About a week ago I met 2CC’s Program Director Pete Davidson. He was working at an outside broadcast 2CC were conducting at Bunnings Belconnen. Apart from Pete being the presenter of 2CA’s “Love Songs After Dark”, I knew that I recognised the name from something else and I asked a question along the lines of “you did the traffic a while back didn’t you?” to which Pete replied that, yes, he did work for ATN providing traffic reports for Mix 106.3 and FM 104.7.
I was actually referring to Pete presenting traffic for 2CA and 2CC for a brief period after Dennis Leigh left ATN, but as I wasn’t entirely sure and the conversation was moving on, I dropped the matter…but it hasn’t stopped it bugging me all week. Anyway, last night I was trawling through some audio for an unrelated reason and I found this recording from the 2nd of August last year, and guess what…it’s Pete Davidson with a traffic report on the 2CC breakfast show.
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/20070802PeteDavidson2CCTraffic.mp3] Download MP3
At least now, I can put my mind at ease on this matter, knowing that I’m not completely devoid of a working memory (reassuring considering the audio which will appear this afternoon).
This line that the New South Wales government have trotted out about leaving Sydney during their half day shutdown of the city for World Youth Day seems to be rapidly developing in to their new excuse for everything. They used it for APEC, now World Youth Day, I suppose next it will be "the trains wouldn't be so crowded if you didn't all live here and try to catch them, so get out of town".
Also you were asking for songs to play to astronauts. Well I think it would have be a song which fills them with confidence that their mission will be successful, so I think the best option would be David Bowie's Major Tom (better known by its actual title “Space Oddity” — thanks for the reminder Pen 15). There's nothing more reassuring than "something's wrong, your circuit's dead, can you hear me Major Tom?"
And speaking of people named Tom, congratulations to your Tom on his move to the weekday show with Jim Ball. I chatted with him briefly a couple times during the week and he seemed to be enjoying it.
2UE News is reporting that there was a small fire in the kitchen at The Lodge, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s official Canberra residence today, and two staff were treated for smoke inhalation.
It is apparently not known if Mr. Rudd and/or his family were in The Lodge at the time.
I can’t find this story anywhere else to verify it yet, and I didn’t see any emergency services near The Lodge when I went past there twice in the last few hours. Regardless, I hope everyone is OK.
Samuel
(originally posted 7:05pm: Promoted back to top of page at 7:51pm)
It’s amazing how easy it is to not put your tips online when you’re sleeping. Thankfully I posted the formula for all of this year’s tips a few days ago, and therefore didn’t miss last night’s AFL matches.
AFL Round 1 Blues V Tigers Power V Cats Magpies V Dockers Saints V Swans Eagles V Lions Bulldogs V Crows Hawks V Demons Kangaroos V Bombers
NRL Round 2 Roosters v Broncos Rabbitohs v Bulldogs Panthers v Raiders Knights v Sea Eagles Cowboys v Tigers Warriors v Eels Storm v Sharks Dragons v Titans
To the moron out there who tried to use an SQL injection attack this morning to reset the admin password on this website…next time, try to attack a username that actually exists, and don’t format your attack so poorly that your shoddy hacking attempts end up as the display name on a comment automatically marked as spam.
If you’re going to break in, please try to cover your tracks a bit better.
Yesterday you asked for ideas for showbags for the New South Wales government and for petrol companies. I would suggest merging the bags because they both want your money, aren't willing to tell you how they come up with their prices, and employ people to spend a long time telling you absolutely nothing when interviewed.
Do you think that BP will follow the New South Wales government's lead and setup an enquiry into why there is a "discounting cycle"? If that person from BP expects us to believe that they don't know why there is a discounting cycle then I think he's starting to believe his own spin.
I have just sent the following message to 2GB’s Jason Morrison:
Good morning and happy Easter Jason,
Welcome back from the US, I hope you had a great trip as it certainly sounded like you were having fun over there when you chatted with Mike Jeffreys.
Your point about people watching less television is interesting and matches my own viewing habits. On most days I would probably watch no more than about an hour of television…and the funny thing is, the cruder they get in an effort to gain more viewers, the less I watch.
Also it was good to hear Warren Purchase on the traffic report. I remember him doing traffic in Canberra in 2003.
Have a great Easter, and don’t eat those Easter eggs all at once.
Well that is slightly surprising, 2CC are taking all of 2UE’s weekend morning show with George Moore and Paul B. Kidd today.
I was almost expecting their new weekend presenter Graham…(last name escapes me at the moment, sorry) to do what Mike Frame would have done previously by presenting a public holiday version of the breakfast show.
I suppose this means 2CC will be taking 2UE for all but the two hours and forty-five minutes they will spend on 2GB’s football coverage tonight.
For me though, this raises a conflict. I haven’t heard George and Paul for ages and would love to listen to their show, but 2GB’s Jason Morrison is back from the USA and filling in for Alan Jones this morning.
I think a tradeoff is in order. Jason until 8AM, and George and Paul for whatever time I have for the radio during the rest of the morning.
If I do this today, then again on the regular day of Sunday, and then again in the middle of next week, I will have caught up with the Musicians Of The Week awards that I have missed.
This award goes to Katrina and The Waves and the feature song is “I’m Walking On Sunshine”.
Oh!
Ohhhh yeeah
I used to think maybe you loved me, now baby I’m sure
And I just can’t wait ’til the day when you knock on my door
Now everytime I go for the mailbox, gotta hold myself down
‘Cause I just can’t wait ’til you write me you’re coming around
Now, I’m walking on sunshine, wooah
I’m walking on sunshine, woooah
I’m walking on sunshine, woooah
And don’t it feel good
Hey, alright now
And don’t it feel good
Hey yeah
I used to think maybe you loved me, now I know that it’s true
And I don’t want to spend my whole life, just a-waiting for you
Now I don’t want you back for the weekend, not back for a day
No no no
I said baby I just want you back, and I want you to stay
Woah yeah now
I’m walking on sunshine, wooah
I’m walking on sunshine, woooah
I’m walking on sunshine, woooah
And don’t it feel good
Hey, alright now
And don’t it feel good
Yeah, oh yeah now
And don’t it feel good
Walking on sunshine
Walking on sunshine
I feel alive, I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real
I feel alive, I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real
I’m on sunshine baby, oh
Oh yeah
I’m on sunshine baby, oh
I’m walking on sunshine wooah
I’m walking on sunshine wooah
I’m walking on sunshine wooah
And don’t it feel good
Hey alright now
And don’t it feel good
I’ll say it, I’ll say it, I’ll say it again now
And don’t it feel good
Oooh yeah now
And don’t it feel good
Now don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it feel good
I’ll say it, I’ll say it, I’ll say it again now
And don’t it feel good
Now don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it
And don’t it feel good
Now tell me, tell me, tell me again now
And don’t it feel good
Oooh yeah now
And don’t it feel good
Oh Don’t it feel good, don’t it feel good
Now don’t it feel good
Today (and some of tomorrow) I am in Sydney to attend another one of John Kerr’s lunches, so it seems like a good time to post the audio of the conversations I had with Stuart Bocking and John Kerr on the air during my April 2007 Sydney trip.
On the 23rd of April at some time after 10pm I called Stuart Bocking (if I had the hotel invoice in front of me I could tell you the exact time) to talk about the supermarket code of practice for the scanning of barcodes where products scanned at the incorrect price are supposed to be given to the customer for free, as that was one of the topics of discussion for some reason. We also briefly discussed Stuart’s attendance at John’s lunch, and me not being able to remember which team I tipped in the Monday night NRL match. For the record it was the Rabbitohs to beat the Cowboys, which was a good tip in a round where I tipped 50% of the NRL matches correctly.
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/SamuelwithStuartBocking20070423.mp3] Download MP3
And of course Stuart was in attendance the next day:
Tomorrow I’ll post the audio of my conversation with John Kerr from the early hours of the 24th.
Incidentally, I recorded these off the radio by running an audio cable between the headphone jack of my portable radio and the microphone jack of my digital notetaker, so the quality is reminiscent of a mobile phone call. Finding a volume low enough on the radio to not overload the microphone jack was an interesting experience as it had to be practically the lowest possible volume on the radio…any lower and it was pure silence.
Temporarily…although the rumours suggest otherwise.
Clive Robertson will be filling in for Stuart Bocking on 2UE’s evening show tonight, tomorrow and on Good Friday while Stuart fills in for John Stanley on the drive show. Stuart will not be there on Friday, and to be honest, apart from John Kerr on New Day Australia filling in for Jim Ball and Clive Robertson on evenings, that day is a bit of a mystery to me.
Also on the fill-in list this week is Glenn Wheeler, who is filling in for Tim Webster on the afternoon show.
2UE are keeping their game of shuffles alive by moving gardening (and anything else that he feels like mentioning) presenter Don Burke from the weekend afternoon show to the weekend breakfast show. Don did have a segment on the Glenn Wheeler show between 4pm and 6pm on Saturdays, and he is now going to be heard on Saturday and Sunday mornings between 6am and 8am. By the sounds of it, Don will have his own show instead of being part of the existing George and Paul breakfast show, so how George and Paul will reschedule their regular segments is anyone’s guess.
And the rumours about Clive Robertson returning to a regular shift abound. There seem to be two versions of the rumour, one is that Clive will take over the afternoon show, and the other involves Stuart moving to afternoons and Clive taking over the evening show. The common thread in these rumours is the ratings, apparently any move would hinge on another loss for 2UE’s daytime programming in next week’s ratings.
As I mentioned the other day, I am submitting all of my tips for the year in advance. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to go through and write down my tips for the entire year yet (I’m getting there, it is nearing completion), but that hardly matters as you can work out my tips for yourself.
In order to produce tips for the entire year I have put together a preference list for the NRL and AFL. Quite simply, the team I will tip in any match is the higher team on the preference list.
As anybody who has watched my tips for a while would probably have noticed, I am a bulldogs supporter in both codes, and I tip them every week regardless of any external factors, hence the reason they are at the top of the list.
AFL
Bulldogs
Eagles
Power
Dockers
Saints
Blues
Magpies
Kangaroos
Hawks
Lions
Bombers
Tigers
Demons
Swans
Cats
Crows
Kevin Rudd: “I don’t have a magic wand, but the Australian Government will do everything within our power to put pressure on the …. …. to bring this slaughter to an end.”
Fill in those missing two words. Did he damn the:
A: “Chinese Government”, now killing Tibetan protesters.
B: “Japanese Government”, now killing whales.
Now contrast those fighting words with this mild caution:
“…from my point of view, I would call upon the … … to exercise restraint.”
Again fill in the missing words. Was Rudd tut-tutting the:
A: “Chinese authorites” (sic), for killing people protesting its occupation of Tibet.
B: “Japanese authorites” (sic), for killing animals for food.
The answers, “B” and “A”, respectively.
I can’t help but feel that in a country where human life is generally considered to be the most valuable resource of all, the fact that our government is more than willing to lambaste the Japanese government for slaughtering whales, but won’t extend the same courtesy to the Chinese government for a greater travesty, is downright strange and lousy, especially from a governing party that are happy to try and prevent our drug smugglers from being executed.
SYDNEY workers should have commuting time included in their official work day because public transport and traffic troubles make journeys so lengthy, a union boss said.
New technologies mean many employees are able to start their working day while in transit, Unions NSW secretary John Robertson said.
[..]
Mr Robertson takes his argument as far as to recommend wireless internet connections be installed in trains, until the state and federal governments introduce fast trains to transport workers from regional and outer suburbs into the city.
I can’t see the proposal working, mainly because of the many inequities in it. For example, this would only really work for people who have office jobs which don’t require much telephone contact with colleagues, let alone the public (it would sound rather unprofessional having a telephone conversation with a customer while a baby screams next to you and it’s announced that “the next station is Redfern”). This would not work for people who have to be physically on-site to perform their duties (cleaners, builders and plumbers to name a few) and would only be viable for people on public transport, as you can’t really write a detailed business email while driving through Sydney’s CBD.
I also don’t understand why he only wants to apply it to Sydney.
Ultimately it might work as an option for a few very select people, but I can’t see how anybody can be as productive in a moving vehicle as they can be in an office when it comes to the type of work which could be done in this manner.
It’s nice to see Unions NSW secretary John Robertson thinking about things, but this really sounds like a case of “I need to say something so that my name can appear in the media today” to me.
