As you probably know by now, it’s 75 years since Jack Ryan started Canberra’s first radio station, 1053 2CA…and also from the “as you know” files, 2CA’s breakfast show had an outside brodcast from their original location (well, a few metres away…but close enough) at 42 Giles Street in Kingston.
I had planned to stay up all night finishing off the Persiflage and all of the processes that go with it (still not quite finished) and then head off early so that I could be in Kingston just before 6am…well it didn’t quite happen, I went to bed at 2am while the Persiflage was uploading and decided to get up at 4am which would have given me plenty of time…but I forgot to set the alarm and as such it went off at 5:30, at which time I got up, updated the Persiflage RSS feed, rushed the show notes and burnt an Audio CD of the show for 2CA Breakfast Boy Paul Blunt…only to end up with two coasters before getting a useful CD…effectively meaning that I didn’t have the time or a spare CD for either Leighton or 2CA manager Doug Bell.
This debacle prevented me from having any time to address an envelope for my booking from for John Kerr’s Terrigal lunch…so I just threw it in my bag and decided to deal with it at a post office later in the day…somehow I managed to get to the Outside Broadcast sometime around 6:30 (probably closer to 6:45).
When I got there the crowd was small, but the sausage sizzle was underway, which was a good thing as I needed some breakfast. I met 2CA’s Breakfast Boys Paul Blunt & Leighton Archer…and from there the day went more or less according to plan.
I don’t recall every event in order, and I spent most of the time chatting with various people and observing events…so I’ll just let the photos and video tell the tale. As per usual, clicking on a photo should take you to a large version of it.
Breakfast Boys Paul Blunt and Leighton Archer.
Paul receives 2CA t-shirts and a new toy (2CA’s old xylophone) from former staff member Cheryl McKay. Also in this photo is the sign of the store occupying 2CA’s old spot, the Hungry Chino coffee shop…and I still can’t find it in the phone book.
Paul instantly falls in love with his new toy, and makes sure that the listeners do too.
Plenty of former (and current) staff turned up, including erstwhile Breakfast host (now Win News Newsreader) Peter Leonard, 2CA’s first employee (now aged 91) George Barlin, and former admin lady (and probably much more…but my mind had drawn a blank) Cheryl McKay.
He just can’t help himself…he even has to entertain the former staff with his new toy!
Here’s a photo of Cheryl McKay when she was working for 2CA.
There was a bit of a crowd too!
The sausage sizzle continued for quite a while. To the far right of this photo is 2CA manager Doug Bell.
BWS bottle shop were quite happy for 2CA to cover their window for the morning, and 2CA did so with a stage and a lot of old logos and photos…and even Paul and Leighton, who are discussing things during a song.
One thing I found very difficult during the morning was finding a suitable moment to take photos of people, as everyone was very busy and constantly doing this, that or the other…as such, I took advantage of other people’s photo opportunities. This one of Paul Blunt, Peter Leonard and Leighton Archer was taken at the same time as 2CA’s official photographer took photos.
2CA night host, ex-breakfast host, and current Prime Television weatherman Daniel Gibson turned up…everytime I see him in person I am reminded of just how tall he really is.
At about 7:50 the cake arrived, Paul Blunt interrupted the 2CA loudspeaker feed to make an announcement, and unfortunately the 2CA feed was turned up a tad louder afterwards, which reintroduced the feedback issue they had resolved earlier in the morning. In this photo, Paul Blunt is holding the “announcement microphone”, 2CA manager Doug Bell is adjusting the cake and Leighton is probably listening to cues from Gregg Easton, who was the studio panel operator for the morning.
It doesn’t look like 75 candles…but it was enough to nearly set the cake on fire!
Here comes the (really) interesting part…I captured video footage of the cake being prepared, the crowd singing “Happy Birthday” and George Barlin proving his fitness beyond all reasonable doubt by blowing out the candles…YouTube has managed to desynchronise the audio and video slightly, but not enough to be an issue, and the video can be seen by clicking play below. Alternatively, you can see the slightly higher quality original video by clicking here (12.7MB).
Here is a view of part of the crowd as seen from the stage just after the birthday cake event. As you can see, the Hungry Chino coffee shop sold quite a few cups of coffee…I’m not entirely sure if 2CA intended on paying for coffee for everyone, but I think it turned out that way…I know they didn’t ask me to pay for my coffee and I heard the same from others…although the phrase “make sure the station pays for it” being said to a member of staff (who I won’t name, but is in this photo) as they went to get coffee for some of the special guests does have me a bit confused.
More of the crowd.
Another one of those photo opportunities that I couldn’t resist…as you probably know by now, Paul Blunt and Leighton Archer
Same people, different angle (and once again I’ve drawn a blank on the name of the photographer…it’s late, I haven’t had much sleep in the last 48 hours, and it’ll come to me while I’m busy working on something completely different tomorrow).
More from the 2CA memories stage
The cake while Doug Bell was cutting it…I think it originally said “2CA 75 YRS BIRTHDAY”…it was a delicious cake (I’m hungry just thinking about it).
The 2CA website lists Leighton’s job as “make sure Paul behaves himself”. There was little chance of that once Paul started with the xylophone…and Leighton was either excited or cold or both (it was 3.4-9.5 degrees between 6am and 9am), so eventually Peter Leonard had to step in and add some sense to the show…that didn’t work though, and Peter ended up giving Paul a lesson in “playing the xylophone correctly”.
During the course of the morning, 2CA regular caller “Edward” turned up, and it was nice to be able to put a face to a name…for the benefit of 2CC and 2UE listeners, Edward is kind of like 2CA’s version of Lon (aka Latrine), just more musical and probably a bit closer to the planet…and he doesn’t ride a bicycle with a yellow helmet as far as I know.
Unfortunately I had to leave just after the 8am news so that I could get to work, and as such I missed the unveiling of the 75 years plaque…Win News arrived not long after I left and captured the plaque amongst other things. I did offer James Goodwin at WIN News my footage, but Win don’t currently have the facilities to easily transfer video from a memory card to a broadcast ready format. I have recorded the Win story and will endeavour to do something with it in the coming days…I’m too tired right now though.
I really should thank James for the tour of the Win facilities…I went into Win Television at lunch time as I couldn’t quite work out on the phone whether or not James was interested in, or could use my footage (and I will have to write a review on the excellent cafe around the corner), so I went in and met James…we quickly established that my footage wasn’t really useful due to the media format (memory card), but James didn’t turn my visit into a waste of time…he first showed me the footage Win had captured, and then gave me a quick tour of the building…oh, and hello to reporter/weathergirl Jessica Good and Peter Leonard (who wasn’t in the building at the time, but I did have a chat with at the 2CA birthday).
I had a wonderful time at the 2CA birthday, and I think everyone else did too…it was also good to be able to meet a few new faces, and catch up with some familiar ones.
I’m now going to try and catch up on some sleep…which is probably easier said than done…so much for my early night! (Apologies for my typing tonight…I’ve corrected as much as possible, but I’ll proofread it when I’m awake and not battling to keep my eyes open…Leighton was right, I do put a lot of effort into this site.)
It’s 2CA’s 75th Birthday, and they are holding an outside broadcast (and breakfast) from their original location on Giles Street in Kingston until 9am this morning…plenty of fun, prizes and interesting people…I’m about to head down there, and more details can be found in Samuel’s Persiflage #10.
That was a tad odd…the 2CA/2CC newsroom had both the morning and afternoon newsreaders missing in action today…firstly Jane Turner wasn’t there, and Kris McKenzie was filling in (no complaints from me…I think Kris does a great job), and then Francis Keeny (or however his name is spelled) was absent, with panel operator and other jobs extraordinaire Duncan McRae filling in.
I suspect that Jane and Francis have taken leave at the same time…and that would explain why WIN News’ James Creegan Goodwin (Creegan left for Sydney a long time ago…don’t know why I thought of his name instead of James Goodwin) was presenting Sunday morning news on 2CC and 2CA…but it just seems a bit odd that both people would disappear at the same time.
I wonder how long it will be until we hear from Jane or Francis again?
I would just like to take a few moments to thank Dickson College Board Chair, Sally Rose, for her hard work over the last few months in the Save Dickson College campaign. Sally, as many of you would have heard reported on Friday, quit her job in order to be able to dedicate enough time as needed to the campaign.
On Saturday afternoon I presented Sally with a certificate of appreciation and a box of chocolates, presumably on behalf of the Dickson College community. Sally’s work, amongst many others, has been invaluable, and whilst I’m sure she wanted nothing more than to present an extremely convincing argument to the ACT government, I think it is only fair that her, and everyone else who contributed, be recognised in some way.
Submissions relating to the ACT government’s “Towards 2020” potential closure of 39 schools plan have now closed, but the campaign is not over, it is important that the government continues to hear “noise” showing that the community is concerned, and was not just producing endless press releases during the submission process. This means that feedback about the submission process, and events showing the importance of the 39 schools in question must continue over the coming weeks.
Dickson College will be celebrating its 30th birthday on Friday November 17 between 4pm and 7pm at Dickson College. Sally Rose will be on 2CC’s drive show at about 3:10pm today to talk about this wonderful event, I’m sure that, at some stage in the interview, the fact that Dickson’s future is looking bright with enrollments up considerably, will be mentioned, as the future is just as important to the celebrations as the past.
I did say that all plans to cover the opening of the Canberra Centre Expansion had been cancelled…and they were, until yesterday evening when I took Nattie for a walk around the shopping centre and saw more tradesmen than at any other time during the construction of the place, all working towards making the outside of the building presentable. (Hello to the person who stopped me to say hello and make a nice comment about this website).
Ultimately the Canberra Centre is still a construction site with a public walkway in the middle, there are a couple stores open, Big W and Supabarn the main attractions, but most of the stores don’t look like opening for another few days. My sources indicate that parking will remain a fiasco until Monday when the new parking is officially opened.
So, this morning I headed down there at about 7:30 and took a couple photos of the outside of the building. The outside of the building which is almost finished (and mostly open) looks reasonable.
The section of the carpark which has been turned into a shopping area is still to be completed, and to my horror appears to be open to the public to walk through. From upstairs it looked like the lights were off, so I didn’t venture down there, but I couldn’t see any barriers.
Further down Bunda Street is the front door of the “fresh food” (and general retail) section of the expansion, with signs around it to ensure that people know which door to go through and don’t dismiss the building as a construction site.
Precinct B opens in a couple weeks…but seems to be partially publicly accessible from the first floor of the “fresh food” area.
I then walked into the shopping centre and took some photos…I was starting to wonder how long it would be until Canberra Centre Marketing, who seem to specialise in giving Internet publications the run-around these days, would ask me to stop.
Supabarn is one of the few stores that seems to be openable…and they had no intention of waiting until any official opening.
Looking back towards the existing Canberra Centre and Healthy Life looks like it might open today, the chemist will open today (funny version of the corner of Petrie and Bunda Streets…looks like the old transformer/substation/corner store area will become an entrance into a new shopping precinct in the old Supabarn site after all). The fruit shop is a mess at the moment, and will probably open in a few days. Price Attack might open today, but they are still moving stock, so I doubt it.
It was around this time that a friendly security guard came up and gave me the expected news that “you can’t take photos in here unless you have clearance from Marketing…the stores are worried about the copyright of their store designs”…which, based on what I saw later on makes me think that traditional media have been given clearance to take pictures of anything which looks like an actual open and operating shopping centre, and not a construction site. The security guard, probably knowing that his official line was nonsense, was more than happy to tell me that photos from outside are acceptable…and there is nothing the Canberra Centre can do about them. He also didn’t ask me to delete any photos!
Up the other end of the lower floor is what looks like a full newsagent which will open today, JB Hi-Fi and Ted’s Cameras which may open today, and fresh food stores which probably won’t open for a few days (Chicken, Butcher, Fish etc). There is a lift at this end…not sure if it’s wring or not.
Upstairs Big W were having fun with a tiny crowd, over excited staff, a lunatic with a big bell trying to get everyone to yell out “B-I-G-W-Big W”, one camera crew with no obvious station markings (CC press release video perhaps?) and a person which didn’t look like a Canberra Times Journalist but was the closest thing to one by being allowed to hold a camera.
I had a little look around Big W which is about half the size of the Woden store (I tried to get an answer about the size but could only get staff saying “I haven’t seen Woden”) and, as it was approaching five past eight, decided I should get out into the main shopping centre for my pre-arranged phone call to 2CC’s Mike Jeffreys…on the way out I managed to set off the Big W theft detector for the first time ever and had to pull everything out of my bag…it turned out that a half-used packet of batteries I bought from Woolworths in Dickson was the culprit, and I was allowed to go on my way. Thankfully Mike’s interview went overtime and I had a few more minutes to find somewhere mildly quiet…but there was nowhere, so I just walked around the shopping centre and continued to do so while chatting with Mike. The conversation with Mike concluded moments before the angle-grinding started (thankfully).
I still can’t understand why the shopping centre expansion was opened today, the vast majority of stores are not finished, the public seem to be able to wander through construction sites, and they couldn’t even arrange for a dignitary to attend. As I said to Mike…unless you are desperate for a $50 34cm CRT television from Big W…wait a couple weeks before attending.
I did manage to get a few other photos before going to work.
By the way, the old city markets is closed, I may try to get a photo of it at some stage later today or tomorrow, as long as security or marketing aren’t too precious about it.
Canberra is now under Stage 2 water restrictions, which are remarkably similar to the old stage three water restrictions. Obviously “stage two” sounds less significant, drastic and urgent than “stage three”, and the redesignation of water restriction stages is probably a face saving measure from the Stanhope government who saw fit, for no decent reason, to lift water restrictions a while back.
A highlight of the restrictions is a ban on sprinkler and irrigation systems, so it will be interesting to see what happens to the sprinkler systems in common areas of government housing blocks, and other government buildings like Gorman House. In the case of government housing blocks, it is not uncommon for the sprinkler heads to be damaged and result in water fountains which rarely get fixed and waste a heap of water. Whether the government remember to turn off these systems is going to be quite interesting.
Certainly early signs are a poor indication for the government, with sprinklers watering the median strip on Northbourne Avenue, under the control of a Territory and Municipal Services employee, during peak hour this morning.
That headline could just as easily have read “Newish Manager Doug Bell Puts His Stamp On 2CC”, but I think the first headline works better.
So what am I going on about? Well 2CC have new imaging which presents them as a “hard-hitting” news and current affairs station, apparently they “aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions” and 2CC is “talk radio with teeth”. The new imaging is putting heavy emphasis on local programming, with promos for Mike Jeffreys and Mike Welsh on high rotation.
The background music on the promos sounds a bit more serious than the old promos, but not serious enough to sound like a news bulletin, which is probably a good thing.
New Day Australia now has at least three ad break intros, all replacing the one ad break intro used for years and years and years. My favourite is “It’s your call, New Day Australia on Talk Radio 2CC”. As it turned out during the day, “It’s your call” is the catchcry of 2CC and is featured in almost every station ID.
The open line number also features quite heavily, and in what I think is a first for 2CC, network programming is receiving voiceovers touting “13 13 32” as the open line number. There are a couple open line promos floating around which sound a bit snappier than the previous ones, and don’t have a rushed voiceover.
2CC production have obviously had a lot of fun and put a lof of effort into the new imaging, and some bright spark has decided to use snippets of Lawsie’s jingles in the place of the old music returns which used to clash with Lawsie’s own music returns. The jingles still overlap Lawsie’s music, but the transition from end of jingle to music return actually works surprisingly well.
On the subject of music returns, it sounds like 2CC have updated their music returns (the bits of music they play as they return from ad breaks if you’re wondering what I’m going on about) as well, a new set, it’s probably about time too. Unfortunately it still drowns out overnight programming when it returns from ad breaks, but overall it sounds more serious and focussed than the previous set.
A little while back 2UE dumped the half-hour “Best of Laws” segment at 11:30 Friday in favour of a “Five Days in Five Minutes” segment at 11:53. This has undoubtedly presented extra work for 2CC who have a locally produced hour-long “Best of Laws” segment on Sunday’s at 9am. I’ve been thinking about this, and now that 2CC have new imaging, I have to wonder if “Best of Laws” will be dumped in favour of “The Best of Mike Welsh” or (and this would be a tad odd) “The Best of John Stanley”. It would probably take the same amount of production, but would fit in with 2CC’s new-found local emphasis.
As fas as I can tell, the new imaging was launched as of Midnight, and is probably an early birthday present for 2CC, which turns 31 tomorrow.
The opening of Canberra Centre Expansion on Section 84 takes place on Thursday, and as such I have decided to cancel the detailed October photographic update. In it’s place I have taken a short set of photos, firstly of the construction as seen from Mount Ainslie, and secondly of the stores moving.
Again I ask that you remember the copyright and licence associated with these pictures. If you would like to use these pictures outside of those conditions, please contact me and I’ll see what I can do.
While I was up on top of Mount Ainslie, I took the opportunity to take a photo of the underground cabling building a few minutes walk away from the Canberra Centre. More information about this building can be seen by clicking here.
The next photo is an overview of the Civic Area, with the Canberra Centre and it’s expansion in the middle.
Then we have the large office building which will have retail on the lower floors.
This building is undoubtedly the main retail building, and will also have plenty of carparking spaces, including on the roof. I seem to recall the hole that was dug in the ground for this building went down about three storeys, so it will be interesting to see what has been done with that space.
And the existing Canberra Centre
Of course you can’t have a shopping centre without shops, and it would be pretty silly to have an expansion this large without adding another department store. So among the new stores is Big W
The main change to existing stores is that virtually the entire City Markets is moving to a new “Fresh Food” section. The sole supermarket Supabarn is moving to newer, and apparently bigger premises. I was under the impression that Woolworths were moving in, although the Canberra Centre seem to be making no mention of it, so I’m no longer 100% sure about this.
Supabarn have signs up at the checkouts announcing their move, and further signs inside the store apoligising for the low stock levels while they move.
Bakers Delight are also moving, but it looks like they’ll be closing for a few days while they move their baking equipment.
The City Market Chemist are one of the stores offering a relocation sale in an effort to offload as much stock as possible, obviously not wanting to cart it all over to their new location on the corner of Bunda and Petrie Streets.
When I took these photos of signs on Sunday afternoon, hair care store Price Attack were already closed and carting stock to their new location.
Dobinsons are an interesting case. Dobinsons are one of the cafes on Bunda Street, they are not moving, but they will be opening a second store in the new shopping centre, apparently it will be called “Dobinsons Express” and will only offer takeaway food and coffees. It will be virtually the same store, just without the dining.
Another store which is moving is the health food store, Healthy Life, they are also offering a relocation sale.
JB Hi-Fi and Ted’s Cameras (Thanks to RiotACT for the latter) are among the stores moving from other locations in Civic to the new Canberra Centre. Bunda Street is being transformed into a large al-fresco dining area…and at long last, Petrie Street will re-open this week (in theory).
Select Meats, the City Market butcher, is not moving, and has already closed, at the decision of the owners.
I will be contacting Canberra Centre Marketing today to arrange press access for Samuel’s Blog to the opening of the Canberra Centre Expansion, which will, apart from the remaining office block and another photographic tour of the outside of the expansion, round out the series of construction updates.
Update 3:30pm: For reasons which I have no intention of disclosing, I have cancelled all plans to cover the opening on Thursday. I may still, later in the month, conduct a photographic tour of the buildings from the outside, but all plans to cover the opening are off. End update
People who have been reading this blog for a while would remember that I’ve been running a series of photograpic updates on various constructions in Civic, mostly the “Section 84” constructions, which include the expanded Canberra Centre. Right near the end of August I took a whole heap of photos on a Sunday afternoon, and then completely forgot about them, the photos have been sitting on the webserver just waiting to be used for a lot of that time, and so today, as the completion of the Canberra Centre draws near, I will finally catch up on that set of photos.
As it is currently October, I am due for another round of photos, but I have decided to hold off until the opening of the expanded Canberra Centre later this week. Many stores are already in the process of moving, and stay tuned because I have plenty of information about that, plus photos, coming up at 10am.
But right now, here are the photos I took on Sunday August 27.
I’m not going to do a “before and after” thing this time because it takes forever and, considering that we have 100 photos here, it would just take longer for you to download. If you want to compare this to previous tours, see the following articles: May 2006 March 2006 November and October 2005
I will, however, repost the map, as this will help to explain where each photo is.
Clicking on any photo in this post will take you to a large version of the photo. I also remind you of the copyright on these photos. I am happy for you to reuse the photos as per the conditions of the licence, however I ask that you give me credit for the photos. If you wish to use the photos outside of those conditions, please contact me and we may be able to reach an arangement.
Firstly we have some photos from the existing Canberra Centre car park. Sections of the existing car park have been blocked off so that the shopping centre can be expanded in it, as part of this the main office has been moved, and lifts have been partially shut down. In August, both lifts where fully operational, but further areas have since been blocked off.
From the roof carpark of the existing Canberra Centre, looking towards “H” and “A”
Similar angle, but only looking at A
More of H and A. It looks like H will be a footbridge, possibly contaning a store or two, as well as a vehicle bridge between the existing and new car parks.
This photo of A and F is quite interesting. On the left you can see the carpark and loading dock exits of A, in the centre you can see F, the skate park and above (in terms of the photo) that the Youth Centre, home of Raw FM, as well as Ballumbir/Cooyong St on the right (ACT Planning and Land Authority can call it what they want, as long as the signs are wrong, and their logic is wrong, I’ll call it both names).
From the same spot as the last photo, we look down Petrie street at sections A and H
Just for the fun of it, here’s a photo from the existing Canberra Centre looking down Ainslie Avenue.
Having completed my photos from the City Markets side just after official Canberra Centre closing time of 4pm, I headed off to Bunda Street for more photos. Here we see the City Markets side (backs on to Petrie Street) and it is quite clear that some floors have been closed off for shopping centre construction purposes. Incidentally, a number of the stores on the bottom floor in these photos were closed for a few weeks during winter so that the pylons could be strengthened.
On the corner of Petrie and Bunda streets there is a transformer/substation which has, up until now powered the City Markets, it is being replaced by a larger transformer/substation at the other end of Petrie Street (photos further down). Obviously, with the upper floors now needing enough power to sustain shops, and not just a bunch of lights, the existing transformer/substation is not adequate. The area on the corner where the substation/transformer is currently located is being turned into a chemist.
Here we have A and H
This is the bit which connects the existing Canberra Centre to H
Signs…and it doesn’t look like anybody is paying attention to ACTPLA’s renaming of Ballumbir Street!
The newish, colourful, waste of badly needed budget finances street signs of Civic.
Section A with Section B in the background.
Section B with Section A visible to the right.
A photo taken with the camera looking through gap in fence. From left to right, section A, section H and existing transformer/substation.
Section H has overtaken the old Supabarn loading dock and staff carpark, the trucks have been using a makeshift entrance on the other side of H.
Looking up into the former carparking space, and the ceiling material is in place.
I then walked along Bunda Street making use of the peepholes. Despite there being plenty of light, it just wasn’t quite enough for the camera to be happy to use a short exposure.
So I turned on the flash and despite the flash mostly bouncing off the boarding around the peephole…voila! It looks like there will be some escalators along the Petrie Street side.
And some small retail areas along Bunda Street.
Ooh! Mystery shot!
G, the connecting bridge between A and B.
B…it has a tall office section which probably has some very nice views over Braddon and Reid.
More peepholes and fence on Bunda Street for photos of B.
Up the top you can see an air conditioning plantroom.
Looking back down Bunda Street with B and A on the left.
Slightly outdated sign.
More of B, closer to Genge Street
Across Genge Street is C, an office building with some retail bits.
On the day I took these photos, some areas around E, The Griffin Centre, were blocked off.
Here’s E and B
And looking down Genge Street we have E, B and C
And more of C
One thing that intruiged me was the unusual Y shaped pylons being used.
A sign pointing to B.
More of B and the carpark sitting on yet to be developed D
And back to C
Here’s one of those Y shaped pylons. It is straight for the few underground levels, and then branches out at ground level.
Crane above C
The peepholes along the alley behind C were most helpful.
I think it’s a good thing we don’t see lift shafts like this when they’re in use.
Another peephole looking at C (and another Y shaped column), in the background is E and B.
Quite clearly the underground levels will be used for carparking, probably for the office workers.
C from Bunda Street
B from the corner of Bunda Street and Genge Street, or thereabouts.
A sign on B from Genge Street
More of B. The bottom few floors will be retail space, with the upper floors being office space.
Looks like the office workers here will also have underground parking.
More of B from C
Looking towards A from C. That side A will have a loading dock entrance and a carpark entrance.
When I was taking these photos, bits of Ballumbir Street in front of F were closed, probably so that entrance and exit lanes could be marked. Also, Telstra were busily installing phone lines at the time.
A, G and B from Ballumbir Street, further left than the photo is the Supabarn and Big W loading dock.
At the bottom of this photo of A, you can see the entrance to that loading dock. .
I still think the Youth Centre looks ugly.
Looking down Petrie Street from Ballumbir Street. The blue fenced off area is where the new transformer/substation is going.
The carpark exit plus the Big W/Supabarn (and probably others) loading dock as seen from the corner of Petrie and Ballumbir Streets.
More of Petrie Street.
Looking into the loading dock area from Petrie Street.
And up the down ramp!
Loading dock
Parking has been a tad confusing with half the road closed. Just behind the green bush to the left of the photo you can see the interim entrance to the existing Supabarn loading dock.
More of A from Petrie Street
The site being ripped up for use as a transformer/substation on the corner of Petrie and Ballumbir Streets.
On the map at the top of the post you can vaguely see the carpark of a large football and leagues club under the words “Ballumbir Street”. On the night of taking these photos I went to the other side of the football oval with the camera and a tripod and took a series of photos of the construction site.
First up is a photo of the crane…but the camera moved during the photo.
About a week ago I sent an email to Canberra Connect about a navigation issue on their website, a couple days later I received an email from them which informed me that my issue had been “resolved”…they even had a canned response for me:
Dear Mr Gordon-Stewart,
Thanks for your feedback regarding the location of the Shopfront link on the Canberra Connect Services Portal.
The site was relaunched recently and we are currently gathering data on its usage as well as collating suggestions such as yours prior to making any changes.
We are therefore looking at all suggestions very closely with regard to any future enhancements for our site.
As it stands, my issue is not “resolved”, it is really “pending further contemplation”, and I just love the way I didn’t even get a response from somebody with a name…especially after I had to register on their website just to send them an email.
I suppose it is possible that the person who replied is actually named “Kind Regards” or “Customer Feedback & Support”, and if they are, they obviously have a silent number because they don’t appear in the White Pages.
2CC News is reporting that the Stanhope Budget Hydrohazard Memorial Tree Garden (the arboretum we can’t afford and don’t have enough water to support) has officially been put on hold. Chief Turnip Stanhope is still babbling about how the tree garden will be the best tourist attraction Canberra has ever seen and he hopes future governments will plant the garden.
The Arboretum was allocated $6 million dollars over two years in the Stanhope government’s horror budget back in June, and I shudder to think how much money has been spent on “planning” for the arboretum since then. Stanhope says the plan for the arboretum will be sent back to the winning designers, and they will re-work it…why they need to do that when the tree garden is being scrapped is beyond me…but I bet the designers will get a decent chunk of money once the plan is sent back to them.
Perhaps they will plan a turnip garden instead…no, scrap that, the Legislative Assembly already has far too many turnips, it doesn’t need more.
ACTION have announced that their new controversial timetables will start on December 4, it comes after a lot of bickering between them and the Transport Workers Union, and despite the new network being pretty much set in stone, I don’t think the bickering is even close to being over.
For those of you who were in Canberra in 1996, you may recall that the Carnell government tried something remarkably similar to the ’06 network…it looks like the political roundabout has come full circle.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, I’ve spent a few hours looking at the timetables and comparing them to existing and old timetables, and I have found a few good points, the highlight of which is the scrapping of Flexibus (known here as Flexichaos)…it is unfortunate that ACTION management are insisting that it is a good thing even though they are killing it off, they still insist that it is inovative and wonderful and the best thing since sliced bread for evening travellers, but reality has set in, and they have finally realised that people don’t want to ring ACTION at 8pm, wait at a bus stop for an hour or so in the weather of the night, and end up at the interchange sometime close to 10pm…they would much rather a reliable timetable service where they just stand at the stop for a few minutes before the scheduled time, and they get somewhere relatively quickly.
I’ve also noticed a few increased services in peak hours, which is good for the federal public servants who happen to work in the Civic/Parkes/Barton/Russell area and people who work in major town centres, variable for people in mini-town centres (such as Dickson or Kippax) and sporadic for others.
Shift workers might want to find another way to get to work if they work anywhere other than a major town centre, most services have been cut back to effective Sunday services between 9am and 2pm, with some (the 40 being a prime example) being cancelled for other services which go a different way for large chunks of the day.
It’s going to really be a matter of “heaven forbid that you might miss a bus”, one of the beauties of the current system is that if you miss one bus, there is a decent chance that you will find another bus which goes a different way to the same area in the next twenty minutes or so…this was made more difficult with the Network ’05 changes when ACTION decided it would be a good idea for all buses going through areas to go through them in the same five minutes and then not be seen for half an hour or more. (The main road near my house was affected severely by this…only after I made plenty of noise about other problems in ACTION which made it clear what area I live in…but of course I believe ACTION PR nuisance Barb Barrett when she says that they don’t do things to spite people…)
Unfortunately the new system seems to have no lateness tolerance…all the buses seem to go at the same time, and very few seem to go near each other during the day any more.
I never cease to be amazed by the fact that ACTION are convinced that people work in Fyshwick, but nobody ever needs to buy anything there (I don’t know what they think all the shops are for), the hourly services are still hourly, and it looks like the rest of the network is based on it.
I also find it interesting that they are moving some of the articulated (aka long/bendy) buses to peak hour intertown services…they aren’t easy access and they don’t have bike racks…”oops!” so much for that “user friendly” initiative…and what about the school runs that need those articulated services…another “oops” perhaps? Just throw two regular buses on those runs? Oh dear…
It’s even more interesting to note that weekend intertown services used to mirror weekday services, not in regularity, but in terms of routes…the whole premise of the 3xx series of buses is that they cover a suburban run in the Belconnen area, do an intertown and then cover a Tuggeranong area suburban run…very handy if you need to get to a Belconnen or Tuggeranong suburb from anywhere else in Canberra. Unfortunately the new service turns weekends into confusion, suburban runs in the Belconnen and Tuggeranong, and generic 300 runs from Belconnen through to Tuggeranong…effectively turning a one or two bus trip from one end of Canberra to the other into a three bus trip, and hope they line up…ACTION say they will, but they are good at miscalculating timetables over long distances…and you can guarantee the suburbans aren’t going to wait if the Intertown is late.
A couple more things, the current capacity verse new capacity verse current occupancy graph in the Q & A Brochure (mirrored here) shows an odd trend. Whilst capacity (according to ACTION PR at least) outweighs demand at all times, capacity seems to go down when demand goes up between 10am and 2pm, and the opposite happens at night.
Of course they are talking about total capacity, which means that the suburban bus over there is only 25% full, whilst the Intertown over here is overflowing, and in all likelyhood exceeding the maximum licenced passenger numbers, with passengers spilling through to the stairs and luggage compartments and almost sitting on the driver.
It’s funny how that doesn’t rate a mention in the other brochure (OK I’m just being cynical now), the New Network Flyer (Mirrored here), a rather amazing brochure for the simple fact that it is a rather cluttered and baffling brochure…sure it makes sense if you read it properly, and to ACTION’s credit they haven’t tried to hide the fact that routes and numbers have (confusingly) changed, but to ye average Joe Public this brochure just confounds the already confusing raft of changes, swaps, cancellations and “see other timetable” messages being thrown at them.
All this network change does for my mind is confirm the words of Mike Jeffreys in a conversation I had with him in June
Well this is the thing Samuel, how can the government say on the one hand that they want to increase bus patronage while they remove the service. The reason people use their cars, apart from anything else, is the convenience. If there is no convenience with the bus system, or less convenience, less people will use it, won’t they?
And of course Mike is right…and we are seeing history repeat itself, this happened ten years ago with the Carnell government, and by Network ’98 they worked it out and increased services, hopefully the current regime of mismanagement won’t take quite so long.
Over the coming days I will try and work out what the bus drivers think of this, and why they accepted the shifts (or did they?). With any luck I should have a follow up story late this week.
But for now, I will leave you with a choice quote from a heading in ACTION’s baffling New Network Brochure…”Don’t miss the bus”.
Well it took long enough…finally somebody (well done Denise…sorry, no prize, except seeing the full song) worked out that the title to my article about the recent bus strike “No ACTION today…they took my bus away…” is based on the song “No Milk Today” by Herman’s Hermits.
So, to the tune of “No Milk Today” I present “No ACTION Today”, the song of the strike and the days following. It’s not syllable perfect, so you’ll need to use your imagination a bit.
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
The busses are just fine, but there’s a picket line
No ACTION today, the drivers are on strike
But people at the stop, don’t know the reason why
How could they know that there is a strike
There’s no signs around, media just catching up
How could they know that there is a strike
They’re all stuck there, at the bus stop
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
the shifts on offer are, very very poor
But all that’s left is a bus stop filled with people
looking very con-fu-used
They’ll all need to arrange other transport
Like a taxi
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
The drivers might be fined, but they don’t really mind
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
Services could be halved, but the drivers won’t take part
Stanhope’s regime has caused this
massive budget cuts, and lots less busses
How will people get from A to B
If there’s no bus, in the middle of the day
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
The drivers are on strike, fighting the good fight
All they want’s a decent roster
without split shifts and poor service
They want people to use the busses
And keep them in a job
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
Things are looking up, the talks have resumed
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
The split shifts are gone, the union is pleased
Who knows what might be next
What tricks are left, and who will win
Will we have another strike
Only time will tell, we shall wait and see
No ACTION today, they took my bus away
We play the waiting game, and let the talks go on
Who knows what might be next
Will services be intact, and who will win
Who knows what might be next
Will services be intact, and who will win
Who knows what might be next
Will services be intact, and who will win
Well I was going to write a post featuring a classic Canberra television commercial from 2004 (it was a remake of one from many years prior) for the now (once again) defunct Shoprite Supermarket chain…but as I watched the ad last night (for the first time this year) I spotted something I hadn’t spotted before, so I watched it again, and then it dawned on me…I recognised one of the “shoppers”…It’s 2CC’s Mike “occasionally in the plane” Frame!
It’s quite funny to think that my favourite ad (I drove plenty of people mad by playing it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over) of 2004 features a person I chatted with on the phone and on Canberra’s airwaves, and I didn’t even know it…and of course by the time I actually met Framey, I had forgotten all about the ad.
Here’s the ad, those of you based in Canberra might remember it, those outside of Canberra can get a glimpse of what we saw and heard day in day out for months (I distinctally remember Shoprite sponsoring 2CC’s news twice, their second sponsor tagline was “This news brought to you by Shoprite supermarkets, right around the corner from anywhere”).
This is my first time uploading videos to Google Video and YouTube, and they both shrunk the video to about the size of a matchstick, so for your convenience, you can download my original version here. Overall I’m happier with YouTube, uploading was easier, faster, and didn’t ruin the aspect ratio (I had to remaster the video for Google to accept the aspect ratio).
And just in case, like me, you want to sing along with it, here are the lyrics:
Just what you need and so you shoprite
Just what you want, just what you like
Just what you need and so you shoprite
Just before work, just any night
Just what you need and so you shoprite
Just for the service, just for the smile
Just for that genuine shoprite style
Just for the specials that make it worthwile
Just ‘cos you’re busy, just ‘cos you’re bright
Just what you need and so you shoprite
In my view this is a brilliant ad, and contains something that so many ads are missing these days, a good solid recognisable jingle…sure, it’ll drive you up the wall if you watch or hear it often enough, but I think it’s fantastic.
Now for a look at Framey’s journey through the Shoprite supermarket.
There’s quite a few groceries in that trolley, I think I can see some celery and even a distinctive older style “Black & Gold” label.
Framey’s considering which product from Shoprite’s massive collection he will next add to his nearly overflowing trolley.
A wry smile from Framey as he finds the item he was looking for.
It’s always a good idea to weight a watermelon before purchasing it.
What happened to the trolley???
And then we don’t see Framey again…maybe he went searching for his trolley?
It looks like the gradual revision of 2CA programming has started this morning, with their short, not quite on the hour (or the half hour), pre-recorded news bulletins scrapped in favour of sharing live news with 2CC under the guise of “Capital Radio News”. I personally think the old “Capital Radio Network News had more gradeur…but it did take half a second longer to say, and that’s half a second not dedicated to news.
As of 5:30 this morning 2CA and 2CC have returned to sharing the bulletins, something they stopped doing when 2CA relaunched with their failed “new sound” in late January.
Also, 2CC have a new outcue for their news bulletins, no longer do we hear that “There’ll be more news at (time of next bulletin) on 2CC, where you’ll hear it first in the nations capital”, instead we now hear that 2CC has “live local news on the hour, the half-hour, and when it breaks”, which is remarkably similar to the outcue used by KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, their outcue is “KFI is the station with live local news on the hour, on the half, and when it breaks”.
Mind you, the new outcue must be one of the most short-lived outcues in the history of radio…by 7am they were back to the old “There’ll be more news at…” outcue, which is probably just as well, as the new one was a downright lie.
On weekdays 2CC have live and local news from 5:30am to 6pm, with live (but not local) news from 7pm to 11pm, and pre-recorded news (thanks 2UE!) from midnight to 5am. Weekends are the same, except the live but not local news starts at 1pm, and the pre-recorded news runs through until 5:30am.
2CC also have an actual intro for Dennis Leigh’s traffic reports…it’s just a sound effect of a car horn beeping twice and 2CC’s voiceover man saying something to the effect of “2CC Traffic for (insert sponsor here)”, but it is a change from the newsreader informing us that it is now time for 2CC traffic…he still gets a live intro from presenters though. That being said, Dennis changed his outro from “more 2CC traffic shortly” to “more Canberra traffic shortly”. Oh it’s a strange day in news and traffic at that station today.
As for 2CA…looks like the old format might be making a bit of a comeback, something which was rumoured a couple days after their recent ratings disaster. A source inside Capital Radio said to me “It looks like we will be heading to a “Classic Hits” type of format over the next few weeks”, and it looks like that source was right…in fact it looks like the old format is making a comeback, the news is certainly an indicator of that.
The source also told me “the music has been pretty “confused” since we started, with songs like “Morning Has Broken” followed by Nickelback etc. Realistically, I think the younger audience would switch off when the old stuff came on, and the older audience would switch off when the new stuff came on.” Which left them with a mere 2.9% of Canberra, most of which who switched off when music they didn’t like started playing.
