On Sunday night on Open House with Sheridan Voysey, Sheridan interviewed psychologist Dr. Kevin Leman, the author of The Birth Order Book and The Firstborn Advantage and they chatted about a rather interesting trait known as the “firstborn personality” which is generally, but not always, associated with the eldest child in a family. The traits generally include:
Well organised
Highly analytical
Perfectionist
List writer
Taking on tasks that “nobody else can do properly”
Perfectionist
Bossy
Not a fan of surprises
The longer the interview went on, the more it sounded like he was deliberately trying to describe me. Of course, it’s not just the eldest child that can have a particular personality trait, other children in the birth order have their own specific personality.
The interview was quite compelling and I’m pleased to say that it has been placed online at The Open House Blogsite. It runs for 25 minutes, and in my opinion is well worth it. You can listen to Kevin Leman talk about first borns on Sheridan Voysey’s Open House program: www.theopenhouse.net.au, click on “Listen Again”, find the downloads for the 16th of November (they’re currently at the top of the list, but they won’t be for long) and follow the prompts.
And if you like what you hear, then you’ll probably enjoy the rest of Sheridan’s Open House show. Sunday nights from 8pm eastern time on 1WAY FM Canberra, FM103.2 Sydney and other stations across the nation.
Samuel
Samuel is the panel operator for Open House at 1WAY FM. No other agreement exists between Samuel, Open House and/or any other Open House network stations.
And Glenn Wheeler’s back! He’s been lurking in the shadows at their outside broadcasts lately, and now he’s going back to where it all started for him on UE when he jumped from 2GB, weekend middawns.
As previously reported, Jim Ball is taking all of December and half of January off from New Day Australia. Contrary to previous belief, he won’t be on leave for that entire period, rather he will be filling in for John Stanley on Drive for the first two weeks of December.
The move with Jim is interesting because 2UE’s recent history indicates that Stuart Bocking is the default fill-in for Drive, but considering that Jim has previously filled in on drive over at 2GB and he has had a fairly good effect on the station’s overnight ratings, one does have to wonder if 2UE are testing a few things over summer to see how they work. 2UE’s ratings have been fairly stagnant this year with a slight downward trend, whilst 2GB have have a moderate increase in ratings, and if I have to make a prediction, Stuart Bocking will inherit the morning show either mid next-year, or at the start of 2010.
At this stage there is still no word on who will fill in for Mike and Sandy on Breakfast, although I have to agree with the speculation that it’s a job which should go to George and Paul. There is a part of my head that is screaming “logic dictates that it will be John Stanley and whoever they find hiding in a cupboard again” though.
Weekends are still anyone’s guess, and I’ve got a feeling that Don Burke’s role will be increased, possibly to 6am-midday, with Kearns and Robertson potentially changing to midday-6pm through summer.
That said, it’s all speculation except for that which has been confirmed, and even that is subject to late change. I would hate to be trying to organise summer imaging on a network station though…you’d have to ignore the weekends, unless you really want to plug weekend middawn heavily, because we all know that Harvey Norman place their main bulk of ads between 2am and 4am when they’re likely to wake people with a bloke yelling about vacuum cleaners and plasma televisions.
Also from the Media Spy forums comes speculation that 2GB’s Jason Morrison (sorry Jason, is it News Director, Current Affairs Director or Program Director) is under Channel Nine’s poaching microscope.
Morrison’s most recent stint in a television newsroom was at Channel Ten where he was News Director in 2005. Rumour has it that Nine are interested in offering Jason their News Director job.
In my opinion, Jason is under-utilised on-air at 2GB, so I’ll be interested to see what happens with this rumour.
I considered “A Dream Coming True?” and “About Bloody Time” as titles for this post…in the end I decided against them, but they deserve a run anyway.
Word reaches us from the MediaSpy forums that the Capital Radio Network will have functioning webstreams as of December 21.
The quote from an unknown source claims that this will be for “the whole capital network”, so with any luck that will include Eagle FM Goulburn and Snow FM Jindabyne which I think are good examples of the CHR (Current Hit Radio) format done the way it should be done.
That said, I’d be happy enough with just the Canberra stations as a stream of the Mike Jeffreys Breakfast Show would be very useful for the last few hours of my night shifts…I’d probably be too busy to listen to Welshy live, but I suppose I could timeshift him. A 2CA stream also sounds quite appealing.
And suddenly my fear of having to deal with withdrawal symptoms if I ever leave town is tentatively dissipated.
That’s what a number of Macquarie Southern Cross Media radio stations are saying.
It started earlier this week when MSCM announced that they were axing Charles Wooley Across Australia, their Hobart based, regionally-focussed talk program, which first went to air in 2006, back when the direct competition was The John Laws Morning Show which had a larger number of network stations, but was fairly Sydney-centric in comparison.
In the middle of last year, Wooley was being picked up by keen listeners in Melbourne, despite not actually broadcasting in to Melbourne. Listeners were tuning in to regional Victorian stations and, as RadioInfo pointed out at the time, it was seen as quite a victory for the Wooley program, as Melbourne was a market in which John Laws never managed to make any inroads. Wooley was even credited with convincing the then federal opposition leader, Dr. Brendan Nelson, to jump in a truck and see the plight of the nation’s truck drivers first-hand earlier this year.
The program has won three ACRAs, one for every year that it’s been on-air, and has been nominated for five more.
Despite all of this, Macquarie Southern Cross Media have decided to axe the show, citing the global financial crisis, and less network stations than former CEO Tim Hughes had hoped for when he pitched the idea for the program to Wooley on an aeroplane. The merger between Fairfax and Southern Cross Broadcasting, which in turn led to various Southern Cross television stations being sold to Macquaire Bank, meant that the Macquaire Regional Radioworks network (which was renamed Macquaire Southern Cross Media) lost a number of stations, as Charles Wooley explained to RadioInfo “It meant they couldn’t own TV and Radio in many markets which meant they had to divest a large chunk of my network. And not enough of the new owners stuck with the show.”
Less stations, and even less revenue, ultimately meant that Macquarie could no longer justify the cost of producing and networking their own morning show, instead they’ve decided to take programming from the other Macquarie, the Macquarie Radio Network, better known as 2GB and 2CH Sydney. Specifically, it’s the Ray Hadley Morning Show from 2GB which will be heard on a selection of Macquarie Southern Cross Stations, namely 2WG Wagga Wagga, 2MC Port Macquarie, 2CS Coffs Harbour, 4GR Toowoomba, 2RG Griffith, 2GZ Orange, 3MA Mildura, MIX FM Maryborough & Hervey Bay.
The move marks a change in tact for both Macquarie Southern Cross, and 2GB. The Charles Wooley Show was devised in order to fill a perceived gap, a lack of programming specifically for regional areas, whilst during the ratings war between 2GB’s Ray Hadley and 2UE’s John Laws (a war won quite convincingly by Hadley in Sydney), 2GB prided themselves on producing programming specifically for a Sydney audience, without the need to cater for network stations. Macquarie Southern Cross now find themselves replacing a program aimed at regional audiences, with a program aimed at a Sydney audience, whilst 2GB will now need to redefine the Hadley show to be more inclusive of other markets.
Hadley is no stranger to broadcasting to network stations, having been John Laws’ understudy and fill-in host for a number of years, and host of the largely successful “Continuous Call Team” program on weekends during the NRL season.
Ray Hadley will be heard on network stations from 9am to 11am starting on the 27th of January, however at this stage it is very unclear as to whether the first hour will be broadcast on 2GB in Sydney. Currently Alan Jones broadcasts on 2GB until 10am, with Ray Hadley broadcasting from 10am to 1pm, so this could be a subtle way of reducing Alan Jones’ workload without putting the spotlight on Jones’ recent health problems and the ongoing speculation about when or if he may decide to retire.
Either way, it’s a gamble for 2GB who, whilst holding almost a 2-1 ratings lead over talk rivals 702 ABC Sydney and 2UE, are changing one of their self-proclaimed keys to success, their ability to engage directly with a Sydney audience. Whilst it will be unlikely that 2GB will suffer due to having less Sydney focus, it will be interesting to see how they fare against 2UE’s morning program which is networked to many stations across New South Wales and the ACT, and 702 ABC Sydney’s morning show which is broadcast solely to Sydney.
Hadley seems to think it will be a winner though, telling one caller this morning that he is “confident the listeners on stations across Australia will enjoy what we have to offer” as he let the cat out of the bag about the networking deal.
As for Charles Wooley, he’s gone back to Channel Nine’s “Sixty Minutes” current affairs program, but hasn’t given up on Macquarie Southern Cross just yet, saying that “discussions are still open with MACSC about doing an hour or two of a weekend.”
It seems that once radio gets in to your blood, it just won’t leave.
ABC TV’s Media Watch program appears to be receiving an injection of new blood for its return next year. The ABC are currently advertising to fill two positions: Supervising Producer (advertised a second time here) Producer – 20th Anniversary Program
The producer for the 20th anniversary program sounds like quite an interesting role and I’m sure that they’ll have fun looking back through the program’s archives from the last 20 years. That role is a temporary role running for four months, and if you’re interested you’d better hurry because applications close tomorrow.
The Supervising Producer role is a ten month temporary role starting in January, with applications closing late next week.
I’m sure that Jonathan Holmes, who I think has done a wonderful job presenting the show this year, will be pleased that they aren’t advertising for a new host.
I just heard ABC TV News refer to Kevin Rudd’s brief visit to storm-ravaged parts of Queensland as an “unscheduled stopover”. Unscheduled? I think not, unless Fairfax Radio Network’s Alison Carabine has developed some sort of psychic power. Alison was reporting this morning that Mr. Rudd would be briefly visiting Queensland to inspect storm damage…maybe the ABC newsroom didn’t get the memo?
Sometimes it’s just best to learn from a good example of how not to do it. Back in April, caller Lynn rang US talkback radio host Rush Limbaugh to inform him that the Bush administration has been a failure. I’m sure that Lynn had many good reasons for believing that, and I’m not going to debate the topic of the call, this post is really for a bit of fun.
Lynn may have had a point to make, but she clearly forgot that it’s not the host that you need to convince, it’s the listeners, and the way to do that is to back up your statements either with facts or things which sound like facts. Basing your entire argument on “I don’t know what planet you’re on, but down here on Planet Earth…”, the word “no” and “I don’t believe that”, really doesn’t get you anywhere. They’re good phrases, but they need substance behind them.
Lynn could have made a lot of people stop and think if she had produced some facts, as this could have been a very interesting debate…sadly it turned in to a rather amusing seven minute case of “this is not how you debate people on the radio”.
Kudos to Rush for trying to get a meaningful conversation going, and to Lynn for her persistence in her belief that the word “no” would magically change Rush’s mind. It really does take all types to make this little planet down here called Earth.
If there is one thing which I can give Fairfax a lot of credit for in the time since they bought 2UE et al, it’s being very efficient when it comes to advising of format and presenter changes to networked programming.
The Christmas/New Year schedule has been confirmed:
Jim Ball will be taking all of December and a third of January off. John Kerr will be taking his place. No word yet on who will be taking over the weekend version of New Day Australia as yet, although Clinton Maynard would probably be a fair guess, unless he is also taking time off. Perhaps a return to air for Glenn Wheeler who has been lurking around the off-air wings of 2UE of late?
Somebody who I think really should be given a permanent shift, Steve Liebmann, will be filling in for Steve Price on the morning show from the 15th of December until the 9th of January inclusive.
The Buzzard, Murray Olds, will be filling in for Tim Webster on the afternoon show during the same period.
Sadly I’m going to have to skip the night show during this period though. There is no way known that I can stomach A Current Affair’s Ben Fordham. It’s bad enough hearing him during Steve Price’s show.
No word on the weekend schedule as yet, although it would be good to hear Bill Woods and Deborah Knight paired up again. And one does have to wonder how long Mike Munro will stay in retirement…I’d love to hear him on talk radio.
2UE’s Paul B. Kidd has announced that he has bladder cancer and will be off the air for the next six weeks.
Paul made the announcement today on his weekend show with George Moore.
I can’t find much about this online other than people saying that he made the announcement, so I really don’t have any more information about this at this time. None-the-less, I wish Paul a speedy recovery and will be writing to him in the coming days to express my best wishes for him.
Paul has been co-hosting weekend programming with George Moore since 2001 and is well known, amongst other things, for being the voice of “Dolly”, the Weekend Quiz scorekeeper. Paul, a well-known crime-writer, also presents a weekly segment on the show about a notable crime from Australia’s past, which can be heard on the George and Paul page of the 2UE website.
I just noticed that Murray Olds is filling in for Tim Webster this afternoon on 2UE and 2CC. The Fairfax Radio Syndication website indicates that he will be filling in all week.
It’s nice to hear Murray on the radio again and to hear that he came back from Beijing safely. Of the possible fill-ins, he is definitely my preferred choice, although I have to admit that if Glenn Wheeler were still at 2UE, he’d be my pick of the crop.
Oddly, and for no immediately apparent reason, Sports Today NSW is being pushed back by 45 seconds, and will start at 18:08.00 instead of 18:07:15 starting tomorrow, and running through until September 26. John Gibbs (who has been referred to as Phil Gibbs in the Rugby World Cup material) is also on leave this week, being replaced by:
Russell Barwick and Bill Woods – Sep 1;
Russell Barwick – Sep 2 and 3;
Bill Woods – Sep 4 and 5.
To clarify that for the sake of anybody who is trying to work out (without help from Fairfax) why he needs two fill-ins tonight, that’s because Greg Alexander is also away tonight, tending to his NRL commentary duties with Fox Sports. Somebody has to clarify this stuff…although why I walk into doing it is beyond me.
Back to Murray Olds for a moment, perhaps John B1_B5 was right when he suggested that Furry Murray should be his theme song:
As I mentioned earlier this morning, 2CC are broadcasting from Bunnings Warehouse in Fyshwick until midday. I went down there with my inflatable Bunnings hammer and my Bunnings hat, and they appeared to be having a good time.
Pete Davidson, Graham Robinson, Karen of Bunnings Fyshwick, and the fill-in Garden Gurus
I was also pleasantly surprised to see Scott McGregor from television shows such as Better Homes and Gardens who was there to present two French polishing demonstrations.
The crowd for Scott’s 10am demonstration grew slowly over the hour, although the man eating the sausage sandwich (who also happened to have a notepad for taking notes which might be useful in his table restoration efforts) and I were there for the full demonstration.
This photo didn’t quite work, but Scott was quite energetic during the demonstration so I think it fits.
The demonstration went on for about an hour, which is probably longer than it was supposed to, but it didn’t really matter as Scott and the crowd (myself included) enjoyed it.
And by 11am, Scott had finished an abbreviated restoration and polish of the door of an old meter box.
Incidentally, Scott has just finished a documentary for the History Channel on the history of Australia Post. I don’t have access to the History Channel, but I will be buying a copy of it on DVD from Australia Post when it goes on sale. I’m looking forward to it.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the visits of some other 2CC listeners that I know. A bus driver friend turned up just after 9am, and Lillian and her husband, retired Dickson College canteen managers, turned up to see Scott McGregor after hearing about his demonstrations on 2CC. Lillian and her husband recently stayed at Scott’s “Ruwenzori” railway carriage based resort in Mudgee.
2CC’s Graham Robinson and the fill-in Garden Gurus are broadcasting live from Bunnings Warehouse in Fyshwick this morning. If my memory is serving me in a non-devious manner, they haven’t broadcasted from there before.
I’ve been debating for the last few days whether or not I will visit them there, and considering that I have been up since about 4:30am working on the morning sport bulletins for AIR News and upgrading WordPress and other website components, I am now too awake to go back to sleep, and I think I will pay them a visit.
The last time I went to a 2CC outside broadcast was at Bunnings Belconnen on Saturday March 15 where Mike Frame, Graham Robinson and 2CC Program Director and 2CA evening presenter Pete Davidson were in attendance. I still have the Bunnings hat and inflatable hammer I received on that occasion…I might just have to take them with me. I’ve been trying (not hard enough, obviously) to find a reason to wear the Bunnings hat…I wonder if the fact that I’ve been considering wearing this hat to Bunnings Fyshwick as part of my debate about whether or not to attend means that there is something wrong with me?
Probably not…it just means that I have too much time to think.
I’ll save some of my thoughts for an editorial that I’m writing, but I noted on 2CC’s news at 8am that former Mix 106.3 breakfast host Mark Parton is going to run as an independent candidate in the upcoming ACT election.
Mark has noted on his blog that he will make an announcement on 666 ABC Canberra at 8:30am. Sorry Mark, looks like 2CC beat the exclusive.
Anyway, this should make for an interesting contest. Mark is quite popular in this town, so it will be interesting to see how that translates to the electorate.
Update 10:48am: The official announcement will be at 11am according to Mark. If I wasn’t working, I’d probably be interested in attending even though he is not in my electorate.
Most people who have listened to me in the last 10 years know what I stand for. I stand for the community.
For families, I want this city to be a sustainable, prosperous community so that my children and hopefully their children can proudly call it home.
I am for common sense in Government and for supporting and nurturing business people who have the courage to put their neck on the line and “have a go”.
We need to think green, but we need to do it in a practical common sense way and I want to foster that approach in our community and in business.
I stand for openness and honesty in Government and for solutions that are not shaped by party politics.
Grand statements, but a good brief summary that people will be able to remember the gist of. The Ginninderra electoral race just became interesting. End Update
Samuel
