Peter Goers

Peter Goers

Peter Goers conducting a live public radio broadcast, 2009.
Born Adelaide, South Australia
Show The Evening Show
Station(s) 891 ABC Adelaide
Network Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Time slot 7:00pm weekdays
Style Talkback
Country Australia

Peter Goers is an actor, director, reviewer, former academic and current host of the radio program The Evening Show on 891 ABC Adelaide, which broadcasts throughout South Australia and to the city of Broken Hill.[1] His career has spanned over 35 years in the entertainment industry across a range of different mediums and formats including television, print, radio and theatre, and he is frequently engaged as a guest speaker.

Contents

Personal life

Born in Adelaide and educated at Woodville Primary School and Findon High, Goers is a fifth-generation Australian of German and Irish descent and has claimed to have had an extraordinarily happy childhood greatly influenced by his grandmothers who lived nearby. Among his first memories is being introduced to the Marx Brothers by his father at the age of eight, when they watched the movie Duck Soup. In retrospect, Goers believes this event was highly influential in his decision to pursue a career as a performance artist.[says who?] Another influence in Goers' early life was teacher and former South Adelaide footballer Mick Rivers, who encouraged his interest in acting.[2] Upon completion of his secondary schooling, Goers studied arts at Flinders University for eight years.

On 9 July 1982, both his parents were killed in a plane accident in New Orleans.[2]

Career

In 1983, Goers started reviewing films for radio host Carole Whitelock on the then named 5AN for the ABC, which led to commercial contracts, including 5DN and ten years at the Austereo Radio Network.

Goers worked as full-time Historian of the Performing Arts Collection of South Australia with the South Australian director Colin Ballantyne. Having debuted as the Artful Dodger in "Oliver!" at the Woodville Town Hall in 1972, Goers worked in the theatre in Adelaide as actor, director, designer, playwright for most Adelaide theatre companies including as Artistic Director of the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild (1982–86). He won an "Advertiser" Fringe Award, and he is the only director with four plays in Adelaide on one night – in interlocking seasons.

During the same period, Jason Daniel, an arts editor for The Advertiser, had heard Goers' movie reviews and suggested that he also review theatre for the newspaper, which he did from 1985 to 1996. He became known as 'the critic that ate Adelaide'. While with The Advertiser he began writing an opinion column for the associated Sunday Mail in 1991.

Goers also hosted horror movies on Channel Ten Adelaide during the 1980s.[3]

Mid career

In 1996 Goers left Adelaide and moved to Istanbul in Turkey. There he found work in theatre, working as a producer on local productions, before taking up a post as an English lecturer at a local university. While there he opened a new drama department and became the university's Dean of Drama. He also returned to theatre reviewing, writing English-language reviews for a local paper.[4]

Goers returned to Adelaide in 1998 and to News Limited's Sunday Mail as a regular columnist.[5] The following year saw his return to local radio, with a Monday night slot on the commercial radio station FIVEaa.[6] Two months later he was joined by Rex Jory and Pamela Francis to produce The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a weekly panel,[7] which soon expanded to a twice-weekly show with the addition of Alex Ward.[8] Nevertheless, the show was to have a short life, and by early November of that year it had ended its run.[9]

The Evening Show

In 2000, Goers was invited to audition for the ABC.[3] However, on the day when he was due to audition, Goers was requested by the management to fill in for Carole Whitelock, who had taken ill. This led to a return to radio on the ABC when he hosted the evening session for the station over the 2003/2004 summer break.[10] From there he went on to host The Evening Show on a permanent basis.

The Evening Show features on 891 ABC Adelaide from 7:00pm on weekdays and is presented in a magazine format, with Goers interviewing local, national and international celebrities and academics in addition to a regular call-back segment and a quiz. Goers also has several regular guests, including his Goers' Gals.

At the end of every show, Goers signs off with the line "Goodnight Mrs Calabash wherever you are" – a line borrowed from Jimmy Durante.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Peter Goers". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2007. http://www.abc.net.au/profiles/content/s1869440.htm. Retrieved 11 September 2009. 
  2. ^ a b Parker, Richard (2006). "The Critic That Ate Adelaide". The Think Tank: p. 22. 
  3. ^ a b Parker, Richard (2006). "The Critic That Ate Adelaide". The Think Tank: p. 23. 
  4. ^ Harris, Samela (3 January 1998). "Where is the critic who ate Adelaide?". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia): p. A14. 
  5. ^ Goers, Peter (15 November 1998). "Home to days of our knives". The Sunday Mail (Adelaide, South Australia): p. 16. 
  6. ^ Yeaman, Simon (6 February 1999). "Time for shock jock". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia): p. 20. 
  7. ^ McDonald, Patrick; Yeaman, Simon (3 April 1999). "You be the judge". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia): p. 20. 
  8. ^ McDonald, Patrick; Yeaman, Simon (2 June 1999). "'Mischief Man' joins the panel". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia): p. 20. 
  9. ^ Leith, Renae (7 November 1999). "Kellie's good medicine". The Sunday Mail (Adelaide, South Australia): p. 20. 
  10. ^ Williams, Nadine (28 October 2003). "ABC radio stints for Goers, Doyle". The Advertiser (Adelaide, South Australia): p. 20. 

External links