2GB’s middawn presenter (and summer Drive presenter) Jim Ball has announced that he is switching from 2GB to 2UE, to take over the middawn slot vacated by Clive Robertson. As I write this, Jim is presenting his fourth-last show on 2GB (a show which he opened with innuendo about “heading north to the competition”). He will present his final 2GB show on Wednesday March 12 and will take over 2UE’s middawn program on Monday March 17. Jim will be presenting the Monday to Friday edition of the show, with John Kerr continuing his current weekend program.
Jim Ball’s success (29.4% of the Sydney audience) in the Sydney ratings in 2005 is widely believed to be one of the reasons 2UE moved John Kerr to the weekend and gave Stuart Bocking the middawn shift in 2006. Stuart gained ground on Jim Ball in 2006 (2GB 16.9% – 2UE 12.5%). I didn’t actually notice the middawn ratings last year and it doesn’t look like radioinfo published them so I don’t know what happened, but it will be interesting to see how Jim Ball goes…I’m sure 2UE will be hoping that he brings his existing audience with him, much like former 2UE weekend middawn announcer George Gibson did when his contract wasn’t renewed in late 2005 and he jumped to 2GB, filling in for weekend middawn presenter Frank Crook (he even managed to get the interstate listeners tuned in to the webstream and calling in…I was one of them).
Actually 2UE and 2GB have an interesting middawn presenter trading history. Warren Moore was 2UE’s middawn fill-in presenter before switching to 2GB where he is now their summer evening presenter. Glenn Wheeler was quite popular on 2GB (from memory he hosted the middawn shift, but I could be wrong) before switching to 2UE where his first shift was filling in on the middawn shift. He is now 2UE’s weekend afternoon presenter. With this history, one does have to wonder if Jim Ball is hoping to also get a non-middawn shift on 2UE in the near future.
Anyway, I’m getting off-topic, Jim Ball has a website at http://www.jimball.com.au/ where he lists articles referred to in recent programs. Somehow, I think the “highlights of recent shows” page and his biography will be of more use if you’re interested in finding out about him.
Jim has been hosting 2GB’s middawn program since 1999, and interestingly has a similar philosophy to the one Stuart Bocking enforced on the middawn program; Stuarts was “If it matters to you, it matters to us” and Jim’s is “We talk to anybody about anything”. Jim, like Stuart, is also a golf enthusiast.
It will be interesting to see what happens, I welcome Jim to the syndicated middawn program and I hope it works well for him…and I have just a bit of advice for 2UE. There is no point in having good ratings in the middle of the night if everyone switches off at 5:30. You’ll never beat Alan Jones, but if you want to provide some competition, get rid of Mike Carlton and put Clive Robertson on breakfast…he was popular overnight, he was popular on ABC Classic FM’s breakfast show, and he would be good at breakfast on 2UE (he might find the hours a bit more agreeable too). I can’t comment on the performance of Sandy Aloisi but the last ratings did show that breakfast is not improving…if you want ratings during the day, then you need ratings at breakfast, and I firmly believe that with the talent of Clive Robertson available to you, he is your best option.
I forgot to check FIVEaa’s website this week until last night Stuart Bocking reminded me of the news I mentioned a few weeks ago, the former federal foreign minister and current member for Mayo Alexander Downer is hosting the afternoon show on Adelaide’s commercial talk radio station, FIVEaa.
I had wondered how FIVEaa were going to get around the problem of their afternoon host being in Canberra every Friday, and it looks like rather than illegally rebroadcasting parliamentary proceedings in the hope that Mr. Downer says something, they have taken the sensible option of involving his wife as the co-host and (on Fridays) only host.
After the furore last week about Alexander Downer missing question time so that he could have lunch with somebody whose plane was late, not missing parliament for the sake of a radio show is a good idea.
When I wrote the original article about Alexander Downer hosting FIVEaa afternoon show, I raised the prospect of a biased program being in breach of the Commercial Radio Australia codes of practice…well FiveAA have negated that. Have a look at the “coming up” section of the screenshot above (click it to enlarge the image if you can’t read it). Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan is joining their morning host today for a while.
I also raised the prospect that it would be interesting to see how capable Mr. Downer is of running an interesting program. I haven’t had a chance to listen to his show properly yet, and the snippets I heard last night were mainly of him being grilled by the electorate, but if his performance whilst being interviewed by Steve Price last week is anything to go by, he is one of the few politicians I have heard who seems to be more than capable of thinking on his feet and giving as good as he gets…and pulling an interesting distraction trick.
I will try and find some time to listen to his show tomorrow, but for now his show is on the air as this post appears, so if you’re interested, visit the FIVEaa website and click the Listen Live link.
I first noticed this on the weekend but only now have had a chance to record it.
2UE have changed the intro for New Day Australia. So far I have only heard the new intro on John Kerr’s show, but it could very well be altered for all of the presenters which would probably be a good idea considering that there have been two different intros used since Stuart Bocking hosted the show…although I don’t remember if his new intro fist graced the airwaves in 2005 when he took over the weekend shift, or 2006 when he took over weekdays.
The old intro had been in use for as long as I had been listening (mid 2003) and as far as I can tell it was used from the time John started hosting New Day Australia in 1994 (Update: Davky points out in the comments below that John used a song by Basia prior to the music I’m used to). I’m sure that I have a better copy of the old intro around here somewhere (I just don’t know where), but that’s irrelevant as I have found a good enough copy from a couple years ago. Here are the old and new intros for New Day Australia:
The metropolitan radio ratings were released yesterday, and whilst 2GB’s victory might not be the exact definition of “massive” there can be no denying that Alan Jones’ victory in the breakfast timeslot is massive. Alan Jones has almost double the audience of any other breakfast show in Sydney, he commands an extraordinary 19.1%. His nearest rivals 2DAY FM and 702 ABC Sydney both get a 10.9% share, leaving everyone else in single figures.
Ray Hadley’s morning show continues the extraordinary figures, being the only morning show in double digits. Ray Hadley has a 17.8% share, well and truly ahead of 2DAY FM on 9.6% and everyone else on 8.3% and lower.
Overall 2GB leads on 14.3% (a gain of 2.6), followed by 702 ABC Sydney on 10.5% (a gain of 1.1), and 2DAY FM on 9.8% (a loss of 0.2). 2GB had the largest gain, whilst Mix 106.5 had the largest loss (1.4). Much of 2GB’s success can be attributed in a jump from 0.8% to 6.2% in the 10 to 17 year old age group.
A big congratulations is in order for all the staff at 2GB. Incidentally Alan Jones was interviewed by their online news service livenews.com.au. It is well worth a watch…it really looks like Alan is (deservedly) pleased with the win, but not letting it go to his head.
One does have to wonder if Fairfax are questioning the merits of buying 2UE. Every single shift except for the weekend lost ground, some by as much as 35% of their audience.
As of yesterday we are in to Canberra’s first radio ratings period for the year. The ratings period runs from February 17 to March 15, a total of 4 weeks, with the results published on Thursday March 27.
Later this week the first metropolitan radio ratings will be released. Sydney and Brisbane will be of particular interest, especially for the Fairfax talk stations. 2UE in Sydney have an almost completely different (perhaps “shuffled” would be a better word) lineup, whilst 4BC have replaced the Sydney based morning show with their own local morning show. It will be a very interesting survey.
On Wednesday, a legend of the Australian radio industry and the Australian music industry, Smoky Dawson (real name Herbert Henry Dawson) died at the age of 94.
2GB’s Jason Morrison has very kindly provided permission for me to reproduce the tribute he and 2GB produced on Thursday.
I’m sure we’ve all seen the rather fanciful use of technology on many television (and movie) law enforcement dramas, ranging from satellites capable of tracking a person in real time to the point of being able to hear the conversation they are having, to a single partial fingerprint being turned in to a complete set of fingerprints and an employment history in the space of about two seconds…along with the idea that recorded CCTV footage (on VHS cassette) of an out of focus numberplate in the distance can somehow be magically restored to a sharp high resolution image of the numberplate, and just for good measure, a perfect image of the people in the car.
How refreshing it is, therefore, to see British police drama “The Bill” using technology in a much more realistic way. Last year I mentioned London’s CCTV network, and this is definitely the most commonly used piece of technology on The Bill. It is rarely conclusive on its own, but is extremely helpful when it comes to proving or disproving alibis, and generally quite helpful in putting a case together. The pictures are generally quite realistic in that they aren’t exactly great quality, and impossible things such as zooming in to a pre-recorded image are never done.
On the weekend I read with interest a blog post by Russell Coker about The Bill‘s use of technology which, for somebody who stopped watching the bill about a decade ago due to a rather ridiculous story about piracy, is quite complementary. Russell makes a point about the electronic whiteboard used to collate a timeline and various bits of data about the case CID (Criminal Investigation Department) were working on, being very realistic (I would debate that for the handwriting recognition which seemed a bit too perfect). It’s interesting that Russell picked this episode as his return to The Bill as it was their first to use an electronic whiteboard. It was a welcome upgrade to the standard whiteboard they had been using, especially due to the ease with which they were able to move events around on the timeline.
The software would also be useful in court, as rather than recreating the whiteboard or producing photos of it, the entire whiteboard could be displayed on a screen, saving valuable court time.
Russell did question whether the software running the whiteboard was used by British Police; Considering The Bill’s strong relationship with the Metropolitan Police (they use real warrant cards, uniforms and police cars, amongst other things), I would be very surprised if the software or something very similar to it isn’t used by the police.
It is only within the last year that I started watching The Bill again, after dropping it in disgust during its peculiar soap opera phase. I am very pleased with the current cast and production team, and I am also pleased with the ABC’s move to screen both episodes on Saturday night. Apparently the Tuesday episode wasn’t rating particularly well, so hopefully the “summer” move will be continued through the year. Repeating them on ABC2 on Tuesday is a nice touch as well.
Radio FIVEaa, Adelaide’s commercial talkback station, have announced the fill-in presenter for afternoon host Amanda Blair…it’s none other than the former federal minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer MP.
Mr. Downer, who retained the seat of Mayo in last year’s election, will host FIVEaa’s afternoon show from February 25 to March 7.
Mayo appears to be on the outskirts of Adelaide and parts of it would undoubtedly be in range of FIVEaa, which makes me wonder about the merits of allowing a member of parliament to control what comes out of the transmitter for a few hours each day…I can’t find a specific clause in the Commercial Radio Codes of Practice which expressly prevents a member of parliament from hosting a program, however it is blatantly obvious whenever a politician is interviewed, that they generally like their own opinions at the expense of all others, which makes me wonder how well Mr. Downer will be able to uphold clause 2.2 (c):
2.2 In the preparation and presentation of current affairs programs, a licensee must ensure that:
(c) reasonable efforts are made or reasonable opportunities are given to present significant viewpoints when dealing with controversial issues of public importance, either within the same program or similar programs, while the issue has immediate relevance to the community;
Technically the station will be complying with the rules if, for example, Mr. Downer presents a hopelessly biased program and the next program is dedicated to people disagreeing with him…although I’m sure with Media Watch back in session by then, FIVEaa and Mr. Downer won’t want the attention.
On the positive side, it is a very interesting way of being available to your constituents and it is bound to generate a lot of calls. Mr. Downer will almost certainly be able to add a very thorough understanding of foreign affairs to any discussion, and hopefully will follow up on whatever local issues get thrown his way.
I wonder how many people are going to ring up and say that they voted for him?
I have a few concerns about having a current member of parliament hosting a radio program, but from a ratings and publicity perspective it’s a stroke of genius…the main problem though is that if it works, you can expect politicians to start filling in all over the country, and with some of them, that could be incredibly boring.
Mike Bailey, the former ABC weatherman and unsuccessful Labor candidate for North Sydney in last year’s federal election, has joined Channel Nine a weather presenter on their Sydney bulletin.
I was very surprised but also quite pleased to see Mike Bailey on the television again, I didn’t think I would ever see him presenting the weather on a commercial news service. It would appear that Mike will be presenting the weather on Friday and Saturday.
I remember watching an educational video about the weather in High School. Mike Bailey was the host of the video, in which he pushed bags of air around to demonstrate high and low pressure systems. I enjoyed that video, even though others found it incredibly boring…I had the great pleasure of seeing the video about half a dozen times during high school, mostly due Mr. Damien Malony showing it to my class a number of times. The video was produced by Video Education Australia, unfortunately I can’t find it in their catalogue, but I may contact them to see if the video is still available…I would like to have a copy of it.
I just saw a promo for Today Tonight, the unmistakeable head of 2UE’s John Stanley was on there with his son Thomas…it looks like John will be part of a story about older parents tonight.
I don’t often watch Today Tonight, but I think I’ll tune in for that story, and to see how mangled their story about contaminated fruit will be.
There’s a large storm making its way through Sydney at the moment, and another storm near Canberra and expected to hit within the next hour or so.
Both 2CC’s feed from 2UE, and the 2KY feed to their Canberra repeater are having issues this evening as a result of the storms…2KY’s Canberra repeater doesn’t have an emergency tape either.
Incidentally the Bureau Of Meterology is warning of large hailstones, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds in Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, Wollongong, Nowra, Batemans Bay, Orange, Canberra, Goulburn, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Cobar and Bourke.
Update 7:25pm: Both stations are back on the air and have been broadcasting without issues for the last little while…the storms are still a concern though. End Update
Well, this is a new one for 2CC…the emergency tape sounds like it’s probably a CD, and it skips chronically. It’s been skipping for at least the last hour and a half, and probably longer.
At 6:15 2CC were broadcasting normally, by 8:15 they were not. In that time there was a fairly large thunderstorm in Canberra (it’s still nearby as I write this) so I believe this had something to do with it. I turned on the radio at about 8:15pm and thought “why is Stuart Bocking playing music”, I only had the radio on for a few moments but could hear the music skipping. About fifteen minutes later I turned the radio on again and it was still skipping…it took at least the next twenty minutes for it to progress beyond the tail end of a song and the following commercial.
It’s not a power failure in Mitchell as 2CA’s night time programming is continuing as normal. It also doesn’t sound like a standard network failure as there have been no network pulses or stray bits of audio interrupting the emergency CD…I’m guessing that something has gone seriously wrong between 2CC’s studio and transmitter causing a complete loss of the broadcast feed, which has left the standby program running.
The skipping emergency CD is a bit more of a mystery, it’s been stuck on extracts of the one song and the sting before it for the last twenty minutes, and has only just skipped back to the ad break before it. The CD was stuck on this ad break at 9pm. I suppose it’s possible that the problem is entirely at the transmitter, because otherwise I’m sure that Duncan McCrea would have rushed in to the studio and put on his own backup program by now.
9:51…and as I finish writing this, they’re back on the air…hooray!
Apart from, perhaps, a new colour scheme (I don’t suppose red, white and blue means they’re being purchased by America’s ABC?) I can’t see an awful lot that’s new here…and if Peter Cundall retired, why is he still in the promos?
It’s funny that this ident has appeared, as I was going to post some ABC promos I recorded around the time of The Bill on Saturday…I was quite pleased with what I saw…more on that tomorrow.
Errr, driver loses control of semi-trailer and it crashes in to a wall, fire ensues, flammable cargo (waste paper and rags) burns, road gets closed, fire brigade put out blaze, truck is removed from area, road gets re-opened, police continue investigating…it’s pretty straight-forward and considering that nobody else has any information about what happened before the crash, I think you’ll find that Seven News will have a nice two-to-three minute elaboration on what I just said.
I thought Seven News were doing well enough in the ratings to not need to suck in viewers with misleading statements.
2GB’s middawn presenter (and summer Drive presenter) Jim Ball has announced that he is switching from 2GB to 2UE, to take over the middawn slot vacated by Clive Robertson. As I write this, Jim is presenting his fourth-last show on 2GB (a show which he opened with innuendo about “heading north to the competition”). He will present his final 2GB show on Wednesday March 12 and will take over 2UE’s middawn program on Monday March 17. Jim will be presenting the Monday to Friday edition of the show, with John Kerr continuing his current weekend program.
