Alan Jones in St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney undergoing back surgery keeping him of ADH

Veteran broadcaster Alan Jones has vanished from the airwaves after he was rushed to hospital to undergo vital spinal surgery – and he won’t return until 2023.

Influential Jones, 81, has been battling crippling back pain for years and hasn’t been on air his daily shows and podcasts on Facebook and the ADH Network since October.

Now Jones’s concerned head of content Jake Thrupp has admitted the conservative political firebrand won’t return until the New Year.

‘His body’s not in good shape,’ he admitted to Daily Mail Australia on Thursday. ‘His brain is all still there and he’s still got high energy levels.

‘But he’s 81 now.’ 

Alan Jones, 81, (pictured) has been battling crippling back pain for years and took another lengthy spell off the air last Christmas when surgeons operated on him

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Jones retired from radio broadcasting in 2020 after a glittering career at 2UE and 2GB spanning decades, and briefly moved to Sky News Australia.

He left the payTV network in 2021 and later announced he was going online with Alan Jones Direct To The People to produce daily shows, updates and podcasts. 

Jones last show was put online on October 27 when he interviewed One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and Daniel Wild from the Institute of Public Affairs.

He signed off from that show with a blast at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and promised to be back again the following Monday – but has not broadcast since.

He’s now cancelling plans to attend Christmas functions including Lachlan Murdoch’s glittering annual party at his Bellevue Hill mansion in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. 

It’s Jones’s second surgery. He was forced to walk with a cane after an earlier surgery took him out of action between Christmas last year and Easter.

But in October he suddenly vanished again from his daily shows and podcasts on Facebook and the ADH Network when he suddenly had to go under the knife again.

Alan Jones (left) is pictured playing tennis with his head of content Jake Thrupp (right) in 2020

‘He had surgery at St Vincent’s Hospital early last week,’ Thrupp told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘He’s in there and he’s fine but he’s doing his recovery and rehab.

‘They were correcting something that I think was stuffed up the last time. They have assured him that after this operation though, he should be okay.

‘He’s been using a walking stick all year. He hopes to be able to throw that away after this latest surgery but we’ll see.

‘I’m not counting on it but he is.’

Thrupp added: ‘He’ll be back next year. We’re just going to take a break over summer and then come back.

‘There’s no keeping him down, that’s for sure.’

The surgery and subsequent intense rehabilitation silenced Alan Jones (pictured) from Christmas until Easter as he recovered from the ordeal which forced him to walk with a cane

Jones has suffered increasing back problems for almost 40 years.

In 2017 he underwent a 13-hour operation after a damaged spinal disc became lodged in his spinal canal and left him unable to walk.

The controversial broadcaster and former Wallabies coach has previously battled prostate cancer and a brain tumour but blames his back issues on his love of sport as a child.

He began to suffer back pain 1984 and has now had at least six operations to try to ease his suffering. 

‘The pain has been unbelievable,’ he said in 2017. ‘It’s a massive operation.

‘When the surgeons got in, they had this terrible job of getting to the area and then they had to open [lower spinal discs] L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5. 

‘Luckily I can’t see the wound but the problem with backs is you have to sleep on them. You can’t escape it.’

He added: ‘The next challenge is I’ve got this body that is significantly weakened and I have to learn to walk again as my left leg can’t take the body weight. 

‘I have a fairly big rehab job ahead.’

In 2017 Alan Jones (pictured with Australian supermodel Jennifer Hawkins) underwent a 13-hour operation after a damaged spinal disc became lodged in his spinal canal and left him unable to walk