Former ABC presenter and producer Tim Bowden, best known for hosting BackChat viewer letters, has died, aged 87.
ABC Managing Director David Anderson has paid tribute to former radio and television broadcaster and author, saying” Many Australians will be saddened to hear Tim has died. He was for several decades one of our pre-eminent journalists and broadcasters, a storyteller whose curiosity for the world around him was valued by so many of our audiences.
“Tim was a correspondent based in Asia and North America during the turbulence of the 1960s and helped Australians understand the overseas events that were having such an impact on Australia and our neighbours in the region. Tim was part of the generation of ABC journalists who brought those events and their meaning into Australian homes every night.
“In 1969 Tim was the first executive producer of the radio current affairs program PM, before becoming a producer with the ground-breaking television current affairs program This Day Tonight.
“In 1975 Tim joined the ABC’s Radio Drama and Features Department and began making radio documentaries. In the mid-1980s he set up Radio National’s Social History Unit and presented radio documentary and feature programs, Talking History and That’s History.
“Tim was perhaps best known as the host of much-loved ABC TV program Backchat from 1986 – 1994 and for his amazing documentaries on Australian research in the Antarctic that produced footage still seen today. He received an Order of Australia for services to public broadcasting in June 1994.
“Tim was part of the fabric of the ABC for decades and made a huge contribution to the national public broadcaster and to the nation. He was generous to his colleagues and was known as much for his sense of humour as his passion for journalism and the ABC.
“Our condolences go to Tim’s family and many friends and colleagues.”
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