Archive for December 9th, 2006
Another shakeup is in progress.
Morning presenter Simon Pulis (holding the camera to the left of the photo above) is entering his final week with the station, he will be replaced next year by ex Mix 104.9 Darwin announcer/music director Gerry Nyein (don’t ask me how to pronounce it…I think voiceover man Ron E. Sparks will also need guidance on that one). Oddly enough, Mix 104.9 is a John Laws network station, and Gerry will be competing with Laws as 2CA’s morning presenter.
Apparently, Simon Pulis is moving back to Sydney, he isn’t the first person from Capital Radio to do that this year, as newsreader James Creegan did the same thing.
The rest of the movements involve breakfast boys Paul Blunt and Leighton Archer.
Leighton (on the right) has taken over as 2CA’s program director from Drive presenter and music director Gregg Easton. For Capital Radio, PD and MD have both been juggled positions…in other words, you juggle your on-air and off-air roles, so the following job advertisement should make it pretty clear what else is happening.
Breakfast Co-Host
07 Dec 2006
Canberra’s 1053 2CA is looking for a new Breakfast Co-Host.
If You
# Don’t mind early starts and can target a 40+ audience.
# Have a bubbly, positive personality and are passionate about making great radio.
# Are a team player and have great research skills.
# Can come up with creative ideas and content for the show every day.
# Don’t mind living in a great city with more restaurants per capita than any other…
Then We
# Will pay you very well
# Give you a great Co-Host in return
# Create fantastic promotions for you to work with.
# And supply you with an endless supply of coffee. (We do brewed here)
2CA has a new boss, a new PD and an exciting new direction!
If you’re keen to join a fresh team that will make great radio in 2007 and beyond, then don’t waste any time, just send your resume and an air-check ASAP using the link below or post it to;
Leighton Archer
Program Director
P O Box 1053
Mitchell ACT 2911
Apply for this job via email now
Applications close 05 Jan 2007
I think it’s pretty clear that Paul Blunt is leaving the station…I don’t know where he’s going, but I’ll miss him. Best of luck Paul!
Samuel
December 9th, 2006 at 11:20pm
It’s rapidly becoming an annual annoyance, and this year is bound to annoy more people than usual, as the bean counters at Macquarie Bank who recently purchased part of 2UE’s parent company have waved their magic wand and the afternoon show has disappeared into a timewarp.
Apparently it will return when “Voice of reason” John Stanley comes back from holidays (happy honeymoon John), although I think we can all be forgiven if we don’t hold our collective breaths on that one.
Unfortunately, to make the afternoon show disappear, you have to fiddle with the rest of the schedule, and as such the weekday schedule has changed, and forced a lot of network stations to re-record their promos, and assign staff new shifts at very short notice.
The new weekday schedule looks like this:
New Day Australia: previously midnight-5:30am, now midnight-6am (*)
Breakfast: previously 5:30am-9am, now 6am-10am
John Laws “morning show” (or Tim Webster): previously 9am-midday, now 10am-2pm (*)
Afternoons: previously midday-3pm, now non-existent (*)
Drive: previously 3pm-6pm, now 2pm-6pm
Sports Today: previously and now 6pm-8pm (*)
Nights: previously and now 8pm-midnight (*)
(*) denotes syndicated (networked) programmes.
I can’t say that I’m surprised that this kind of thing can happen at 2UE, they have managed a couple similar minimisations of staff numbers in the last 12 months or so, firstly with a weekend schedule change which went from a multitude of programmes to a mere 4 programmes of six hours each, and then with a mass sacking of producers, newsreaders and others.
Although I’m not surprised that it can happen, I was a bit surprised that it did happen, mainly because less than ten days ago I was informed who would be filling in for John Stanley until he comes back from holidays.
The last week has been an “experiment” on 2UE, with a one week presenter shuffle while Mike Carlton and Peter Fitzsimons went on holidays a week earlier than everyone else, and 2UE tried things just in case Fitz didn’t re-sign with them for next year. The change saw John Stanley and Steve Price co-hosting the breakfast show, Glenn Wheeler filling John Stanley’s shoes on the afternoon show, and Murray Olds holding the Drive Show fort for Steve Price, it looks like Stuart Bocking has been allowed to test the daytime waters, filling in for Glenn Wheeler this weekend (a job which is supposed to be done by John Mangos…perhaps he is another victim of the cost cutting).
Before John Stanley went on breakfast duties I sent him an email wishing him all the best for breakfast and his holiday, in which I said something about hoping that Steve Liebmann would be filling in for him. I promptly received a reply from his executive producer, Kate (sorry, I don’t have the email in front of me, and therefore I don’t have her full name), informing me that Glenn would fill in for a week, and then Murray Olds would fill in until John gets back. I then replied to Kate wishing her all the best for her holidays if she was having any, informed her that I was looking forward to having Glenn on for a week, and that I don’t get along with Murray all that much, but I will get used to him after a little while. I also asked Kate to say hello or woof to her three-legged dog Flash for me.
On reflection, I can only hope that the schedule change is not designed to help me avoid Murray during my lunch breaks…don’t get me wrong, he irritates me and I have been known to send long angry emails to him arguing against things he says, but I still like him for one reason or another, and I can’t help but feel sorry for him as he has just lost a six weeks or thereabouts hosting position.
I suppose I should be happy that 2CC’s daily dose of local content just jumped from 6.5 hours to 8 hours, but it is going to be very strange having Mike Jeffreys on until 10am, and Mike Welsh starting at 2pm…I’m almost certain that I’m going to forget the schedule has changed and assume that they have satellite issues at least once.
Actually I thought I was hearing things when I heard a Drive Show promo during John Kerr’s New Day Australia on Saturday morning which said that the drive show runs from 2pm-6pm. I ruled out “hearing things” and the promo being incorrect when I heard it the second time, I instead thought that I must be going mad…but as a source said to me “So no, your (sic) not going crazy. 2UE is.”
Of course, the “Tim Webster, weekdays from 10am-2pm” promo proved beyond all reasonable doubt that 2UE are nuts, you would have to be nuts to move your most sought after network programme. Somewhere in the order of 65 stations have just had to rearrange their schedules and staff, and are probably seriously reconsidering their contract with Southern Cross Syndication…I bet the advertisers aren’t pleased that the ads they booked for the first hour of John Laws/Tim Webster are now in the final hour of the preceding show. Advertisers between midday and 2pm will either be incredibly pleased at the larger audience, or bitterly annoyed that they are being associated with the Laws brand.
In some ways it is quite funny that this schedule change will take effect when Mike Jeffreys returns on Monday, I hope he has been informed that he won’t be required on-air until 6am, and will have to stay on-air until 10am. Mike, in my experience, can use a nap by about 9:30 so it will be an interesting show.
Apparently it will all go back to normal when the voice of reason returns and waves his reasonable wand…I can only hope that Southern Cross don’t pay out his “end of 2008” contract before he gets back from holidays.
Samuel
December 9th, 2006 at 10:46pm
This week the (late) Friday Funny comes from 2UE’s Stuart Bocking (who apparently received it by email).
Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a local neighbourhood tavern.
Late in the evening the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the car park for a few minutes, with the officer quietly observing.
After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five vehicles, the man managed to find his car, which he fell into. He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a fine dry night), flicked the indicators on, then off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights.
He moved the vehicle forward a few cm, reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as some more vehicles left.
At last he pulled out of the car park and started to drive slowly down the road. The police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up the patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and carried out a breathalyser test.
To his amazement the breathalyser indicated no evidence of the man having consumed alcohol at all!
Dumbfounded, the officer said; “I’ll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police station this breathalyser equipment must be broken.”
“I doubt it,” said the man, “tonight I’m the designated decoy”.
Do you have something you would like to contribute to Friday Funnies? If so, email it to smoothwallsamuel@gmail.com. All contributions welcome!
Samuel
December 9th, 2006 at 12:50pm
Good afternoon Stuart (what an unusual sentence…I’m used to saying good morning to you)
What a pleasant surprise to hear your voice in the afternoon, I remember the first time I heard you away from Lawsie’s show on Christmas day in 2004, I was eagerly trying to remember your name thinking "he sounds a lot like the co-driver…I wonder…"
Call me old-fashioned if you want, but I just don’t see the fuss about the child care rebate, surely if you have minimal financial difference between working and staying at home, the answer is obvious…stay at home with the kids! Most families are civilised and the parents should be able to come to some sort of agreement where either one parent works full-time or they both work part-time. Surely it is better for the children if a parent can be at home in those early developmental years, and I think home cooked meals will be much healthier than take away food every night.
If more people considered staying at home as a good option we would have less demand on child care, and in turn it would probably be more affordable for those who really need it.
On a different note…what a silly idea to dump the Westpac and NRMA rescue helicopters in favour of a for-profit Canadian company…I think a furry little alien by the name of Alf summed it up many years ago when he said "If it ain’t broke, don’t step on it".
Enjoy the food that Lynne Mullins brings in later today…I get the impression it won’t be a force feeding!
Have a good afternoon, and don’t disappear from overnights just yet!
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
December 9th, 2006 at 12:00pm
