The 2CC Bunnings Broadcast (and most of my afternoon)
February 11th, 2006 at 01:36am
It was about 12:30 when I finished lunch and caught a 116 bus (an orange one) to Belconnen, having forgotten my headphones I carried out my backup radio listening plan of turning the volume right down, putting the speaker to my ear and turning it up just enough for me to hear it clearly, at this volume it is impossible to hear the radio any further than 10cm from the speaker.
This early bus trip meant that I was well ahead of schedule, so I decided to have a coffee, but on my way across the bridge from the Belconnen bus interchange to the shopping centre I noticed this fantastic view down Benjamin Way, the road I would later walk down.
I went in to Westfield Belconnen and went to Cafe Mochalat (oddly enough, this cafe was the focus of a discussion I had been a part of earlier in the day where nobody could remember the name) where I had a flat white and a jam tart. I then visited an ATM and its associated queue as I realised I had almost run out of money, not that I spend much, but you never know when you might need it.
At 1PM (well, a tad after, Kris was already into the news) I left Westfield and made the journey down Benjamin Way. Near the end of the road to my right were the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets and beyond that Bunnings Belconnen, I wasn’t sure if the carpark was open at both ends though, so I opted to walk the long way around, onto Belconnen Way and then into Bunnings. I’m glad I did as it provided me with some very nice views.
Firstly Bunnings from near the corner of Benjamin Way and Belconnen Way
Then Bunnings from near the traffic lights shown in the previous picture.
Followed by the grass around Bunnings and its carpark, which was provided by Canturf (a Canberra grass business), hopefully they got a discount for showing the Canturf signs, of which the photographed one had fallen over.
Next up an overview of the Canturf lawn, the carpark and the Bunnings Belconnen store itself.
All Bunnings stores seem to have the same exterior, including the slogan “Lowest Prices Are Just The Beginning…”
Yet another angle, the radio of the pictured ute was tuned to 2CC and was clearly audible, when I heard it I checked to see if it was a 2CC staff member, which it wasn’t.
I started to have a look around Bunnings, and ran into some people I know, who were doing some shopping, they were very impressed with the new store, I accompanied them on their shopping adventure, before going with them to a coffee shop in the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets.
After this they left with their purchases and I returned the trolley to Bunnings and resumed my tour, I had finished all of two aisles when I spotted movement at the 2CC stand in the form of Mike Frame and 2CC office manager (whoops, sorry, I’m bad with names sometimes). I went over to say hello, and before long was embarking on a store tour with Framey…this was 2:30. Framey and I had a bit of a chat, mostly about the new Bunnings store, but also about lawn bowls and what we’d been up to lately. Whilst we were in the garden section we spotted some bonzai, which is when Framey came up with his catchcry for the day that “everything’s big at Bunnings except the bonzai”.
Between then and 2:55 I acted as “Mike Frame’s Shadow” and there were many chats with many people, including a Bunnings staff member who had never heard of 2CC before, and correctly guessed that John Laws was on there…well, more or less, I think Lawsie’s name just flew off his tongue at the mention of talk radio. A few familiar faces turned up including Kevin Woolfe (Aka “The Wolfman” or “Woolfie”) and 2CC’s manager, David Leitch, who seemed to have a smile on his face all day.
Sometime around 2:55 Framey sent me off to get him a can of Coke, which I did and returned during the news, just in time to take two photos of the 2CC Bunnings balloons, and to get a video of Framey’s first moment on air (the voice before the voice over is that of newsreader Kris McKenzie).
(Note about videos, my camera is terribly inefficient when it comes to video bit rates, needlessly enocoding at almost double the required bitrate (maybe it saves on processing power). I have re-encoded the video in a number of formats with minimal to no quality loss. In all cases, the MPEG 4 video is the smallest, followed by the quicktime video, followed by the Real Media, followed by the Windows Media. In all cases, the MPEG4 is the best quality, followed by Quicktime, Windows Media and Real Media.)
Watch Framey’s first moments on air from Bunnings Belconnen
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Quicktime
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Real Media
A shortwhile thereafter they had their first OB guest, Bruce Huskings, complex manager of Bunnings Belconnen (I only remember his name because I wrote it down). In this photo from left to right, Bruce from Bunnings, Mike Frame and Kevin Woolfe.
There is also a short video of this interview where Bruce and Mike are alking about some of Bunnings Belconnen’s Grand Opening activities (Humphrey gets a mention). Note that this is before they fixed the PA so that the speakers emit the sounds from the microphones.
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Quicktime
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Real Media
The lights in the background were turned on prior to the beginning of the broadcast, which had me wondering if they were to a reverse television thing where, instead of having stage lights pointing at their faces (and everything else), they lit up their backs…I think too much, I must have gone potty from all the pots in the garden area (third time I’ve used that joke in the last 24 hours, I will desist now).
Here we have a random video clip of Mike summarising some of the guests who would be on the show later in the day…and the PA works.
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Quicktime
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Real Media
The “coming off delay” seven seconds of silence prior to the 3:30 news gave everyone a fright, thankfully Gareth The Tech had dropped by and was able to reassure everyone that it was normal. Recent commenter T-Bone also dropped by.
I decided to take a couple photos of the store, firstly looking lengthways down Bunnings from near one end of the store.
And one looking in a direction at right angles to the last photo (it doesn’t give a proper perspective of the size due to a zoom accident).
Then we have the video which I think is the best one of the lot, and I am very proud of it. I successfully guessed the final ad in the ad break, and pressed record right at the start of the intro, I then zoomed in one Mike as remained zoomed in on him as he spoke. A passing trolley moving stock can be heard at one stage, and the camera did its “overly cautious about having enough battery power to save the video trick” and cut the video off about two seconds early, but I still think this is the best video of the lot.
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Quicktime
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Real Media
During the ad break aroud 3:45 I decided to make my way home, and said goodbye to those who were still there (and waved to those deep in conversation), once out of the store I turned my radio back on, and started walking back to the Belconnen bus interchange. On my way, I took this photo of Bunnings Belconnen (and the Belconnen Fresh Food Markets’ carpark).
It was around 4PM when I got back to the bus interchange, I soon discovered that the next scheduled orange bus would arrive at 4:30 or thereabouts, as I had some time on my hands I decided to avoid the green buses and wait for an orange one. Around 4:15 I gave Mike Frame a call, in which I jokingly informed him that it’s a good thing that David Young (2CC’s gardener) is in Africa and not in the garden section at Bunnings, because he will come back from Africa.
Some time close to 5PM I reached home and only heard a few more minutes of the OB, John B1_B5 informs us that there was a “music break” at one stage when the OB signal was lost, I can only assume that this was some time after the 5:05 “by the seat of their pants” appearance of the clown and the man on stilts, as I didn’t hear any break in transmission before then.
Anyway, well done to 2CC for the outside broadcast, and well done to Bunnings for their brand new Belconnen store, it is absolutely fantastic and I recomend that you take a look if you have some spare time or some hardware needs in or around the ACT. Mike Frame was right when he said that you could spend half a day walking around that place, there is just so much to see.
Samuel
Entry Filed under: Canberra Stories,Samuel News,Samuel's Editorials,TV/Radio/Media
18 Comments
1. John B1_B5 | February 11th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Doesn’t appear to be much bigger than the Tuggeranong store …..but I guess it is …..
2. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 9:45 am
It is a bit bigger, the aisles are a bit wider and less cluttered too, the camera isn’t great at showing the true depth of things.
3. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 10:58 am
I just heard Mike Frame say that the program outage was acaused by somebody at Bunnings disconnecting their line back to the studio to make use of the fax machine.
I think we call that an “oops”.
4. Pandora | February 11th, 2006 at 11:09 am
What a day!! I was not fortunate enough to make it to the opening yesterday, however i will have a look around there as soon as i can.
5. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 11:13 am
I think the celebrations are continuing throughout the weekend, probably minus Humphrey and 2CC though.
6. John B1_B5 | February 11th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Yes, we’ll put that down to an “Oops” …… MY exciting news for the day is that I FINALLY got to speak to John Kerr, about 4 o’clock this morning — That’s the first time I’ve ever heard him on air …… Mike Frame told me on the Trading Post this morning that he heard me speaking to John Kerr as he was driving to work ! …… Anyway , that’s MY exciting bit of news for the day …….. Make of it what you will , lol !
Oh yeah …. one other thing …. I sold a bowl of 173 pennies for $40 ! (on the Trading Post of course ) .
7. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 11:53 am
I heard you asking Mike what he was doing up at that time of the morning…I was thinking the same thing about you. Anyway I’m glad you had a chat with John Kerr, he’s a nice bloke and has some very interesting conversations.
So you sold the bowl of pennies? Better than dealing with a coin dealer!
If I’m up after midnight I’ll have to give John Kerr a call, I must be due to call him again. I doubt that I’ll be up at 4am though.
8. John B1_B5 | February 11th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Yes, well normally I’m asleep at that time, but I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I came out to the “Computer Shack” and did some ‘on-line work’ . — I switched the wireless on , and heard John Kerr, so made an on-the-spot decision to give him a call ( regarding a particular topic which I shan’t go into here ).
All in all ….. things are starting to pick up ….. having got over my recent on-line break up ( I know that probably sounds rather pathetic to some people, but the emotions were real ) ….. I will now spend more time reading your blogs and listening to 2CC …. it really IS a part of my life …. and I thank all those people responsible for bringing the program into my home …. not just the presenters, but the producers and Technical people behind the scenes .
9. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
I was wondering where you were for the last few weeks John. I was starting to think that you might have stopped visiting this website, but you were busy, it happens to all of us (not that I’m saying that there is an obligation to visit this website or any other for that matter).
By the way, it doesn’t sound pathetic to me, I actually find it quite interesting the sheer number of people who seek partners online. Just like off-line relationships, some succeed and some don’t. I hope the break up hasn’t shaken you too much John.
10. John B1_B5 | February 11th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Thanks Samuel ….. I must be honest and say that I was really “down and out” for about a week or so ….. but I realized that sitting around feeling sorry for yourself is the worst thing anyone can do …. so… ( and I hate using this tired old cliche )… I decided to “move on” . —– I joined a respectable MSN Group (it’s ‘locked’ to the public, and you have to apply to join ).
Anyway, today I received a Valentine’s card from my new (Ebony) lady friend, so things are on the mend already .
You have to get out there and MAKE things happen ……… I don’t agree with the old maxim that “All things come to he who waits” ……….What a laugh ! The only thing that comes to ‘he who [ just sits around and ] waits’ is … death … lol !
11. Pandora | February 11th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
‘Sometime around 2:55 Framey sent me off to get him a can of Coke, which I did’
Sam, are you an employee of 2CC? If not, I am sorry to say but it sounds to me as though Mike Frame is abusing your goodwill as a loyal listener. Weren’t there station aides in attendance who could have gone to procure the beverage? If they were busy, couldn’t he have waited a few minutes. Although, as a fellow caffeine addict I suppose you understand this better than I do.
12. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
OK, maybe I should rephrase that…”sent” is the wrong word and it conveys the wrong message, and now that I think about it, it isn’t entirely accurate.
I probably should have said “Sometime around 2:55 Framey asked me if I knew if there was a drink machine somewhere, I informed him that there was one down at the other end of the store and he asked me if I could get him a can of Coke, I was quite happy to do so, and returned during the news with Framey’s can of Coke and the change (50 cents) from the $2 he handed to me to feed the drink vending machine.
13. John B1_B5 | February 11th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
Yeah, Mike’s Ok ……. That sorta reminds me of when I was a “Trainee” in the PMG at the old Pennys Building in Brisbane many years ago….They had ABC (Radio) studios on the 3rd, and 4th floors, and I remember this Technician — Grice was his name, asking me to get him a cup of tea from the lunch room. — I kind of felt sorry for this Grice character, because he had a wooden leg (he claimed it was a war injury from W W 2 , but others told me it was the result of a car accident ).
Amyway, I went and got Mr.Grice a cup of tea, and instead of saying “thankyou” to me , he said — ” I see you couldn’t get it without spilling some tea in the saucer” ……… Well ! ..I thought to myself…” Ok Grice, don’t ever ask ME to get you anything again you INGRATE ” …… and I never did !
I met some really interesting ‘characters’ at the Pennys Building studios — there was “Screaming” Huey Thain ( The Supervising Technician , Nat Gould ( known around town as the “Punters Helper” ), somebody called Alec Barron (a technician ) ……and I actually bumped into Tony Morphett ( creator of “Certain Women” ) in the studios a couple of times….he used to love operating the Byer tape recorder himself, instead of getting a technician to do it , which he SHOULD have done …….ah yes …..those were the days ….no “politically correct” rubbish back then ….LOL !
14. Samuel | February 11th, 2006 at 11:16 pm
I’ll add “Mike said thankyou”…Mike was very nice about it, asked politely, and basically I consider him to be a friend (albeit one that I only see once every half a blue moon).
Interesting memories John, I think you would make a brilliant guest on Samuel’s Persiflage some day, you seem to have many good stories and memories.
That last bit of your comment reminds me of one of Lawsie’s jingles (which I quote in a semi-accurate manner):
Whilst tongue in cheek, it shows Lawsie’s contempt for political correctness.
15. John B1_B5 | February 13th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
I’d like to get a copy of that ” Don’t touch that Dial ” , but I’m not paying $70 for it ……
There is obviously a lot of interesting stuff in it ……did you know that 2UE started broadcasting in 1925, and was originally designated 2EU ?
I’d like to see if there is anything on the “Mister Niceguy” og Radio, Howard Craven, who used to do the “Easy Listening” program on 2CH back in the 1970’s .
I did a Google search on Howard Craven, but came up with virtually nothing !
16. John B1_B5 | February 14th, 2006 at 7:59 am
I’m in no hurry …….I’ll just wait until that book ends up in a “Remains” bookshop for $10 …….. THEN I’ll buy it …. haha .
I got a feeling Howard Craven may have gone to that big studio in the sky .
17. heatseeker | February 14th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Fascinating tour Sam … I’m putting aside next Saturday to check it all out.
18. heatseeker | February 14th, 2006 at 9:48 am
John, I don’t think you “spend” money on “Don’t touch that dial”, you “invest” it … it has provided me with hours of entertainment inbetween walking Samantha.