Archive for May 1st, 2006

St. Kilda V Fremantle result due on Wednesday (The same can be said for the footy tip results)

The controversy surrounding the AFL match between St. Kilda and Fremantle will be officially resolved on Wednesday afternoon. According to a story on afl.com.au:

A meeting of the AFL commission on Wednesday afternoon will determine the outcome of Sunday’s controversial drawn match between St Kilda and Fremantle at Aurora Stadium.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said at a media conference on Monday afternoon that league investigations officer Allan Roberts had consulted timekeepers and other staff on Monday about the events at the match, in which the Saints snatched a late draw after the field umpires failed to hear the final siren.

Anderson said the AFL commission was empowered with determining the outcome of the match because it had final authority to deal with the rules of the game.

And the commission will be given until Wednesday in order for both the Saints and Dockers to be given enough time to properly present their cases to the AFL.

This is probably a good time to update you on my basic scoring procedures, where a correctly tipped win is worth 1 point, an incorrectly tipped loss (ie. the team I selected, lost) is worth 0 points, and untipped draw is worth 0.5 points and a correctly tipped draw is worth 1 point.

As it stands, (and as it is likely to stand if the rules of AFL are followed by the commission) I will get 0.5 points from that game for an untipped draw, however if the result is taken from the scores at the apparent siren time where Fremantle Dockers were leading, I will get 0 points for an incorrectly tipped loss. If St. Kilda win based on a commission decision (which is remotely possible due to an apparent unawarded 50-metre penalty to St. Kilda which would probably have resulted in a goal and a 5 point victory to St. Kilda, then you can expect a lot of controversy and a higer authority to be called in.

This will be an interesting few days.

Samuel

May 1st, 2006 at 05:58pm

Favicon

Has anybody here noticed the minor change to the website? It now has a favicon which looks like the head of Samuel from Samuel In Dolgnwot.
Samuel's Blog Favicon

Actually, I’ll show that to you at a larger size:
Samuel's Blog Favicon

This should be appearing in your browser in the address bar, and in just about any other location you have a link to Samuel’s Blog, including bookmarks/favourites and the tabs in Firefox, Opera, Konqueror and Safari just to name a few.

It is unique as far as I can tell, and I think it adds a touch of useful branding to the site. I hope you like it.

Samuel

9 comments May 1st, 2006 at 09:29am

3AW and Magic (3EE) Swap Frequencies

It is 7:15AM, which means Melbourne is in the midst of radio history. Melbourne’s two Southern Cross Broadcasting radio stations, 3AW and Magic (3EE), are swapping frequencies.

(Update 9/May/2006: Google seems to be directing people to this page, so I should probably inform you that you can find audio of the changeovers on 1278 and 693 on this page)

Right now at 7:15AM, Melbourne’s top rating radio station, 3AW, is operating on two frequencies, its old 1278kHz and its new 693kHz, whilst Magic (3EE) has temporarily disappeared. At 10AM, Magic (formerly of 693kHz) will take over the 1278kHz frequency, leaving 3AW on 693kHz, effectively completing the changeover.

So, 3AW was:
3AW 1278
And is now:
3AW 693

Whilst Magic was:
Magic 693
And is now:
Magic 1278

(Thanks to Chuck A. Spear for his assistance with the new 3AW logo, but they came good on their website so I used their larger version).

This probably has everybody outside Melbourne thoroughly confused, why on earth would Southern Cross Broadcasting want to fiddle with frequencies? Well allow me to explain.

The higher end of the AM spectrum is, for one reason or another (perhaps John B1_B5 can enlighten us here), more susceptible to electromagnetic interference, and as such, 1278kHz is virtually inaudible in areas of Melbourne’s CBD, and at various locations where reception is extremely important, such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for their AFL coverage, whilst 693kHz is easy to receive everywhere. As such, it makes much more sense to move Melbourne’s top rating radio station to a frequency where it can be heard everywhere, and move a dwindling station to the less useful frequency.

Thankfully this isn’t a surprise to anybody who has paid any attention to Melbourne media in the last month or two, as it has been advertised and promoted quite heavily, with 3AW being given prominence (probably due to its popularity). One such example would be this press advertisement.
May 1 3AW Is Moving, now louder and clearer on 693.

At midnight, both 3AW and Magic updated their websites. 3AW updated their logo and changed their flashing “we’re moving” graphic to a flashing “we’ve moved” graphic. Magic also updated their logo, and performed an update to the text on the front page of their site for the first time in a long time, making reference to a format change.

Magic 693 has entered a new and exciting phase in its history, shifting to 1278 on the AM dial.

From 10am Monday May 1st Magic 693 has become 1278 – The New Magic, playing The Best Songs of All Time.

This is our most significant change since the station launched on March 26th 1994, and we’re sure you will enjoy 1278 – The New Magic every bit as much as Magic 693.

Our new website is currently under construction with a host of new pages and features, and will be up and running in the very near future.

You can always tell that a station is having a format change when they use the word “New” to describe themselves.

3AW and Magic have also swapped open line numbers, with 3AW starting to use their new number during the AFL yesterday as a marketing tool to help advertise the frequency swap.

3AW talkback can now be reached on 96 900 693
Magic competitions can now be reached on 9696 1278

The frequency swap has the interesting effect of segmenting the Melbourne AM dial in a similar manner to the Sydney AM dial, with talk at the lower end and music at the higher end. This is the new AM lineup in Melbourne.

  • ABC Radio National 621 (Talk)
  • 3AW 693 (Talk)
  • ABC Local Radio 774 (Talk)
  • Sport 927 (Talk)
  • ABC NewsRadio 1026 AM (Talk)
  • SEN 1116 (Talk)
  • Magic 1278 (Music)
  • 3MP 1377 (Music)

I will offer some free advertising advice here, hopefully 3AW will consider it. The number “3” is perfect for this situation as it rhymes with the end a number of things related to the frequency swap, as such I am thinking that 3AW could have simplistic advertising along the lines of:

News and Entertainment on 3AW
Now in the CBD on 693

And also

3AW Football
MCG 693

This would work very well on voiceovers, especially the latter one if they were to set up a stand outside the MCG. I can just imagine them now, standing outside the MCG running a loop of promos before the game featuring highlights of their previous AFL coverage, each promo ending in “3AW Football…MCG 693”. They could even hand out frequency locked radios if they wanted to. I think I’ve just stumbled on the best way to promote their AFL coverage now that it can be heard at the MCG, I’ll be sure to send them an email suggesting it.

A slightly different phrase “3AW Football, at the G on 693” could be used during the commentary of AFL matches for the first weekend. Rex, Clinton & Tony would have no trouble slipping that one in.

This is history in the making, I am looking forward to hearing the recordings to see how the 7:15 changeover was handled by both stations, and how Magic resume at 10AM.

3AW’s website can be seen at 3aw.com.au
Magic’s website can be seen at Magic693.com.au, although they have registered Magic1278.com.au and will undoubtedly move in soon.

Samuel

7 comments May 1st, 2006 at 07:15am

Footy Tips Results Delayed

Due to the controversial end to the AFL match between St. Kilda and Fremantle at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, and the official protest surounding it, I will be waiting for the outcome of today’s meeting between AFL and club officials before calculating the results of my footy tips.

The outcome is unlikely to change, as technically no rules were broken, however the exact manner in which the match ended is something which will come under close scrutiny.

AFL officials were unavailable for comment after the match, I was listening to 3AW Football through 2CA and they managed to speak to just about everybody involved except the AFL officials. Even team officials reported being unable to contact AFL officials.

For those of you who haven’t heard the news or clicked on the link above, here is what happened according to Seven News.

Fremantle has launched an official protest over Sunday’s controversial AFL draw against St Kilda at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.

Dockers officials lodged paperwork with the umpires a few minutes after the match, where the Saints scored 13.16 (94) and Fremantle ended on 14.10 (94).

The ground siren’s volume was not loud enough all day and field umpire Matthew Nicholls failed to hear it at the end of the game.

Fremantle led by a point when the siren went, but Nicholls let play continue, bouncing the ball as Dockers players complained.

Approximately nine seconds later, St Kilda’s Steven Baker kicked a behind to level the scores before the umpires ended the game.

Baker was then given another chance after being awarded a free kick after disposal, but that shot also went through for a point.

Dockers coach Chris Connolly and several other bemused Fremantle officials were on the ground as the drama played out.

The AFL football operations staff are currently discussing the matter with the umpires and timekeepers.

This will be interesting to say the least. The rules as they stand are open to exploitation by umpires as they decide when the game ends, however that is unlikely to change due to the simple fact that technology does fail, and a human needs to be able to make the decision. Perhaps we need a “third umpire” to assist with the decision if the ground umpires don’t hear the siren. Admittedly this wouldn’t be a “third umpire” as there are already three main umpires, two goal umpires, two boundary umpires and an emergency umpire, so perhaps the term “grandstand umpire” would be best.

Personally I think the AFL could use Hawkeye, the system which is able to accurately track the ball through a three dimensional space. It wouldn’t solve the issue of timekeeping, but it would be useful in cases where the umpires aren’t sure if the ball has been touched prior to going through the goals or touched prior to going out on the full, or even in cases where it is unclear whether the ball has bounced in the field of play or gone out on the full, and especially useful when the ball goes too high for the umpires to clearly know whether it has gone through for a goal, behind, or out of bounds.

Surely this (and general overseeing of umpiring decisions) would be a good use of a “grandstand umpire”.

Samuel

3 comments May 1st, 2006 at 12:38am


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