Posts filed under 'TV/Radio/Media'
It’s almost three months since John Kerr retired from a long and successful career in commercial radio, and I’m pleased to be able to say that John is back on the radio in a less formal setting.
John has joined a community station up on his home turf of the Gold Coast, presenting a country music show. Gold Coast’s radio 94.1 FM lists John as being on-air on Friday nights from 7pm to 10pm, doing something he really loves…playing country music!
The show, titled Kerr’s Country was slated to start on the Friday just gone, after John returned from a cruise (as he says in an advertisement from a cruise on his old station 2UE, he plans on spending every available moment pursuing his love of travel). Alas, as I wasn’t aware of John’s new show at the time so I didn’t hear it, but the station has confirmed to me that John was on the air, and will continue to be on the air every Friday night from now on (holidays and cruises excluded, one would assume).
Incidentally, under John’s photo on the website is a short description of a “Cruise & Travel” show which airs on Saturday mornings. I would be surprised greatly if John doesn’t try to make an appearance on that show from time to time.
So there we have it…John is back on the radio, like he said he would be, on a community station on the Gold Coast. I have to admit that I have missed hearing John on the weekends…there was a certain level of comfort in knowing that John’s voice would be there on the weekend, so I look forward to hearing his new show on Friday. I always did enjoy his country music news segments on 2UE, so I’m sure his three hours of country music will be great.
The details again: John Kerr hosts Kerr’s Country. Friday night 7pm-10pm on the Gold Coast’s 94.1 FM.
(h/t Irene who found John’s show on the station’s website and alerted me to it)
Samuel
April 22nd, 2013 at 02:58pm
I’m in the middle of planning a trip (OK, closer to the start than the middle) to the US at the moment, and it occurs to me that my profile, plus my writings from earlier today, could just mean that a computer somewhere in the FBI or the CIA wants an agent to dig a little deeper.
From the perspective of a computer which has been programmed to look out for key words and phrases, this extract from my blog post about the postal system earlier today might seem a tad suspicious.
I would [..] embed some [..] devices in items I post
Yes, the statement was about tracking devices, and one would hope that an FBI agent would see that and dismiss the computer’s concerns, but I still think the computer would be worried about talk of posting devices and embedding things. The blog post also mentioned ricin, a poisonous substance which was mailed to the US President and a senator today, and so chatter about it would probably be high on the priority list for intelligence-gathering computers.
If I was putting together an automated system which looks out for suspicious activity of the terrorist kind, and was mainly basing it on key words and phrases, I would probably set it up so that after identifying something as potentially suspicious, it would then take another look over it for other, less immediately obvious, suspicious phrases which might indicate a plot or some sort of code. Looking back over that blog post, I listed my postal address in an unusual format:
a post office box at the Dickson post office (1272
And talked about the inside of government buildings:
They finally found it somewhere in the PO
and
parcels which are [..] stored in the post office’s back rooms
and
wandering back out to the back rooms
A drug inference could even be drawn from
Nattie did give the letter a good sniff
or possibly an explosives inference if the computer works out that Nattie is a dog.
Further examination of my blog brings up photos of phone towers, electricity substations, and a map of a powerline which feeds a government building.
Yes, an FBI computer would have good reason to think I’m suspicious. And a profiler might be concerned when they learn that my trip to the US is so that I can visit people, most of whom are conservatives (Terrorism center at West Point warns against danger of American limited-government activists and ‘far right’ – The Blaze, January 18), many are Christian, of which some are Catholic (Army training manual labeled Evangelicals and Catholics as religious extremists – Todd Starnes, Fox News Radio, April 5), and I intend on visiting many places in rapid succession, including some important building in Washington D.C. I have also made my disdain for President Obama clear on many occasions (although I think I’ve made it clear, and if I haven’t then I will now, that I do not want him to come to any harm…instead I wanted him to be voted out, and now want him to finish his term and be remembered for being a President with policies which ultimately failed and sparked a need for a serious return to conservative governing principles).
Obviously, this doesn’t add up to anything suspicious, but I can see how, at a time when security services are on edge, the combination of my profile and writings could be enough to make a computer suspicious, and perhaps make security services want to take a closer look at me. Dare I say it, I won’t be surprised if I get pulled aside at Customs in the US next year for a little chat…in fact, I’ll be a little disappointed if it doesn’t happen.
All of this reminds me of a story from the start of this year about the FBI scanning emails for certain words and phrases which apparently are common in messages about fraudulent activity. The words and phrases were “gray area”, “coverup”, “nobody will find out”, “do not volunteer information”, “write‑off”, “failed investment”, “off the books”, “they owe it to me”, “not ethical”, and “illegal”.
Glenn Beck had some fun with this on his radio show and jokingly suggested that they (Glenn or one of his co-hosts) should send an email containing all of those words just to confuse an FBI computer. Sure enough, co-host Pat Gray sent the message, and went to some lengths to make some of the phrases fit.
Dear Ahmed,
I’m sitting here gazing up at a cloudy grey area of the sky wondering how to cover up this blemish that I have on my nose. As a dermatologist, I thought you might have an idea of what I could use so nobody will find out that I’ve broken out again like a teenager. If you do not volunteer the information, I’ll probably have to see a specialist.
Up until yesterday, I’ve been using Clearasil on it but I realized that I can write off that failed investment of $4.99 because it didn’t work.
I wasn’t able to use the cream you prescribed for me last week because I put the jar on top of some books at my parents’ house and wouldn’t you know it, I bumped into the table that those books were sitting on and a jar fell off the books and onto the floor and broke.
My parents said that since I loaned them $20 last month, they would be happy to pay for a new prescription because they owe it to me. But I told them I wasn’t sure if it was not ethical to provide the medication again so soon.
Anyway, if you can call me on that, please call in the Walgreens at Fourth and Main as I have found that to get the one on 29th and Main, you have to make an illegal U‑turn at the light, and I don’t want to do that.
Thanks again. Whatever you can do, Dr. Ahmed.
I found it much more amusing when I heard it go to air. The video of it is embedded in the page of the above link, but it’s not working for me. Thankfully I have my own recording of it.
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/GlennBeckFBILetter.mp3]
Download MP3
(Audio credit: Glenn Beck, Mercury Radio Arts, Premiere Radio Network)
Samuel
April 18th, 2013 at 01:38pm
I’m seeing a bit of traffic landing on this site due to various searches relating to radio host Heidi Harris, and in particular questions about whether she is still with radio station “The Answer” in Los Angeles.
To briefly answer the question, Heidi left The Answer in March and went back to Las Vegas. As far as I know, she isn’t on-air in Vegas again yet, but she is still podcasting. Apparently Heidi never stopped living in Vegas and was commuting between Vegas and L.A. every week. For the Australians reading this who are wondering how far that is, it would be comparable to living in southern Canberra and driving to northern Sydney for work if your Sydney commute occurred during peak hour.
Samuel
April 12th, 2013 at 09:25am
The NRL folk still haven’t made an official announcement about this, but 2GB and Triple M have made their match lists for round one public information, and it can be deducted from this what the general arrangements are for the year.
Please note that I am not including the ABC here. ABC coverage remains virtually unchanged from previous years.
2GB and Triple M have retained the commercial radio rights, with an expansion in the number of games being covered by Triple M. 2GB have retained the games to which they had rights last year: Nine’s NSW Friday night match, the 5:30pm Saturday match, the 7:30pm Saturday match and one Sunday afternoon match (which appears to be the 2pm match, although it’s unclear what they will do about this when that match occurs at midday Sydney time due to it being played in New Zealand).
Triple M, have picked up rights to almost every non-2GB match except Saturdays. Triple M have exclusive access to Thursday night and Monday night matches. Triple M will also call the 3pm Sunday match as well as the Sunday night match. At this stage it is unclear what will happen when there is no Thursday night match and the NRL returns to having two Friday night matches. For as long as Thursday night matches exist, Triple M have exclusive access to Thursday night, however it is unclear whether, when there are two Friday night matches, 2GB and Triple M will call the same match or different matches, or if 2GB have exclusivity (in Sydney at least) to Friday nights. 2GB appear to have exclusive rights in Sydney to Friday night as long as Thursday night matches exist. There is also a little bit of confusion surrounding what happens when there are two 7:30pm Saturday games at the expense of a Sunday game. Logic would say that Triple M will call the non-2GB match, but given that logic seems to have very little to do with broadcast agreements, I’m not going to hold my breath on that one.
Precise details of what can be expected will, at this stage, probably remain known on a week-by-week basis, at least until the NRL decides to make a proper announcement about the radio rights.
For regional markets, there are a few other changes. Stations owned by Southern Cross Austereo will no longer take 2GB’s coverage, instead taking Triple M’s coverage. Also, not that it’s regional, but it seems that 4BC Brisbane have opted out of covering NRL this year. Triple M Brisbane will be covering matches though, with every Broncos game and the majority of the matches called by Triple M Sydney. This means that Triple M Brisbane will be covering the Friday night match which 2GB are also calling. 4BC Brisbane will be taking 2UE Sydney’s Saturday and Sunday afternoon sport-based talk show with John Gibbs and Paul Vautin.
Other regional changes will depend entirely on the stations in the area and with whom they are affiliating themselves.
2GB’s commentary team remains unchanged with the possible exception of 4BC’s Peter Psaltis not returning due to 4BC’s decision to drop NRL coverage. They have also shuffled their commentator lineup a tad by the looks of things.
Triple M will be sharing primary calling duties between Dan Ginnane, who has been their chief Monday night commentator for the last few years, and Anthony Maroon who filled-in for Dan last year during the Olympics. Triple M have retained the services of Peter Sterling, Andrew and Matty Johns, Steve Mascord, and Mark Geyer (I’m 99% certain that MG was part of Triple M’s team last year…I’m running off memory here so I could be mistaken), and have added a bunch of people to their coverage including Ryan Girdler, Wendell Sailor, Gordon Tallis, Nathan Hindmarsh (something in the back of my mind remembers hearing him on Triple M last year…again, I could be mistaken on that one), Bill Harrigan, Paul Gallen, Robbie Farrah, Willie Mason, Brett Finch, Tony Squires, Ben Dobbin, Andrew Webster, and Brent Read.
The bottom line on all of this is that almost every game, every week, will be available on commercial radio, which is fantastic news for those of us who do not have Foxtel and are not overly enamoured with ABC Radio’s NRL coverage.
It all starts on Thursday night. How wonderful it is to have NRL back!
Samuel
March 4th, 2013 at 06:03pm
Tonight (or to be more precise, tomorrow morning) John Kerr will take to the airwaves for the last time, in a professional capacity at least.
After 55 (or 56 if you listen to half the 2UE press releases) in radio and 18 on 2UE’s overnight show, John Kerr is retiring at 6am. Interestingly, John will sign off from 2UE at 5:30am and his final half hour of radio will only be heard on network stations.
John will retire to the Gold Coast where he has lived for the last year or so with his wife Rhonda. Since John moved to the Gold Coast, 2UE have been nice enough to fly him down to Sydney each weekend for his show, however John noted this morning that he has grown tired of dealing with the airport queues each weekend and this contributed to his decision to retire. He also expressed his thanks to 2UE management for extending his radio career by providing the flights.
John has been a good friend to me and many others over the years and, as an expression of my gratitude and that of a few other people (Irene in Sydney and my parents here in Canberra) I had a special present put together for John and sent to him a few weeks ago. It was a trophy of a golden microphone.
Unfortunately I’m working tonight so I won’t be able to hear all of John’s final show, but if I can find a quiet moment then I’ll try to give John a quick call.
I’m sure John will have a great retirement, and there’s a chance that John will grace the airwaves again on a Gold Coast community radio station, which would be lovely if it does happen. I certainly wish him all the best for his retirement regardless of what he chooses to do with his time.
He will be greatly missed from my radio, as I’m sure he will be from many radios across the country.
All the best John.
Samuel
-35.231915149.159294
January 26th, 2013 at 06:03pm
Last week, it was hot. No doubt about it. And on the back of that heat there were a number of stories in the media about “record heat” and how it’s never been hotter, and it’s just going to keep getting hotter. It was the usual collection of summer news stories presented in a handful of new ways.
The first story to catch my attention was a story about it being so hot that the Bureau of Meteorology had to add a new colour to their temperature maps for all of these newly reached temperatures. I immediately realised that these colours were really just re-classifying temperatures which have previously been classified under a different colour, but I didn’t recognise the full extent of the trickery involved in the colour-fiddle. I’ll explain that in a moment.
As the days went by and more stories popped up along the “record heat” lines, I started to see a few discrepancies which were disproving earlier stories. This was bugging me all weekend, but I didn’t have time to investigate the stories properly…this afternoon however, I do have time, and I’m glad because my suspicions have been vindicated.
As I said at the top, it has been hot, although after a mild and wet summer last year, this year’s summer probably feels warmer than it really is. That’s anecdotal though. The facts are in the numbers.
On that note, back to that map from the Bureau Of Meteorology.
(Temperature map for the 8th of January)
This map was plastered across much of the media, with the general line from most of the media being along the lines that “it’s so hot that the weather bureau have been forced to add two new colours to the temperature map to display these hot temperatures”.
The ABC, not surprisingly, had one of the least accurate and most alarming statements on the matter:
Heat drives bureau back to the drawing board
The Bureau of Meteorology has been forced to introduce new colours to some of its charts because of recent extreme heat in Central Australia.
England’s International Business Times took it a step further:
The raging bushfires in Australia have added a new colour to the charts of the meteorological department as the temperature soars to record highs.
Reuters was no better:
Australia’s record-breaking heat wave has sent temperatures soaring, melting road tar and setting off hundreds of wildfires – as well as searing new colours onto weather maps.
Record highs? Recent extreme heat? Hmmmm, perhaps we should look a bit further down the ABC article:
Shades of deep purple and magenta have been added to the forecast map for temperatures up to 54 degrees Celsius.
The temperature range was previously capped at 50C.
Yes, that’s right, it’s a forecast map, not an historical map. While the ABC article does state this, it’s not the impression given by their opening remark. The same can be said for most of the other media outlets that ran this story.
The map doesn’t report temperatures, it predicts temperatures. It was not changed because the temperatures had gone above the existing scale (which, incidentally, topped out at 50+, not a flat 50) but because one of the Bureau’s computers had predicted a hot day.
So, that map, which was used by much of the media to convince everyone that new records had been reached in a large section of South Australia, actually said no such thing…not that the Bureau were in any hurry to correct the record.
Hot on the heels of that, the Bureau had some more climate confusion for everyone: A measure called an “area-average high temperature”. Basically what that means is that they take the hottest temperature of the day at every weather station in the country and then, with a bit of mathematical work to assign temperatures from weather stations to the areas around them, they work out what the average temperature across the country was. They reached a conclusion that we had the hottest day ever, with an average maximum of 40.33 degrees.
Assistant Director of Climate Information Services, Neil Plummer, said the heatwave had broken national records. This is consistent with the trend of an increase in extreme heat events associated with climate change.
“On Monday the average maximum daily temperature record for Australia was broken at 40.33°C. The previous record, 40.17°C on 21 December 1972, was held for 40 years. The daily average maximum temperature yesterday (8 January 2013) is a close third at 40.11°C.”
It’s an interesting statistic, but when you consider how it’s calculated, it’s not a particularly useful metric as, due to the increasing population over the years, more and more inland temperature gauges have popped up (even in places like Western Sydney which is always significantly hotter than Coastal Sydney), and as technology has improved, more of them are now full-time gauges, whereas there was a time when a lot of temperature gauges, especially inland ones, would only work at certain times of the day and could therefore miss the actual hottest point of the day and report on a slightly cooler point of the day instead.
Naturally, with more inland gauges, more hot temperatures are reported, which skews the measurement towards higher temperatures. It may only be slight increases in the calculated measurement, but when you’re talking about averages of large amounts of data, small changes make quite a difference.
This measurement broke some records from the 1970s, which is interesting because it doesn’t quite tally with records for actual temperatures:
Canberra: 42.2 (1 Feb 1968). The highest so far this year was 40.1 on the 5th of January.
Sydney (coastal): 45.3 (14 Jan 1939). The highest so far this year was 42.3 on the 8th of January.
Penrith, in Sydney’s west: 46.0 (15 Jan 2001). The highest so far this year was 42.0 on the 8th of January.
Melbourne: 46.4 (7 Feb 2009). The highest so far this year was 41.1 on the 4th of January.
Adelaide: 45.7 (28 Jan 2009). The highest so far this year was 45.0 on the 4th of January.
Alice Springs: 45.2 (3 Jan 1960). The highest so far this year was 44.4 on the 12th of January.
Cairns: 40.5 (20 Dec 1995). The highest so far this year was 33.8 on the 3rd of January.
Dubbo: 45.0 on the 12th of January, exceeding the previous record of 44.5 (15 Feb 2004).
Bendigo: 45.4 (7 Feb 2009). The highest so far this year was 41.0 on the 7th of January.
Mildura: 46.9 (3 Jan 1990). The highest so far this year was 44.2 on the 4th of January.
Coober Pedy (in the Bureau’s purple hot spot): 47.1 (25 Jan 2011). The highest so far thus year was 46.3 on the 7th of January.
Hobart: 41.8 on the 4th of January, exceeding the previous record of 40.8 (4 Jan 1976).
The interesting thing about those temperatures is that none of the records were set in 1972 when the former area-average record was set, and only two of the twelve towns in that fairly representative selection of places which were apparently very hot over the last couple weeks actually set a record this year, and even they didn’t set a record on the day which the Bureau claims is our hottest on record, based on their calculation. Two of those towns had their hottest day of the year-to-date on the 7th of January this year, but that is hardly significant given that we’ve only had two weeks of this year, and it’s definitely not a record.
In order for not even one of those places to have set a record at the time the area-average maximum calculation set a record, either an absolutely outstanding number of places set a record on those days or the calculation has to be giving too much emphasis to some places which are significantly hotter than other places.
So, did a large number of places set records on the 7th of January, the day on which we apparently broke that area-average maximum temperature record? No. Only one place set a record on that day: Leonora in Western Australia which recorded 47.8 degrees, and even that is not a new record as it previously reached the same temperature on the 1st of January 1957.
(The document which the Bureau published which contains this information is being updated daily. At the time of writing, the version which I used was on the Bureau’s website at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs43c.pdf however, as this document will be changed in short-order by the Bureau to add data from today and future days, I have archived this document here so that my reference material is available for perusal in the form which I saw it).
In that case, mathematically speaking, the Bureau’s area-average maximum temperature calculation has to be giving too much emphasis to places which are regularly hotter than others in order for it to have set a new record. In other words, it’s bunkum, it’s bogus data, and it’s junk science.
There is a little bit more evidence of the fact that this summer is not hotter than ever before, and I touched on it very briefly near the start of this post. That temperature graph which supposedly topped out at 50 degrees, did in fact not top out at 50 degrees. I noted earlier that the top colour was for “50+” and that temperatures in excess of 50 degrees have been seen in Australia before.
In a somewhat peculiar (due to its emphasis on recent heat despite noting multiple older and hotter temperatures), but accurate, story which was also picked up by the media, WeatherZone advised that we saw our hottest temperature in 15 years. This story published on the 13th of January, added to the cavalcade of stories about “record heat” and gave the media some more information with which to continue to advise that global warming was running rampant.
Yesterday (Saturday) Moomba in the far northeast of South Australia recorded a maximum temperature of 49.6 degrees, which makes it the highest temperature recorded in Australia in 15 years.
True enough, although it should be noted that this record is missing from the Bureau’s list of records set over the last week or so, which I noted a short time ago, as this is one of those weather stations which have been added in recent years, having been commissioned in 1995. The Bureau’s document only notes stations which have existed for at least 30 years.
This is the hottest recorded day in 15 years, which means that every day between:
February 1998, in the Western Australian Pilbara, where Nyang reached 49.8 degrees.
and Saturday the 12th of January 2013 when the Moomba Airport record was set, has been colder. Not exactly compatible with the theory of warming temperatures, but entirely compatible with the truth that global temperatures have barely moved in the last decade or so.
Anyway, I’m drifting away from the Bureau’s hot spot graph which I was talking about. The WeatherZone article by meteorologist Brett Dutschke also notes that:
Moomba’s 49.6 degrees is also the highest temperature recorded in SA since Oodnadatta reached 50.3 degrees 53 years ago, in January 1960.
Australia’s record is held by Oodnadatta, 50.7 degrees, also in January 1960.
On more than one occasion temperatures in Australia have exceeded 50 degrees, and on every one of those occasions a black “50+” colour has sufficed. Of course, this map from the Bureau was predicting temperatures in the 52 to 54 degree range on the 8th of January, and if such temperatures had come to pass, then the new colours might have been useful, but we didn’t even come close to breaking an existing record which managed to fit on the old colour scale, let alone see a temperature in the new colour range.
Yet again, the Bureau’s predictions of warming doom have failed to come to pass. Yet again, the data shows us that, far from seeing an alarming rate of warming, we are seeing a continuation of the usual cycle of cold, medium and hot years and that, this year, we happen to be experiencing a peak which is to be expected after the recent mild years. Not to mention that on the global front, places like China are more than compensating for our alleged warming with a bit of a cold snap where they’ve seen temperatures as low as -40.
As usual it seems that the spinning of the numbers by the Bureau and the cherry-picking of that spun data by various sections of the media, bares little if any relation to the facts:
- The planet is not warming at an alarming pace
- Global temperatures have been virtually stagnant for over a decade
- Australia is not experiencing an abnormally hot summer
The facts speak for themselves. It’s just a shame that many people will never hear them from most of the media or the government agencies who have been put in charge of monitoring the climate.
Samuel
January 14th, 2013 at 07:36pm
On his 2UE show this morning, John Kerr announced his retirement from radio after 55 years on the air, 18 of which have been on the overnight shift at 2UE, first on weekdays and now on weekends. John made a private announcement to a select number of his biggest fans at a listener lunch in Sydney yesterday afternoon.
John will stay on the air until the Australia Day weekend. At this stage it is believed that his final show will be on the morning of Sunday the 27th of January, 2013.
John’s departure from 2UE has been rumoured for some time, especially since the weekday edition of the overnight show has been networked from Melbourne for a few months and 2UE has been on a bit of a cost-cutting exercise due to low ratings. At this stage it is unclear whether 2UE will take the weekend overnight show from 3AW in Melbourne after John leaves, but if they do it will be interesting to see how 3AW handle having NSW and Queensland stations taking their show on the weekend given the stark differences between the sporting tastes of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and 3AW’s position as a leading player in Melbourne’s radio coverage of AFL.
In other changes at 2UE, Mike Jeffreys returns to the 8pm-Midnight shift from December 10, filling in for the man who took his place in this timeslot, David Oldfield.
Next year could see many changes at 2UE with some odd sign-offs from existing hosts yesterday. Breakfast host Jason Morrision and Drive host Paul Murray both stated that they are unsure if they will return to their current timeslots next year. Some changes to the station’s lineup could depend on the outcome of NRL radio rights discussions. 2UE and 2SM are believed to have put in a joint bid for radio rights, and it is believed that this bid has been unsuccessful, but without any confirmation from the NRL or the radio stations themselves, anything could still happen.
Anyway, I will be sad to see John Kerr go. He has been an institution on my radio for many years and has been a welcome guest on the speaker of my radio. I have greatly enjoyed listening to John and having some conversations with him on the phone. I am also incredibly thankful to John for his time on a few occasions where he agreed to be interviewed for a school assignment and then again for Samuel’s Persiflage. I consider John to be a good friend, and will greatly miss his company.
John is a lovely man, and I intend on enjoying every moment of his remaining couple months on the air.
Samuel
December 1st, 2012 at 01:10am
As long-time readers of this blog would know, I’m not a huge fan of The Canberra Times as I prefer publications such as The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, however it does on occasion have something of genuine interest to me.
Yesterday, after having helped Liberal candidate for Molongolo Elizabeth Lee with her campaigning at the Ainslie Shops, I was helping out with sorting her pamphlets at her office in Civic when the Canberra Times turned up, wanting to put together a profile story about Elizabeth. Today, that story appeared in the paper. I’m pleased about two things about this article. Firstly, it seems to be a fair article. There were some questions asked which made me wonder about the agenda of the journalist, however the article turned out to be quite fair. Secondly, the group photo of all the people who had gathered in Elizabeth’s office on a Sunday afternoon appeared in the paper not once, but twice, with Elizabeth’s personal photo being used on the front page of the Canberra Times’ website.
Here is the front page of today’s Canberra Times.
(Click image to enlarge)
The article itself is on page two, however there is a very brief tease for the article on the front page, under the headline on the left of the page.
The article on page two is accompanied by a large photo. The photo and headline take up most of the space above the fold, with the body of the article mostly being below the fold.
(Click image to enlarge)
Here is a closer shot of the article.
(Click image to enlarge)
And with a very large tip of the hat to The Canberra Times, journalist Noel Towell and photographer Rohan Thomson, here is the article as printed in the paper and on The Canberra Times’ website. One should note that different photographs have been used in the article on the website and the article in the paper.
Family the key to Liberal’s aspirations
Noel Towell
(Click image to enlarge)
Elizabeth Lee prepares election material with her team at her office in the city. Back, from left: David Lee, John Lee (father), Elizabeth Lee, Cecilia Lee (mother), Front, from left: Candice Burch, Samuel Gordon-Stewart, Rosa Lee (sister), and Kim Lee. Photo: Rohan Thomson
Elizabeth Lee reckons family is the key.
The surprise-package Liberal has been running what is probably the highest profile – and best financed – campaign by a non-incumbent candidate for the October 20 election, becoming a familiar face on the streets of Canberra in the process.
Speaking at her campaign office in Civic yesterday, the Australian National University law lecturer said her Sydney-based Korean-Australian parents were one of the driving forces in her bid for election.
”The key is family support,” Ms Lee said.
Advertisement
”My parents live in Sydney and from April they would come down every single weekend, starting at 4.30 in the morning, drive down and campaign all weekend.
”Dad is here full-time, Mum is now here full-time and the support I get, not just the physical support but the emotional support, is absolutely phenomenal.”
Despite her campaign being bathed in Canberra Liberals colours, the lawyer has been with the party for only two years, and she did not take the decision to join lightly.
”I’ll be the first to say that I was probably a swing voter more than anything else,” she said.
”I joined the Liberal Party in 2010 after giving it quite a lot of thought, after sitting down and really asking what my core belief was.
”I did a lot of research but at the end of the day, the thing that really stood out about the Liberal Party for me was the whole idea of freedom and responsibility and I think we all have a responsibility to make a positive contribution to society.”
Ms Lee believes that her background in legal politics would be good preparation for the real thing.
”I’d been involved in legal politics for a while, with young lawyers of ACT and Australia and ultimately, I really enjoyed doing that kind of stuff, working with different people,” she said.
”I’ve had pretty good opportunities, a good education, great family support.
”It wasn’t a single issue for me, but I’ve always enjoyed doing this sort of work.
”When I was chairing the young lawyers group, and people would ask me what my dream job would be, I’d tell them I’d love to do this.”
As The Canberra Times own this story and accompanying photos, I have deliberately avoided posting this blog post until 6pm so that The Canberra Times gets a fair first run with it. I also linked to the article earlier today so that traffic for the article would go to them in the first instance.
As I noted earlier, I am pleased to see that the article is fair. I have come to know and support Elizabeth in recent times and, although I expect we may disagree on some aspects of federal politics, the big reason I support Elizabeth locally is that she seems to be very committed to efficient local service delivery and recognises that the Legislative Assembly is not the place for federal politics. She has also shown great organisational skills during the campaign so far, which is one of the big things I look for in a candidate. It has been my pleasure to support Elizabeth…and it’s funny how one can become somewhat excited about being in a paper which one doesn’t hold in the highest regard, and how at the same time that paper can improve its standing in my mind with a fair article such as this one.
Samuel
October 8th, 2012 at 06:00pm
Brian Wilshire, the long-time evening show host on 2GB who was replaced by Steve Price a few months ago is back, but in a later timeslot. Brian is taking over the overnight shift, replacing Michael McLaren who is returning to his pre-hosting role as a program producer. Brian returns on Monday.
What does remain a mystery though is what timeslot Brian’s show will occupy. It will start at midnight and will, initially at least, run until 5am, but the question is whether 5am is a permanent finishing time, or if Wake Up Australia will return when Andrew Moore’s holidays come to an end.
Interestingly, Michael McLaren will only be producing Brian’s show three days per week, and he has hinted at the possibility of being involved in other things at the station. Whether that means he is taking on a weekend presenting role is anyone’s guess.
The overnight changes aren’t confined to 2GB either. Fairfax Radio have implemented an altered version of their plan to replace 2UE’s overnight show with 3AW’s overnight show. Network stations, including 4BC Brisbane are receiving the 3AW show where, despite promises from Fairfax of the 3AW show becoming more news-oriented, news still seems to be mostly avoided. 2UE is still running its own show with John Cadogan, just without a network audience.
One has to observe that if the Fairfax show remains as heavy on nostalgia as it is, Macquarie would be well-advised to syndicate Brian Wilshire as soon as possible. Brian, conspiratorial as he may be at times, is still more newsy and, in my opinion, more interesting than 3AW’s overnight show.
One other thing which did occur to me is that Brian, with his interest in conspiracies, could put together a very good Australian version of American overnight show Coast To Coast AM which is an amazing ratings success with its mix of news-based discussion, and long-form interviews and talkback about subjects as diverse as conspiracy theories, UFOs, paranormal occurrences and alternative medical theories.
H/t to Frank from Frankster’s Archive for alerting me to Brian’s return. I missed the on-air announcements. Also to John Moulis for his observations about where 3AW’s show is being heard. John also made some interesting observations about the ACT election recently which I’ll share with you soon.
Samuel
-35.228554149.152433
October 5th, 2012 at 03:14pm
Apparently in the last few days the freebie News Limited newspaper in the capital cities, MX, decided to rename the Koreas, calling North Korea “Naughty Korea” and South Korea “Nice Korea”. This angered the North Koreans which made noises about MX’s actions being against the spirit of the Olympics (because, as we all know, North Korea are the world authority on all of the peaceful sentiments of the Olympics) which in turn caused MX to run a paper with the headline “North Korea launches missive (yes, missive)”. That missive is one of the more amusing official statements I have ever read.
The Australian newspaper Brisbane Metro behaved so sordid as to describe the DPRK as “Naughty Korea” when carrying the news of London Olympics standings.
This is a bullying act little short of insulting the Olympic spirit of solidarity, friendship and progress and politicizing sports.
Media are obliged to lead the public in today’s highly-civilized world where mental and cultural level of mankind is being displayed at the highest level. Brisbane Metro deserves criticism for what it has done.
The paper behaved so foolish as to use the London Olympics that has caught the world interest for degrading itself.
The paper hardly known in the world must have thought of making its existence known to the world by joining other media in reporting the Olympic news.
Then it should have presented its right appearance to the world.
Editors of the paper were so incompetent as to tarnish the reputation of the paper by themselves by producing the article like that.
There is a saying “A straw may show which way the wind blows”. A single article may exhibit the level of the paper.
Many people were unanimous in denouncing the small paper for defaming the mental and moral aspects of the players of the DPRK who earned recognition from several appreciative world famous media.
Even hostile forces toward the DPRK heaped praises on its players’ successful performance at the London Olympics, saying that “Korea whirlwind” sweeps the world.
The Australian paper cooked up the way of moneymaking, challenging the authority of the dignified sovereign state. The paper deserves a trifle sum of dirty money.
As already known, it was reported that a lot of petty thieves sneaked into the London Olympics together with tourists. Players fight to the finish in the stadium, but those petty thieves demonstrate their “skills” outside the stadium.
The paper Brisbane Metro is little different from those petty thieves. In a word, the paper discredited itself. How pitiful it is.
The Brisbane Metro will remain as a symbol of rogue paper for its misdeed to be cursed long in Olympic history. The infamy is the self-product of the naughty paper Brisbane Metro which dared challenge the spirit of Olympic, common desire and unanimous will of mankind.
(h/t News Limited)
MX were having a bit of fun…probably not as much fun as I have been having while reading the peculiar missive from North Korea. MX’s altered medal tally may have been in bad taste, although I personally think it was quite amusing. In fact, I think the names should stick. From now on, I intend on adopting MX’s names for the Koreas, referring to the North and South as “Naughty” and “Nice” respectively.
Now, let’s see if I get a personal message from Pyongyang describing me as “most sordid” and “cursed long in Olympic history”.
Samuel
August 8th, 2012 at 10:00pm
In case you don’t already know, I’m up in Sydney today to see Tony Abbott deliver an address to the Institute of Public Affairs on the topic of freedom of speech. I’m led to believe he has an announcement to make.
As I have a bit of time while I’m up here, I decided to drop by the Seven Network studios at Martin Place and do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time…say hello to Glenn Wheeler in person as it has been far too long since I last did that.
Glenn was kind enough to spare a moment of his busy schedule…so I’m pleased to be able to present the one, the only, the great, and the incredibly psychic (or psycho, depending on which promo you listen to) (drum roll….) Glenn Wheeler! (I couldn’t afford his studio audience, so you’ll just have to imagine the applause).
Thanks Glenn! Good to see you again.
Samuel
-33.868146151.211518
August 6th, 2012 at 09:17am
Towards the end of April I brought you some news about some radio movements in the New South Wales towns of Young and Deniliquin, namely that Rob Harrington had moved from 2LF in Young to 2QN in Deniliquin, replacing Graham Munson as 2QN’s journalist. 2LF had not sought a replacement for Rob at that time and their breakfast host, Neil Langford, was covering news duties.
At the time, I promised to bring you updates when they came to hand. Well, I’m pleased to say that they have.
Graham Munson has taken a bit of a sideways step away from radio in to the land of politics and PR. Graham has joined federal MP for Murray Sharman Stone‘s media team and can often be found in Canberra these days. Sharman Stone’s electorate of Murray covers an area of northern Victoria centered around Shepparton and Echuca.
(This post has been updated. Originally it noted that Graham was working for Sussan Ley, the MP whose area covers Deniliquin. This was incorrect and was based on some slightly confused information received from a person who confused the two politicians).
Over in Young, 2LF have finally posted a job advertisement. They want a journalist, and I’m sure they’ll get plenty of applications. I, personally, can’t justify the pay cut which the job would entail at this point in time and will not be applying.
Meanwhile, over in Indiana, it’s not so much of a movement as it is a congratulations. Casey Hendrickson, host of Michiana’s Morning News on News/Talk 95.3 MNC in South Bend, has finally found his way on to the national stage. Casey will be filling in for Jason Lewis today on his nationally syndicated radio program on 52 radio stations between 6pm and 9pm US Eastern Time (8am to 11am Canberra time), one of which is Casey’s own station.
I clearly remember predicting back in either 2009 or 2010 (I think it was the latter) that it wouldn’t be long until Casey found himself filling-in for a national host. At the time I expected it to be Mark Levin who airs at the same time as Jason Lewis, however that turned out to not be correct as Casey didn’t stay on a station which airs the Mark Levin show. Still, at least I got the timeslot right.
Congratulations and good luck Casey! I’m sure the nation will enjoy your work.
Samuel
June 8th, 2012 at 06:34am
This round seems to have been sparked by 2GB doing the almost unthinkable, dumping their consistently top-rating night time host Brian Wilshire, and replacing him with Steve Price, whom Macquarie Radio (owners of 2GB) still have under a five-year contract from his time at the helm of their now-abandoned foray in to the Melbourne market, MTR 1377.
This alters 2GB’s lineup a bit more than a simple replacement would. Steve Price is taking over the 8pm-midnight timeslot, which means he is replacing the Alan Jones & Ray Hadley highlights hour which was airing at 8pm, The Super Show with Peter Switzer which was airing at 9pm, and some of Brian Wilshire’s timeslot which most recently started at 10pm. Overnights will return to starting at the old start time of midnight, although it is entirely unclear who will be hosting that as the original story was that Brian Wilshire was to be given that timeslot, however he is going away for three months to write a book, so it’s entirely possible that Michael McLaren will return to the overnight show when he returns from annual leave in a week or two.
That said, I was told late last year that 2GB had plans to replace Brian Wilshire with former 2UE afternoon presenter Michael Smith. It hasn’t happened and I have seen no further evidence of it, but anything is possible at this point in time.
Regardless of what happens to the overnight show, Steve Price has announced that Andrew Bolt, who co-hosted the 8am hour of the breakfast show on MTR 1377, will be joining Steve during the 8pm hour of the 2GB show. Andrew is also on a long-term contract with Macquarie Radio thanks to the MTR venture.
It has been reported in Melbourne’s Herald Sun that the other big MTR contract, that of Steve Vizard, has been paid out as a lump sum.
Meanwhile at 2UE, it seems that despite recent improvements in 2UE’s night-time ratings on the back of Mike Jeffreys hosting the show, they have decided that they need to shuffle their presenters if they are to make in-roads from the absence of the Brian Wilshire ratings powerhouse. Honestly, I don’t understand this logic, as any change brings an element of risk. Mike Jeffreys is a well-performing established brand in the timeslot, and I would have thought that having him maintain his existing audience, while capturing a few people who have been put off by Brian Wilshire’s departure, in conjunction with Mike’s existing audience growth, would have been a sufficient strategy…but nothing that makes sense to me ever seems to make sense to The Powers That Be at 2UE.
2UE are moving morning presenter David Oldfield, who has held on to a fairly stable audience, to the night timeslot of 8pm-midnight. The strategy, presumably, is that David is familiar to 2GB’s audience, having rated quite well when he was hosting 2GB’s overnight show a couple years back, and that he is more likely to attract the Brian Wilshire audience than Mike Jeffreys is. 2UE also had planned to move Mike Jeffreys back to his former timeslot of midnight to dawn, replacing Tim Shaw, however this is now up in the air as Mike Jeffreys has decided to take two weeks off to “decide his future”.
David Oldfield’s morning slot is to be taken over by Stuart Bocking “until further notice”, whatever that might mean. Stuart has recently hosted nights for a number of years, before moving to afternoons to replace Michael Smith last year, and most recently weekend afternoons after The Two Murrays replaced him in the afternoon and Tim Webster took on a weekday evening role in the revived Sports Today program. There is no word on who will replace Stuart on the weekend until the “further notice” happens, but my money is on Clinton Maynard, who did the job for a couple weeks when Tim Webster was transitioning to Sports Today.
Confused yet? To clarify, here’s what the weekday lineups looked like a couple weeks ago:
12:00am-01:00am: 2UE Tim Shaw. 2GB Brian Wilshire.
01:00am-03:30am: 2UE Tim Shaw. 2GB Michael McLaren.
03:30am-05:00am: 2UE Tim Shaw. 2GB Andrew Moore/Luke Bona.
05:00am-05:30am: 2UE Tim Shaw. 2GB Alan Jones highlights.
05:30am-09:00am: 2UE Jason Morrison. 2GB Alan Jones.
09:00am-12:00pm: 2UE David Oldfield. 2GB Ray Hadley.
12:00pm-03:00pm: 2UE The Two Murrays. 2GB Chris Smith.
03:00pm-06:00pm: 2UE Paul Murray. 2GB Ben Fordham.
06:00pm-08:00pm: 2UE Sports Today. 2GB Money News w/ Ross Greenwood.
08:00pm-09:00pm: 2UE Mike Jeffreys. 2GB Alan Jones/Ray Hadley highlights.
09:00pm-10:00pm: 2UE Mike Jeffreys. 2GB Supperannuation w/ Peter Switzer.
10:00pm-12:00am: 2UE Mike Jeffreys. 2GB Brian Wilshire.
And the new lineups, with changes in bold.
12:00am-03:30am: 2UE Tim Shaw (but for how long?). 2GB Unknown.
03:30am-05:00am: 2UE Tim Shaw (but for how long?). 2GB Andrew Moore/Luke Bona.
05:00am-05:30am: 2UE Tim Shaw (but for how long?). 2GB Alan Jones highlights.
05:30am-09:00am: 2UE Jason Morrison. 2GB Alan Jones.
09:00am-12:00pm: 2UE Stuart Bocking (until further notice). 2GB Ray Hadley.
12:00pm-03:00pm: 2UE The Two Murrays. 2GB Chris Smith.
03:00pm-06:00pm: 2UE Paul Murray. 2GB Ben Fordham.
06:00pm-08:00pm: 2UE Sports Today. 2GB Money News w/ Ross Greenwood.
08:00pm-12:00am: 2UE David Oldfield. 2GB Steve Price.
It is probably worth noting that Peter Switzer has not been dumped by 2GB. He will stay on, providing finance reports during the Steve Price show, and will continue to fill-in for Ross Greenwood from time-to-time.
One does have to wonder what the network affiliates make of all of this. 2UE lost almost all of their morning show affiliates to Ray Hadley during the time that Steve Price, and later Steve Liebmann, hosted the show. I believe, but can’t confirm, that they only have two left, which is far cry from the 70 or so they had when John Laws hosted the morning show. One of the remaining stations is 2WEB in Bourke, and I could be certain that David mentioned another at the start of each show, but its name escapes me right now, and Google is not helping. Affiliates of David Oldfield have been lumped with yet another change of host and style as Stuart Bocking is a very different host to David.
I don’t think 2UE have any afternoon show affiliates left. Michael Smith had a couple (probably the same ones as David Oldfield), but the afternoon show isn’t even listed on Fairfax Radio Syndication’s website any more. Afternoon affiliates have either joined Chris Smith on 2GB or gone to local programming.
Then there’s the evening and overnight shows, which have seen even more changes of late. Affiliates of these shows seems to be sticking with it and in fact I see that 2ST Nowra is half way through updating their website for the overnight changes as I write this. It would seem that these affiliates are happy to take whatever 2UE give them as Mike Jeffreys mentioned that 2GB have been trying to poach affiliates for the new Steve Price show, but so far nobody has been in the least bit interested, which I find interesting as Macquarie Radio tend to undercut Fairfax on program fees by offering the shows with the proviso that the affiliates have to air some network advertising. I suppose when you’re already receiving Fairfax news overnight as part of the fee for the overnight programming, and your general break format is already configured in your automation, there is more to consider than merely which shows costs less or which host is better.
The one which really intrigues me is what 2AY will do now. 2AY have been taking the Alan Jones and Ray Hadley highlights hour from 2GB at 8pm. That show doesn’t exist any more. Will they replay the Alan Jones Hour at 8pm (surely not, seeing as they already air it at midday), air an hour of Steve Price (back when Steve Price was on 2UE Mornings, 2AY used to air an hour of his show on delay at midday), or just expand their nightly music show?
These are certainly interesting times in Sydney radio and beyond.
Samuel
April 28th, 2012 at 03:06am
There are a few movements in the radio industry in regional New South Wales which are of interest to me given my former association with some of the people involved, so hopefully the news will be of some interest to you as well. If not, please indulge me for a few minutes.
Over at 1521AM 2QN and 102.5FM Classic Rock in Deniliquin, local news presenter and senior announcer Graham Munson presented his final news bulletin for the stations this afternoon. Graham is on the move, but he is not saying where he is going just yet, only that he has been offered a job elsewhere, and is not at liberty to make an announcement about it yet. Graham had filled this and other roles at 2QN and Classic Rock since 2006 and I had the pleasure of both filling in for, and working alongside Graham on a number of occasions. At the end of Graham’s final 2QN news bulletin he mentioned that it had “been a pleasure to present the news for you and to do programs as well”. He signed off by wishing all of his listeners all the best for the future.
Graham is a very dedicated and professional man, and I fondly remember a couple occasions where I was filling in for him and he popped in to the studios to hand me a story he had been working on while he was on holidays. He is very nurturing of young talent, and I’m sure that he will be a great asset to whichever station it is that has hired him.
Filling Graham’s shoes will be Rob Harrington, who most recently was the local news journalist and presenter of the news-based Country Lunch Hour on 2LF in Young. Rob previously filled in for Graham a number of times at 2QN and I got to work with him for a week in 2009 when I filled in on 2QN’s breakfast show and Rob was in the newsroom. Rob starts on Monday.
Rob departed 2LF on Friday last week and has, as yet, not been replaced. His duties have been assumed by 2LF breakfast host Neil Langford. It is not currently known if this is a permanent arrangement, but I can say this: I have not seen the job advertised anywhere.
This afternoon I recorded Graham’s final couple of news bulletins. For your listening pleasure, and as a record of a fairly big change in the media landscape in Deniliquin and Echuca, here are the 2QN local news bulletins from 4:30pm and 5:30pm this afternoon.
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/20120427-GrahamMunsonFinal2QNBulletins.mp3]
Download MP3
Samuel
April 27th, 2012 at 07:10pm
Over the last couple of Sunday Bits posts, I have noted that former Las Vegas talk radio institution Heidi Harris was on the move, having left her long-time station KDWN. It was unclear at the time whether Heidi was staying in Vegas or going elsewhere, but now that the answer has been unveiled, it is actually quite a big story.
Heidi (pictured) will be taking over the morning drive (6am-9am) show on two stations in California. KRLA 870 Los Angeles and KTIE 590 Inland Empire. Both stations are part of Salem Communications’ conservative talk network, and both stations are being rebranded as “The Answer” in conjunction with the move (yes, now my clunky attempts at fitting the word “answer” in to earlier sentences makes some sense).
This is big news for two, and maybe three reasons. For Heidi, who has been regarded as one of America’s most influential talk radio hosts by her peers for many years, this is a massive promotion, jumping from market number 32 in terms of population size (Las Vegas, 1,650,500) to market number 2 (Los Angeles 10,682,900) and is sure to solidify her reputation among her peers as a force to be reckoned with.
For Salem, this is an important extension of their recent rebranding of New York station WNYM-AM from “AM 970 The Apple” to “AM 970 The Answer”. The rebranding, along with the streamlining of WNYM’s formerly-convoluted schedule of syndicated Salem hosts interspersed among local shows, resulting in more programming being aired live, has allowed Salem to position the station as being not just another talk station in a highly competitive market, but rather as a station which takes a positive attitude of trying to see how issues get resolved rather than just whinge about them for three hours at a time (not that I’m saying that’s what talk radio does, but it does have that reputation at times).
It’s a position which is more in line with Salem Communications’ philosophy (Salem, primarily, is a Christian broadcaster and although its general conservative talk stations are distinct from its Christian talk stations, the general talk stations do carry a “moral code” of sorts) and although it hasn’t helped overall ratings at the New York station as yet (they’ve actually gone down a smidge), it has apparently helped to better engage the existing audience and improve the station’s performance among certain key demographics. It’s not surprising that ratings haven’t changed all that much in New York, but it does seem like a bright move from group Program Director Phil Boyce (pictured) to expand the new branding to other markets, as it’s a point of difference which is likely to do well outside of New York, especially California with its somewhat peculiar overly positive attitude. It could do quite well in Los Angeles in particular where rival station KFI has endured a heap of bad press of late for the negative views express by some of its hosts.
The move could make a third bit of big news. The timeslot which Heidi is taking over is currently occupied by Glenn Beck’s (pictured) syndicated Premiere Radio Networks show. When WNYM was rebranded, it resulted in the timeslots of many syndicated shows changing so as to allow more shows to air live, but no such announcement has been made about the programming lineups on KRLA and KTIE yet, so it’s not known if Glenn Beck’s show will be shuffled back to a later timeslot on delay, or if his show will be dropped completely. If it’s the latter, then that will be massive news, as this would mean that The Glenn Beck Show would no longer be cleared in either of the two biggest markets in the country, New York City (it was dropped from WOR some time back) or Los Angeles.
If the stations keep Beck and put his show on delay, then it’s likely that they will do what WNYM is doing, and cut multiple three-hour syndicated shows down to two hours so that local programming can fit around live & short delay network programming.
All the industry speculation aside, there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty, and that is that Heidi Harris deserves to be congratulated on her move. Good luck Heidi, and have fun talking sense in to those Californians.
Samuel
(image credits: Heidi Harris and Phil Boyce h/t Talkers Magazine. Glenn Beck h/t GlennBeck.com)
April 17th, 2012 at 12:40pm
Next Posts
Previous Posts
