Barack Obama’s Indonesia/Australia trip has been delayed by three days so that he can take longer to fail to negotiate the passage of his health care reform agenda. In Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ trademark blundering style, the media were given the run-around, initially told that the President had no intention of changing the date, before announcing it on Twitter instead.
This pushes Obama’s Canberra visit back from Tuesday the 23rd of March until (presumably…Gibbs hasn’t released an updated itinerary yet) Friday the 26th.
The president was expected to leave Thursday for the six-day tour that included Guam and Australia. He has pushed it back until next Sunday.
The White House made the announcement on Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ Twitter.
[..]
On Wednesday, Gibbs hinted that the president wasn’t planning on delaying his travel to negotiate the sticking points among House Democrats in accepting the Senate health insurance reform bill.
“If we have any changes in the schedule, we’ll certainly let you know, but the president believes it is an extremely important trip with — it’s an important region of the world and these are important partners,” he said.
Gibbs added that “if it takes a couple of days extra” to get the bill passed, the president would be fine with missing the March 18 deadline he set for lawmakers “even if he’s already gone.”
This makes me wonder what we’re going to do with our own politicians. Parliament finishes its current session on Thursday the 18th and we were going to have a special session on Monday the 22nd, presumably to justify the cost of keeping them all here over the weekend so that they could be addressed by Obama on the Tuesday. Surely we won’t keep them here for a whole week of nothing, so I suppose this means that we’re sending them back home on Thursday the 18th and flying them back for the visit on Friday the 26th.
If that’s the case, then so be it. As much as I may dislike the man, I won’t begrudge him his visit…it does after all present me with an opportunity to protest against him. Seriously though, I understand the need for foreign leaders to visit, but given the cost to their country as well as our country, I do have to wonder why we can’t replace many of these visits with teleconferences…and that’s for all world leaders, not just the ones I dislike.
Anyway, as strange as it may sound coming from me, I am actually looking forward to Obama’s visit. I will be very interested to see how our domestic politicians react to his visit when it happens as, pleasantries aside, their reactions and comments will say a lot about their own policy agendas. Tony Abbott’s reaction will be particularly interesting as I’m hoping that Obama will be asked for his views on Abbott’s parental leave policy…being a massive tax increase on business and a redistributionist policy that Mao could be proud of, it should get Obama’s full support…one can only hope that such a thing would bring Abbott to his senses, even if it’s too late to regain any credibility on that issue.
That to one side (as it’s a topic which needs it’s own blog post), I do hope that Obama visits Canberra on the Friday as this will give me the opportunity to watch his plane leave in the afternoon. I didn’t see Air Force One when George W. Bush visited and seeing it in person would actually be the highlight of the trip for me. I’ll probably protest and be glad to see Obama leave…but I’ll be happy that I’ll have seen the plane. The trip is worth it if I can see the plane.
Update: I’m being told by somebody else now that 2CA are not covering the AFL. I can’t think of a good reason for either party to lie to me, so I’m more than a tad confused by the whole thing. I’ll update this again if and when more details come to hand. End Update
I can’t remember if I wrote anything about 3AW dropping Rex Hunt from their AFL commentary team. I remember writing that I would not be listening to 3AW if they went ahead with it, but I can’t find any proof that I ever wrote anything after they announced that they would actually be dropping Rex.
At the same time, 3AW and Triple M swapped commentators. Rex will be calling football for Triple M on Saturday afternoons, and Brian Taylor will be going to 3AW (eep, they can keep him). Taylor will be joined by Tim Lane, further cementing my decision to steer clear of 3AW this year.
I was pleased to see Rex sign with Triple M…but I’m even more pleased to see him sign with Crocmedia who, along with 3AW, have the commercial radio relay rights for the AFL. Crocmedia, who will be basing their operation in the studios of 3BA Ballarat, have signed both Rex Hunt and Sandy Roberts.
One of things which disappointed me when Seven regained the TV rights was that they didn’t bring Sandy Roberts back to the commentary box despite Sandy being their prominent sport presenter on Seven News Melbourne and presenter of various highlights programs. This sense of frustration has been increased of late due to the fact that I have enjoyed Sandy’s commentary on the overnight AFL replays on 7Two.
Needless to say, I was therefore absolutely delighted when I found out that Sandy Roberts had signed with Crocmedia along with Rex Hunt. Sandy will call Friday night and Saturday afternoon matches, while Rex will lead the commentary on Sunday afternoons.
Alas, I’m informed that Crocmedia will not be able to stream their coverage online, however they do have a growing network of relay stations which will be taking their coverage. The great news for those of us here in Canberra is that 1053 2CA will be taking the Crocmedia coverage, although I’m not sure at this stage which matches they will be covering. I’m hopeful that they will cover it as much as they did back when they relayed 3AW a few years ago…Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. I’ll let you know when I find out more.
(A side note to Capital Radio management: this information was not obtained at the Ray Hadley OB on Friday, which can be confirmed by a quick look back through my Facebook status updates. You will see that I first learned of this mid-last week. I won’t reveal how I came by this information though.)
Not in a million years would I have ever guessed that The Canberra Times, noble kitty litter liner that it is, could contain deliberate lies and misrepresentations, but it’s true, it does.
The CT has sadly gained money from me today so that I could see the extent of their utter misrepresentation of Lord Monckton’s lecture at the National Press Club yesterday. To set the record straight is going to take me more than the few minutes that I can spare right now, so I’ll do it tonight instead.
I suppose I could write a letter to the editor as well, but I don’t really see the point as:
1. Most of the people who read today’s article will not read tomorrow’s letters about it
2. I do not intend on further propping up the bottom line of The Fyshwick Guardian, err, The Canberra Little Red Broadsheet by buying a copy of their squalid rag tomorrow just to check if they publish my letter.
More to follow tonight when I have enough time to actually sit down and write details.
Lord Monckton appeared on 666 ABC Canberra’s breakfast show with Ross Solly after 8:30 this morning and I thought Lord Monckton ran rings around Ross. Ross was mostly fair in the interview but it was pretty clear who had a better grasp of the facts. I did feel sorry for Ross a couple times when he struggled to get words in at points where I thought Lord Monckton’s answers were already sufficient, but that was balanced by my annoyance at Ross’ obsession with who Lord Monckton is meeting, which I feel cost the audience some participation time.
I didn’t hear it yesterday as I was engrossed in work at the time, but Lord Monckton apparently appeared on 2CC’s Mike Welsh Drive Show. If and when that audio appears on their website (and when I notice it, considering that I’ll be out for much of the afternoon) I’ll post a link to that interview as well.
I thought I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but it looks like I only posted the link on Facebook.
Lord Christopher Monckton is in Canberra today and will be appearing at the National Press Club between 3pm and 5pm, courtesy of the New South Wales Farmers Federation, presenting a lecture entitled “Why a Royal Commission must urgently review climate change science”.
Update: Sorry, it’s sold out. End update
The cost is $20 per head and afternoon tea and light refreshments will be available. I honestly don’t know if there are any spots left, however if there are any left, I expect that they will go quickly. The people to call in order to book are the New South Wales Farmers Federation on 1300 794 000. I’ll give them a call myself after 9am to check if there are any spots left, and update this post accordingly.
I’ll be there, and I’m still trying to arrange a short interview with Lord Monckton. Somewhere along the line there was a communication breakdown regarding this, so I’m making a last ditch effort to arrange this today. Hopefully I can get this off the ground because I would love to interview Lord Monckton; I have some questions to which I would very much like to hear his answers and, above all else, would like to make short audio interviews a more regular feature of this blog…having Lord Monckton as the first would be an honour and a privilege. Update: Not locked in, but a window of opportunity has been provided. Many thanks to the organisers for their prompt reply this morning. End update
Anyhoo, more details about today’s lecture can be found here, and if you’re attending then I look forward to seeing you. Feel free to come up for a chat.
As expected from 2XL’s early announcement of their plans, 2CC have now confirmed that they are dropping Steve Liebmann’s show on January 18 in favour of Ray Hadley from 9am to 11am and Alan Jones Highlights from 11am until Midday.
According to 2CC’s Program Director Peter Davidson, this is in response to a large number of listeners asking “Why can’t we hear him [Ray Hadley] on weekdays?” when he can be heard on the weekend. Mr. Davidson also referred to Alan Jones’ return to 2CC as a homecoming of the “king of breakfast radio of the last 20 years or so”, referring to the old Alan Jones Highlights show which aired between 8:30am and 9:00am on weekdays in the early days of 2CC’s life as a talk station.
The station is expecting a lot of feedback today. I’m just glad that it’s not me that’s dealing with the correspondence.
Update: I’ll clarify that last line. I’m glad it’s not me dealing with the correspondence due to the volume…not the content. I’d love it if people flooded me with positive feedback, but I’d probably hate replying to it all because I wouldn’t want to use a form reply.
Anyway, 2CC’s press release follows:
January 7, 2010
EMBARGO – FOR RELEASE 8AM MONDAY JANUARY 11, 2010 RAY HADLEY & ALAN JONES JOIN 1206 2CC
1206 2CC announced this morning to it’s listeners that two of Australia’s most popular broadcasters will join the weekday lineup from Monday January 18.
Ray Hadley’s top rating Sydney morning show will be broadcast in Canberra on 1206 2CC.
Already familiar to Canberran’s through the Continuous Call in NRL season, Ray Hadley presents a morning show that is entertaining and informative. He often puts politicians on the spot to answer the questions his listeners want to know.
The Ray Hadley Morning Show will be broadcast on 1206 2CC Monday to Friday between 9am and 11am.
Alan Jones returns to the 2CC line up with a daily one hour highlights program of his highly successful Sydney breakfast show.
Alan Jones is one of Australia’s most popular and successful broadcasters. With the mind and capacity to make complex issues understandable, Alan Jones sets the agenda with the day’s newsmakers.
The Best Of Alan Jones will be broadcast on 1206 2CC Monday to Friday 11am till midday.
For further information contact:
Peter Davidson
Program Director
Talking Canberra 1206 2CC
Phone: (02) 6241 1911
2XL may have just the cat out of the bag on the big 2CC announcement on Monday morning. From 2XL’s website:
2CC and 2GN’s websites are both promoting the “big announcement” on Monday at 7:45am and don’t show any sign of Hadley or Jones, and 2XL’s site doesn’t contain any more details (Update: See update below). 2GN does at least say that there will be “two big additions”.
It’s obvious what they’re doing with Hadley. That will be 9am to midday. It couldn’t possibly be anything else. Alan Jones on the other hand is interesting. Many moons ago 2CC took Alan Jones’ 2UE breakfast show between 8:30am and 9am but that doesn’t seem like a sensible use of funds to me. I would say that it’s more likely that we will either see a relay of the “Alan Jones Highlights” show between 5am and 5:30am, or the nightly “Alan Jones and Ray Hadley Highlights” show (assuming that said show returns to 2GB’s lineup once they get the summer holidays out of their system).
Update: OK, I might be wrong about how they’re handling Hadley’s show, and also Alan Jones. 2XL, according to their on-air schedule, are taking Ray Hadley from 9am to 11am, and Alan Jones from 11am to midday. The Jones show will probably be a highlights show from that morning…it wouldn’t make much sense to replay a particular hour.
I’m not sure that 2CC will follow this model though. 2XL and 2GN are music stations outside of 9am-midday, whereas 2CC is 24/7 talk and could easily get away with running the full three hours of Hadley and putting the Jones highlights show elsewhere (dump an hour of Webster, please!). End Update
If it is the evening highlights show, then this will also lend credence to the theory that Macquarie, when they take over 3MP in Melbourne, will relay evening highlights to Melbourne. It will also lend credence to what I have heard today and will share with you later this evening…nothing ground breaking, as it’s already been the subject of heavy speculation, but important for 3MP all the same.
Incidentally, 2GB’s website has not added any of the Capital Radio Network stations to the list on Ray Hadley’s page as yet.
The 2CC press release
I promised 2CC that I would run their existing press release. Originally I was going to do this tomorrow night as a teaser for Monday’s announcement…but I can’t see any point in waiting any more. As such, here’s the press release (original available by clicking here).
January 6, 2010
EMBARGO – FOR RELEASE FRIDAY JANUARY 8, 2010 WHAT IS THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT AT 2CC?
Canberra’s commercial talk back station 1206 2CC has been telling listeners to tune in this Monday morning for a ‘big announcement’.
2CC has been quietly expanding its operations with the recent launch of Hot Country 97.5FM.
It’s expected that 2CC will announce extra additions to its 2010 lineup.
For the full details you will have to tune into 1206 2CC this Monday morning at 7.45 when breakfast host Mark Parton reveals all the details.
For further information contact:
Peter Davidson
Program Director
Talking Canberra 1206 2CC
Phone: (02) 6241 1911
Lord Christopher Monckton’s people have been kind enough to provide some more information about his upcoming lecture tour. The exact schedule is still subject to change, but as of this moment the following is known:
Wednesday 27.1.10 – 5.30pm – Sydney – Grand Ballroom, The Sheraton on The Park, Elizabeth Street, Sydney
Thursday 28.1.10 – 12.30pm – Newcastle – Banquette Hall, Newcastle City Hall, King Street Newcastle.
Friday 29.1.10 – 12.30 Lunch – Brisbane – Grand ballroom, Hilton Hotel, Queen Street, Brisbane
Saturday 30.1.10 – 2pm – Noosa – The J at Noosa Junction
Monday 1.2.10 – 12.30pm – Melbourne TBA
Tuesday 2.2.10 – 2pm – Melbourne – Grand Ballroom, Sofitel Hotel
Wednesday 3.2.10 Canberra
Thursday 4.2.10 – 2pm – Adelaide – Venue TBA
Monday 8.2.10 – 2pm – Perth – Venue TBA
I’m informed that details which are a bit more concrete should be available in a week or so.
Lord Monckton in Australia
(Please spread this message widely) 21 Dec. 2009
Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (Christopher Lord Monckton) has agreed to come on a lecture tour in Australia in late January 2010. Professor Ian Plimer will accompany Christopher Monckton on a whirlwind tour of the mainland capital cities starting in Sydney on January 26th and finishing in Perth on February 8th. Unfortunately we cannot fit in Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Lady Juliet Monckton will come as well, in part to monitor Lord Monckton’s health.
Prof. Plimer says the following of Lord Monckton: “although I modestly state that I am a good performer, he is superb and I have seen him fielding a very hostile BBC and other networks. He has the ability to change thinking……”.
Given the now generally-acknowledged lack of understanding among the Australian general public of the underlying reasons for a “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” and the likely effects thereof, it is critical that the public gets a chance to hear a globally-recognised presenter to explain the rational understanding of the whole issue. Lord Monckton is the ideal person to carry out this task and to also put it to the mass media.
[Tour date details removed - see details above or download the PDF]
As you can understand, the cost of this exercise will be very substantial as we have to fly Lord and Lady Monkton to and from Australia, all his domestic travel and accommodation plus a “stipend” of $20,000. Our aim is to cover these costs from donations from individuals, appropriate associations and corporations; we expect the required total to be of the order of $100,000. We would like to keep the cost of admission to Monckton’s lectures at around $20 so as to maximise the number of people that will come to hear him.
We have had a number of donations already of $1,000 (and higher) and would prefer donations to be of that order, but of course any amount is very welcome. Should there be a surplus, this, depending on the amount, will be given to Lord Monckton and/or the Climate Sceptics Party which is assisting with this project.
Your donations should be directed to:
Westpac Bank – Lord Monckton Tour account
Bank BSB: 035612
Account: 253068
Thank you in advance for your support of this nationally important project.
I’ve been meaning to write this article for many months but have struggled to find a decent quality copy of the EIB Network logo and as a result, kept putting it off. This changed this morning when The Rush Limbaugh Show upgraded their “dittocam” (webcam) stream to an “HD” stream. Personally I don’t think it qualifies as “high definition” at a 640×480 resolution…but it’s a vast improvement over the tiny old Windows Media and Real Player webcam streams, so I’ll let it pass…especially seeing as I can see things clearly enough in his studio now to work out that his web/email computer is a Mac.
You can see the EIB logo in a few places in that image. The EIB logo has been around for years.
In late 2008, after having driven past it on an almost daily basis for months, I noticed the remarkable similarity between the EIB logo, and the logo of the Edge Health Club in Weston. Edge opened in early 2008 and have therefore not been around for anywhere near as long as the EIB logo.
Pretty similar…especially when you look at the two side-by-side.
Could it be that the owners of the Edge Health Club are Rush Limbaugh fans and are subtly promoting Rush with their logo?
And it’s not as if you even need to check the news or Exhibition Park to know it. It may be under new management, but it hasn’t attracted a less hoonish crowd. (As in previous years, I am not implying that all attendees are hoons or acting like idiots, so don’t even go there.)
The increase in buffoonery on the roads of Canberra…well the inner north at least, is quite noticeable. Dickson around lunchtime was pretty bizarre from what I saw, and when I took Nattie for a walk this evening, Ainslie Avenue and surrounds weren’t an awful lot better. Notably, the majority of people that I noticed doing bizarre and stupid things had interstate number plates.
A word to the foolish (because the wise don’t need words): the police have the power to confiscate vehicles and it really is a long walk back to pretty much anywhere from Canberra. I should know, given that I walked and hitch-hiked back to Canberra from Sydney in March last year.
I caught the tail end of a promo on 2CC earlier this morning while I was between rooms. Apparently they are “expanding” and will have an exciting addition to their on-air staff…the announcement will be made by Mark Parton at 7:45am on Monday (Mark returns from holidays on Monday).
I’ll chuck a disclaimer in here and say that I know absolutely nothing about what the changes are…but if I had to make a wish, it would be that Mike Frame is getting a weekday slot replacing one of the 2UE shows. With any luck it would be Tim Webster’s show (oh what I would give to have Andrew Daddo take over that shift permanently).
I would also rate 2CC dumping the 2UE Steve Liebmann show in favour of the 2GB Ray Hadley show to be an outside chance.
And, just for the fun of it…wild and bizarre speculation time. Perhaps the rumours about John Laws returning to radio are true and he will be joining 2CC on Monday.
Regardless…announcement at 7:45am on Monday. Hand me a survey book because 2CC will easily win me in that quarter hour.
Update: I just had another thought which I had dismissed earlier…but the word “expanding” just keeps bringing me back to it. Perhaps 2CC will steal my idea (and guys, feel free to do so) and launch their own syndicated morning show hosted by either Mike Welsh or Mike Frame, initially networked to 2GN and 2XL, with the other Mike hosting the Drive show. That sort of morning show could be more relevant to the local region than either Sydney show is. End Update
Another update: One wonders if Steve Liebmann’s noticeable absence from 2CC’s presenters list and the (more comprehensive) “Presenters & Shows” menu means anything? One also wonders if the fact that, right now during the Mike Welsh Drive Show, the listen live box isn’t showing the name and photo of the current presenter means anything? End update
As The Canberra Times noted this morning (albeit in an alarmist manner), the Guardian Angels are setting up a chapter here in Canberra. This is fantastic news and should be invaluable in making Canberra and safer and more friendly place.
Despite the Canberra Times and, more concerningly, police minister Simon Corbell’s pronouncements, the Guardian Angels is not a vigilante group. The Guardian Angels is not about taking the law into their own hands, but is instead all about conflict resolution and deterrent, both through street patrols and education programs.
I’ll forgive the CT angle on the story as they were really just repeating the whining of Simon Corbell which is, for a newspaper, understandable. The really sad thing here is that Simon Corbell seems to be incapable of doing even the most basic little bit of research and is instead focussing on the political views of the Guardian Angels’ founder Curtis Sliwa, tarnishing a valid and valuable group in the process, and ignoring the fact that the local chapter of the Guardian Angels have already started talking with the police to make it clear what their aims are.
From the above-linked CT article:
Police Minister Simon Corbell said Canberra usually ranked as one of Australia’s two safest cities and there was no pressing crime problem.
He questioned why there was the need for such a group. ”There is no room for vigilante or paramilitary-type groups in community safety,” he said.
Mr Corbell described Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa as a right-wing conservative commentator and encouraged those involved to give their time to existing organisations working to minimise crime, drug and alcohol problems.
I agree with Simon on one point. Other places are worse. As I mentioned to 2CC’s Mike Welsh this afternoon, a place like Melbourne with its highly-publicised attacks on Indians would, on the face of it, appear to be a more likely candidate for this type of group, however that does not mean that such a group is without merit in Canberra. Canberra has a problem with crime, mostly of the assault and assault plus robbery type, and unfortunately there is only one deterrent to that which Simon seems interested in pursuing, and that is a greater police presence. A good idea for sure, but not one which is practical for any number of economic reasons which Simon would be sure to rattle off if pressed about why police aren’t standing on every street corner at every given moment.
The bottom line is that these types of offences are usually done without witnesses. They are, by their nature, opportunistic, and having people around (be it police, security guards or Guardian Angels) acts as a significant deterrent.
As I said to Mike Welsh this afternoon, and as the founder of the local chapter Damian Heffernan also went to great lengths to emphasise, the Guardian Angels is a peaceful organisation with a mission to prevent violence. As Damian pointed out in the CT article and to Mike Welsh this afternoon:
the worst case scenario is to ever have violence occur or an arrest that’s basically considered as a failure
It should also be noted that the Guardian Angels is a citizen volunteer organisation. They have no special powers and are not under the misapprehension that they do. They are fully aware of the fact that their only power of arrest is the power of citizen arrest, however unlike the vast majority of us ordinary everyday people, they have studied the subject of citizens arrest and understand what that entails. They will also call the police, just like you and I would, if a situation warrants their attention (such as an assault occurring). They are not out to take over from the police but, as Damian said, they are out to hopefully reduce the police’s workload by taking lawful means to stop things happening before they start.
The Guardian Angels have a long track record of successful peace-keeping operations (for lack of a better term), starting with their great work in cleaning up the New York subway. It is a proven success story, so it is beyond me why Simon Corbell is so opposed to it except for political reasons.
This theory is solidified by the fact that the vast majority of the Guardian Angels’ planned work in Canberra will be in education, including working with local schools on anti-bullying programs. This is clearly not an extremist vigilante group, and one look at the organisation’s website would have shown Simon Corbell that. Instead, Simon chooses to be of the belief that anything related to a conservative talk radio host (Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, is a conservative New York talk radio host, formerly on WABC with a nationally syndicated program, and now on New York’s AM 970 The Apple) must be bad despite his own police being more than willing to work with the Guardian Angels.
I’ll just be glad that Simon isn’t the police commissioner and doesn’t have any real authority over them.
In the meantime, I fully support the Guardian Angels opening a Canberra branch and applaud Damian Heffernan’s initiative in contacting the Guardian Angels so that he can open a branch here. I also look forward to Curtis Sliwa visiting Canberra to launch the chapter next month…if that is indeed what the Canberra Times meant when they wrote:
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and the group’s founder in Japan, ”Duke” are expected to launch the Canberra chapter next month.
A visit from Curtis would be absolutely wonderful. I have a lot of respect for him and it would be an absolute privilege to shake his hand if he does come to town.
The Guardian Angels is a great organisation, and I look forward to seeing them out and about in Canberra.
2CC/2CA’s production guru Michael Watson is leaving the stations after having worked there for 14 years, according to Jock’s Journal.
Michael has done a lot of great work for 2CC and 2CA over the years, although if I have to pick one particular thing which I have the fondest memory of…it would probably be the old Sgt. Pepper competitions on 2CA. I was also particularly fond of the piece he put together (OK, I’m 99% sure it was him…somebody please correct me if I’m wrong) after I announced my (later aborted) run for federal parliament on 2007. Just looking around for that now, I realise that I didn’t ever post it online…so here it is:
And with that, I’m back. The whole catching up on sleep and getting my energy back thing has been a limited success, but I am now back to being able to put my thoughts in to writing without having to spend a week working out how to word it, so we’ll call it a success.
I’ve got a lot to get through, and seeing as blog posts with multiple short stories in them seem to be the flavour of the trimester on about half the blogs I read, and it’s convenient in this case, I’ll bite and run such a post here.
***
Sleep? Hmmm, well it’s 3:32am as I type this and I last finished sleeping at 8am yesterday. You do the math. That said, in the last few nights I have had dreams where I:
1. Was in a repeat episode of Third Watch. Nobody could be bothered attending to the emergencies as they all knew that the people survived the episode, so why bother risking injury doing the stunts again?
2. I plunged to my death in a taxi, on a wet night where the left half of the road had been washed away. A very vivid and disturbing dream.
3. KXNT’s Alan Stock was elected as Chairman of the Nevada Action Committee, although what this actually achieved is beyond me, because the only thing he was required to do as part of this job was take five minutes out of his show each morning to read the KXNT phone number over and over and over and over and over (we’ll come back to this in five minutes when he’s done with the phone number)
***
Speaking of KXNT, their traffic bed (the music they play under their traffic reports) is one of the bits of music which I managed to get stuck in my head this week. I also managed to get the First Option Mortgage jingle stuck in my head for three excruciating hours, and get it stuck in somebody else’s head simply by mentioning it on Facebook. Apparently it’s called “ear worm”. I also had another song stuck in my head, but I dare not try to remember what it was lest it happen again.
***
Frasier and Seinfeld repeats at 7:30pm and 8pm weeknights respectively on Go! Channel Nine receive my perpetual thanks for this.
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There was some Bollywood movie on SBS Two the other night. I watched ten minutes of it near the beginning during which time the married couple managed to patch up their differences, and the wife declared that she didn’t really care about her husband’s flaws anyway. How they could drag that about the next three hours is beyond me, and I’m glad that I didn’t stick around to find out. The ten minutes was good for a laugh though.
***
Cisco have calculated (which is probably code for “guessed”) that the average broadband Internet user downloads 11.4 gigabytes per month. I average 20-25GB per month and will probably start doubling that in the not-to-distant future if one of my household projects gets off the ground.
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Facebook have decided to preserve the accounts of deceased members, minus status updates and other “sensitive data”. This intrigues me as I have often thought about what would happen to this site and my other online data if I were to cease existing for whatever reason. I would like to keep it all online permanently, but am yet to find a viable solution. The National Library’s PANDORA project archives the essence of this site, but seems to have a lot of broken links and missing data, which is hardly surprising given the sheer size of this site (6.97GB and growing). Preserving this site is a work in progress…I suppose I’ll just have to stick around for long enough to ensure that it happens.
Anyway, if and when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I’m happy for my Facebook account to be preserved as some sort of shrine, but I don’t want anything to be removed from it. How does one go about sharing this wish with Facebook. One’s will?
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Speaking of the dead, Yahoo have finally killed off Geocities. I’m glad that I was reminded of this imminent death the other day, as I had one page on there which I needed to save. I’ll republish it on here at some stage.
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Monash Drive has been removed the ACT “National Capital Plan”. The proposed road had been slated to run along the foot of Mount Ainslie behind Hackett, Ainslie and Campbell, roughly in-line with the already cleared sections which the high voltage power lines use. Politically, the road was never going to happen, which is a pity because it could have reduced a lot of congestion, especially in the years ahead.
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We’ve been following Barack Obama’s approval ratings here for some months now using the figures from Rasmussen, who had the polling figures closest to the outcome of last year’s election. That said, the other polls are interesting as well, especially when you consider that in the Gallup poll, Obama has recorded the worst third quarter of an elected president in recorded history. A nine point drop in his approval rating in the space of three months.
***
The White House have declared war on FOX News, claiming that they’re not a news organisation. The White House clearly can’t tell the difference between news programming and opinion programming, even when it’s pointed out to them. Funnily enough though, the other networks have defended FOX. Late last week, White House officials tried to ban FOX from a White House Press Pool interview session, but the other networks wouldn’t have a bar of it, quite clearly telling the White House that “if Fox can’t be a part of this, then none of us will interview your chap”. It worked, and the White House backed down, for now.
Here’s the point. FOX out-rate every other cable news network consistently, partially because of their news programming, and partially because of their opinion programming. People want to watch it. The White House don’t like the opinion programming as it is often critical of the Obama administration, unlike others such as MSNBC whose opinion programming often favours the Obama administration. The other networks know that if they let the White House exclude FOX, then they are all trapped in an unwritten “do as we say, or we cut your access” agreement. It is an attack not only on FOX, but on every other network, on freedom of the press, and on freedom of speech.
Glenn Beck, on one of FOX’s opinion shows, put together a rather amusing piece on the War On FOX which had me in hysterics when I first watched it.
One wonders if people would have voted for Obama’s “new era of bi-partisanship” if they had known that “bi-partisan” is defined as “the other side will do as we say, therefore we all agree”.
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The ANZ Bank have a new logo, and a TV ad which looks strangely familiar…I’ve seen the whole “life juggled above head, but we can make it easier” ad before, I just can’t remember where. Anyway, the logo, is it just me, or does it look like somebody chucking a tantrum after being kept in line for an hour?
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Channel Seven have announced their new digital channel, to be called “7TWO”, on (you guessed it) channel 72. I’m not in the least bit surprised that regional affiliate Prime aren’t putting it to air straight away, I mean Prime own the “6″ channels in digital TV land, and it would look rather silly have 7TWO on channel 62. I suspect that Prime are working on their own branding of the new station…PRIMExtra perhaps?
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RIP Don Lane, one of the great entertainers, who passed away at the age of 75.
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Remember when the Large Hadron Collider was about to be turned on for the first time and people were afraid the world was going to end? It amazed me how many people who believed that, were subsequently placated when it was turned on, broke down, and the world didn’t end. The whole cause for concern was for when it would finally reach the actual colliding stage, which it never did.
733-KXNT, 733-5968, 733-KXNT, 733-5968 (Alan’s still going…)
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Clive Robertson filled in for Tim Webster on 2UE and 2CC’s afternoon show yesterday. What a relief! Tim Webster, as much as like him personally, has bored me to death of late…I can not listen to his show any more, I just can’t. Tim is much better suited to a news-based show than the lifestyle-amalgam show that he is now presenting. Clive, however, suits the format perfectly, and is brilliant afternoon entertainment.
Memo to 2UE for next year’s lineup: Breakfast with Mike Jeffreys, Mornings with Stuart Bocking, Afternoons with Clive Robertson, Drive with John Stanley, Nights with The Two Murrays, Overnights with Jim Ball.
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And now at 6:18 it’s time for KXNT’s traffic and weather together on the eights, here’s Tate South (finally, Alan’s morning Chairman task is finished, which means that I can wrap up this blog post).
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There was an ad on TV last night for that boat from Victoria to Tasmania and back, in which they advertised the rate for taking your car with you as being an “each way” rate (eg. “x dollars each way”). Sorry, but does that mean it’s the return rate (you can travel each way for this amount) or the one way rate (each way costs x dollars)?
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Congratulations to Chris Matlock, KXNT’s Radiostar competition winner for this year. I listened to the entries of the 20 finalists when I was last in Deniliquin, and Chris was my favourite from the start, so I was very pleased to see him win. Chris will have his own show soon, apparently, and will start off co-hosting with Ciara Turns on “Sundays with Ciara” on Sunday, November 8 between 10am and 1pm. That will either be 4am-7am or 5am-8am Monday, November 9 in Canberra, depending on whether daylight saving has ended in the US by then.
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And finally, Lord Christopher Monckton spent much of the latter part of last week and the start of this week outlining the issues with the proposed Copenhagen climate change treaty which, don’t forget, is designed to stop a warming which hasn’t happened in about the last decade. The main points:
1. The setting up of a world government, with binding power over all countries.
2. Some peculiar scheme to send all the money from the western countries to the developing countries, to pay for some supposed “climate debt”.
Glenn Beck interviewed his lordship last week, which makes for very interesting and enlightening listening.
Part one:
If you ever needed proof that the whole global warming thing has everything to do with social change, and nothing to do with climate change, you now have it.
And so it begins again, Daylight Saving starts at 2am and will be with us until the other end of April…a whole seven months of adjusted clocks. Personally I don’t see why we can’t just have Daylight Saving for the whole year rather than slowly increasing the number of months we have it for.
Amusingly the ABC have managed to push their digital television electronic programme guides in to daylight saving time early, although it’s not amusing for me as I relied on their programme guide to schedule a recording of The Bill. My recording started an hour late at 9:30pm (10:30am GMT +11) instead of 8:30pm (10:30am GMT +10), meaning that I will have to wait for somebody at the ABC to upload The Bill to iView.
This may interest you, but it’s more for my reference. The updated KXNT schedule for programs of interest in Canberra’s daylight saving time.
Sunday
4am-7am: Casey Hendrickson and Heather Kydd weekend edition
Monday
4am-7am: Sundays with Ciara
11pm-Midnight: The Morning Source with Alan Stock
Tuesday to Saturday
Midnight-3am: The Morning Source with Alan Stock
3am-6am: Rush Limbaugh
6am-9am: Sean Hannity
9am-11am: Mark Levin
11am-1pm: Casey Hendrickson and Heather Kydd (includes Jerk Of The Week at 12:09pm Friday)
During the night I will have the fun job of setting all of the clocks in my house to daylight saving time, which doubles as my twice-yearly “make sure every clock is in sync” session. I can’t stand having clocks that have the wrong time, especially when they’re out by a minute or two. It drives me nuts.
So happy daylight saving to you. If your sleep cycle is similar to mine, you will welcome the extra hour of darkness in the morning. It will make getting to sleep at 5:30am much easier.
I was pleased to see Rex sign with Triple M…but I’m even more pleased to see him sign with Crocmedia who, along with 3AW, have the commercial radio relay rights for the AFL. Crocmedia, who will be basing their operation in the studios of 3BA Ballarat, have signed both Rex Hunt and Sandy Roberts.
The ANZ Bank have a new logo, and a TV ad which looks strangely familiar…I’ve seen the whole “life juggled above head, but we can make it easier” ad before, I just can’t remember where. Anyway, the logo, is it just me, or does it look like somebody chucking a tantrum after being kept in line for an hour?