; they
were funny times.”
Stints on Nine News, Sydney Extra,
The Midday Show, and The Today Show
followed. And even a spot on the ’90s
Sex series.
For the past 20 years though it’s as
a reporter on prime-time’s A Current
Affair that Brady is best known. The
show is sometimes controversial and
maligned; looked down on by sections
of the public and media, but Brady is
proud of its work.
“There are few shows on TV that have
lasted as long as ACA. We may not be
everyone’s cup of tea but we try to do
stories that will appeal to a wide range
of viewers. And more than a million
people every night seem to like what
they see.”
I suggest that fitness and bravery
are sometimes needed for the
quintessential villain-chase with jerky
camera work and wild audio.
“Yes! I’ve chased my fair share of
crooks over the years, although I’ve
slowed up a bit as those years go on!
I’ve never really been afraid of anyone;
I think a camera, sound and lights
seem to do the trick with those who
would normally be aggressive.”
Then Brady gets serious, espousing
the positives that ACA contributes to
society.
“We try to right wrongs; try to get
outcomes for people who have been
ignored. Over the years we have
highlighted many Australians who are
doing it tough and I for one can vouch
that our viewers are the most generous.
ACA has raised millions of dollars for
people in need.”
He recalls one story in particular: “I
talked to a dying mum at Collaroy who
had three little kids and a husband who
was blind. They had a huge mortgage
and faced a bleak future. Until we did
a yarn and raised over $1.2 million
dollars for them.”
In a 40-year career, perhaps the most
bizarre story of Brady’s TV career is the
one he starred in, rather than reported on.
“It was 21 years ago and I asked
Debbie to marry me on LIVE television.”
Debbie was an editor in the
newsroom at Channel 9 when she first
caught Brady’s attention – and in a
fairly provocative way. “I was a reporter
on the Midday Show at the time. I
was doing a live cross to Kerri-Anne
Kennerley one day about an erotica
exhibition at the Sydney Museum. (The
oldies on the Midday Show loved saucy
stories). Anyway Kerri-Anne asked me
why there were chocolate Crunchie bar
wrappers in a display behind me. The
curator butted in and didn’t flinch,
saying they were used by some people
as condoms! The audience broke out in
laughter and all I could say was ‘back to
you Kerri-Anne in the studio’.”
36 JUNE 2019
The Local Voice Since 1991