It looks like 666 ABC Canberra are looking for a new program director. Here’s the job advertisement from Radioinfo.
Program Director
09 Feb 2007
# Canberra
# $65,424 – $80,940 p.a.
Local Radio in Canberra has a vacancy for a highly motivated and experienced program maker to lead the station’s on air teams with the purpose of maintaining outstanding program content, focussing on information and entertainment radio. The Program Director provides high level leadership in editorial decision making, manages human and program resources, and develops strategies to build and maintain audiences. The Program Director’s role includes the generation of very strong program content, with significant development of original ideas for station on air and off air activities. As editorial team leader, the role requires outstanding ability to motivate others in being creative and innovative in producing on air content.
Selection Criteria:
1. Outstanding interpersonal and motivational skills, proven experience in radio with outstanding editorial skills and judgement.
2. Proven ability to lead and inspire a team of program makers with specific ability to guide teams in making diverse daily programs in a metropolitan radio station.
3. Demonstrated ability to develop and produce accessible and relevant program content. Demonstrated leadership in program construction and delivery.
4. Capacity to initiate, research and produce highly complex program segments and interviews and provide significant input into shaping program and station sound. Ability to work under high pressure and to deadlines.
5. A comprehensive understanding and commitment to ABC Editorial Policies as well as EEO and Cultural Diversity issues and their relevance to program making.
6. Comprehensive knowledge of modern broadcast technology including digital editing and online content.
7. Ability to develop strategies to attract and maintain audiences as well as the ability to manage projects and major broadcasting initiatives.
8. Knowledge of key issues affecting the Canberra audience.
9. Ability to produce and present live and pre-recorded reports for radio at an outstanding level.
# All applications must include audition material on CD ONLY (non returnable). Copies of the ABC Editorial Policies are available at www.abc.net.au
For further information contact Jen Brennen on (02) 6275 4615.
Applications quoting reference IAR706072 should be sent to Recruitment, ABC, GPO Box 9994, Adelaide SA 5001 or email using the link below.
Applicants must address the selection criteria. For information on how to apply visit abc.net.au/jobs
The ABC is an equal opportunity employer
The ABC invites Indigenous Australians to apply for this position
If they’re going to write a politically correct job advertisement, they could at least start it by acknowledging that the successful applicant will be asked to work on “Ngunnawal land” (the statement which anybody trying to score points for political correctness open their speeches with in Canberra…except they acknowledge that they are standing or meeting on it). Actually, why not have the political correctness hub of Canberra radio acknowledge it at the start of every program…that’s bound to bring in the listeners. Say it over and over and over for eight minutes and you’ll win the quarter hour in the ratings!
In all seriousness though, 666ABC are coming in to a new ratings period with the very real prospect of losing further ground to 2CC…perhaps with a new Program Director they will be behind 2CC by the end of the second ratings period. One can only hope.
After this article, somebody is going to accuse me of an anti-ABC bias, so perhaps I should explain myself a bit further. Overall I like the ABC, but their Canberra radio station leaves a lot to be desired, and it will probably take a ratings defeat for them to shake things up a bit. They’ve been on top of the pile for a long time, and they’ve gone stale, they’re neither fresh nor interesting (incidentally 3AW seem to be headed in the same direction in Melbourne). It’s time for a change.
Maybe their new Program Director will fix things up for them, but with 666 being 666, it’ll take a ratings defeat, or something very close to it, to make them notice that they aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of Canberra’s talk radio market.
Of course, I would like to see 2CC in their rightful place above the local ABC station in the ratings…they’re the better station at the moment and have been for a while (a couple holiday errors excepted).
Well it is a marvellous day here in London, the weather is putting on a special treat as the temperature has made its way to double digits.
England have won the cricket, and it’s just as well as we let your lot win the Ashes, so thanks for returning the favour. Pity about the trophy though, looks like a weird seat, the Commonwealth Bank can keep the trophy, we’ll just keep the scorecard.
Best wishes
Harold Borton
London
This is your chance to set the agenda on Samuel’s Blog, all you have to do is send a “letter to the editor” to letters@samuelgordonstewart.com. Your letter can be about almost anything, and it can be from any part of the opinion spectrum, as long as there is some point to your letter. I don’t have to agree with your letter, but I am moderating, so the usual no defamation etc rules apply. For more details click here.
You want to know how much spam we all receive? Well you asked…
In the last 30 days I have received 2495 spam emails. That's an average of just over 83 per day, or about three and a half per hour! Just to put that in context, I've averaged about 20 legitimate emails per day in the same period of time. The main reason for this inundation of spam is that most of my email addresses are listed on websites, which means the robots trawling the web for email addresses pick them up easily.
For the most part it doesn't bother me though as my email provider (Gmail) have fantastic spam filters, which learn based on what their users declare to be spam. I have probably one or two spam emails per week which I have to manually mark as spam.
I don't usually use a desktop client (Outlook, Thunderbird etc) because Gmail is web based, but everyone else in this house uses Thunderbird, which I like because it does a good job of learning which emails are spam.
This week’s award (unfortunately) goes to Pat Wilson and the feature song is (gah) Bop Girl.
Why am I doing this with a song I don’t particularly enjoy? Well I blame Caz for featuring it and Channel Nine for running a movie containing it, as an extract then got stuck in my head and the only way to get rid of it was to learn the lyrics. As per usual for bad annoying songs that get stuck in my head, I am warming to it.
B-O-P-G-I-R-L
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat
She’s a bop girl
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
She’s a bop girl
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
All you follow, I’ll lead the way
Oh, the bop girl’s A-OK
Dig the bop girl, start to move
down inside that microgroove
B-O-P-G-I-R-L
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat
She’s a bop girl
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
She’s a bop girl
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
At the dance I’m with my man
Dig the floor, jump with the band
I got friction, I can’t stop
I’m a dancing spinning top
B-O-P-G-I-R-L
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat
(Now dig the bop girl)
(A-and swing that thing, owooooooo!)
She’s a bop girl
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
She’s a bop girl
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
B-O-P-G-I-R-L (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
B-O-P-G-I-R-L (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
B-O-P-G-I-R-L (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
B-O-P-G-I-R-L (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world searching for their own bop girl (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
Down in the crowd, I’m in the street (She’s a bop girl)
Got the whole world shaking to the big bop beat (She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl)
She’s a bop girl, yeah
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
She’s a bop girl, yeah
She’s a bop, she’s a bop bop girl
Just on this subject of bag checks, I have the dubious honour of being the first person to ever set off the beepy alarm in the Canberra City Big W store and be bag checked. It was the first (and only) time that I've had my bag thoroughly searched for potentially stolen items, and as such I wasn't aware that the store staff weren't allowed to touch the bag. I offered them the bag and they almost jumped back in fright at the prospect of touching the bag on their opening day!
I then had to pull everything out of the bag, and eventually the suspect item emerged…an opened half-empty packet of batteries I had bought in a supermarket a few months beforehand! I was then able to go, which was a good thing as 2CC were about to call me to provide comment on the opening of the Canberra centre expansion.
I usually show my bag on the way out as a courtesy, and I tend to find that when you willingly show your bag without being asked, the staff just glance at it, but if they have to ask you to show the bag it becomes a matter of "what's under that thing…and can you take that bit out…and where did you buy that".
Feel free to discuss the poll subject in the comments below. You need to be a registered member of Samuel’s Blog to comment, but anyone can vote. The system will attempt to prevent you from voting more than once, and whilst it might not always be able to do that, I request that you only vote once.
Disclaimer: This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you’re using these numbers to do anything important, you’re insane. That being said, I do try to keep the results fair and accurate, and I try to prevent abuse by unscrupulous voters, but I can’t make any guarantees.
Now for the results from last week’s poll.
Should the Persiflage Puzzle be a part of Samuel’s Persiflage?
It looks like plenty of people don’t want the Persiflage Puzzle to be part of Samuel’s Persiflage. I won’t include it in the next episode, and will put a request out for feedback on the matter as I know plenty of Persiflage listeners don’t read this blog regularly.
The ACT Emergency Services Authority has issued a Yellow Warning (likely impact) for the ACT following the release of a severe storm warning by the Bureau of Meteorology. I can’t find the ESA announcement online (which is odd for them lately), so here is the Bureau’s announcement.
NSW/ACT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for LARGE HAILSTONES, DAMAGING WIND, VERY HEAVY RAINFALL and FLASH FLOODING
For people in the
Central West Slopes,
Central Tablelands,
South West Slopes,
Southern Tablelands,
the ACT and parts of the
Northwest Slopes,
South Coast,
Northern Tablelands,
Mid North Coast and
Hunter Forecast Districts.
Issued at 2:35 PM Saturday, 10 February 2007.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding and large hailstones in the warning area over the next several hours.
Major locations within the warning area include Orange, Mudgee, Bathurst, Katoomba, Canberra, Goulburn, Cooma, Yass, Young, Tumbarumba, Armidale and Glen Innes.
Large hailstones are most likely in the southern part of the warning area.
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move your car under cover or away from trees.
* Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
* Keep clear of fallen power lines.
* Keep clear of creeks and storm drains.
* Don’t walk, ride your bike or drive through flood water.
* Unplug computers and appliances.
* Avoid using the phone during the storm.
* Stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors as well.
* For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 13 2500.
* In the ACT, ring the ACT Emergency Service on 6207 8455
The next warning is due to be issued by 5:35 PM.
This warning is also available through TV and Radio broadcasts, the Bureau’s website at www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 218. The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate this warning being broadcast regularly.
Update 3:10pm: And here’s the press release from the Emergency Services Authority
A YELLOW LEVEL warning for a possible storm threat to the ACT has been issued as part of the ACT All Hazards Warning System following the issuing of a severe thunderstorm warning by the Bureau of Meteorology.
The Bureau advises the storm may produce large hailstones, damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding over the next several hours.
The YELLOW LEVEL warning covers the period from 1400 Saturday 10th February 2007 to 1800 Saturday 10th February 2007.
”The ACT SES has placed units on standby as a precaution at this stage and are ready to respond if required by the community,” ACT State Emergency Service Deputy Chief Officer Bren Burkevics said.
“Residents should refer to Emergencies and the National Capital – A residents guide available on www.esa.act.gov.au ,”he said.
“The ACT State Emergency Service advises that as storms approach, residents should:
Put vehicles under cover or cover them with blankets
Secure or put away loose items around your home, yard and balcony
Move indoors and away from windows
Shelter and secure pets and animals
Put outdoor items: garden furniture, toys etc. inside, and
Keep children and animals away from storm water drains
“During and after the storm, residents should:
Take extreme care when driving
Unplug computers and appliances
Beware of fallen trees and power lines
Listen to a portable radio for updates
Avoid using the telephone during the storm
FOR ACT SES EMERGENCY HELP IN FLOODS AND STORMS CALL 132 500
FOR LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCIES CALL 000
End Update
Also, I would just like to congratulate 2CC who broadcast the warning before the Bureau publicly released it, and broadcast it immediately, rather than waiting until the weather update.. The Bureau obviously told the ESA first, and they got the fax out first. Well done 2CC, this is a vast improvement over the New Years Eve fiasco, and even over previous regular practice.
Update 6:04pm: I was just about to give up all hope of rain, but out of the blue another storm cell is developing rapidly to the west of Canberra and is on its way in…hopefully this doesn’t dissipate like the last two did! This one appears to be part of a growing storm front so the chances of it dissipating are negligible.
Here’s the weather radar picture from 5:20pm, which pretty much sums up the afternoon’s rain pattern.
And here’s the one from 6pm showing the growing storm front to the west and north-west of Canberra. (I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’ll resize the images shortly).
I better take Nattie for her walk now before the rain hits! End Update
Update 6:44pm: The Yellow Warning has expired, but the storm is about to hit! Here’s the latest from the Bureau
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for LARGE HAILSTONES, DAMAGING WIND, VERY HEAVY RAINFALL and FLASH FLOODING
For people in the
Northwest Slopes,
Illawarra,
Northern Tablelands,
Hunter,
Central Tablelands,
Southern Tablelands,
the ACT and parts of the
Northwest Plains,
Central West Slopes,
South Coast,
Northern Rivers,
Mid North Coast,
Metropolitan and
South West Slopes Forecast Districts.
Issued at 5:45 PM Saturday, 10 February 2007.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones, damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours.
Major locations within the warning area include Armidale, Orange, Bathurst, Katoomba, Canberra, Goulburn, Cooma, Yass, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Moree and Narrabri.
5cm hailstones observed at Rylstone at 15:30p.m
The next warning is due to be issued by 8:25 PM.
An expanded warning area, and plenty of activity on the weather radar. More updates to follow. End Update
Update 7:15pm: Looks like people south of Lake Burley Griffin are copping a battering. We’ve had fairly tame rain in Reid, but there was a lightning strike within a couple hundred metres of my house not long ago (Nattie was not impressed).
In related news, ABC TV News has reported that western New South Wales from Dubbo, up to Cobar and out to Bourke, is without power after the storm caused a fault on a main transmission line. Power has been restored to Dubbo Hospital, but the lines are only able to support a very small amount of power at the moment. Electricity transmission authority TransGrid have three crews out trying to find the fault on the 180km long cable, but are having trouble due to the storm, and have no idea when power will be restored.
Just listening to your comments about attraction to "bad boys" being a case of "better the devil you know than the one you don't". Well that reminded me of my thoughts on the New South Wales election which, in my view, looks like it could be a battle between the devil you know, and the devil who couldn't possibly do any worse.
I was looking at a map yesterday and noticed a town named "Robertson" about 20km north-west of Kiama, and by the looks of it, within the 2UE reception range. Do you think Clive knows there is a town named after him?
I suppose you remember that last weekend I told you about a strange dream I had about scientists arguing over which celery to use to stop global warming…well I had a couple other strange dreams not long after that, one involving a coal mine and a grizzly bear in south-western Canberra, and another involving an argument about the time on a clock at the ACT Legislative Assembly, them deciding that they like their clocks to be wrong, and then wanting to name one after me for complaining about it!
By the way, thank you to your friend Harold in the UK who sent me a joke by email…I'll send a copy to you John (assuming Harold hasn't already done so).
I received an interesting tip today claiming that Peter Leonard is about to retire and Phil Small is set to take over his position. Whilst I don’t doubt for one moment that Peter Leonard is about ready to retire, I do have a small doubt about Phil Small taking over as anchor, mainly because Phil is very knowledgeable when it comes to sport, and if he were to take over as anchor, somebody would have to fill his void.
If Phil were to take over as anchor, I suppose he could continue to oversee sport, but somebody else would have to do most of the sport reporting. I also have a slight niggling doubt that Phil would want to take over as anchor…I’m sure he’d do a great job, but I’m not convinced that he would want to do it.
If Tony Lynas was still with Win, he would have the anchor job in a flash, but he isn’t there, and Jessica Good is his replacement. I am getting the impression that Jessica’s current fill-in anchor role is a trial for when Peter Leonard does retire, and so far I think she has put in a solid effort and, if Phil Small declines the anchor role, she will most likely get it.
Anyway, thank you to the nice person who sent me the tip, it is most appreciated.
I sent this email to Win Television’s Canberra newsroom this morning:
Good morning Win News Canberra,
I wonder if you could pass on a message of congratulations to Jessica Good for me? She has done a wonderful job filling in for Peter Leonard and, based on the last couple nights, has a bright future ahead.
I should also congratulate the rest of you as well, as you all continue to produce the best local news bulletins in Canberra.
Also, I was thinking, and I’m sure it’s beyond your control but you might be able to pass it on as a suggestion…Win is clearly the leader in regional news, but each region only gets to see their local bulletin. Perhaps WIN could consider running a couple bulletins from nearby areas overnight. I don’t know what the cost of doing that would be, so it might be out of the question, but if it is workable it would be very interesting for a “news junkie” like myself to hear about the news of nearby regions.
Anyway, thank you for continuing to provide an excellent news service.
I notice that City Ads have not published their promised correction for their photo bungle…I won’t be holding my breath to see it in next week’s edition (due in my letterbox on the weekend).
I’m not sure that this really counts as a joke, but it certainly gave me a laugh when I read it…so thank you to Harold from London who sent it in.
Below are four (4) questions and a bonus question. You have to answer them instantly. You can’t take your time, answer all of them immediately. OK?
Let’s find out just how clever you really are.
Ready? GO!!! (Scroll down)
First Question:
You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in?
Answer: If you answered that you are first, and then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second! Try not to screw up in the next question.
To answer the second question, don’t take as much time as you took for the first question.
Second Question:
If you overtake the last person, then you are…?
Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, and then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST Person?
You’re not very good at this! Are you?
Third Question:
Very tricky math! Note: This must be done in your head only.
Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.
Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000 Now add 10. What is the total?
Scroll down for answer.
Did you get 5000?
The correct answer is actually 4100.
Don’t believe it? Check with your calculator! Today is definitely not your day. Maybe you will get the last question right?
Fourth Question:
Mary’s father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono.
What is the name of the fifth daughter?
Answer: Nunu?
NO! Of course not.
Her name is Mary. Read the question again
Okay, now the bonus round:
There is a mute person who wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing one’s teeth he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done.
Now if there is a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses, how should he express himself?
He just has to open his mouth and ask, so simple.
Do you have something you would like to contribute to Friday Funnies? If so, email it to smoothwallsamuel@gmail.com. All contributions welcome!
On reflection, I think I know where at least some of this dream came from…more on that later, but first, the dream.
This dream starts with me and a group of friends walking through the City Walk exit of the Canberra Centre and heading towards the Legislative Assembly. We were discussing the portfolios of various MLAs and at one stage tried to work out what John Hargreaves’s portfolios were prior to his current ones…we couldn’t work it out so we walked up to the Legislative Assembly so that we could ask the staff there.
In this dream, the Legislative Assembly, rather than being its actual location, was located where the theatres are, just behind its real location, and there was a low-lying garden in front of it, with a maze of narrow paths.
As we approached the entrance we could see John Hargreaves going in the staff entrance door on the left hand side of the front entrance section. I quickly went up the few stairs and asked John Hargreaves what his previous portfolios were, he told me that he had previously been the minister for automatic doors and acquaintances (strange dream) before handing me an autographed photo of himself. I went back to my friends and gave them the answer.
We then decided that we might as well go inside and wait for Question Time to begin, so we went up to the public entrance (which was locked) and we were told by the attendant that we should “go to Olims Hotel and have a coffee and then come back”. I then said to her that Olims hotel is a twenty minute walk, and as it was 1:20pm, Question Time was only ten minutes away and we should be let in so that we could take our seats. She then informed me that it was only 12:40pm, and I told her that the clock above the entrance said it was 1:20pm…she then said “we like the clocks to be wrong” and changed it to say 8:57pm.
By this stage a very large school group were taking up most of the space in the garden and slowly going through the staff entrance. We left and decided to come back later.
The dream then jumped forward to Question Time where, rather than having any questions, a student in the school group was invited to read the radio news…a few stories passed before he got to a story about “drama at the Legislative Assembly”, in which he said that the clock above the entrance was to be named “the Sam Gordon-Stewart” clock after the person who had complained about it showing the wrong time earlier in the day.
I then made a scene about how I thought that if they were going to name the clock after me they should get my name right. I was thrown out of the Assembly.
The dream then ended.
I said at the beginning of this article that I think I know how I came up with this dream. On Sunday afternoon during lunch I was thinking about politicians getting requests for autographs…whether it happens, and if it is possible to walk up to John Howard during one of his walks and ask him for an autograph. That would explain part of the dream at least.
I don’t know why my dreams of Waramanga always make it look like a dark and gloomy suburb, especially seeing as it has always been quite nice in my experience.
This dream starts off underground in a dingy and dusty room, whilst I am apparently in a coal mine, I am sitting at a desk. It’s time for my 15 minute break, so I decide that I would like to stretch my legs and go a for a walk around Waramanga.
About ten minutes later I have almost finished my walk and decide to go back inside, only to encounter a large grizzly bear on the path back to the mine. I turn around and run, the bear chases me until I pass a fence labelled “Bear territory, keep out”.
I then decide to enter the mine via the back entrance, but to do so I have to traipse through a large dark forest…I do so, following a dusty path, then I meet another grizzly bear…I start running and keep running until I trip down the entrance path to the mine. I land at the feet of (someone who is apparently) my boss. It seems that I’ve been gone for about 50 minutes and a security team have been assembled to search for me, whilst warning lights and sirens are in operation due to the coal mine having a “missing person”. My boss calls off the search and I return to my desk.
