Posts filed under 'TV/Radio/Media'
Yeesh, anybody would think John Kerr and his radio show “New Day Australia” were sponsoring me with the amount of times I’ve mentioned them lately. Today is no different, and it could last for a while…why? I hear you ask, could it be that Samuel is trying to boost the New Day Australia ratings or get more radio stations to take John Kerr’s show? Well, no, it isn’t any of the above. The reason that you will probably hear more about John Kerr over the next few weeks or so is that I have just confirmed my booking on John Kerr’s Christmas Function on Sydney Harbour.
The event itself takes place from just before midday until 4pm on Thursday the 1st of December and costs $45. If you ask me, for a four hour function on Sydney Harbour, fully catered etc, this is quite a deal. Obviously travel to and from Sydney is my issue, and after a bit of research I found that Murrays Coaches are offering a $55 day return pass. On closer inspection this isn’t strictly true, because you still have to book a seat on the buses you wish to utilise, and you pay for each seat, but the seats are somewhat discounted when you travel both ways on the same day, and if you are lucky (as I was), you can also get the special deals. In total it is costing me $42.50 to travel to and from Sydney on Murrays Coaches.
I rang All Occasions Cruises on (02) 9809 5499 earlier today and made my booking with them over the phone. If you want to be there too you better hurry as places are limited…I think the number is 150, but I’m not sure. The lady I spoke to at All Occasions was absolutely lovely, it is nice to know that some businesses still understand cutomer service.
I then went to Murrays Coaches website and made my travel booking online with an incredible amount of ease. Of course if you don’t like the Internet for transactions you can always call them on 13 22 51.
So let’s have a look at my itinerary for that day. I have to wake up early, and by early I mean when John Kerr is still on air…he gets off air at 5:30am and if I’m not up by then, well, I’m in trouble.
I need to be at the Jolimont Centre by about 6:30am, I can probably arrive a few minutes later than that, but it is always good to be early for interstate buses.
The bus leaves Civic at 7am or thereabouts, my plan is to take my radio with me and listen to 2CC for as long as possible. When I finally lose the 2CC signal I will listen to one of my tape recordings, which should last about 90 minutes, and then I should be close to, if not in, Sydney, and will be able to pick up 2UE 954. I might quickly switch across to 2GB to find out how Ray Hadley presents his morning show, but I think I’ll stick with 2UE for most of the morning. I should reach Central Station at around 10:30.
In my experience of one visit to Sydney, the bus is in Sydney for close to an hour before it reaches Central Station, when I visited Sydney last it didn’t go past the airport, so it could be in Sydney for a full hour before reaching Central.
At 10:30 I’ll have a cup of coffee before making my way down to the Opera House. This is a familiar journey for me, even though I’ve only done it once. Last time I was in Sydney I forgot to take a photo of Central Station, I won’t be making that mistake again.
I’m expecting to be down at the Opera House by 11:30. I should be there before that, but you never know, the coffee could take longer than usual…
At about 11:45 boarding for the Christmas Function should begin, and then it will be on the boat until about 4pm.
After this it will be time to make my way back to Central Station, which will be followed by another coffee, well, probably, I know I love my coffee, but I might be full after the function…not that I plan to eat more than my fair share or anything…this is one of those sentences I can’t win…
I’ll probably listen to some of Steve Price’s drive show on 2UE while at Central Station, then at about 6pm it will be bus time again, hopefully arriving back in Canberra at 9:15pm.
Naturally I will have the camera with me (you can expect another one of my photographic tour posts in the days after the event), and I will probably take a pad and a pen with me so that I can write my tour post on the go and then type it later.
This is an event I am looking forward to immensely as I have been wanting to meet John Kerr for a long time. I was planning on meeting him at Floriade last year, but I had too much work to do, and then 2UE sent someone else this year, so this is the first chance I’ll get to meet him, and I’m looking forward to it. John Kerr has been very good to me, he even agreed to be interviewed for an assignment I had where I was writing an article on radio automation, he even rang me after I had difficulty getting through to him at the arranged time, John is a lovely man, and his kindness and personability is probably the reason he has hosted New Day Australia for so long. I’m also looking forward to meeting some of the regular callers who I hear so much of.
Now, I’ll just clarify once more that I am NOT sponsored by any of these companies, and I am only recommending them because they were very useful for me.
Samuel
October 20th, 2005 at 04:19pm
I have some Google Alerts setup with various names and keywords so that when a news story appears with these names or keywords I know about it. I have one for “John Laws” which often gives me newspaper reports on various interviews he has conducted, but I also have one for “John Kerr”. Whilst I know John Kerr as an overnight radio presenter and a former Governor General, but it seems that Google know him as a bunch of sports coaches in the US, and now as a taxi driver in Port Macquarie. The reason I bring this up is that this recent taxi driver story is quite entertaining. This story comes from the Port Macquarie News, and is as follows.
Heard the one about the owl and the snake?
Wednesday, 19 October 2005
IF YOU caught a cab in Port Macquarie on Thursday morning, chances are you shared it with a brown snake.
The 40 centimetre reptile spent about five hours in the car before it was discovered by a horrified passenger.
According to taxi driver John Kerr the snake managed to get into the car when he hit an owl on his shift.
“I was driving out near Major Innes Drive about one in the morning on Thursday when I saw this owl take off from the road with a snake in its claws,” John explained.
“The owl flew straight into the car and got wedged in the roof racks.”
John stopped the car and got out to see if the owl was still alive.
While he was helping the dazed bird he failed to notice the brown snake slither into the darkness of his cab.
“The owl was a bit dazed, but all right,” John said. “I searched for the snake, but couldn’t find it so I assumed it had slithered off into the bushes.”
John had a few more passengers before he dropped his cab off at the end of his shift.
After giving it a quick clean out he left it for the next driver who began his shift at 5.30am.
When Charlie Beddie started work that morning he was totally unaware of his venomous passenger.
“My first job was at Rydges where I had to pick up a few flight staff,” Charlie said.
“Two of the crew had already climbed in the back of the car and the pilot was sitting in the front when the last flight attendant climbed in.
“As he was getting into the car he noticed the snake and calmly announced it to the rest of us.”
Charlie said when the other passengers heard the news they were out of the car quicker than lightning.
Charlie borrowed a dustpan and broom from the hotel and tried to catch the snake.
“The snake was certainly a feisty fella and did not want to be caught,” Charlie said.
“Finally I managed to get him into the dustpan and then put him into a plastic bin, much to the relief of the flight crew.”
The snake was later released into the bush and Charlie still got his fare out to the airport.
If anyone did catch the cab on Thursday morning Charlie hopes they did not have bare feet.
Samuel
October 19th, 2005 at 05:14pm
As previously reported, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire made a millionaire, and I now have video online of the event.
I have two version online for compatibility reasons.
MP4 (MPEG Layer 4) This version is more compatible with lots of media software, although Windows Media Player doesn’t seem to like it, it is also higher quality.
WMV (Windows Video) Lower quality, but Windows Media Player supports it.
I strongly suggest that if you are running Windows, download Quicktime which supports MP4 without issues. It also integrates with Mozilla Firefox quite nicely. None the less, choose which file pleases you more and download it, if it doesn’t work the other one almost certainly will.
Samuel
October 18th, 2005 at 03:05am
Australia’s version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire have just made their first millionare with a question relating to sixites television. The answer “bewitched” is the first one of the selction to be released on television.
They haven’t come back from the ad break to solve the answer yet, but a quick bit of fact checking proves it. Congratulations Channel 9!
Update Here are a couple pictures from the event, I’ll work on the video and get that online ASAP.
Firstly, Rob Fulton just after discovering that he won $1 Million
Secondly, a picture of Rob and partner Clare, who delayed moving in with each other for a week so that Rob could study for his appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Further Update:
I now have videos of the event online, two copies in fact, the WMV (Windows Video) and the MP4 (MPEG 4). Why two formats I hear you ask, compatibility is the answer, whilst Windows Media Player can play WMV files, a lot of other players can not, and other operating systems often lack the WMV codec. To the same extent, the MP4 codec is fairly universal, even if Windows Media Player can’t seem to play it. Personally I think the MP4 is better quality, so if your computer supports it, then use it, otherwise try the WMV. Both files are approx 10MB (It is video after all, so you can’t expect it to be dial up friendly AND watchable).
Samuel
October 17th, 2005 at 09:11pm
That title is misleading, Top FM/Territory FM aren’t the only station to take AIR News, but they are probably the most exciting from my viewpoint as they have a live webstream. This excites me for two reasons:
- It allows potential AIR clients to hear AIR News as it goes to air
- It allows people to hear some of my news bulletins
According to the AIR News member stations page, Top FM are running the news from 6am-6pm Monday to Friday and 7am-Midday on Saturday & Sunday, these times are Northern Territory time (GMT+9.5). This is good news to me, as it means that one of my bulletins is available on the webstream. Midday Saturday is one of my bulletins, and you can hear it by listening to the webstream at Midday GMT+9.5 (12:30pm AEST).
You will need Real Player to listen to it, but most people seem to have that anyway, so it shouldn’t be an issue.
For the non Australian readers, that time translates to 2:30am GMT, which you should then be able to work out from there.
Samuel
October 14th, 2005 at 10:33pm
The federal minister for communications, Helen Coonan has made an announcement about digital radio. Apparently the major metropolitan areas will get it first, and will use something called the Eureka 147 system, and they will provide broadcasters with 128 kilo bits per second, which is half the recommended bandwidth for the Eureka system.
Now, I don’t know much about the Eureka system, but if the bit rates are in any way similar to those of MP3 compression then 128kbps stereo will be fine for speech and some music, but won’t be great for music. In my experience “on the fly” compression generally requires higher bandwidth than “post compression” as the latter can deal the audio file as a whole whilst the former has to compress as it goes, which I find usually provides worse audio quality than post compression. The point I am trying to make here is that 128kbps stereo might be fine with post compression, but it won’t provide the same quality for broadcast.
I have read that the UK is using Eureka at 128kbps and it sounds dreadful, but I can’t confirm that, so if anybody knows better then I would be glad to hear from you.
Also Digital Radio will coexist with analog radio for now, as there is no set “switch off” date for analog radio. The same can’t be said for digital and analog television, with 2008 being confirmed as the switch off date for analog television (in metro areas anyway) to free up the airwaves for digital radio.
There hasn’t really been any clear decision made for the regional areas, except that they will get digital radio soon, and as far as I know, Canberra is considered a regional area when it comes to television and radio. The regionals might not even use Eureka, Ms. Coonan announced that DRM may be used instead. I personally don’t understand why we would use two different radio systems, but such is government regulation.
Interestingly, Radio 2 moved on to odd parts of the radio dial hoping to be part of the digital radio saga, but they have missed out, and that can’t possibly help the already dwindling share price. According to radioinfo.com.au “Low power community stations, open narrowcasters and Section 40 off-band licencees will miss out on space in the first round of allocations, which will be planned by ACMA.”
radioinfo also reports that “VHF spectrum will be the preferred carrier medium, with L Band being considered for in-fill transmission and other future uses. Spectrum planning will begin immediately, but the Minister expects that legislation and a staggered technical roll out will mean that consumers may still have to wait up to 2 years before they will be able to enjoy a full range of digital radio services.”
This certainly marks a very exciting period for the future of radio in Australia, I can only hope that the regulators make the right decisions, otherwise we may be left with a substandard system, and fixing that could be very tricky.
Samuel
UPDATE: Upon further reading it has become apparent that Eureka uses MP2, which is going to be interesting to say the least. Also, stations will be allocated 256kbps worth of bandwidth, but will only be allowed to broadcast at 128kbps, the other half of the bandwidth will be reserved for extra features and services. I don’t like the sound of this at all.
October 14th, 2005 at 04:11pm
I noticed something very odd in the TV guide last night, the infomercials from 2am to 4am on Prime Television were listed as being a repeat. These late night/early morning infomercials tend to advertise the same product for an hour or so, often repeating the same “interview” or audio clips from “your favourite memories of the 1960’s” twenty times in a row (or at least it feels that way). They always have a phone number down at the bottom of the screen because “our operators are waiting for your call” and naturally “if you buy two sets with your credit card in the next twenty minutes and quote the word bingo and pay an extra ten dollars we’ll send you half a photo of someone smiling, and if you are one of the first twenty callers we’ll even send the other half of the photo with it.”
Often these things are “one time offers”, so how do you run repeats? Very odd…
On a related note, I was pleased to spot a repeat of a great Australian drama, Water Rats, last night/this morning. It was on at 1am, but that didn’t stop me from watching it…it might be (c) 1999, but it was still classic drama. I was very pleased to spot that, despite the fact it was aired pre-digital television, it was in widescreen. Fantastic television, I just wish it was in primetime, it was one of Australia best dramas, and it is really should get an encore performance in prime time…if the viewing public have any sense, it would top the ratings. I could spurt out more “classic television” type quotes, but I won’t, you get the point by now.
Samuel
October 11th, 2005 at 10:41am
I can really only describe today as being long, considering that I was unable to sleep last night, it has been very long indeed, here is a fairly accurate summary of the day.
Midnight: Still at computer, reading emails and some websites, I had a cup of tea during this time.
12:30: This is when I went to have my shower.
1am: By this time I was in bed and seemingly unable to go to sleep and found myself listening to New Day Australia with John Kerr.
2am: Sometime around here I heard a noise downstairs and went to investigate, it turned out to be Nattie’s doggie door which I think may be developing a squeak, I fixed up a couple things, re-covered Nattie with her blanket and wrote an email to John Kerr in which I stated that I don’t email or call him nearly often enough.
3am: Still awake and in bed, it was around this time that John Kerr read my email and seemed quite pleased to hear from me again, he agreed with my statement that I don’t email or call enough.
5am: After dozing off briefly one or two times, and having had to get out of bed a few times (hourly) to turn the clock radio back on, I was still awake. By this time the “real” New Day program had ended and it was time for the 30 minutes of light news and information which is the last half hour of New Day which has replaced the 5am half hour of news. I still find it laughable that they have a sydney traffic update in the middle of this, they almost always say that “it’s not very busy at the moment”…they must be geniuses to work that out (or would that be genii???)
5:30: The 5:30 news arrived, and I promptly got up to make myself a cup of coffee, I went downstairs and covered Nattie with her blanket again (she actually does like it, she just can’t pull it over herself after going out to the toilet). I finished making my coffee and sicovered it was overfilled, so I had a few sips before going back upstairs and entering my room just as James Creegan was finishing the weather (in this case I am guessing at spelling of names), and I got back into bed humming Mike Jeffreys’ opening music. During the next half hour I enjoyed my Coffee, listened to Mike and noticed my curtains gradually getting lighter, this brought back memeories of work experience in July where it was still pitch black at 6am…not like October!
6am: After the 6am news I got out of bed and went downstairs, performed a number of household duties, and then had breakfast…which became a long and drawn out affair, I was in no real hurry.
7am: Well, I had only just started eating breakfast at this stage, and was doing that whilst listening to the radio and checking my email. Not long after 7am the Chief Minister made some curious comments about CCTV Cameras, it seemed to me that he was saying “We put in all these cameras, and now we have had a review and actually know how many cameras we have and how they work.” Just after his comments I got up (nearly finished breakfast) and tried calling 2CC but they had to talk to Jason Morrison (well, replay the call from before 6am anyway), so I called again during the 7:30 news and had a chat with Mike Jeffreys about the CCTV Camera comments and something he had spoken with Jason Morrison about…I think it was phone bugging in Indonesia…I think.
8am: At about this time I took Nattie for her morning walk, and then returned home, and decided it was such a nice morning that I would walk to work. I had a quick look for two A4 envelopes and discovered I was out of them, and I would “borrow” some from Dickson College. I eventually left home (knowing I was running late) at 8:35. I set a target of reaching the Ainslie shops by 9am, and at about 7 to 9 I realised I was going to beat that, in fact the Ainslie shops were almost out of sight when 2CC informed me that it was 9am.
9am: On the walk from the Ainslie shops to Dickson College I remembered the last time I walked from Ainslie shops to Dickson College, this was late last year when I caught a bus which was running late and spotted my normal bus with my bus driver friend just behind us. Unfortunately my getting off at Ainslie shops was mistimed as he drove by as I was getting off, and I had to walk, on this occasion I listened to George Moore on the way to Dickson College, today Lawsie was there.
9:15: I arrived at Dickson College, and to my astonishment was the first person, so I sat down and had a hard earned coffee. It is probably worthwhile noting here that National Walk To Work Day is tommorow, and I think I know why it is on a Friday. Most employees are less productive on a Friday, and they sure as heck don’t feel like working after walking to work, so having it on a Friday produces minimal differences in work outcomes, whereas my Thursday excersise made me somewhat opposed to the idea of doing much all day.
9:30: My direct boss who doesn’t have a key to get into the building arrived around this time, we stood around and chatted for a little while.
9:40: A person with a key turned up and we all entered, I requested two A4 envelopes and got them, then it was on to upstairs for the commencement of the work for the day. We (my direct boss and myself) went up to the IT office and discussed the work that needed to be done that day and I enthralled him (my boss) with stories of my journey to Erindale, and he read bits of this blog while I placed the letters and photographs for the various presenters in the appropriate envelopes and realised they are the lickable envelopes…so I got out the sticky tape as I dislike licking envelopes.
10:30: It was probably around this time that we went to do our first bit of work, which failed due to a poor computer case design preventing the installation of a new ZIP drive. The next bit of work involved me putting a couple programs on that computer, reading my emails again, and installing Windows XP on a computer while my boss and I discussed the working conditions of Australia compared to India. We also discussed briefly something which may or may not have been done by a junior employee (I’m a pretty junior employee myself, but I outrank this person, and in the scheme of things I’m not fulfilling a very junior job), as my contract is up for renewal I kept right out of that conflict.
11am: The direct boss left for a few minutes at 11am so I made a phone call to make lunch arrangements, which involved me walking to North Ainslie Primary School at lunch time.
Midday: After virtually no more work being achieved, I left for lunch at about 12:15 and arrived at North Ainslie at about 12:30, after spending some time their seeing that the IT people were having fun trying to get certain programs to work, the majority of us went to lunch in Dickson. Generally travelling in a car filled with people around my age would violate my personal safety policies, but this particular occasion didn’t because:
A) The driver is a close and highly trusted friend of mine who I believe to be a good driver.
B) It was a short journey.
If it had been a long journey I would have deemed it to be in violation of my personal safety policy.
We all spent a very long time in Dickson.
2:15: This is roughly the time I returned to work and and monitored a program installation while checking my email and writing for this blog…and had a cup of coffee.
3pm: At 3pm I left the college and went to catch a bus to Mitchell so that I could deliver the letters and photos (which I previously forgot to mail and decided mailing would now be inefficient), this also would allow me to catch up with some of the people at 2CC, so I made my way to Northbourne Avenue to catch the bus.
3:30: This is roughly the time I reached the nearest bus stop on Northbourne, and dicovered that the buses coming soon weren’t exactly soon or useful, but I ended up catching the first bus to come along anyway as it got me to Flemington Road, leaving me with a 10-15 minute walk to 2CC, I got there just before 4pm. I met the receptionist outside and had a small chat, after which I went upstairs and left the envelopes at reception. When I got upstairs Mike Welsh was in the middle of an ad break just before the 4pm news, so I leaned in the studio door and said a quick hello (I had previously emailed him to inform him that I would not be able to make it out to Ngunnawal to see him, and would be dropping by the studios this afternoon). I met up with a few of the people out there and had some good conversations before eventually leaving the air-conditioned comfort of 2CC for the outside world and a bus stop on Hoskins St, Kane Bond wasn’t there which was a pity as I wanted to say hello to him too. At about 4:20 my bus arrived and I got on and went to Civic on it, before walking home and arriving just before 5pm.
Since then I’ve had another coffee, and dinner, and a shower, and done various other things, and I’m now tired, so I’ll be going to bed shortly.
Anyway, that’s my long day, which involved far too much walking…I don’t have to work tommorow, so no walking to work for me…
Samuel
October 6th, 2005 at 08:24pm
As previously mentioned, I decided to take a journey out to Erindale shops today where Mike Frame was with the 2CC Kingswood. I also decided to document the entire journey, so if you’re after pictures of the Kingswood you will need to scroll down. All of the pictures here are thumbnails of the large versions, clicking on them will take you to the original large versions.
After some preperation I decided I should check what main items I was taking with me, naturally the radio came with me, as did the story of The Fridge which I was taking along to give to Mike Jeffreys (as previously documented) and a couple bus timetables for buses which pass Erindale.
On my way into Civic to catch the bus I passed one of the many construction sites.
I had lunch at a nice little coffee shop in Civic where I had a sausage roll and a coffee, after this I briefly met my bus driver friend, and then sat down to wait for the bus. I managed to take a picture of two of Canberra’s better, older, orange buses, just after I took the photo they both disappeared.
The first bus to turn up was one of those horrid green buses, I don’t like the green buses, they are uncofortable, noisy, rattly and have virtually no suspension. The older orange buses have a kind of bounce when they hit a bump, the green ones just go bang.
I decided to have a play with the video mode of my camera to demonstrate the horrid amount of noise the green buses make, it was impossible to hear the radio over the horrid thing. (Apologies for the file size of the video, I didn’t have time to play with the video)
Then a nice orange bus turned up, which I promptly caught. This bus lacked a ticket machine, so I did not incur any cost for this particular journey.
While I was on the bus I decided to try my hand at taking photos from moving vehicles, I think I ultimately showed that I am no good at that. The first picture taken on the way to Woden is of a flowerbed on Commenwealth Avenue designed to promote Floriade.
The next photo was of the Mint, for those that don’t know, the Mint’s main role is to produce coins.
It was around this time that I lost the 2CC signal or to be more precise, they stopped producing sound, 15 seconds later the emergency tape kicked in, it kept going through it’s initial ad break, played two different music returns and then launched into some bizzare program called “Down Memory Lane” which started with some semi-amusing alphabet song which sounds like it came from the 1940’s or 1950’s, the tape was then interupted and started from the begginning again, playing it’s ad break, two music returns and launched straight into that song again…this made me want to burst out laughing, but I managed to mostly contain myself. During this time I tried to pick up 2CA, but either I was in a bad spot (probably) or they were also off-air with no emergency tape.
Then we have a photo of my favourite set of trees along Adelaide Avenue/Yamba Drive
After this I arrived at the Woden bus interchange, unfortunately there weren’t any buses on my side of the interchange and I didn’t feel like waiting around for them.
From Memory the John Stanley show had returned to the radio by this stage, so I walked up some stairs and took a photo of the Lovatt Tower (formerly the MLC Tower), possibly Canberra’s tallest building. During this the 2UE news came through on 2CC for some unknown reason, their appeared to be some audio problems with it too.
After this I walked over to the bridge over the Woden Bus Interchange and took a photo of a rather odd and tall new apartment building, during this the local weather played, and then ads started.
After this I went and sat down on one of the many seats at the Woden Bus Interchange and noticed that one of ACTION’s interesting midi buses was parked in the layover zone, the midi buses are fairly decent, but I still prefer the orange buses.
2CC were still playing ads, and I can’t work out why, when they were about 10-15 minutes into a long set of ads I gave up and switched the radio off. Either somebody hit the wrong button a few times or something went seriously wrong.
Anyway, my bus arrived so I caught it, and took a few more of my “moving vehicle” pictures. Here is a slightly blurry one of the Woden Bus Interchange as I left.
And then we have yet another photo of the “Multiplex” buidling, now known on this blog as the “Multiplex Monstrosity”.
Next we having a picture of Mount Taylor, one of the smaller, less tree-filled mountains in Canberra.
The next photo was supposed to be of the nice scenic view towards the Brindabellas, but it didn’t turn out that way, if you look closely you can spot some of Canberra’s high voltage power lines, which, as previously discussed on this blog, carry radio signals very well, it was the first crystal clear on-bus reception I had all day.
The next thing that happened is I got off the bus, at the stop which the bus map informed me was the right stop…once again, ACTION prove they are the worst map makers on the planet. It did leave me with a good view though.
I walked down to the end of the street and still couldn’t see the shops, I was now very confused, I spotted a policeman conducting speed checks from his stationary motorbike, so I asked him if he knew where it was, and he gave me directions. On my way to the Erindale shops I spotted the bus stop I should have gotten off the bus at.
After a short walk, I spotted the Erindale centre, however I also noticed a sign advertising one of the non-Video Ezy video outlets, this had me mildly concerned, but I entered the centre anyway. It reminded me to a large extent of one of the smaller shopping centres on the sunshine coast, which has an almost identical layout. Video Ezy wasn’t in there, so I walked out the doors at the other end of the shopping centre and noticed the Video Ezy store in the distance, the zoom on the camera picked up the sign and the Kingswood fairly well. (I didn’t spot the Kingswood myself at the time)
The next thing I did was turn around and take a photo of the Erindale Centre.
As I got closer I took another photo of the Kingswood.
It is worthwhile pointing out that I hadn’t seen John B1_B5’s comment about him also going to see the Kingswood, so I was unaware that he was coming, and was surprised when he arrived. I didn’t recognise him at first, but I had requested that Mike Frame stand next to the Kingswood for a photo, and John B1_B5 arrived so we both wanted to take a photo of this, it was only just before we took the photos that we recognised each other. We promptly started a small competition to see who has the best Kingswood photos. My one of Mike Frame and the Kingswood is perfect with flaws…the only problems are that Mike blinked and I cut off some of the Kingswood…not to worry.
Next up we have a photo of the insides of the Kingswood, including the yellow mini-kingswood. The people in this photo are Mike Frame standing at the driver’s side door, one of the 2CC listeners in the background, and John B1_B5 standing behind the bonnet.
Next up we have the rather impressive signage on the rear window of the Kingswood, it is a good job, but as Mike Frame put it last time we met “It’s fine as long it isn’t raining, then you can’t see out of it” (paraphrased). This could become one of those photos used as memorabilia when 2CC turn 50 in 2025.
Then there is an unfortunately blurry closeup of the yellow Mini-Kingswood.
Next up is a picture of the competition entry box, John B1_B5 has a closeup of the poster on his site (link below).
The next shot comes with a large thanks to Mike Frame who allowed it to go ahead, this one is of John B1_B5 sitting in the Kingswood. (This is the one image that does not link to a larger version).
John B1_B5 spent quite a while chatting about many different and varied subjects, 2CC’s breakfast presenter Mike Jeffreys was going to turn up around 2PM, but it was closer to 3PM when he did eventually arrive. It appears to me at least that 2CC could make use of this picture with that large Video Ezy sign in the background.
Just after taking that picture I handed Mike Jeffreys the story of The Fridge
A little while later when I got the camera out again, after spotting a good photo opportunity, I took a photo, this one contains the Kingswood (naturally), in the bottom left corner of the picture is a golf club cover on one of the golf clubs 2CC are also giving away, the person on the left is Mike Frame, and the person on the right is Mike Jeffreys, whilst it looks like he is putting on an interesting funny pose, he is actually trying to get rid of flies. In the Kingswood is Mike Jeffreys’ son Jack who developed a game of climbing into, and out of, the Kingswood.
After this the discussions turned to the topic of Brisbane Trams (I’ll have more on that in the coming days) and how extremely efficient they were. Not long after this John B1_B5 left, and not long after that, I left. This is the bus stop I was planning on catching the bus from.
Naturally the bus was late, and just at the moment that I was planning on getting out the camera and playing with the video mode again, the bus appeared in the distance, however it turned the corner without stopping for me, and then stopped after turning the corner, apparently it is too difficult to turn after picking someone up at that bus stop.
I also caught a picture of some scenery I had been thinking of getting a photo of on the way to Erindale.
While I was on the bus I heard Mike Welsh have a conversation with Mike Frame…I didn’t catch the first part of the conversation, but I think Mike Welsh had been reading this site and asked if I had come out to Erindale, Mike Frame replied by saying that I had come, as had “another one of our listeners, John” and he also said that Mike Jeffreys had been there for “the last half-hour or so”.
Not long after this, I arrived in Woden
I noticed a green bus, so I waited for the next one, I took this opportunity to take a photo of one of those “If you see something, say something” signs alerting people to be wary of terrorists (presumably without alarming them…if you’re not Australian you won’t get the joke).
My 117 was running late, and the 312 (I think) came before it (both of which were nice orange buses), while I was in the queue for the 312, the 117 arrived, and as it was running late I caught that knowing that it would leave quickly. This one had a non-working ticket machine, so another free ride, although I had already bought a daily ticket, so it’s not overly free.
I decided to embark on another round of moving vehicle based photography…which produced some varied and dreadful photos, one of which was so bad that I deleted it as soon as it was taken. Here are the remains.
Firstly, is it Telstra Tower? And is there a photographic fog?
Next up we have a photo which was supposed to be of Mount Ainslie, Regatta Point and the War Memorial in the background, which was taken at precisely the wrong moment, and as such is a picture of a Commonwealth Avenue Bridge pylon, with bits of Regatta Point and Mount Ainslie…with some bridge bits.
I tried again, and this time got a picture of Mount Blur (aka Mount Ainslie) and Regatta Point Blur.
Next up is a reasonable picture of the approach to Civic, which also contains a bird and an unexplainable smudge.
Next up is another tilted picture, this one is of City Hill.
I got off the bus outside the Legislative Assembly (which has a more than fair share of scary people, and therefore doesn’t get a photo today), as it is quicker to walk home from there than the Civic Interchange. On my way home I passed through the Canberra Centre and noticed one of those little Canberra oddities, they hadn’t brought in the lightweight portable “long weekend trading hours” sign, despite it being nearly 4PM the day after the end of the long weekend. This poses a question…did they leave it out overnight or did the bring it out this morning?
After passing through the Canberra Centre I took a nice scenic photo looking up Ainslie Avenue towards Mount Ainslie.
I then went home and, as I was thirsty, made myself a cup of coffee which I forgot to photograph.
As for who had the better Kingswood photos, I think I got the better pictures of Mike Jeffreys, I think John B1_B5 got the better picture “Frame and Kingswood” picture, I think the rest are all so different that there is no way to compare them. He took some more detailed pictures of the car, whilst I took mainly overview pictures (and went on an insane marathon photo-taking-a-thon through Canberra).
You can see all of John B1_B5’s pictures on his website.
Well, that’s my story for today, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I have 42,488 words (2,488 written & 40,000 pictured) not including this sentence or the next.
Samuel
October 4th, 2005 at 09:47pm
I appear to have an unusual desire to keep up with the presenter movements at 2CC, and being a public holiday today there were a couple.
New Day Australia was as per usual, with John Kerr doing his normal show.
Breakfast had one of this blog’s search terms hosting it, Mike Frame filling in for Mike Jeffreys. (He later went out to Dickson with the 2CC Kingswood, I was going to go out there and meet him, but I didn’t…I might go out to Erindale tommorow, I’ve never been to Erindale so it might be worthwhile taking photos.)
I missed all of the John Laws show, but from what I’ve been told, John Stanley did that show.
Afternoons with John Stanley was filled by John Mangos (confused yet?)
The drive show had occasional fillin Leigh Zaghet filling in for Mike Welsh…unfortunately this show was marred by the appearance of the ACTION misinformation officer Barb Barrett…based on the questions and the answers, I would say this was the result of a press release in which ACTION finally acknowledged that it’s petrol prices, and not service improvements which have increased their patronage. (Well, the Xpresso services may have helped, but those horrid green contraptions which rattle and shake to the extent that you feel dizzy didn’t. The only good thing about the green buses is the air conditioning, everything else is a cheap shambles. I’ll be sure to avoid the green buses during my journey to Erindale.)
None the less, I took the opportunity to say hello to Leigh, the last time we spoke was when he was filling in on The Trading Post, so it was good to be able to talk to him again.
I heard a bit of the sports show, it had the regular presenters…I didn’t hear any more though.
Nearly forgot, 2CC had local news this morning with Kris McKenzie, and took 2UE news this afternoon.
Anyway, as I mentioned I will endeavour to meet up with Mike Frame again in Erindale tommorow (Tuesday) and I will take the camera with me to take some photos. This could very well be one of the few chances I have to take a couple photos of one of the good orange ACTION buses.
One thing I should point out is that I am not guessing Leigh’s spelling, the USENET/Google Groups archives prove it. I stumbled across his name when I was doing research earlier this year and remembered which newsgroup it was in, just a matter of a quick search.
Samuel
Important Update
Mike Jeffreys will be in Erindale from about 2-3pm, whilst Mike Frame will be there from 2-5pm, I’m planning on being there from about 2-3ish, and I will also be taking Mike Jeffreys a copy of my story called The Fridge as we discussed it briefly this morning.
End Update
October 3rd, 2005 at 11:59pm
Nattie, the lovely little recently-bathed doggie, managed to get on the midday news.
Nattie’s bark is one of the few noises that is capable of penetrating any wall in the house, and she just happened to be barking as I was finishing up the midday bulletin for Australian Independent Radio News (and before you ask, no, it is not part of my contract to link to them constantly). Upon listening to it again I also noticed Nattie’s squeaky ball can be heard under my voice at one stage just after her barking.
All of these were background noises, and you would have to be listening carefully to notice them, but they are there.
This effectively makes Nattie a “National Dog”, having previously been heard in the background on a couple of my calls to 2CC, and possibly seen internationally, with her picture appearing on this and a couple other websites.
I think “Nattie the National Dog” or “National Nattie” sound good.
Samuel
October 1st, 2005 at 03:08pm
During a coversation I was having earlier today, a rather unusual idea came up. The conversation turned to having people from a talk radio station in your house 24/7 following you around.
It would be rather interesting, and odd, having the host of the show walking around with a speakerphone talking and having a band play little bits of music in between calls and having the station voiceover bloke constantly announcing the name of the show.
It would become more interesting when the ads started, as all of the people in the ads could appear in the room.
The news would also be interesting, as you could have a newsreader standing under a “News” sign talking and playing audio clips of various people talking.
I’m not sure if the housebound people would appreciate having people talking constantly while they sleep…especially if a noisy ad started.
There would probably be numerous problems if the house owners went shopping…having a bunch of people following them through the supermarket talking and singing and advertising would probably drive an awful lot of people nuts.
I’m sure the people who owned the house would also be rather annoyed at all the studio guests who walk in and out of the house.
It would probably be a bizarre menagerie of noises and people, and I think a lot of the ads would be quite entertaining. For example, one of the current ads would go something like this:
The host of the show finishes the call they are taking, the band starts playing and the station voiceover bloke makes an announcement. Suddenly some woman walks in the door holding a computer and a canoe and says “How am I supposed to get my computer and canoe safely to Darwin?” and then some salesman could walk in with a sign for the company (which I honestly can’t remember) and start talking about the company.
After the ad the band could start playing again, the voiceover bloke could make another announcement and the newsreader could start talking…during the news a studio guest could walk in and stand opposite the host.
Maybe I should go and do something useful…
Samuel
September 28th, 2005 at 02:31pm
I am deeply saddened by the news that Don Adams (aka Maxwell Smart/Agent 86 from Get Smart) has passed away aged 82.
Get Smart wasn’t one of the TV shows of my era, but its reruns touched me, and it became one of my favourite TV shows.
I had a couple lighthearted stories to run today, but I am going to hold them in honour of Don Adams. May he rest in peace, and be in our hearts always.
Samuel
Click here to hear the Get Smart theme music
The New York Times has this report
Don Adams, Television’s Maxwell Smart, Dies at 82
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: September 27, 2005
Don Adams, who played Maxwell Smart in the 1960’s sitcom “Get Smart,” combining clipped, decisive diction with appalling, hilarious ineptitude, died on Sunday at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 82.
Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone from the TV show “Get Smart” was displayed in 2002 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation in Simi Valley, Calif.
Readers
Forum: Television
The cause was a lung infection, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Tufeld said that Mr. Adams broke his hip a year ago and had been in poor health.
Maxwell Smart – in a way, his name was the show’s biggest joke – was a bumbling secret agent for Control, the good guys, who weekly foiled the plans of the evil cabal Kaos for world domination.
Inevitably, Smart’s ham-handed detective style landed him in hot water. Luckily, his faithful and beautiful sidekick, Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), was as bright as he was dense, and could bail him out. (Smart was Agent 86: bartender’s code for cutting off service to a drunk.)
“Get Smart” twice won the Emmy for best comedy series, and Mr. Adams won three Emmys for best actor.
“Get Smart” ran on NBC from 1965 to 1969 and on CBS from 1969 to 1970. Years later, producers tried to recapture the show’s initial spark in the 1980 film “The Nude Bomb,” the 1989 television movie “Get Smart, Again!” and a revival on Fox that lasted seven episodes in 1995. Mr. Adams appeared in all the incarnations.
The original show spoofed the James Bond movies in an innocent, if sophomoric way, and one of its most winning characteristics was the seriousness with which Maxwell Smart again and again did and said things that were really stupid. Several of his lines became popular catchphrases, particularly with young people:
“Would you believe?” (Used when someone did not believe one of Smart’s prevarications and he was about to suggest another.)
“Let me handle it, 99.” (And then he would, and botch it.)
“Sorry about that, Chief” (When he reported to his boss, played by Edward Platt, after the inevitable failure.)
But Smart’s charm lay in his utter humanness, the opposite of Bond’s preposterous competence. In an interview with The Saturday Evening Post in 1966, Mr. Adams analyzed Smart: “He’s not superhuman. But he believes in what he does and he wants to do his best.”
His best was rarely good enough. Smart called into work with a dial phone on the sole of his shoe, and often got a wrong number. He wore jet shoes that shot him up, often into the roof. He was so security-minded that he would often swallow secret messages before reading them.
Donald James Yarmy was born on April 13, 1923, in Manhattan. He said changed his last name to that of his first wife, Adelaide Adams, because acting auditions were often done in alphabetical order.
His father ran a few small restaurants in the Bronx. Mr. Adams grew up hating school and playing hooky at the movies. During World War II, he joined the Marines at 16 by lying about his age. On Guadalcanal, he was shot and contracted blackwater fever, fatal 90 percent of the time.
After the war, he drifted into stand-up comedy, always refraining from dirty jokes, presaging the almost ludicrous uprightness of Maxwell Smart. He cut back on nightclub work to support his family with jobs as a restaurant cashier and as a commercial artist.
His first real success as a comic came when he won an Arthur Godfrey “Talent Scouts” competition in 1954, which led to television variety show appearances on “The Steve Allen Show” and elsewhere.
Mr. Adams created the comedy character Byron Glick, an incompetent house detective, who was a precursor to Max. Mr. Adams tried comedy writing, producing material for Garry Moore and Mr. Allen. When Mr. Adams’s friend Bill Dana got a comedy series, he hired Mr. Adams to regularly play Byron Glick.
“Get Smart” was originally the brainchild of the producers Dan Melnick and David Susskind, and was then refined by the writers Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. ABC passed on the show, but NBC loved it. The writers first thought of Tom Poston for the Smart role, but Mr. Adams was under contract to NBC.
The program was immediately a success with viewers, though Jack Gould, reviewing the new show in The New York Times, fretted that Mr. Adams was trying too hard to be funny. Mr. Gould, however, heartily approved of Ms. Feldon, fondly recalling her appearances in Revlon’s “Tiger Girl” commercials.
In an interview on NBC’s “Today Show” in 2002, Ms. Feldon gave Mr. Adams credit for much of the show’s success. “When you got in a scene with Don, it was like stepping onto a surfboard, and you just flew over those waves,” she said. “And it was exhilarating.”
Mr. Adams took a much smaller salary when offered a chance for a 33 percent piece of the show. “Get Smart” has been popular in reruns for decades, making for steady annuities.
After “Get Smart,” Mr. Adams did a short-lived comedy series called “The Partners.” After that, he pursued many things, including a very successful voice-over career, speaking for the cartoon character Inspector Gadget. (He was also the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo in the early 1960’s.) He directed and appeared in commercials, and made many guest appearances on shows like “The Love Boat.”
Mr. Adams was married and divorced three times and had seven children. His daughter Cecily Adams, an actress and casting director, died in 2004. His brother, Dick Yarmy, an actor, died in 1992.
Writers have noted disarming similarity between Mr. Adams and Max, his most famous character. The Saturday Evening Post told a story of Mr. Adams looking for money in his pocket to tip a young man who had parked his car. He had no change, no bill he thought was small enough and could find nothing when he rummaged in his glove compartment.
“And so motorists began sounding their horns, the kid shifted from foot to foot and an audience gathered,” the magazine wrote. “It was pure Don Adams. And pure Maxwell Smart.”
September 27th, 2005 at 01:34pm
I suspect that Channel 9 can’t perform basic mathematical operations. Last night they ran a special presentation about the top 50 shows from the last 50 years of Australian television. The only problem is that we have only had 49 years of Australian television. It started in September 1956, as considering that Channel 9 were the first broadcaster, you would think they would know that…apparently not…
Samuel
September 26th, 2005 at 06:59pm
It has often been said (usually to me) that 2CC has too many Mikes and Johns and that it must be an employment condition…to these people I am now able to inform you that 2CC have added a new employment condition. 2CC are now filled with “Classic Aussies” who go on tour with the Kingswood which 2CC are giving away to celebrate their 30th birthday.
Mike Frame is commonly regarded as both a Mike and a Classic Aussie, but today a new Classic Aussie emerged, Kevin Wolf, Kevin is not a Mike or a John, but does talk about sport an awful lot, which seems to make him a Classic Aussie. I am reliably informed that there may be more on the way (more Classic Aussies that is, not more Kevins…not that it would be a bad thing)…we will just have to wait and see.
Samuel
September 22nd, 2005 at 07:41pm
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