Adam Spencer's amazing, sings Alex Lloyd on final ABC broadcast Adam Spencer hangs up on 8 years ABC 702's breakfast show host signs off with a five-hour love-in in front of a live audience at the ABC's Ultimo headquarters in Sydney. PT1M23S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2yvtj 620 349 December 6, 2013 - 2:44PM After a five-hour love-in in front of a live audience at the ABC's Ultimo headquarters, Adam Spencer has brought down the curtain on eight years at the helm of ABC 702's breakfast show. The specially extended program, which occasionally verged on mawkish, was a celebration of all Spencer's famously quirky interests, from AFL, chess and women's soccer to debating ... and maths. Lots of maths. In a room full of maths PhDs I'm as dumb as a boxful of hammers The show ended with a live performance by Alex Lloyd of his hit song Amazing, rewritten to include the refrain "Adam's amazing." Spencer's love for AFL and the Sydney Swans in particular endeared him to listeners. Photo: Max Mason-Hubers Possibly the nation's least likely radio host, Spencer's famous geekiness won the show consistently high ratings. He is also well-known for his hyper-activity, which he jokingly refers to as "late onset adult ADHD." And with no new media job (at least that he is willing to talk about) to go to, having significant amounts free time for the first time in nearly a decade could take some adjusting to. Numbers man ... Spencer's preoccupation with maths was often a feature of his broadcasting. Photo: Chris Frape "Part of the challenge will be dealing with moments of boredom and having a day with nothing to do," he says. I certainly look at that now and go, 'wow, I'll be able to go on a two-hour jog, then do two hours of chess problems and then read a few hundred pages of that book'. But I could imagine if I had three days of nothing on, by the end of the third day and my sixth hour of chess problems ... I don't know how good I am with that sort of stuff. One post-ABC gig that will take up at least some of that spare time is a role as an ambassador for maths and science at Sydney University. Encouraging talented students to continue a career in maths and science is, he says, a passion. But don't expect to see him lecturing on the topic - he doesn't think he's up to it. "The way I explain it is that in a room of randomly selected people I'm a maths genius," he says. In a room full of maths PhDs I'm as dumb as a boxful of hammers. Spencer, 44, is confident he is leaving at the top of his game and is wary of outstaying his welcome at the microphone. "I'd rather quit when I'm enjoying it and doing a pretty good job," he says. I'm going to really miss it but that's good. You want to leave when you are still wishing you could do it a little bit longer. Radio National's Robbie Buck will host the breakfast show from next year. Spencer insists Buck, known to 702 listeners from hosting the evening show, will make the program his own. He's not filling my shoes, he's not taking over from me, he's not replacing me - he'll do a great job. It's not in his interests or anyone else's to make comparisons. Spencer says next year he will most likely move to the Central Coast with wife Mel and their two children. Isn't that a long way from the action for an archetypal inner-city progressive like Spencer? "I'm taking hipster basket-weaving to Umina," he says. Bring it on!