Dead Air Production of “The Bill” to be halved

They used to work together…

January 24th, 2009 at 09:50am

Remember these two gentlemen?
Paul Blunt and Leighton Archer

It’s Paul Blunt and Leighton Archer hosting 2CA’s breakfast show, on the day of 2CA’s 75th birthday in 2006. At the end of 2006 the duo split with Paul leaving the station and Leighton staying on at 2CA and doing a number of jobs. Leighton left in October last year.

The reason that I bring all of this up is that I was tempted to write this article midway through last week when I noticed that Paul Blunt had returned to Canberra from Light FM in Melbourne, taking on the Drive (2pm-6pm) shift and the Acting Music Director role at Mix 106.3. Leighton returned a couple weeks ago and has been 2CC’s and 2CA’s traffic reporter.

On that basis alone it makes for a somewhat interesting story, but there is a new twist to it which has come to light in the last day which makes the whole thing even more interesting. 2CA have announced a change to their lineup for 2009…Ilija Dugandzic (afternoons 1pm-4pm and Music Director) has resigned, and will be replaced by, you guessed it, Leighton Archer. Leighton returns to 2CA in February.

In terms of playlists, I think it’s fair to say that 2CA’s immediate rival is Mix 106.3, so it’s rather interesting that the former “Breakfast Boys” are now “Afternoon Adversaries”. It’s such a pity that I don’t have access to the raw ratings figures as it would be interesting to see how the trend lines go on this particular battle.

I suppose this means that ATN will be looking for another traffic reporter…pity in some ways, Leighton sounded quite excited by the chaos of the traffic on many occasions, and I haven’t heard many Australian traffic reporters who sound excited about what they’re reporting.

Anyway, a belated “welcome back” to both Paul and Leighton, it’s good to have you both back on Canberra’s airwaves.

Samuel

Entry Filed under: Canberra Stories,TV/Radio/Media

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4 Comments

  • 1. padders  |  January 24th, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    I wish the ATN could retain a Canberra traffic reporter for more than a few months. I enjoy Leighton’s traffic reports. Like you mentioned, he seems to enjoy the job; he pronounces the street names correctly, and he also appears (so far) to be very thoughtful of my nerves by not mentioning any reports of accidents “northbound on the Hume Highway at Gunning.” (Arrrgh!!!)

  • 2. Samuel  |  January 24th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    “Northbound on the Hume Highway at Gunning” I can see why that would frustrate you, although have you considered the possibility that a car might crash if it tried to exit that road by going north?

    I suppose it doesn’t help that Gunning isn’t actually on the Hume Highway anyway.

  • 3. padders  |  January 24th, 2009 at 10:38 pm

    By going cross-country you mean?! If the vehicle exited the conventional way by using the exit closest to Goulburn, then turned right at the bottom of the ramp, then it would indeed be travelling north – on the Collector Road.

    It is not possible to crash (or do anything else for that matter) “northbound” on the Hume Highway at Gunning, as the road bypasses the town in a northwest by west (303º45′) – southeast by east (123º45′) direction (give or take a couple of degrees.) When referring to this section of road, by saying “northbound” people (and traffic reporters) actually mean “Sydney-bound”. Yet ‘north’ is 360 degrees (it’s really zero degrees) but the closest you get to that compass point on this section of road is 303 degrees, as mentioned above, which is more WEST than north, and translates to the opposite flipping carriageway!! You see why I get confused!

    This is why, for reasons of clarity, I think it best for traffic reporters to stick to ‘eastbound’ and westbound’ when referring to the section of highway between Goulburn and Yass. At least then, should there be an accident, I will know which section of the road to avoid, or, in your case, head to with your camera!

  • 4. Samuel  |  January 24th, 2009 at 11:31 pm

    I wasn’t referring to somebody using a designated exit. They may, for whatever reason, leave the prescribed road at a 90 (or thereabouts) degree angle to the road, which would make their direction of travel at the time of the incident either northbound or southbound.

    That said, the point is really a flippant and silly remark, and I wholeheartedly agree with you that accidents on that road in that area should refer to either the eastbound or westbound carriageway…or both if necessary.


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