Alan and Chris Kohler. “When I was quite young,Dad told me that economics is really just mass psychology,” says Chris.Credit:Wayne Taylor
Chris: Calamity sometimes follows Dad around. He’s fallen off motorbikes and once dropped a car in a lake. He has long-running injuries from jumping off the roof as a kid and is missing a finger. He’s had a million jobs:steel-pipe salesman,taxi driver,he built a boat in Perth,and worked at a roadhouse in Tennant Creek. I want him to write a book because he doesn’t just tell you things. In 1974,he was in Cyclone Tracy,but you’ve got to ask him about it. If I’d been in Cyclone Tracy,every time it was windy I’d say,“You think this is wind? No! Our house ended up in the backyard,mate!” It’s why we love him so much:he’s a softly spoken goofball.
My sisters,Phoebe and Alice,were born 20 months apart,then I came along four years later,so Dad was a pretty relaxed parent. With driving lessons,he was often looking out the window,on the phone to his[ABCInside Business] producers,being like,“Oh,yeah,that’s a half-decent story.”
Alan Kohler with a young Chris (left) and Chris with his son Johnny.Credit:Courtesy of Alan Kohler
He’d throw the cricket ball at me for hours in the backyard,but it never mattered whether I was hitting it well;it was just time together. When I was a teenager,I really got into[heavy metal band] Linkin Park and he did,too. We went to a show and there was Alan Kohler,bouncing around,moshing with me. Sometimes he’d come down the street in his car with the windows down,blaring Linkin Park,which was pretty weird. He’s all over the place with his musical tastes:he cries every time he hears Aretha Franklin singNessun Dorma.
‘He casts a pretty big shadow,but I’ve never seen myself in actual competition with him. That would be ridiculous:he’s the best one.’
Chris Kohler
When I was quite young,Dad told me that economics is really just mass psychology. He said it was about how millions of people are doing the same sorts of things at the same time,and trying to work out why they’re doing it. It was so interesting to me. But Dad thought financial journalism would be a hard slog.
When I was 24,I worked atThe Australian as a markets reporter. Dad was an outside contributor and came to teach us TV presenting. We went into a proper TV studio with all the cameras pointed at us.
He asked me about market volume and I froze. I said,“I don’t know,” which is a huge no-no in TV. I felt like the son of a footy player kicking it out on the full in his first game. But Dad took me for lunch and made me laugh about it. Dad doesn’t take much seriously;it’s one of the best things about him.