Samuel's Blog

John Kerr’s 50 years of broadcasting

Tomorrow is a very special day for 2UE’s John Kerr. The 17th of November marks the day that he started broadcasting fifty years ago.

The even better news is that John will be on air to celebrate from midnight to 6am.

John was interviewed by John Laws this morning. Unfortunately I missed the interview but I wouldn’t be surprised if it appears on the 2UE website shortly or if John replays it on his show tomorrow morning.

Update: Courtesy of Radioinfo, here is the audio of John Laws interviewing John Kerr.
[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/JohnKerr50YearsOfBroadcasting-JohnLaws.mp3]
Download link
End Update

I’ll hold off on congratulating John until he is on-air…he will be receiving a call from me.

Samuel

1 comment November 16th, 2007 at 12:44pm

Seven’s mobile number gaffe getting more coverage

It would appear that the story of Seven’s mobile number gaffe is getting more coverage today.

I spotted plenty of online discussion about it last night and haven’t had a chance to check again today, but I have spotted news articles from 2GB’s Livenews.com.au and The Daily Telegraph have apparently run with it in their print version (update: it would appear that they have linked back here from the online article…thanks News Limited journos!). I’ve spotted these two mentions of the rather stupid error from Seven without even trying to find the story…so I can only imagine how many other places have covered it.

I’ll have to make sure I pick up a copy of today’s Daily Telegraph before the day is out.

And as I said to Stuart Bocking last night, I hope the Seven Network are footing the bill for changing the mobile numbers of the people affected by their error.

Update: An interesting point from Valkyrie on the Media Spy forums. Channel Seven sought an injunction against The Chaser’s War On Everything screening the footage of:

the layout of the production premises (described by the Chaser team on the film as “the temple of mediocrity”) and the planning of the “Today Tonight” program displayed on boards on the wall of the work area.

The injunction was granted by the judge because:

From the Channel 7 perspective, if the interlocutory restraint is not imposed its confidentiality will arguably have been invaded

And yet Seven broadcast and hand out “confidentiality invading” footage to other media outlets.

I probably can’t accuse Seven of hypocrisy when it comes to an injunction, but I do have to wonder. End Update

Samuel

11 comments November 15th, 2007 at 03:12pm

Channel Seven release journalists’ staff mobile phone numbers in video footage

Video Update:

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

I was just watching Nine News covering the story about Channel Seven taking out an injunction against the ABC program “The Chaser’s War On Everything” to prevent them using footage they gathered whilst inside Seven’s Martin Place building.

Channel Nine used footage of the stand-off between the Chaser team and Seven security which appears to have been released by Seven…sadly for Seven, the footage is mostly of the Chaser team in front of a whiteboard filled with names and phone numbers of Seven journalists.

I will be switching over to Today Tonight at 6:30 as they are apparently running the story, and it will be interesting to see if they broadcast the same footage.

Update: Yep, it was Seven footage…here’s a couple screenshots from Today Tonight. It looks like it was staff other than journalists that had their mobile numbers exposed.

There were other shots where the numbers were even clearer than these shots (click the pictures for larger versions)…one does have to wonder why Seven chose to hold the Chaser team in that location, film the events and then release the footage to the rest of the media, when there were many other more innocuous positions only metres away. In an industry such as the media, one would expect an employer such as Seven to be more responsible with the personal details of their staff.
End Update

Further Update: I’ve forwarded this information to a handful of people including Stuart Bocking at 2UE. The reason I mention Stuart is that, not long after 8:30 he ran with the story, and rang a few of the people on the whiteboard (referring to them by first name only) on the air to alert them to their names and numbers being broadcast on national television. The first person didn’t answer, the second person produced a dumpable expletive and the third person was almost willing to have a chat, and made it clear that a number of people had already called him. I’m not sure if the second or third person said they were a freelance cameraman who had only been used by Today Tonight once this year. I’m uploading some video footage now.End Update

Samuel

4 comments November 14th, 2007 at 06:25pm

Tonight

John Laws will be interviewed on Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope program on ABC TV tonight. The interview is pre-recorded and News Limited papers have been interested in an apparent admission by Laws that he suffers from manic depression…it’ll be interesting to see if that actually comes out in the interview. If so, I have a small story about that…I’ll wait to see the interview before making further comments.

Apart from watching that, I’ll have a new poll tonight, and I’ll catch up on the comments you have all been leaving here for the last few days.

Samuel

4 comments November 12th, 2007 at 05:15pm

Congratulations Peta

Fresh from being a panel operator for 2CC, Peta Waller-Bryant has taken up a producer position on 2CC’s Mike Jeffreys Breakfast Program.

Peta is still studying as a Flexible Delivery student at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, and if performance to date is anything to go by, she has a very bright future ahead of her in the radio industry.

Congratulations and best of luck Peta.

It is also worthwhile mentioning, whilst on the topic of 2CC staff, that the new general manager of 2CC/2CA is Graham Cron, who just finished a seven year stint in the same position at the warmer by name and temperature Hot 100/MIX Darwin. Mr. Cron replaces Doug Bell who left earlier this year.

Samuel

5 comments November 6th, 2007 at 05:00pm

Talk programming disappears from the Southern Cross Syndication lineup

There isn’t much I can add to that headline really. It’s just another sign of the Macquarie Bank buyout of Southern Cross Broadcasting and the subsequent sale of the Southern Cross radio stations to Fairfax.

http://www.scsyndication.com.au/index.cfm no longer contains any talk programs, although it still has a handful of talk related special features listed.

One does have to wonder how long it will be until the “(Station name) Southern Cross Network News” voiceover gets changed to “(Station name) Fairfax Network News”?

Samuel

November 1st, 2007 at 10:45pm

Happy 32nd Birthday 2CC

I completely forgot that today, being the 31st of October, is 2CC’s birthday…whilst I probably should find something new to celebrate their birthday with next year, for now feel free to enjoy one of their old jingles from a time when they were a music station.

[audio:https://samuelgordonstewart.com/wp-content/2ccmusicradio.mp3]
Download link

Samuel

2 comments October 31st, 2007 at 07:23pm

Welcome to Daylight Saving Time

Yes, Daylight Saving Time is with us once again, and that means I will soon be performing the bi-annual ritual of synchronising a watch with the sixth hourly time pip (the top of the hour pip) on 2CC and then walk around the house synchronising all the clocks with the watch. I don’t do this before the start or end of Daylight Saving as the clocks will drive me nuts if I do that, but I can put up with them ebing an hour out of whack after the change for a few hours, so I will update them later today.

In semi-related news, I had a five minute laughing fit earlier after John Kerr read out an email from a Russian woman (it might have been Maritz who wrote a peculiar letter to the editor to this blog a while back, but I didn’t quite catch the name so I can’t be sure), talking about how she sings to the garden every week and is adjusting the garden to daylight saving ten minutes at a time over a six week period so as to avoid confusing it…she also mentioned something about having a cupboard full of clocks (which, if I heard it correctly, was referred to as a clock full of cupboards), half of which are on daylight saving time, and the other half on normal time, and she swaps them when the time changes instead of just adjusting the clocks.

John stopped half way through the email to check if it had come from Clive Robertson!

I might have to order a copy of that from Media Monitors, it’s one of the funniest things I’ve heard on the radio in ages, and it’s proof that there’s a full moon out there.

Samuel

1 comment October 28th, 2007 at 04:36am

Southern Cross Syndication adds “Goodbye World” to their offerings

As the final broadcast of John Laws on November 30 gets closer, Southern Cross Syndication have added a new program to their lineup.

Goodbye World is described as “A series of segments that chronicle and celebrate the funny, sad and ground breaking moments that made up an extraordinary career.
[..]
Each segment is fully produced with an allowance for local credits and station ID.”

Undoubtedly the 73 stations which broadcast Lawsie’s show will be interested in this segment. I would imagine that it will be similar to the current series of classic nutty callers that are being played during the show.

Samuel

1 comment October 27th, 2007 at 09:46am

Daylight Saving Time on 2UE

I noticed an advertisement on 2UE a short time ago promoting the fact that Daylight Saving starts at 2am on Sunday (which becomes 3am) and advises people to wind their clocks forward by one hour before they go to sleep.

Interesting idea…but surely it would be better to advise people to “be listening at 1:59am for John Kerr’s clock winding special”.

It would be fairly easy to do, instead of running the final ad break of the hour at 1:57 and then running the top of the hour promo followed by the news, I would suggest the following schedule:

1:56 Final ad break
1:58 John Kerr’s clock winding special
1:59:55 usual time pips
2:00 (optional) Three cuckoo clock chimes as a news intro

The clock winding special would be fairly straight forward, it would contain John Kerr advising people to wind their clocks forward to 2:59 and stand by sixth time pip, at which time their clock should be wound forward to precisely 3am.

And to add to the fun, John could invite people to call in with their Daylight Saving disaster stories from years gone by, and the first three people to do so would win a clock radio (and if possible, signed by the retiring John Laws).

Who would have thought 3am could be turned in to the most exciting part of the day?

Samuel
On leave in Sydney

October 25th, 2007 at 09:40am

Happy Birthday Marcella Zemanek

Today is the birthday of Marcella Zemanek, wife of the late Stan Zemanek.

Marcella has a weekly movie review segment on Glenn Wheeler’s weekend afternoon show on 2UE, and Glenn has turned it in to a birthday party.

Happy Birthday Marcella!

Samuel

3 comments October 20th, 2007 at 03:53pm

ACRA Award Winners

The Australian Commercial Radio Awards were held last night in Melbourne. The full list of winners is below, however as this is a generally Canberra focussed blog, I will run through the winners of note in Canberra first.

Firstly congratulations to 2CC’s Drive announcer Mike Welsh who took out the best provincial talk presenter award. Mike defeated station colleague Mike Jeffreys who won the award not that long ago.

Mike Welsh’s producer, Michael Thompson, took out the award for best provincial newcomer off-air.

The sales team at Mix 106.3 took out the award for best provincial station sales achievement and Joseph Gleeson picked up the best entertainment/music show producer for his work on Mix 106.3.

Also of some note, 2GB’s Jason Morrison picked up a Brian White Memorial Award. Jason has a regular segment on 2CC’s breakfast show at 7:25.

3AW’s Clinton Grybas picked up the award for best metropolitan sport presenter. Clinton used to be heard on 2CA calling the AFL, and was also involved in the coverage of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games last year.

Max Healey, Leigh Zaghet and Alastair Reynolds from 2UE/Southern Cross Broadcasting and Syndication picked up the Engineering Excellence award. These three people are responsible for keeping a number of stations including 2CC on the air for a number of hours every day, including making sure John Laws, and 2GB’s Continuous Call Team, get to air whenever they are on. Clive Robertson could hardly speak any higher of Mr. Reynolds, the three of them obviously do some very good work.

Of special interest to me is an award going to Australian Independent Radio News client station Flow FM. They picked up an award for best country station sales achievement.

Tributes were also paid to recently deceased industry legends Stan Zemanek and Frank Hyde.

The full list of winners, courtesy of RadioInfo, follows.

Category Finalists are denoted with the following letters: Country, Provincial, Non Metropolitan and Metropolitan

BEST ON-AIR TEAM
Sea FM Morning Crew with Matt, Maree and Smithy – 101.9 Sea FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Maryborough QLD C
Phebe Irwin and Dave Gorr – “Phebe and Dave’s Bigger Breakfast”, Wave 96.5 FM, Grant Broadcasting, Wollongong NSW P
The Kyle and Jackie O Show – 2Day FM, Austereo, Sydney NSW M

BEST TALK PRESENTER
Jennifer Menchin – 2BS, Bathurst Broadcasters, Bathurst NSW C
Mike Welsh – “Mike Welsh Drive Show”, 2CC, Capital Radio, Canberra ACT P
Neil Mitchell – “3AW Morning Program”, 3AW, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Melbourne VIC M

BEST MUSIC PERSONALITY
Cameron Williams – 97.7 Snow FM, Capital Radio, Jindabyne, NSW C
Kris Fade – The Edge 96.1, Australian Radio Network, Sydney West NSW P
Jabba – Nova 969, DMG Radio, Sydney NSW M

BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR
Neil Mitchell – 3AW, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Melbourne VIC

BRIAN WHITE MEMORIAL
Greg Henricks – “Sting in the Tale”, 92.5 Gold FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Gold Coast QLD
Jason Morrison – 2GB, Macquarie Radio Network, Sydney NSW

BEST SPORTS PRESENTER
Geoff Mann – “Without a Doubt”, 2DU, Super Network, Dubbo NSW C
Steve Allan – “2GO Good Sports”, 2GO FM 107.7, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Gosford NSW P
Clinton Grybas – “3AW Sport”, 3AW, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Melbourne VIC M

BEST NEWS PRESENTER
Sarah Taylor – 3WM, ACE Radio Broadcasters, Horsham VIC C
Rod McLeod – 92.5 Gold FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Gold Coast QLD P
Tony Tardio – 3AW, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Melbourne VIC M (AM)
Kristy Warner – Nova 969, DMG Radio, Sydney NSW M (FM)

BEST PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Glen Roth – 97.7 Snow FM, Capital Radio, Jindabyne NSW C
Jason Matthews – 92.5 Gold FM/ Sea FM 90.9, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Gold Coast QLD P
John Brennan – 2GB, Macquarie Radio Network, Sydney NSW M

BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR
Karina Singer – Sea FM 101.9, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Maryborough QLD C
Johnno Keetels – Sea FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Sunshine Coast QLD P
Mickey Maher – B105, Austereo, Brisbane QLD M

BEST SHOW PRODUCER – ENTERTAINMENT/ MUSIC
Derek Bargwanna – 2Day FM, Austereo, Sydney NSW
Sam Cavanagh – Fox FM 101.9, Austereo Melbourne VIC
Joseph Gleeson – Mix 106.3, ARN/ Austereo, Canberra ACT

BEST SHOW PRODUCER – TALKBACK/ CURRENT AFFAIRS
Tony Briscoe – “Charles Wooley Across Australia”, Heart 107.3, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Hobart TAS NM
Paul Christenson – “Alan Jones Show”, 2GB, Macquarie Radio Network, Sydney NSW M

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Dennis Guthrie and Charles Wooley – “Beaconsfield Master Blaster”, Heart 107.3, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Hobart TAS NM
Sideshow Mike Andersen – “Anzac Day”, Triple M, Austereo, Sydney NSW M

BEST MUSIC SPECIAL
Early Openers – “Spirit of the Bush”, Mixx FM 106.3, ACE Radio Broadcasters, Horsham VIC C
Matty Acton and Renee Peterson–“The List–Backstage at the Big Day Out 2007”, Sea FM 90.9, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Gold Coast QLD P

BEST SPORTS EVENT COVERAGE
Luke Bradnam and Ben Harrison – “Gold Coast Game Fishing Comp”, 102.9 FM, Hot Tomato, Gold Coast QLD NM
Triple M Football – “2006 AFL Grand Final”, Triple M, Austereo, Melbourne VIC M

BEST STATION PRODUCED COMMERCIAL
Ray Adams – “For Pup’s Sake Dog Grooming – Rex”, ACE Radio Broadcasters, Mixx FM, Hamilton VIC C
Kent Howlett and Lawrence Moorfield – “Strike Action, Strike Bearer, Strike Out”, Hot Tomato, Gold Coast QLD P
Rusty Graham – “The Island Party Boat”, Nova 106.9, DMG Radio, Brisbane QLD M

BEST PROMOTIONS DIRECTOR
Steve White – Sea FM/92.7 Mix FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Sunshine Coast QLD NM
Leanne Glamuzina – Nova 106.9, DMG Radio, Brisbane QLD M

BEST STATION PROMOTION
The Morning Crew with Matt, Maree and Smithy–“Smithy’s Challenge Wheel”, 101.9 Sea FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Maryborough QLD C
Sea FM – “15 Concerts in 15 Days”, Sea FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Sunshine Coast QLD P
2Day FM Promotions – “Kyle and Jackie O Boost Your Life”, 2Day FM, Austereo, Sydney NSW M

BEST STATION PRODUCED COMEDY SEGMENT
Dave and Hughesy – “Telco Torture”, Zoo FM, Super Network, Dubbo NSW C
Luke Bradnam – “Granny Calls Granny”, 102.9 FM, Hot Tomato, Gold Coast QLD P
Matt Hale – “Cake Message Phonecall”, 96FM, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Perth WA M

BEST NETWORKED PROGRAM
Trent McCurdy – “The Dirty 30”, Mixx FM, ACE Radio Broadcasters, Horsham VIC NM
Charles Wooley – “Charles Wooley Across Australia”, Heart 107.3, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Hobart TAS NM
Hamish and Andy – Fox FM 101.9, Austereo, Melbourne VIC M

BEST SYNDICATED AUSTRALIAN PROGRAM
Radiowise Media Networks – “Home Grown Humour”, Sydney NSW

BEST STATION SALES ACHIEVEMENT
The Sales Team – 5RM/Magic 93.1 FM, Star Broadcasting, Riverland SA C
Flow FM – Flow FM, W&L Phillips, Kapunda SA C
Mix 106.3 Sales Team – Mix 106.3 FM, ARN/Austereo, ACT P
Triple M Brisbane – Triple M, Austereo, Brisbane QLD M

BEST AGENCY SALESPERSON
Stephanie Hodgetts – Star Broadcasting, Riverland SA NM
Tanya Williams – Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Brisbane QLD NM
Simon Kent – Austereo, Melbounre VIC M

BEST DIRECT SALESPERSON
Denise Nolan – 5RM/Magic 93.1 FM, Star Broadcasting, Riverland SA C
Leonie Leonard – Hot FM/Sea FM 98.7, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Mackay QLD P
Juanna Masters – Fox FM 101.9/Triple M, Austereo, Melbourne VIC M

BEST SALES PROMOTION
Belinda Didsman, Zanna Munro, Phil Cole and Jennifer Menchin – “60 Jobs in 60 Days”, 2BS, Bathurst Broadcasters, Bathurst NSW C
NX FM – “Have Maccas with Matty”, NX FM, Austereo, Newcastle NSW P
Triple M – “The Snickers Hour”, Triple M, Austereo, Melbourne VIC M

BEST COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT
Janeen Hosemans – “Bessie Fitzpatrick – Orringe Appeal”, 2BS, Bathurst Broadcasters, Bathurst NSW C
93.9 Bay FM – “Bay FM Community Forum”, 93.9 Bay FM, Grant Broadcasting, Geelong VIC P
KO FM Promotions Team – “Murdoch Family Rescue”, KO FM, Austereo, Newcastle NSW P
Triple M – “Youngcare Appeal”, Triple M, Austereo, Brisbane QLD P

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
Andrew Andrews – 103.5 Mix FM/Sea FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Maryborough QLD C
David Huth – Sea FM/92.7 Mix FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Sunshine Coast QLD P
Ben Ryan – Nova 106.9, DMG Radio, Brisbane QLD M

ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE
Max Healey, Leigh Zaghet and Alastair Reynolds – 2UE, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Sydney NSW

INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE
Natalie Florence – “3AW Producer Manual”, 3AW, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Melbourne VIC

MOST POPULAR STATION MANAGER
David Bye – 5RM/Magic 93.1FM, Star Broadcasting, Riverland SA C
Paul O’Connor – Hot FM/Sea FM 98.7, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Mackay QLD P
David McDonald – 4BC/4BH, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Brisbane QLD M

BEST NEWCOMER ON-AIR
Charles Croucher – 2BS, Bathurst Broadcasters, Bathurst, NSW C
Zoe Ella – Hot FM, Macquarie Regional Radioworks, Townsville QLD P
Dylan Lewis – Nova 100, DMG Radio, Melbourne VIC M

BEST NEWCOMER OFF-AIR
Krystle Theodore – Mixx FM 106.3/3CS, ACE Radio Broadcasters, Colac VIC C
Michael Thompson – 2CC, Capital Radio, Canberra ACT P
Faith Bradley – 4BC, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Brisbane QLD M

Congratulations to all the winners.

Samuel

October 14th, 2007 at 06:06am

Attard, Palmer to quit ABC’s Media Watch

As you are probably aware by now, ABC TV’s “Media Watch” presenter Monica Attard, and executive producer Tim Palmer, are going to leave the program at the end of the current season in November.

Whilst Attard, who has been hosting the show for nearly two years, has not announced her future plans, Palmer has announced that he will take up an executive producer post with Lateline and Lateline Business when he completes his one year stint on the program.

I do have to wonder if Media Watch has a future. Of late, although it has produced some very good stories, it has resorted to filling in time with either short bloopers, or lengthy beatups, and has even started to pour more scrutiny on ABC programming than it used to (a behaviour which played a part in the demise in SBS’s Hotline and the similar shows on other stations).

Last year in April, Monica Attard and (then) executive producer Peter McEvoy threatened to quit if ABC management interfered with the show, following ABC management removed a story from the show. The tension between Media Watch and ABC management has been fairly obvious since then, with ABC managing director Mark Scott openly criticising the program a number of times.

It is rumoured that Media Watch is destined for the chopping block which, despite its many faults, would be quite unfortunate. Media Watch may have slipped in to the realm of reporting bloopers (the start of this story would be a good example), but it does often make some very valid points and observations about the state of the media in this country, and the amount of work the staff of Media Watch do behind the scenes investigating issues and corresponding with various people in the media does keep everyone on their toes.

Media Watch, in many ways, plays an important role in maintaining common sense in the media, at a level which is too minor for ACMA to investigate, but too important to be ignored completely.

For all its faults, Media Watch is an important part of the Australian media landscape, and cancelling it because ABC management can’t stand the heat of having scrutiny of their own staff would be a tragedy.

Samuel

September 20th, 2007 at 07:48pm

Canberra Radio Ratings #2 for 2007

Late last week Nielsen Media Research released the results of the second survey of radio listeners in Canberra for 2007. For the last few ratings I haven’t managed to produce a statistical analysis of the ratings due to the amount of time it takes, however this time I have gone to the effort of putting all the ratings results since 2005 in to a spreadsheet, this not only allows me to automate the calculations required for the analysis, but also allows me to create graphs. As such, you can expect much more interesting ratings results from me from now on.

So, without further ado, the ratings.

666 ABC Canberra have clearly cemented themselves at the top of the ratings (congratulations to them…but I really can’t understand why…if the audience want to listen to the ABC, Radio National is much better, and if they’re not fussed about whether the station they are listening to is an ABC one or not then 2CC is the best talk radio station in Canberra in my opinion), 2CA are making an impressive comeback, and ABC Classic FM are losing ground quickly. 2CC have now lost ground for two consecutive surveys (although I have been informed that Mike Frame’s weekend programs are rating between 14% and 16% in their timeslots, and are the highest rating programs of any 2CC presenter, local or otherwise). FM 104.7 did much better than their sister station Mix 106.3, and JJJ continue to gain.

It is quite interesting to see how the leaderboard has changed over time (Excel refused to reduce the Y axis range to “1 to 10”).

I think it is quite interesting to see the segmentation of the market between the talk and music stations, and how it changes over time.

There are five music stations and four talk stations in Canberra, so it is also interesting to see the average rating of each station in each category.

ABC and Commercial audiences.

There are five ABC stations and four commercial stations…therefore the averages of the stations in each category.

And probably my favourite category comparison…the battle of the bands.

FM might still be winning, but this is the second consecutive gain for AM!

The averages based on four AM stations and five FM stations.

So far the date for the first survey of 2008 has not been announced.

4 comments September 19th, 2007 at 06:30am

Surprise Surprise Gotcha

Channel Nine are currently running a program titled “Surprise Surprise Gotcha” which plays elaborate practical jokes on people of some note, usually celebrities or people who work in the media. The television guide describes it as follows:

Welcome to the world of Surprise Surprise Gotcha. Matt Tilley and Jackie O host a surreal world of hidden cameras, where illusion becomes reality. It’s stunts, stars and strings where unsuspecting celebrities play the lead role without knowing it!

I think they meant “stings” rather than “strings”, but the promos for this show have been running for most of the week and I’ve been trying to work out why the show seemed familiar. It turns out that this is a new series of a show that was on during the 1990s (or possibly 2000) under the name “Surprise Surprise”. Tonight they will be replaying one of the stunts they played on Livinia Nixon with the assistance of Ed Phillips where they locked them in a phone booth. I’m glad they will be replaying that stunt as it is what jogged my memory about the show.

It is a very entertaining show and I am looking forward to the rest of it.

Samuel

7 comments September 18th, 2007 at 07:53pm