Archive for March, 2006
And if so, doesn’t that just prove the point that he is out of touch considering that he, therefore, does not recognise it?
Anyway, the point I am getting at here is Kim’s visit to ACTION’s belconnen depot yesterday where Kim, in a very foolhardy manner, thought that he would be talking to his grass roots supporters, and would get his head on the TV news having a cup of tea, slice of cake and a chuckle with his comrades of the automotive transportational variety…preferably with him blowing out a candle and making some silly joke about it which brings applause and laughter from the bus drivers.
Instead (as this Canberra Times article shows), he encountered some opponents. The details in the articel are mildly interesting, but they are off topic in this discussion. The point is that Kim not only doesn’t catch buses in Canberra, he doesn’t listen to talk radio in Canberra, and neither do his media advisors. Kim waltzed into the bus depot thinking that everybody in their would want an autograph from their somewhat trademarkedly bulky hero, and was shocked to find that they weren’t. Admittedly he had some responses to the criticism from the bus drivers, but that probably has something to do with him having many similar experiences.
If Kim had bothered to check with his media advisors, or even caught a bus in Canberra lately, he would have soon realised that many bus drivers do not support him. In fact many drivers listen to 2CC which does tend to have a lot of anti-Beazley/Labor speech, and many of them ring in to express such opinions. In fairness there are some who ring in to support Beazley/Labor, but they are vastly outnumbered by the anti-Beazley/Labor camp. As a fairly regular bus traveller I really can’t recall the last time I heard a driver listening to a non-News Radio ABC station, although FM music stations are relatively common.
I don’t think anybody doubts that Kim Beazley exists, we all see him on the news and in the newspaper, but I think it is about time that he stops the silly social visits for air time, and actually produces some policies based on what the people he meets actually say to him. If he does that, then maybe, just maybe, Labor will stand a chance at the next election.
Samuel
March 30th, 2006 at 02:27pm
I am pleased to be able to confirm that AFL did not get the chop in 2CA’s recent format change, and will be broadcast again this year, continuing to make the Capital Radio Network the sports leader in Canberra, with the excellent 3AW AFL coverage relayed on 2CA, and the excellent 2GB NRL coverage relayed on 2CC, with 2CC’s own local team covering Raiders matches not covered by 2GB.
Samuel
March 30th, 2006 at 09:16am
The AFL starts tonight, and with any luck I will do a bit better there than I have done in the NRL so far. I will see about doing some graphs of my results for the weekly results posts.
Last week there was a fisaco with Internet Explorer and one version of Firefox (an older version I believe) not following standards and therefore not rendering my tips, and crossing out half the website. In light of that I am trialling some different HTML tags which should be overly friendly with our less standards compliant browsers.
AFL Round 1
Eagles V Saints
Bulldogs V Tigers
Cats V Lions
Bombers V Swans
Power V Kangaroos
Hawks V Dockers
Demons V Blues
Magpies V Crows
NRL Round 4
Eels V Cowboys
Sharks V Rabbitohs
Sea Eagles V Roosters
Raiders V Panthers
Tigers V Storm
Dragons V Broncos
Knights V Warriors
And for those of you who have emailed me, I will find out whether 2CA are covering the AFL this year or not.
Samuel
March 30th, 2006 at 06:00am
According to Radioinfo, Greg “Robbo” Robson is leaving 2CA’s breakfast show at the end of the week, and taking up a full time position with Motto Media and Fyshwick.com. Robbo, who has been a stalwart of Canberra media over the last three decades, took over the breakfast show when Daniel Gibson left it for his full time weatherman position on Prime, shortly after Prime and Ten Capital closed their local news services.
Interestingly, Daniel Gibson, who was doing night-shift for 2CA last time I checked, will be hosting the breakfast show until 2CA find a permanent replacement. Whether he will take time off from Prime to do this remains a mystery, as does the length of his temporary breakfast assignment.
I suppose the really big question here is, who will take over the breakfast show permanently? George Gibson loves playing music, maybe he would be willing to move to Canberra for a few years…although with the “New sound of Canberra’s 1053 2CA” in force, they might be looking for somebody a bit younger.
I spent a morning with Robbo while on Work Experience last year, and whilst I can’t say much for confidentiality reasons, I believe that I can tell you that he seemed fairly pleased with the progress of Fyshwick.com, and also seemed to be enjoying the breakfast shift. I am not in the least bit surprised that Fyshwick.com now requires him on a full time basis, considering the sheer volume of ads that they seem to have on both television and radio for their Fyshwick based clients.
2CA is quite clearly a different station to what it was in 2000, with practically the entire lineup of on-air talent being different. If I remember rightly, they even used Macquarie National News back then, and didn’t have a traffic reporter, which is a very big difference to the current situation where they share traffic reporters and news resources with 2CC.
Anyway, I wish Robbo the best of luck, and will have to remember to give him a call later in the week to convey that message, I also easgerly await Daniel Gibson’s temporary return to Breakfast, as I have fond memories of the last time he was on the breakfast shift. Perhaps I should track down my recording of the time I won a vegemite T-Shirt by singing the Vegemite song. I might do that and share it with you in the next couple of days.
Radioinfo also reported that Canberra radio will be in survey mode again soon, which poses two questions:
- Will ABC Local Radio waste taxpayers money on pointless giveaways and ads on Commercial Television?
- Will the changes at 2CA make a difference to their ratings results?
For the former I would have to say “probably”, and for the latter, well, only if they advertise the changes. There have probably been some people who have converted from one of the FM music stations through word-of-mouth recommendation, but I don’t think anybody will really know or care unless 2CA actually advertise the fact that they have a new sound and new presenters.
None the less, Canberra radio is looking pretty exciting for the next few weeks!
Samuel
March 28th, 2006 at 10:50pm
Samuel’s had a tiring journey to Dolgnwot, and as such is taking a nap. Being 1:50am on a Sunday it is probably a good time for a nap, unless of course you are listening to John Kerr, who appears to be on the radio.
The shape and size of this paper seems to induce a natural response of 5 vertical lines and 4 horizontal lines, which is producing a rather monotonous pattern of backround colouring, so I think I will be using a natural mechanical random number generator for the future line numbers, which will produce a much more interestingly varied amount of background patterns.
Samuel
March 28th, 2006 at 06:00pm
I think a late March episode is now out of the question, so the plan is now for a bigger than normal April episode. It looks like I may have a big name and very interesting guest lined up (hopefully that interview can be done in the next few days), and I will follow up on an interview request which was treated with enthusiasm by the guest, and then they just fell into a black hole…this time without a timezone conversion. And also, being Easter time I’m thinking of having an Easter themed interview.
All that, as well as the usual listener feedback and odd news stories should be coming your way around April 10.
Samuel
March 28th, 2006 at 04:11pm
Not a good week, I got 2/7 (28.57%), which makes a total of 7/21 (33.33%).
The AFL starts on Thursday, so you can look forward to my footy tips on Thursday morning.
Samuel
March 28th, 2006 at 07:37am
I know that I am now very late with Samuel In Dolgnwot, and haven’t posted anything for a little while, but I’ve been ill.
I was a little bit off colour on Sunday, and everything posted on Sunday (except my notice about Samuel In Dolgnwot and the crossing out notice) were written and scheduled on Saturday night. I had quite a headache, sore throat and other problems on Sunday night, so my email and website check were brief, I didn’t feel up to drawing Samuel In Dolgnwot on Sunday.
I spent most of Yesterday in bed not feeling well, and got quite a lot of sleep. At the moment I feel reasonable, but not the best. I should, if all goes to plan, have Samuel In Dolgnwot online tonight, but I can’t guarantee it.
Samuel
March 28th, 2006 at 02:19am
Samuel In Dolgnwot will be back tomorrow night, apoligies for the delay.
Samuel
March 26th, 2006 at 10:04pm
Quite simply because Internet Explorer doesn’t follow standards properly and as such didn’t like some of the crossing out in the most recent footy tips post. Firefox, Opera, and probably Safari which do seem to follow standards, did not have this problem.
The problem has now been fixed, and those of you using Internet Explorer are free from the crossing out, although I do have to say something along the lines of:
(Or Opera, or Mozilla Suite, or even Netscape if you are really desperate)
Samuel
March 26th, 2006 at 09:58pm
This week’s award goes to The Judds, and with so many great songs to choose from, I ended up having to pick a few and then choose from them at random…so the feature song of the week, by virtue of random selection and fantastic musical performance is “Rockin’ With The Rhythm Of The Rain”
Sittin’ in the porch swing
Listenin’ to the light rain
Beatin’ on the tin roof
Baby, just me and you
Rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
Slide on over
Baby hold me closer
Movin’ to and fro
Just swayin’ like a slow freight train
Rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
So let the breeze keep blowin’
(rockin with the rhythm of the rain)
(night birds a singin’ the crickets a callin’)
Oh, my heart will never be the same
Keep the sweet feelin’ flowin’
(whisper in my ear baby)
(oh, feels so fine)
(nights like this come once in a lifetime)
Me and my baby rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
Oh baby hold me tight
Say that you love me
That’s all I wanna hear tonight
Sittin’ in the porch swing
Listenin’ to the light rain
Beatin’ on the tin roof
Baby, just me and you
Rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
Slide on over
Baby hold me closer
Movin’ to and fro just swayin’ like a slow freight train
Rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
So let the breeze keep blowin’
(rockin with the rhythm of the rain)
(night birds a singin’ the crickets a callin’)
Oh, my heart will never be the same
Keep the sweet feelin’ flowin’
(whisper in my ear baby)
(oh, feels so fine)
(nights like this come once in a lifetime)
Me and my baby rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
Me and my baby rockin’ with the rhythm of the rain
Woah!
Samuel
March 26th, 2006 at 06:05pm
If you happen to live in one of Australia’s Daylight Saving time zones, and your computer’s operating system automatically adjusts the time for Daylight Saving, then you will probably find that the clock is out by an hour, as Daylight Saving has been extended by one week this year for the Commonwealth Games.
I nearly thought my lounge room clock was an hour fast when my computer was telling me that it was 2:14AM when it was in fact 3:14AM.
It is worthwhile pointing out that some online services (Gmail being one of them) base the time they show on your computers GMT offset…so you can expect them to be out by an hour as well.
Who would have thought that the land of clocks would be so exciting?
Samuel
March 26th, 2006 at 03:06pm
This occurred to me yesterday, and it has me stumped…
If CFCs (Chloroflurocarbons) used to be in fridges, and CFCs make the ozone layer thinner, why do we have a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica, where you don’t need a refrigerator?
Samuel
March 26th, 2006 at 12:13pm
As regular readers would be more than well aware by now, I read some of my spam when I feel like a laugh.
Take a look at this email which, on the surface at least, is a simple nigerian scam.
From: isa_frank23@yahoo.co.in
Subject: call me asap
Phone: +234-802-554-9993
pls reply to this box-isa_frank34@yahoo.co.in
Hello My Friend,
I am the chairman of the contract award committee of the National Petroleum Corporation here in Nigerian, for security reasons, I may not wish to disclose how I got your email address for now.
After due deliberation with my partner, I decided to forward to you this business proposal, we want you to assist us receive the sum of Twenty eight million, six hundred thousand united state bills(us28.6m) into your account. This fund resulted from an over-invoiced contract awarded by us under the budget allocation to my ministry and the bill was approved for payment by the concerned ministries. The contract was executed, commissioned and the contractor was paid his actual cost of the contract. Now, we are left with the balance of us28.6m as the over invoiced amount, which we have deliberately over estimated for our own use. Please note that the law forbids civil servants to operate or own foreign accounts hence this contact, we have agreed to share the money in the following percentages: 30 for you, 60 for us 10 for tax as may be required by your government.
Note that this transaction is very much free from all sorts of risk hence the business was carefully planned before it was successfully executed and we the officials involved in the deal have put many years in service to our ministry. We have been exercising patience for this privilege for so long not until the presidential announcement last week, that all foreign contractors owed be paid forthwith, this will enable the presidency reconcile our debt ratio with the outside world and to most of us, this is a lifetime blessing we cannot afford to miss. Upon indication of your interest to fully co-operate with us, a payment application/information form will be sent to you via email for completion.
Be informed also that the above mentioned formV when properly completed by you and return via email, will enable us seek/secure approval of the fund from the concerned government quarters/ministries within 1-2 banking days.
As soon as we confirm receipt of this money in your nominated bank account, my partner and I will come over to your country to arrange for our own share and possibly invest part of this money in your country.
Let honesty and trust be our watchword throughout this transaction. I shall furnish you with some details about myself. Your prompt reply will be highly appreciated.
Best regards.
Adams I.S.A
Alright, got that? Did you notice anything odd about it? Here is the bit that caught my attention.
This fund resulted from an over-invoiced contract awarded by us under the budget allocation to my ministry and the bill was approved for payment by the concerned ministries. The contract was executed, commissioned and the contractor was paid his actual cost of the contract. Now, we are left with the balance of us28.6m as the over invoiced amount, which we have deliberately over estimated for our own use.
It is quite interesting that they go on to say
Note that this transaction is very much free from all sorts of risk
Errr, we have a national monopolistic wheat board and a related government being dragged through the mud with the real possibility of being prosecuted for this exact behaviour. They might not have kept the excess money for themselves, but they did play a part in the fiasco, the extent of which shall be decided by the Cole Inquiry.
In releated news, the spammers have been having trouble with their latest spambots not parsing silly sender names correctly, and instead leaving “[%from_name%]” as the sender’s name. Those that are sending names correctly are continuing to make up silly names, with an exceptional example coming in last night…for that very reason I say hello to a certain “Spoilers U. Poliomyelitis” who was kind enough to send me useless information about his online pharmacy, and the following bit of information
When the cat’s away the mice will play.
Much laughter, a little wit.
Children and fools tell the truth.
I have too much fun with my spam sometimes, which incidentally is currently on 1408 emails for the last 30 days…and Gmail filtered them all!
Samuel
March 26th, 2006 at 07:31am
Last Sunday was Black Opal day, the feature day of the Canberra horse racing calendar. Southern Cross Ten were broadcasting live from Canberra’s race track, Thoroughbred Park.
This is something which should be commended as it shows as comittment to local television and the local community, as well as setting an example for the other local stations which haven’t ventured out of the studios for a live broadcast since…well…I don’t think living memory goes back that far. A live broadcast of a sporting event is no easy task, especially for a station that hasn’t done anything like it since stopping live local news bulletins from a studio about five years ago.
Anyway, the coverage got underway at 2:30pm
Our host was Alison Drower (rhymes with “grower”), who appeared to be in front of a green screen, with the background footage superimposed. The studio was probably up in a corporate box somewhere, and I don’t know why they stuck the netting there, but they did, and it made for an interesting background.
On 2CC that morning, Mike Frame announced that he would be part of the coverage, adding “colourful local racing personality” to his business card on top of “2CC’s Classic Aussie” and various other titles. This got me thinking…what titles would people get? Mike Frame appeared, with Ex-Fill In Prime TV Weatherman David Honke (pronounced Honk-EE).
David Honke did not get a title
Despite hiring Mike as a “colourful local racing personality”, they gave him the easier to fit on to the captions “Racing Commentator”. It is worthwhile pointing out that Mike worked for SSS FM, Canberra’s old ACTTAB funded community racing station, and former inhabitant of 103.9MHz, long before News Radio moved in from their old 1440KHz (AM).
Mike and David spent a bit of time talking, before we went to Simon Dearing and Julie Nehme, the fashion and crowd reporters for the day. They started off in a bad for TV shaded area next to a sunny area.
Later on we saw ex-2CC newsreader Guy Sweeting talking with Canberra race caller Tony Campbell about the history of the Black Opal and what will happen today.
Near the end of the interview, and in a different location, we finally see the face of Guy Sweeting.
Tony Campbell then did a “phantom call” of the race.
Mike Frame appeared again, interviewing Gratz Vella, the trainer of One Time, a horse running in the Black Opal
We then saw One Time having a bit of a roll in the sand.
The first studio guest was Camille Ducker, head of Fashion and Design at CIT, mildly eccentric, but great fun to interview…or so it seemed.
Julie Nehme appeared again, this time with Fashions On The Field
Simon Dearing then went to the opposite extreme and found the people who were looking somewhat odd for the day.
David Honke then had a chat with local bookmaker Roger Norton, who has been at every Black Opal.
He even got a title of “Bookmaker”
David Honke then had a very interesting chat with Ted Doon, the jockey who came second in the inaugural Black Opal of 1973. This is an interesting story because it came down to a photo finish, and apparently an earthquake a week beforehand had moved the photo finish camera slightly out of allignment, and cost him the race…according to him.
David and Ted did a rerace, won by Ted
And the photo finish from 1973
We got to see the crowd quite a few times, and it looked like a good turnout.
Mike Frame had a chat with Gary Buchanan of the Canberra Racing Club about the training pool.
And a horse in the training pool.
Alison then had another studio guest, this time a short interview with John Crommie, Manager of AAMI Insurance in the ACT/Regional NSW area. This mainly involved their reasons for sponsoring the Black Opal.
Next up was Kevin Sweeney, who has been involved in every Black Opal since the first. Guy Sweeting did this inerview.
The horses enjoy Kevin’s company by the looks of it.
Then it was time to cross to Mike Frame in the bettin ring to tell us who the punters thought would win.
Alison’s hat decoration managed to move the netting a few times
We headed back to Julie Nehme who had Trish Hanrahan telling us about the winners of Fashion In The Fields. Apparently we saw the winners briefly…but it was that brief that it could have been anyone.
Simon Dearing checked with the racegoers who they thought was going to win
Then it was time to head back to the studio, where Mike, Alison and David conducted an in depth look at the race
They appeared to have fun too
The analysis continued as the Sky Channel footage started to roll in and ruin the lovely green oasis images which Southern Cross Ten had been producing all day.
The all important race list was shown
Now bored of watching Sky footage of horses slowly entering the barrier with no race caller, we went back to the studio
Race Caller Ian Craig appeared, and Sky footage returned to the broadcast, but the barrier attendants had to push a horse into the barrier, it didn’t want to budge for a while though.
Finally the race was ready to go with light flashing and Ian Craig ready for the 1200m Black Opal. The Cyclist at top right made it just in time for the race and television coverage, arriving just moments before this picture.
“They’re off in the Black Opal”
They were pretty spread out through the back straight.
Coming around the home turn
With 200m to go One Time is in the lead
With 100m to go Down The Wicket is flying up the outside
Down The Wicket wins the 2006 Black Opal, followed closely by One Time and Luvuleo
Back to the studio with Mike, Alison and David while we wait for Sky’s interview with the jockey.
A race replay while we wait.
Alison tears up her non-winning ticket.
According to the ACTTAB race board’s offical results display, the first six horses were 8 (Down The Wicket), 7(One Time), 2(Luvuleo), 4(Solar Mighty), 14(Ellas Bar), 9(Navaho Trail). Down The Wicket ran a time of 1 minute, 9.94 seconds, with the last 600m taking up 35.84 seconds. Down The Wicket beat One Time by a long neck, and One Time beat Luvuleo by 1 length. The track was good.
There was some post race analysis with Mike, Alison and David.
Unlike Mike Frame, Julie Nehme tipped the horse Mike said would win, and it did. Simon wasn’t so lucky.
Alison informed us that Sky didn’t provide an interview.
And that it is time to say goodbye.
It was then time for the extensive credits, and the Southern Cross Ten logo, before they returned to pre-recorded programming.
Well done Southern Cross Ten, you did a fantastic job, and let’s hope that more of these “live and local” events occur. It is good to see that regional television is still alive and kicking. Well done to all involved!
For the record, the ACTTAB dividends were as follows:
8. Down The Wicket: Win $35.10, Place $7.00
7. One Time: Place $7.30
2. Luvuleo: Place $2.60
Quinella 8-7: $325.40
Trifecta 8-7-2: $9830.10
Exacta 8-7: $1102.80
Running Double 6-8: $341.90
Scratchings: 3-6-17-18
Samuel
(Update: It would appear that Southern Cross Ten misspelled Simon Deering’s name, and I did too as I based my spelling of names on their spelling of names. Sorry about that.)
March 24th, 2006 at 03:30pm
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