Before you read – please press play below.
Martin/Molloy, D-Generation & Bulltwang in NFSA
..aaaaand today!
We remember there is a god. A radio god. Obviously with other talents as well, but for this story – a radio god.
In the heart and soul of Anthony Martin, aka Tony Martin – the Martin part of the 90s radio show Martin/Molloy. Not to be confused with an actual guy called Martin Molloy. (Google it!)
The famous comedy drive show, co-hosted with partner-in-D-Generation-graduate-crime Mick Molloy was a landmark radio drive show, broadcasted on Austereo’s Today Network from 1995 – 1998 on 54 radio stations across Australia. The show was full of radio sketches, segments, various famous (and infamous) guests – but it made the nation laugh – spawning 3 ARIA Award winning albums and constantly topping many polls as one of the best radio shows and duos ever to hit the airwaves. The show and pairing even inspired other personalities and comedy teams, such as Hamish Blake and Andy Lee – known as Hamish and Andy, on the Today Network.
Back in the day, podcasts didn’t exist, and the internet was on dial-up. Though they did have a website (the defunct martinmolloy.village.com.au) the general public had to rely on taping the show themselves on cassette tape, or if you were clever enough, on VHS/Beta. Many bootleg recordings are floating around online if you look hard enough. Other than that, there’s only the three albums that were official released – The Brown Album, Poop Chute, and Eat Your Peas.
We all thought that all we had left in memory of the Martin/Molloy days was just that – memories… and bootlegs.
Until today – when Tony himself tweeted this:
Have convinced the NSFA to take my ‘Martin/Molloy’ archive – 185 x 90mins cassettes. Yes, cassettes. twitter.com/mrtonymartin/s…
— Tony Martin (@mrtonymartin) February 20, 2013
There was a collective jaw-smacking-the-floor noise across the internet when his followers saw the photo. 185 cassette tapes of Martin/Molloy.
Then more tweets came. We’ve collected the pictures and tweets below.
This means that episodes of Martin/Molloy, Bulltwang, and elements of EONFM D-Generation Breakfast Show will now be permanently preserved.
So, what is NFSA?
The NSFA stands for the National Film and Sound Archive, with offices around Australia. (official site) This archive has Australia’s media history stored so stories, audio, video, news, entertainment… just about everything – can be preserved for generations to come. It is enriched from common footage to hard-to-find gems. Yes, they even have some bits of The Late Show and other D-Generation items in the archive.
How do I get copies for myself?
Don’t we all… unfortunately it’s not plausible. And we’re not talking about just these tapes – we’re talking anything in the archive. The library is accessible to a point, but it’s not a simple “walk in, swipe your library card, walk out” type of library and archive. The best thing to do is read thoroughly through the site and see what needs are suited for you. Best to start on this page. Any other queries, please ask NSFA directly where they are happy to answer any questions. Though we do encourage you to check out any of their libraries in person. It’s a media junkie dream.
Press play below.
The most important and coolest thing about Tony handing over his tapes to NFSA is that they will be transferred to digital, restored and preserved for life. You never know what could happen down the track…
Pete Smith speaking (not really).
UPDATE: Tony has also supplied the entire Get This catalogue on CDs to NFSA. This is dizzy stuff folks!
