“The ads on the bus say 2CC, 2CC, 2CC, The ads on the bus say 2CC on the ACTION Fleet”

Try singing the title to the tune of “The Wheels On The Bus” and you will get my drift…and it’s all true, 2CC are advertising on the rear of ACTION busses, which is really very clever as the one place where virtually everyone has access to a radio is on the road.
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The photo above is of the 2CC ad on the rear of ACTION bus 999, On Sunday I saw one on 884, and I am reliably informed that there are also 2CC ads on busses 931 & 994, plus many others. “Renault Rider” ^[2] informs me that the ads are on at least ten busses, and probably more.

Most of the ads are actually on the rear window, but on 999 it is lower for some reason. Interestingly, the current promo for the Mike Jeffreys Breakfast Programme contains a caller informing Mike Jeffreys that he has been following him on the back of a bus and that the only person missing is Mike Frame (factually inaccurate, but we’ll get to that shortly), Mike Jeffreys jokingly suggests to the caller that Mike Frame is running around sticking his own photo on the back of busses. The promo then cuts to a portion of the next traffic report where Mike “Frame in the Plane” Frame tells Mike Jeffreys that there wasn’t any room on the ad after Mike Jeffreys, they then joke about it for a bit and Mike Frame insists that he is a big fan of Mike Jeffreys.

That paragraph is nauseating with all of the Mikes, so I will try and record a copy of the promo which should make the whole thing clearer.

Moving on from that, it is time to scrutinise the ad. I don’t want to be critical as I am pleased to see 2CC finally doing something about getting their name out there, but I feel that a bit of light hearted analysis is good for everybody. I am hopeful that sister station 2CA (with their new format reminiscent of “Mix 106.3”) will follow 2CC’s lead, as I doubt that anybody other than 2CA’s listeners know that 2CA have a new format.

The most notable absence from the ad (other than Framey) is weekday afternoon announcer John Stanley, who is undoubtedly a large part of the lineup, however it is important to notice that they probably could only fit five people on the ad, and that meant throwing their relatively well known NRL commentator into the mix.

What really surprised me was that Stan Zemanek got the all-important centre position, when I have always regarded John Laws as the “big name” of 2CC. Stan does pull in a big audience of loyal fans, but I was surprised to see him getting the middle spot and not Lawsie.

Speaking of Lawsie, why is he next to Mike Jeffreys? It is well known that the two aren’t exactly best friends, but I suppose you could argue that they are two relatively high profile respected commentators on matters of news and politics, and should be grouped together as the “powerful morning duo”.

Having Mike Welsh on the other side of the ad gives listeners a feeling of balanced local broadcasters (Jeffreys on one side of the ad, and Welshy on the other), which seems to work, and having Hadley on the far end does emphasise a commitment to quality NRL coverage.

I would say that choosing the people and positions on the ad would have been a hard choice given the limited space, but I think it works quite well.

Now, time to work out where the images came from. Firstly a recap of what the ad looked like.
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To start with we have the blue “2CC” letters from the 2CC logo in the background.

Then we have Mike Jeffreys, as seen on his 2CC postcard.
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Then Lawsie as seen in a recent publicity shot, but rotated so that he isn’t leaning over.

Next, Stan Zemanek, from a publicity shot he uses on his postcards (source: http://www.sonieland.com/2005_04_01_archive.html ^[4]).

This is followed by a reversed photo of Mike Welsh (Just like Mike Jeffreys, it is from his 2CC publicity show as seen on his 2CC postcards) to make it look like everyone is huddled around in a minor semi-circle.
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And finally Ray Hadley. This appears to have come from a 2GB publicity shot, although the only copy I can find of it is a thumbnailed version used on the 2GB homepage ^[6].

On the whole, I think 2CC have made a very smart move, and I hope they reap the rewards. Well done 2CC!

Samuel