Archive for November, 2005
Weekends on 2CC are now the realm of Mike Frame it would seem. The word is that Kane Bond is (eventually) leaving 2CC, and indeed there was an ad on radioinfo.com.au a few weeks back for the Drive show Producer position.
On the topic of weekends, 2CC seem to have handled the sudden 2UE change reasonably well. They have introduced a new “Weekend Magazine” program from Midday-2pm on Saturday and Sunday, presumably to avoid the sydney centric gardening and real estate shows…or segments of shows as they should be known. The first issue of Weekend Magazine went fairly well, although it did seem to struggle for callers in parts.
Mike didn’t seem entirely convinced that Weekend Magazine would survive through to next week, and I think he may be right if it continues in its current format. It has dawned on me that the thing which was missing from that show was interviews. I suppose that they might not have had time to arrange any interviews, but for goodness sakes, get somebody from the art gallery or the mueseum or the zoo or even the weather bureau on the phone, they will be able to enlighten us with information on happenings that we might not have otherwise know about. Maybe they could get somebody from one of the many local markets on the phone. There is so much that heppens in Canberra on the weekend that we never hear about on the radio, and this is 2CC’s chance to grace the airwaves with some of it.
However, the jury is still out on Glen Wheeler’s weekend afternoon show, which so far has not been as entertaining as George Moore and Paul B. Kidd’s afternoon show. It sounds like 2UE are trying to copy the 2GB afternoon formula of having various subject segments scattered throughout the show, which is strange considering that people in general chose George and Paul’s show over the 2GB show. I was very concerned when I turned the radio back on earlier to find that there was a discussion about mothballs and dining rooms between Glen and his guest, who I later found out was Monica Trapaga…I think. It is very concerning when you can listen to a conversation for 3 minutes and still not know what they are going on about.
To that extent, I really think 2CC can take weekends by storm if they move the local programming to the Midday-6pm slot and let George and Paul, who command an audience of their own in the same way John Laws does, take the morning slot. Having a show like the one George and Paul present in the morning will put 2CC in a much better position to tackle ABC Local Radio’s “Macca On Sunday” show, which is a very light conversational show, and bring a whole new level of interesting programming to afternoons.
Sure, keep running Weekend Magazine, even in that timetable I came up with yesterday, give it some interviews with local the people behind the places and events of Canberra, and let George and Paul sail the good ship of radio ratings in the morning.
On reflection I think that having Weekend Magazine at 2PM-4PM and the Travelling Fisherman and the Toyota Outback club at 4PM-5PM would work better than what I said yesterday.
I suppose it is just a matter of waiting and seeing what happens.
Samuel
November 5th, 2005 at 03:32pm
Mike Frame just announced that 2CC are staying with local programming this afternoon. I think he said they are doing that until 2pm, but I wasn’t listening properly so I can’t be sure. He certainly said there would be local programming on 2CC this afternoon though.
Samuel
November 5th, 2005 at 10:56am
A closer look at the Southern Cross Syndication website shows that the 2UE gardening show has also been removed from the product list, the remaining garden show is the 4BC Brisbane Garden show.
However, the 2UE garden show and real estate show haven’t disappeared, they have simply been moved into the Glen Wheeler Weekend Afternoon show, although nobody seems to know the times that they will be on. Surely this is madness, outside of Sydney, who really cares about Sydney garden conditions or the price of the house in a Sydney suburb based on a telephone description.
Up until now network stations have been able to avoid the Sydney garden show if they wanted to by simply running local programming during it, but now it is a segment of another show, meaning that if a station wants to avoid it, they are going to need to run SIX HOURS of local programming to avoid it and sound “normal”. It would sound very odd indeed if at, for example, 1:59pm Glen Wheeler was heard to say “After the news it’s time to do solve those gardening problems with Jennifer Stackhouse”, and then the 2PM news played, followed by some local “Hits from way-back-when” show until the 3PM news, which would be followed by a return to Glen Wheeler who could very easily have “Just one more garden caller for Jennifer.”
Apart from which, people love George Moore and Paul B. Kidd, and you hear other shows being flooded with “I’m so glad George and Paul are back” in the weeks leading up to their returne after the football season (incidentally, I’m baffled as to why 2UE don’t offer George and Paul during the football season as Macquarie’s 2GB have the football…although 2SM just got the rights to one game per week…another story, another time). The worst part about these changes is that they are too drastic and too early in the year for them to be temporary summer changes, apart from which, George and Paul were the summer afternoon syndication goldmine, so a change like this wouldn’t have been made on a temporary basis.
As for Canberra, this is surely the thin end of the wedge…I really think 2CC will suffer if they take Glen Wheeler in the afternoon, don’t get me wrong, Glen is an excellent host, but I just don’t think the people of Canberra really want to hear 2CC contradicting itself. Canberra’s local gardening expert, David Young, has criticised interstate garden shows on many occasions for just not being relevant in Canberra, how then do 2CC expect to retain credibility with the gardening community if they have David Young saying what I have already mentioned, followed by Jennifer Stackhouse with the “Sydney suburban garden hour”?
As I have already mentioned, people love George Moore and Paul B. Kidd, they are easy to listen to, and they are good fun. They will take a couple weeks to get used to mornings, but they will do it (I know I previously said moving them to mornings is a mistake, which it is…the entire schedule blender is a mistake, but they will adapt). The people of Canberra love George and Paul…so what to do? Well, here’s my plan which I think will save 2CC from a terrible disaster at the hands of 2UE programming.
Currently 2CC have local programming from 6am to midday on weekends, I suggest they change that. Lets have George and Paul from 6am to midday, followed by some local programming. At midday we could have The Trading Post for one hour, it works for two hours before midday, but I don’t think it would do the same after midday as people will start to lose interest in visiting unknown houses to buy stuff by then. At 1pm you could have David Young’s Garden for an hour or two depending on the day. After this, there are some things that could be done, perhaps a local talkback show on Saturday and the “Best Ofs” on Sunday, and then there are a few gaps to fill, so lets take a look at my draft schedule.
Saturday
- Midnight: George Gibson (2UE)
- 6am: George and Paul (2UE)
- Midday: The Trading Post
- 1PM: David Young’s Garden
- 2PM: The Travelling Fisherman
- 3PM: Saturday Afternoon with (Kane Bond? Mike Frame?)
- 5PM: The Best Of The John Laws Week
- 6PM: Mike Williams (2UE)
Sunday
- Midnight: George Gibson
- 6am: George and Paul
- Midday: The Trading Post
- 1PM: David Young’s Garden
- 2PM: Toyota Outback Club
- 3PM: Sunday Afternoon With (Kane Bond? Mike Frame?)
- 5PM: The Best Of The Mike Jeffreys Week
- 6PM: Mike Williams
I would be willing to bet that most 2CC listeners don’t even know that there is a “Best Of Mike Jeffreys” show early in the morning on Sunday (I think it’s Sunday) or that the Outback Club show or the Fishing show even exist. All of these shows deserve a higher prominence than what they currently get.
What I have drafted here would, in my view, bring 2CC extra listeners on the weekend. People would enjoy listening to George and Paul in the morning, and would most likely welcome the interesting and constantly changing afternoon lineup. I would suggest that the Saturday and Sunday Afternoon shows could be a mostly relaxed talkback program, with a special emphasis on the things which happen in and around Canberra on weekends, combine that with the usual Canberra based talkback formula and you would have a very good show.
This also brings up the question of news. I would suggest keeping the current system of bringing in a different weekday newsreader each day of the weekend for six hours, and supplement it with a dedicated weekend newsreader to take the other six hours, therefore providing localised news during the 6am-6pm period every day of the week.
Of course this wouldn’t work during the football season, so during the football season I would have a lineup as follows:
Saturday during football season
- Midnight: George Gibson (2UE)
- 6am: The Travelling Fisherman
- 7am: David Young’s Garden
- 8am: The Best Of The John Laws Week
- 9am: Saturday Morning with (Kane Bond? Mike Frame?)
- 10am: The Trading Post
- Midday: Football (2GB)
- 8PM: Mike Williams (2UE)
Sunday during football season
- Midnight: George Gibson (2UE)
- 6am: Toyota Outback Club
- 7am: David Young’s Garden
- 8am: The Best Of The Mike Jeffreys Week
- 9am: Sunday Morning with (Kane Bond? Mike Frame?)
- 10am: The Trading Post
- Midday: Football (2GB)
- 6PM: Mike Williams (2UE)
The trading post does seem to work quite well in a two hour timeslot during the morning. 2CC could probably get away with just one six hour newsreader on weekends, perhaps the dedicated weekend newsreader that I mentioned before.
Anyway, I think that this would enable 2CC to avoid the superbly avoid the Sydney centric garden and house shows whilst attracting new listeners with an exciting and interesting new lineup on weekends. It would also allow 2CC to continue the programming during the football season without affecting the football coverage.
Samuel
November 4th, 2005 at 11:17pm
I cannot beleive what I heard on John Stanley’s show about 45 minutes ago. 2UE are moving George Moore and Paul B. Kidd to weekend mornings.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, they have completely dumped the entire weekend schedule and made up a new one.
It would appear that the new schedule has dumped their gardening show, the other weekend “specialty” shows like their real estate show, the psychic show and whatever else they had. Murray Olds is gone, so is Stuart Bocking. Coming in to the new lineup, Mike Williams has taken over weekend nights, and Glen Wheeler has taken weekend afternoons.
The new schedule is the same on Saturday and Sunday and is as follows (according to the 2UE website)
- Midnight-6am: George Gibson
- 6am-Midday: George Moore & Paul B. Kidd
- Midday-6pm: Glen Wheeler
- 6pm-Midnight: Mike Williams
The Southern Cross Syndication website doesn’t seem to have much, if any information on this bizarre shakeup, the only change I can see on there is that George Moore and Paul B. Kidd have disappeared.
Why 2UE would make these sudden changes to programs that work and rate fairly well is beyond me…do 2UE management have some loose marbles doing the rounds?
I suppose the even more important question is how are the network stations going to handle this change. A lot of stations take the 2UE garden show, which has naturally disappeared, maybe 2CC should syndicate David Young….
Samuel
November 4th, 2005 at 01:52pm
I think it’s time for another one of my dreams, this one usually pops up once or twice a year in the couple months surrounding christmas.
In the dream it is christmas day and my family and some extended family are in the kitchen worrying about whether we will have lunch ready in time. Our entire time seems to be taken up by getting an endless number of plates out of the cupboard. Anyway, the time comes around to get the ham out of the fridge, and it is dropped on the floor and shatters, I go outside and see that all the plates are scattered all over the lawn, and then I go back inside and get more plates out of the cupboard. Apparently if people are going to have to eat the plates we will need more of them on the lawn…..
Needless to say, this dream is mildly disturbing.
Samuel
November 3rd, 2005 at 04:42pm
Over the last few days I have noticed the music that Mike Jeffreys uses being used by a few other TV and radio shows.
I have heard it at least once on the radio outside of Mike Jeffreys’ program, and the other day I noticed Channel 7 using it as they went to an ad break during the Melbourne Cup coverage, and last night ABC TV used it during one of the segments of their “Beat The Chef” program.
The music I am talking about is the music Mike Jeffreys plays at the beginning of his show after the 5:30am news, and usually plays after the 7:30am news, and occasionally in other places as well.
Right now I’m trying to work out what it is called, if anybody knows the name of the music in question I would be appreciative.
Samuel
November 3rd, 2005 at 02:24pm
As previously mentioned, I gave 2CC a birthday card for it’s 30th birthday. It was more of a birthday paper than a card, but it’s the thought that counts.
Anyway, I have gone to some length to reproduce the birthday card. You may have seen in various places that sell paper, paper with pre-printed backgrounds, I used a “scrollpaper” background and printed on top of that. This is what makes the reproduction tricky, I have had to copy the scrollpaper background into the birthday card document which means I had to scan in another piece of scrollpaper (I thought I had run out of it, but I found one) and then go about inserting it into the document.
Anyway, here is the birthday card which I presented to 2CC (and I believe is currently hanging on their notice board). Clicking on the picture will open the 861KB PDF file of it.
Samuel
November 2nd, 2005 at 03:33pm
Two weeks ago The Chronicle published a cut down version of my transport ideas in the letters to the editor section of the paper. In this weeks edition they have published a reply from another Canberra resident which I will share with you below. It is on page 24 of the Northside Chronicle but the page number may vary between edition.
Transport
Editor
I REFER to the letter ‘Public Transport’ (The Chronicle, October 18).
I could not agree more with the sentiments of your correspondent.
Unfortunately there is a negative mindset in regards to light rail in this territory. Inherent in this regard is the provincial mentality of our territory leaders that is akin to a type of colonial cringe. Small cities such as Canberra should have light rail. Many do in other parts of the world with considerable success.
There is sufficient evidence that light rail is far more efficient and user friendly than any busway will ever be. Busways will never encourage people to shift from their cars to this mode of public transport. Light rail/trams will. Once built, the busway has little chance of being converted to light rail. The authorities will never justify the expense. Look at what happened in Adelaide with OBahn.
The population increase in the Modbury Corridor which the OBahn serves more than justifies the conversion to light rail but it will not happen because successive South Australian governments lack the political will.
The same thing will happen here.
Finally, what has always been needed in Canberra is an intergrated transport infrastructure with the light rail as the core mode. The proposal for the construction of the busway is just another example of re-inventing the wheel. [Pun intended.]
KEVIN CONNOR
Kaleen
So there we have it, somebody who not only agrees with my sentiments, but also has some solid evidence from other areas to back up their own ideas. Well done Mr. Connor, the voice of reason speaks out!
(That being said, John B1_B5 was also able to back up the idea of trams with evidence from their implementation and de-implementation, and the public sentiments surrounding it.)
Samuel
November 2nd, 2005 at 02:10pm
Apoligies for the recent three hours of downtime experienced by this website. The hosting provider performed an “upgrade” without notifying me…or at least, that is what they told me on the phone. I’m not inclined to believe them as the way the website reacted makes me think that something failed.
At first I was receiving “Connection Timed Out” errors which indicates that a service failed, especially seeing as the server was still responsing to pings. This later changed to “Connection Refused” errors, which indicates that the hosting provider probably pulled the plug.
It is unusual in my view to perform upgrades whilst still accepting incoming connections to services you are upgrading. Standard procedure would tell you to deny incoming connections before starting an upgrade, as this helps (in some cases) to prevent incoming connections creating problems with the upgrade. Of course my sense of procedure would also tell you that you should notify the people who will be affected by the upgrade.
I think something failed and the technicians either took advantage of that to perform an upgrade, or they called it an upgrade so that nobody would know that things failed.
I must thank regular reader and contributor John B1_B5 for confirming that the problem was not at my ISP, as this would be the first thing which a hosting provider would tell you to check if you tell them that their servers are offline. I agree with this, but I couldn’t really see a point in yelling at the technician on the phone as it is really a management decision when it comes to upgrades, and I will email them to ask them to inform customers before performing upgrades, and to make the service status visible from an external website, as it is currently only accessible through the hosting control panel website (which was also down).
John B1_B5 mentioned that he was getting a “page cannot be displayed” message. This is one of Internet Explorer’s many “friendly” messages which it will display when something is wrong. The one problem I have with these messages is that they will appear even if the website being visited has a page of it’s own for that purpose. For example, a website may (and most do) have a 404 page for cases where the page you requested can’t be found, such a page is likely to contain some useful links back to the homepage, a site search facility and probably some contact information if you think the page has appeared incorrectly. The Internet Explorer “friendly” page has a link to the homepage of the site, but is incapable of bringing you any other information, such as contact information or any messages which the website has on it’s own 404 page.
The IE Friendly pages on their own are just fine, I just think they should make way for those which the website offers when they are offered. When I was using IE I turned off friendly error pages as they annoyed me, that setting can be found at Tools–>Internet Options–>Advanced–>Browsing–>Show Friendly HTTP Error Messages
Mozilla Firefox and other browsers do not have a similar function that I am aware of.
Anyway, the site is back online now, and I apoligise for any inconvenience which the downtime caused, as I’m sure the hosting provider will to me when I email them.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 08:59pm
This has to be the most number of posts on one subject I have ever posted that doesn’t have a category of it’s own. Anyway, let’s have a look at how the Melbourne Cup went.
Firstly congratulations must go to Makybe Diva and my mum who tipped Makybe Diva.
I checked to see what the various Canberra radio station did for the Melbourne Cup, and I noticed that the ABC appeared to have their own coverage, the two major FM stations shared another coverage, and 2CC and 2CA both used a direct feed from race caller Greg Miles (presumably from the Southern Cross Syndication coverage).
2CC went to the news at about eight to three and then went to Welshy who then took us to Flemington, interupted to tell us there was a delay, played about 15 seconds of music and took us back to Flemington.
2CA ran a delayed version of 2CC’s news at five to three (or maybe it was pre-recorded and the stations played it when they were ready), At the end of the news Gregg Easton provided the weather report and then joined the Melbourne Cup coverage.
At this point in time I noticed that 2CC & 2CA were about 5 seconds ahead of Channel 7, who also used Greg Miles. At this time I turned off the radio and watched the race unfold on Channel 7.
As for my tips, well…
On A Jeune came 2nd
Leica Falcon came 4th
Railings came 14th
Nattie’s tip, Strasbourg came 18th.
I have added my quote of “I have to agree with most experts who say that Makybe Diva will not win” to the random quote list with the subtext “Samuel a few hours before Makybe Diva won the 2005 Melbourne Cup”. I suppose I had a 23 in 24 chance of being right about that!
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 08:32pm
Alrighty then, time for the top eight from the Melbourne Cup
1. Makybe Diva
16. On A Jeune
8. Xcellent
22. Leica Falcon
13. Lachlan River
14. Portland Singa
19. Envoy
2. Vinnie Roe
And last was Franklins Gardens which walked across the finish line.
For the record, Xcellent was the first horse in history to start the Melbourne Cup with a name starting with the letter X.
Update:
Full finishing results:
MAKYBE DIVA
ON A JEUNE
XCELLENT
Leica Falcon
Lachlan River
Portland Singa
Envoy
Vinnie Roe
Kindjhal
Rizon
Dizelle
Eye Popper
Demerger
Railings
Vouvray
Kamsky
Greys Inn
Strasbourg
Distinction
Umbula
Hugs Dancer
Bazelle
Mr Celebrity
Franklins Gardens
Whilst Channel 7 tell us that Franklins Gardens did finish the race, other sources say it didn’t…as Channel 7 provided that information after the other sources I am more inclined to believe Channel 7.
END UPDATE
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 03:58pm
We have Correct Weight!
1st: 1. Makybe Diva (Win: $3.60, Place: $2.00)
2nd: 16. On A Jeune (Place: $14.60)
3rd: 8. Xcellent (Place: $5.80)
UPDATE: Official finishing time 3:19.17
Trifecta 1-16-8 $4,951.70
Quinella 1 & 16 $164.60
Exacta 1-16 $197.50
Duet 1 & 16 $36.90
Duet 1 & 8 $19.90
Duet 16 & 8 $180.20
Running Double (Race 6 Number 6 & Race 7 Number 1) $117.90
Further placings as they come to hand.
Dividends are Super TAB which encompasses the Victorian TAB, ACTTAB and many more.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 03:31pm
1st: 1-Makybe Diva
2nd: 16-On A Jeune
3rd: 8-Xcellent
4th: 22-Leica Falcon*
*4th place according to race caller
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 03:10pm
The time has come for me to announce my Melbourne Cup tips for this year.
I have to agree with most experts who say that Makybe Diva will not win. It was fairly obvious in my view that she wouldn’t be scratched, but she won’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a very good horse, but I just don’t think she will win.
Anyway, my top three selections
7: Railings
16: On A Juene
22: Leica Falcon
And a tip from Nattie
21: Strasbourg (Well it is a food word).
The race gets underway at 3pm (GMT+11). If you can’t be near a TV to see Channel 7’s coverage (or the Sky Channel coverage) and you can’t make it to a radio (most radio stations will cover it) then you could always listen to it on the 2KY Racing Radio webstream (Website is down, but webstream still works) or the Sport 927 webstream or even the ACTTAB Radio Webstream.
Of course I’ll bring you results from the race as well.
Whoever you pick, good luck and enjoy the afternoon.
Just like last year’s Melbourne Cup day, it is raining here in Canberra.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 12:32pm
This is something which I can only describe as sad news.
From radioinfo.com.au
3AW commentator and presenter Rex Hunt and his son Matthew have been victims of a savage street attack by at least 15 youths armed with bottles and skateboards in Byron Bay.
In what must be news to the local tourism office the gang told them visitors were not welcome then proceeded to attack the couple in front of Hunt’s wife Lynne and Matthew’s girlfriend Jodie Petrusov.
The already injured Hunt said he was horrified to see the teenage gang then aiming lethal kicks at Matthew’s head as he lay on the ground. He jumped in to help, receiving more blows and a slashed scalp, possibly from a piece of glass.
The attack only stopped when onlookers stepped in to help.
The Hunts and Petrusov were in town for a wedding and had just left an hotel after a brief drink.
Police said there was nothing they could do because of the offenders’ age and no complaint was filed. Hunt said he would take legal action against the boy’s parents.
Samuel
November 1st, 2005 at 12:21pm
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