Jim has now confirmed on his website that he will be returning to 2GB’s Midnight to 3:30am weekday show on Monday.
A week later Melbourne’s 3MTR will be coming on board as the show’s first network station.
Samuel
April 7th, 2010 at 09:08pm
The first radio ratings for the year for Canberra have been released to radio stations, with the public release expected tomorrow.
Jock’s Journal have received some figures which I’m unable to confirm at this stage. They have published the following figures:
FM 104.7: 20.2% (up from 18.3%)
666 ABC Canberra: 18.5% (up from 16.1%)
Mix 106.3: 16.9% (down from 18%)
JJJ: 8% (down from 13.5%)
ABC Classic FM: 7.6% (up from 7.4%)
2CA: 6.8% (up from 4.1%)
2CC: 6.3% (no change)
This doesn’t cover every station in the market, so I can only be sure that the top four are indeed the top four. It’s also interesting to note that with the exception of 2CC, most of the stations have jumped back to their approximate ratings share in last year’s first survey.
I’ll publish a more comprehensive summary tomorrow when the official figures are released.
Samuel
April 7th, 2010 at 07:03pm
3MTR’s launch today confirmed a number of things, with some of the more interesting things being bits of information which 2GB haven’t confirmed for Sydney yet.
The schedule is below, but a couple things of interest are that Jim Ball is the confirmed overnight host despite there still being no official word of his arrival at 2GB. Interestingly, Frank Crook’s weekend overnight show is being replaced by current overnight fill-in host Mike Williams, indicating that Frank may be on his way out. If I’m not mistaken, Mike covered the last weekend, so this wouldn’t be too much of a shock.
Andrew Moore’s Wake Up Australia program has been extended by an hour so that it now runs until 6am. Whether this means that Alan Jones will be on-air for half an hour less each day, or whether the latter parts of Andrew’s show will simply not be heard in Sydney are yet to be confirmed. Having Andrew on-air until 6am would open the door for competition to 2UE’s New Day Australia in the Syndication market, especially considering that many regional stations do not start their local breakfast show until 6am.
The 8pm-9pm block is listed as “highlights” which probably means highlights of local shows rather than the Jones/Hadley hour. 9pm-Midnight is covered by locally by Luke Grant.
Weekends are mostly syndicated from Sydney, with only the Midday-6pm block being local, hosted by TV personality Glenn Ridge. Glenn Wheeler’s Saturday night show is being extended by two hours and will start at 6pm in Melbourne. There is no mention of any broadcasting of the NRL, although I will be surprised if Melbourne Storm matches are not aired when 2GB are calling them.
3MTR will start broadcasting on 1377AM, replacing 3MP, in two and a half weeks at 6am on Monday the 19th of March with the following lineup.
Weekdays:
Midnight: Jim Ball
3:30am: Wake Up Australia with Andrew Moore
6:00am: Breakfast with Steve Price (local)
10:00am: Mornings with Steve Vizard (local)
1pm: Afternoons with Chris Smith (final hour local)
4pm: Drive with Martin King (local)
6pm: Money News with Ross Greenwood
8pm: Highlights (possibly local)
9pm: Melbourne Tonight with Luke Grant (local)
Saturday:
Midnight: Mike Williams
5am: The Fishing Show with Michael Guest
6am: The Gardening Clinic
9am: Mornings with Scott Cam
11am: Real Estate with Mark Moraza
Midday: Weekend Afternoons with Glenn Ridge (local)
6pm: Saturday Nights with Glenn Wheeler
Sunday:
Midnight: Mike Williams
6am: The Gardening Clinic
9am: Home Handyman with Simon Stevenson
11am: Health and Wellbeing With Deborah Thomas and Andrew Rochford
Midday: Weekend Afternoons with Glenn Ridge (local)
6pm: Medical with Dr. Graham Malouf (This show is called “Your Health” on 2GB)
8pm: Sunday Nights with Reverend Bill Crews
So we’re looking at 13, maybe 14 hours of local content per day during the week, and six hours per day on weekends. Not anywhere near the amount of local content on 3AW, but one would expect it to be enough on weekdays to be seen as a local station. The weekends worry me though. The interstate programs might be niche programs, but things like gardening and real estate are very local subjects, and it could be difficult to make these locally relevant in multiple markets.
And what is it with radio stations and weekend morning gardening shows? Can nobody do a proper weekend breakfast program, even if it’s only on Saturday? I’d rather listen to a simulcast of Channel Nine’s Today show than most gardening shows…I just don’t understand why they are so dominant on weekends.
I also wonder if 3MTR will use 2GB’s 131 873 for their shows, of if they will have their own number, and how this will work during overlapping programming in Sydney such as the first two hours of Glenn Wheeler’s show where 2GB and 3MTR will have different shows with call-in numbers on the air. One wouldn’t expect Glenn to suddenly change phone number at 8pm…so this could be interesting. Some telephone routing magic perhaps?
Incidentally 13 1377 is owned by Aussie Mastercard, so I can’t see 3MTR buying that. 131 687 (131 MTR) is answered by “NCP” so they probably can’t buy that either. 131 873 might have to suffice, although I’m sure that 3AW will instantly run with the “see, they’re not local, that’s 2GB’s phone number” if they do that.
Interesting times ahead in Melbourne.
Samuel
3 comments April 7th, 2010 at 06:51pm
3MTR, the Melbourne talk station which replaces 3MP will be “launched” today but will not be going to air today.
It is expected to be officially confirmed today that the new station will have A Current Affair reporter Martin King as the drive show (4pm-6pm) host, although it will be more of a surprise if they don’t confirm this today as it has been splashed all over the Melbourne media.
2GB’s Chris Smith is not on-air in Sydney today as he is in Melbourne for the launch and it is expected that his show will be syndicated to 3MTR in a slightly altered format. His show will be split in to three distinct parts. Midday-1pm will be broadcast in to Sydney only and will have a Sydney focus, 1pm-3pm will be broadcast in both markets with a national focus, and 3pm-4pm will be broadcast in Melbourne only with a Melbourne focus.
The weekday lineup for 3MTR is expected to be:
Midnight-3:30am: Jim Ball
3:30am-5am: Wake Up Australia with Andrew Moore
5am-6am:Unknown
6am-10am: Steve Price and contributors
10am-1pm: Steve Vizard
1pm-4pm: Chris Smith
4pm-6pm: Martin King
6pm-8pm: Money News with Ross Greenwood
8pm-midnight: Unknown, but likely to be similar to 2GB’s evening lineup, minus Brian Wilshire.
Meanwhile Ash Long, proprietor of Melbourne newspaper The Melbourne Observer is maintaining quite possibly the best publicity stunt for an unlaunched radio station in living memory. For months Ash has been publicly stating that he owns the name “Melbourne Talk Radio” and that Macquarie and Pacific Star have no rights to the name…lots of noise, but no action. It’s true that Ash owns this name, but surely if this was a serious claim he’d be dragging it through the courts and not through the media?
Regardless, my suspicion here is that Ash reached an agreement with Macquarie/Pacific Star a long time ago, and this public “dispute” over the name is just part of that deal as it benefits the new radio station as well as The Melbourne Observer. Case in point: who, outside of Melbourne, had heard of The Melbourne Observer before this all blew up?
It should be interesting to see what the actual lineup is, and whether it will be able to put a dent in 3AW’s ratings. I’m personally hoping that 3MTR will take the rugby league coverage from 2GB even if it doesn’t take the hours and hours of talk surrounding the coverage. Time will tell, and we should all know in about twenty minutes from now.
Samuel
April 7th, 2010 at 10:41am
I promised the anonymous emailer who sent this link to me, that I would publish this yesterday. It seems that it slipped my mind during my long afternoon nap.
Currently on eBay, a handful of radio station number plates are on sale. 2UE, 2DAY FM and WSFM are all represented, but are well and truly out of my price range as they start at $5,000 with a Buy It Now price of $15,000.
If these things interest you, then enjoy…I’d be interested if I could actually afford them, although I doubt that I could buy any of them even if I sold everything I own.
And a quick hat tip to radionews.com.au who had this story on Monday before I was even emailed about it.
Samuel
April 7th, 2010 at 09:45am
I often look through the statistics for this blog to see what pages have been linking to here and what people are searching for in order to get here. The information generally informs me about what subjects interest people and often lead me to interesting bits of information on other websites. Today is no exception.
Yesterday somebody landed here after searching for information about a rumour about 2UE’s Stuart Bocking. I won’t mention the rumour because it is patently false and absurd, but the search query did interest me so I checked it out myself and, on the first page of results, found this gem from New South Wales Government Hansard from the 13th of May 2008, which had me in hysterics. Enjoy!
GOVERNMENT OPERATING SURPLUS
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: My question is directed to the Treasurer. Does the Treasurer recall the statement in the Stokes and Vertigan audit of New South Wales Government finances that:
The government should build an operating surplus of at least $1 billion to fund the State’s expanded Capital Works Program.
That was on page 8. Noting that the Government’s response failed to address this recommendation at all, what is the Government’s target operating surplus?
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: The honourable member has raised an important point and it is one that we will cover in the budget this year. Budget Paper No. 2 will give a full and transparent account of the state of the State’s finances. It is interesting that the honourable member has asked me a different question—it is not about fiscal targets this time. I suppose it reflects the fact he has now been lifted from 19 to 15 in the shadow Cabinet as part of the recent change that occurred when Peter Debnam decided that he could not support the Opposition’s backflip on energy policy. It is interesting that the movement from 19 to 15 has not helped lift his public profile. The other night there was a quiz on Stuart Bocking’s show on 2UE about who the shadow Treasurer was.
The Hon. Greg Pearce: Point of order: The question was very specific. It related to a recommendation of the Stokes and Vertigan report and the target operating surplus.
The PRESIDENT: Order! I ask the Treasurer to be generally relevant.
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: There was a quiz to name the shadow Treasurer of New South Wales. They sought an answer for 12 minutes. Thirteen people rang up and could not come up with his name. Some of the guesses were Stoner Anthony, whoever that is, Wayne Swan, Michael Egan, Julian Skinner, and two calls on Barry O’Farrell. The presenter had to suggest listeners think of Michael Costa’s opposite number in the Parliament as it should be etched in everybody’s mind. Of course it was not. They even asked a reporter who covers the State parliamentary round, Latika Bourke, who it was and her response was—
The Hon. Matthew Mason-Cox: Point of order: I ask you to interrupt the Treasurer’s diatribe and bring him back to the question. Let us have some relevance to the question.
The PRESIDENT: Order! I ask the Treasurer to continue to be generally relevant.
The Hon. MICHAEL COSTA: Latika Bourke covers the State parliamentary round but she said to the presenter, “Look, you’re killing me. I don’t know who it is. I thought it was Barry O’Farrell.” Then someone said maybe it’s Malcolm Turnbull. A guy named Tom rang in and said it was Mike Griffiths. Somebody else rang in and then Bocking had to give a hint. He said that his first name was Greg—so he gave the audience a hint about who the shadow Treasurer was. The next caller rang in and said, “Is it Greg Knowles?” Then it was “Greg Alpine”. Finally the presenter had to give in and tell them it was Greg Pearce. The presenter finished up by saying, “He’s missing in action. Where is this man? He’s been a member of the Legislative Council since 2000. I’d say, based on this, he hasn’t done a whole lot while he’s been there.” That sums up the career of Greg Pearce.
Some days I wonder why we even bother having Question Time other than to keep the parliamentary staff awake. Think about it…when was the last time that we actually found out anything useful in question time? Any question on-notice receives an incomprehensible answer from the responsible department, and any question without notice simply turns in to a mud-slinging match with bonus points for interjections.
What’s the point of Question Time when The Daily Telegraph can find out more information more quickly and present it in a more understandable and relevant format? Surely that hour each day of the already scarce amount of time allocated to sessions of parliament would be better utilised by the standard job of parliament…the act of governing by debating and voting on bills. At least then we might be able to work out why we’re paying these people, even if the majority of the general public can’t name the bloke that the opposition would put in charge of paying them.
Samuel
April 5th, 2010 at 01:41am
They’ve won the award before with Hip To Be Square, but I heard one of their other songs today and it reminded me that I’ve been intending on reviving this award of late…so that song, If This Is It, is this week’s feature song.
Huey Lewis & The News – If This Is It
Uploaded by jpdc11. – See the latest featured music videos.
I’ve been phoning
At night and morning
I heard you say
Tell him I’m not home
Now you’re confessing
But I’m still guessing
I’ve been your fool for so, so longGirl don’t lie
Just to save my feelings
Girl don’t cry
And tell me nothing’s wrong
Girl don’t try
To make up phony reasons
I’d rather leave than never believeIf this is it
Please let me know
If this ain’t love you’d better let me know (let me know)
If this is it
I want to know
If this ain’t love, baby
(Just say so) just say soYou’ve been thinking
And I’ve been drinking
We both know that it’s just not right
Now you’re pretending
That it’s not ending
You’ll say anything to avoid a fightGirl don’t lie
And tell me that you need me
Girl don’t cry
And tell me nothing’s wrong
I’ll be alright
Oh, one way or another
So let me go
Or make we want to stayIf this is it
Please let me know
If this ain’t love you’d better let me know (let me know)
If this is it
I want to know
If this ain’t love, baby
(Just say so) just say soIf this is it
Please let me know
If this ain’t love you’d better let me know (let me know)
If this is it
I want to know
If this ain’t love, baby
Just say so(If this is it, please let me know)
I wanna know
(If this is it)
If this is it
(Please let me know)
I gotta know
(If this is it)
You better
(Please let me know)(If this is it)
If this is it
(Please let me know)
I gotta know
(If this is it)
You better
(Please let me know)
Just say so
(If this is it, please let me know)
Samuel
April 4th, 2010 at 06:28pm
The name isn’t original (it was the original name of the Mike Jeffreys highlights package of a Sunday morning on 2CC) but I intend on using it anyway as it is an appropriate name. Basically my plan is that whatever I don’t get around to writing about during the week but still want to mention, can be posted as a brief story in a collection of stories on a Sunday.
In a way, it’s cheating, as it means that I really don’t have to think too hard on a Sunday as I can write most of this during the week.
***
The Bureau of Meteorology’s national weather radar service has apparently recorded some peculiar patterns such as spirals and doughnuts, causing conspiracy websites to go in to meltdown. The Bureau are blaming “occasional interference to the radar data” but are refusing to comment on the matter.
Sorry BOM, but until you at least attempt to explain what could cause the interference, I’m with the conspiracy buffs…there is more to this story.
***
FlashForward’s ratings have hit a new low, continuing a general downward trend. In a way I’m pleased about this. I love the show, but as I said from the outset, it’s not a show which can viably stretch its storyline beyond one season.
***
On the subject of ratings, 2GB’s Alan Jones and Ray Hadley both recorded their 50th consecutive ratings victory, spearheading 2GB’s continued dominance of Sydney’s airwaves. It was 2GB’s 48th consecutive win. Every single one of 2GB’s weekday shifts rakes in double digit ratings, with all but Jason Morrison’s show taking out overall first spot. Jason is in third spot on 11.3% behind the Hamish and Andy juggernaut (I seriously don’t get Hamish and Andy…I know that a lot of people do and I congratulate them on their success, but I just don’t find the show funny) and the ABC’s Richard Glover.
***
There are two misconceptions in this world which never cease to amaze me. “Conservative = authoritarian” and “gay = left wing”. Both, while possible and in a number of cases, actual, are not necessarily true. President of “Right Pride“, an organisation representing conservative gay people, Mark Ciavola, appeared on KXNT’s Morning Source with Alan Stock to set the record straight. Mark’s motto? “Less Taxes. More Dead Terrorists!”
[audio:http://www.rightpride.org/media/stock.mp3]
Download MP3
***
You’re a pastor at a church, attendance is falling, and you want to bring people in to share the Easter message. What do you do? How about giving away over $2 million in prizes to people who attend your Easter services? That’s precisely what a church in Texas is doing and, apparently it’s working. The question is though, will the people come back next week?
***
2CC and 2CA swapped breakfast hosts for half an hour on April 1. I was asleep and missed it (I got up at 8:30am Thursday and have been awake for all but 12 hours since). Apparently it confused a lot of people. Their news also ran a story about the service station in Campbell re-opening and selling fuel at something like $1.10 per litre. It’s that sort of within-the-realms-of-possibility April Fools story which makes so many radio April Fools Day news stories so much more believable than nonsense like Google’s vowel outage.
***
And finally, daylight saving has ended. I’m disappointed because I like the dark mornings, but I suppose that with the sun rising about about 7am in daylight saving time as it is, if we left it in place we’d be having peak hour in the dark by the time winter rolls around. Hmmm, if Kevin Rudd did that, the mechanics would be the beneficiaries, and would probably have to put massive grammatically incorrect electoral advertising useful and informative signs in front of their buildings.
Happy Easter everybody.
Samuel
April 4th, 2010 at 10:01am
In the middle of last month, the ACT Government introduced some new road rules which, for the most part, seem to be designed to make it harder to find a spot to park.
The changes to the rules surrounding parking in parking bays are enough to do your head in, especially the bit which tries to differentiate a carpark from a driveway:
This rule also applies in car parks which have internal access driveways that have the appearance of a street or road. If there is no street or road sign, the area is considered to be part of the car park and, as such, parking is allowed in parking bays only.
I’m sorry, but how would you legally define “internal access driveways that have the appearance of a street or road”? Does the driveway have to be a certain length, meaning that I have to get out my tape measure before parking there, and that I could find myself dealing with the even more complicated world of working out what constitutes a “length of road”?
For the purpose of this rule, a “length of road” is considered to be any part of the road between two neighbouring intersections or between an intersection and the end of the length of road.
Ummm, right. A circular reference in a definition. A “length of road” is everything between an intersection and the end of the thing which we haven’t defined yet. Uh huh, I see…good luck to the poor sod that the government send to court to try and defend that one when it gets challenged.
I’m also amused by the fact that it seems that anything I paint on to the surface of the road can be considered a “traffic island”. I would imagine that there is a law against me painting the road, but that doesn’t appear to invalidate whatever I paint, for as long as it remains painted.
A motorist may not stop or park a vehicle on an area that has stripes or chevrons (coloured markings) painted on the ground, or surrounded by a line or lines (whether or not broken). This only applies if the stripes or chevrons are in any colour that contrasts with the road or car park surface. Part of the surround may be kerb or structure.
Of course it is nice to know that if I take up horse riding, I can be immune to the traffic island rules as long as I don’t give the horse a motor. But seriously, who writes this drivel? How much do they get paid? And how do I get in on the act?
Samuel
April 3rd, 2010 at 07:41am
Six and a half hours of monitoring 2GB’s webstream has paid off. I’ve captured their daylight saving reminder!
I really like the way this makes use of Telstra’s talking clock. It’s a clever bit of work, and I’d like to congratulate whomever at 2GB’s is responsible for it. Nice job!
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/2GBDSTEnds2010.mp3]
Download MP3
Incidentally the hiss at the start is the final syllable of the midnight weather. I couldn’t separate it from the bit I wanted.
It seems that the talking clock and ways that I spend my time are the subjects of the day, so for those of you who are wondering…I had been listening to Jason Morrison’s show since a bit before 4pm and it was a bit after 5pm when I first heard the daylight saving reminder (albeit the generic version and not the Saturday version which you hear above) and it was at that point that I decided to start the recorder to capture the reminder the next time it aired. I was listening to 2GB programming for most of that time anyway…and the bits that I missed I was able to check over with the recording, so it’s not as if I was sitting here anxiously waiting for it to air again. In fact I had just set up the overnight recording and was about to go to bed when I heard this go to air. I suppose it amounts to the same thing though.
Anyway, I must be off. I have to be up early for AIR News’ morning sport reports, and would like to get some sleep before then. Good night.
Samuel
April 3rd, 2010 at 12:31am
G’day C Team.
Just on the subject of the talking clock. George doesn’t always tick over properly at the time when daylight saving starts or ends. I sat up one night a few years ago and listened to George as daylight saving ended and he didn’t change to the correct hour. The next morning he was engaged for an hour or so while Telstra wound him back a bit.
I hope you guys get to enjoy the extra hour of sleep.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
***
They think it’s a bit sad that I’d sit up for changes in the talking clock. They’re probably right.
On that note, I’ve been thinking for some time of doing an hour as a talking clock myself just to see if I’d last. It might be worth a shot on Tuesday afternoon if I don’t get distracted by other things. If and when I do it, I’ll stream it live for the fun of it.
Videos of the talking clock have previously been posted here.
Samuel
2 comments April 2nd, 2010 at 07:58pm
I’ve been keeping an eye on the 2GB website all week so that I can spot changes which might indicate that Jim Ball’s profile will make a reappearance, and was struck by something this morning. Ray Hadley’s profile picture has changed to include his glasses. This might not seem very important and, quite probably it isn’t, but it occurred to me when he came to Canberra in late February that he wears the glasses a lot and in my view looks better and more professional wearing them.
As far as I can tell, the photo on the 2GB website changed overnight although it might have changed the day before as I can’t recall whether I spotted his photo on Wednesday. His old photo is still up on the 2CC website, but I really do think the new photo is more flattering.
Here’s the old photo as taken from 2CC’s website:
And here’s the new one on 2GB’s website:
I think this is a much better photo and, whilst it may be a “studio” photo, it is much more reflective of Ray’s natural appearance than the old photo. As an example, here’s a photo of me with Ray at the 2GB/2CC outside broadcast at The Mint on February 22:
I don’t know why, but I find photos of radio people quite fascinating. There’s that phrase “head for radio” and I think that, rightly or wrongly, a lot of people in radio believe that it applies to them and shy away from official photos, effectively causing the photos on radio station websites to often be much less appealing than the photos taken by fans in public. Jim Ball’s 2UE photo was a good example. Jim’s photo, like the rest of the 2UE profile photos, was taken in the station’s lobby and on its own was OK:
But in my view was not as good as the more natural photo from his old 2GB profile:
Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the photo as it appeared on 2UE’s website (the one above is from 2CC’s website), however it was rotated a bit and, sadly, his 2UE profile photo when rotated slightly has a knack of making him looking slightly insane which I thought was most unfortunate for a man of his intellect.
Update: Many thanks to reader Nathan for sending through a copy of Jim Ball’s 2UE profile photo. It looks like I may have been confused about the origin of some photos as the 2UE profile photo is different to the 2CC profile photo, and I now have this vague memory of the photo of Jim on his page on 2CC’s website being from one of the 2UE studios rather than the lobby like his 2UE profile photo.
Anyway, the point is, thanks to Nathan I can now share that photo with you.
Some of the smaller versions of this photo (the one on the header of the New Day Australia page where he was Photoshopped in next to John Kerr springs to mind) had Jim’s head on less of an angle. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, when you shrink the photo and rotate it a bit, Jim looks slightly insane, which seriously irked me. It’s probably due to the reduction in detail in the photo removing some of the details of Jim’s smile.
I’m looking forward to seeing Jim’s profile on the 2GB website (and the 3MTR website) when it appears. I wonder if it will be a new photo or his old 2GB profile photo?
End Update
Meanwhile, when I was looking through the 2GB website earlier and noticed the temporary profile page for “The C Team”, a show which 2GB are putting on tonight to fill time due to the NRL starting an hour later than usual, I was reminded of something which my Year 4 teacher Jay Busch said to the class about not trusting spell-check.
Mark Level? Who’s Mark Level? Maybe 2CC’s website can clarify this.
Oh, Mark Levy…oh I see! I wonder what they typed to have spell-check suggest “level” to them…it can’t have been “levy” as that’s a word; “levl” perhaps?
It’s a tiny mistake and not in the least bit relevant to Ray Hadley’s glasses…but it gave me a good laugh so I couldn’t stop myself from sharing it. Consider it a Friday Funny if you like.
Samuel
2 comments April 2nd, 2010 at 05:07pm
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