Posts filed under 'TV/Radio/Media'
Congratulations to Capital Radio’s Duncan McCrea (Update: Spelling corrected, sorry Duncan) who yesterday had his first (as far as I can recall) hosting gig on 2CC. Duncan did what Kris Mckenzie would have done before he left, and filled in for Mike Welsh on the drive show. The show only went for an hour and was probably on par with the first hour of Peter Higgins on 2UE’s middawn program on Friday morning. Both of them are pretty much new to hosting talkback, and Peter was sounding pretty good by about the third hour, I wouldn’t be surprised if Duncan puts in an even better performance next time he fills in.
For those of you wondering, last time I checked Duncan was the local panel operator for the John Laws Morning Show, and occasionally works in the Capital Radio newsroom. He previously worked for the now defunct Radio2.
Over at FM 104.7, Sarah Robinson, part of the “Chris and Sarah for Breakfast” program, is leaving the station at the end of the show on May the 1st (Tuesday next week). Mason Edwards left the breakfast show at the end of last year for sister station NXFM in Newcastle, leaving Chris Welldon and Sarah behind. A replacement show will be announced shortly, and Chris will remain with the station.
Samuel
April 26th, 2007 at 11:13am
Firstly, to James, yes it was me you saw in the background.
Secondly, to make this make sense for everyone else, this morning one of the highlights of my trip was a visit to Martin Place and Channel Seven’s Sunrise program. If you spot a promo for Sunrise tonight, the chances are that you will see my in the background in a blue jumper. They recorded two promos, I am clearly visible in the second one. People watching Seven’s 4:30 news would have seen it.
(I should note that it was screened during the 4:30 news in Sydney. I don’t know what time it was screened elsewhere).
Samuel
April 24th, 2007 at 08:29pm
I’ve had a few people ask me why they can’t receive MyTalk’s Digital TV station despite being in a coverage area, and a few more people have landed on this blog by asking Google the same question, so I thought I should probably provide a public answer.
Some newer digital receivers seem to automatically pick up new stations belonging to an existing group of stations (for example, Southern Cross Ten in Canberra has in their group the main channel, a high definition channel, and the MyTalk channel), which means that you can tune in to the new stations without any hassle.
Older receivers, and many of the current cheaper receivers, do not perform this function, on them you need to scan for new channels manually. Exactly how you do this will depend on your receiver, so you should consult your instruction manual if you’re not sure, but in most cases there is a menu option available for this. If your receivers allows you to rescan the current channel, then tune to any other station in the group (for example, if MyTalk is 55 in your area, tune in to 5) and rescan the channel, this is a lot quicker than performing a full channel scan.
Samuel
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:40am
Fresh from pulling the plug on Channel Nine’s day time chat show “The Catch Up” and overnight gameshow “Quizmania”, owner of WIN Television Bruce Gordon says he would like to pull the plug on Nine completely, and could do so as soon as June.
According to The Australian, Bruce Gordon spent 35 years at Paramount Pictures, mostly as head of international television sales, and in doing so built up a more than impressive list of contacts, enabling him to easily source enough quality programming to run an independent network.
Just the other day Sunraysia Television, owners of the Nine affiliate in Perth, recommended that their shareholders accept a buyout by WIN Television instead of a PBL buyout. WIN, apparently, also have their eye on another Nine affiliate, NBN Television.
The Australian reports that part of the reason for the push towards independent programming is stalled negotiations with Nine over the renewal of the affiliation deal. WIN are not happy with Nine asking for fifty percent of WIN’s gross revenue which is a large increase on the current deal of 34.25%, and an awful lot more than the 29% that affiliates of other networks are paying.
An anonymous WIN source told The Australian that they were happy to pay the higher rate when Nine were consistently winning the ratings.
One thing is for sure, an independent, near-national WIN Television would change the television landscape considerably.
Samuel
April 21st, 2007 at 07:21am
Listeners to any of Southern Cross Broadcasting’s talk radio stations and viewers of any of their television stations would by now be aware of the “MyTalk” website, a hub for news, discussions, and the websites of their TV and radio stations.
All of the talk stations now have a live video webcam which is clearly still having the bugs ironed out of it. From the 2UE webcam, Paul Makin this morning (not actually on air at the time as the red light (little black thing under the monitor he is looking at) is not on):
Viewers of Southern Cross television stations would probably have seen the ad for MyTalk featuring John Laws by now. It mainly consists of Lawsie signing off from his show by saying “that’s all we have time for” (has he ever actually said that on-air?) and then explaining that there is only a limited amount of time on the air, but there is all the time in the world to discuss whatever you want on MyTalk, and if you sign up or update your details before May 11 you could win $100,000. The terms and conditions have me a bit concerned though.
6. Inaudible, incomprehensible and illegible entries will be deemed invalid.
Well, that makes all of the entries invalid, as you can’t record your entry audibly for them. It’s a standard web form, and the last time I checked, it didn’t speak.
Also peculiar is the fact that the MyTalk television commercial omits any mention of the digital television version of MyTalk. For some peculiar reason it is also available as a “datacast” station with the latest news headlines, local and nearby weather and a few other bits and bobs (which this morning contained a short looped show of some bloke talking about pets in the State Focus studio).
MyTalk datacasting on digital channel 55 in Canberra
If the digital television version of datacasting is using up the bandwidth of a standard television service to display a screen with a bit of writing and a couple pictures, which can’t be manipulated by the viewer in any way, then I say bring back teletext! Actually I think Seven’s digital broadcasts still have proper teletext, but only some set top boxes support it. I’ll have to find that spare set top box and see if there are any teletext services associated with MyTalk. I know the local station, Southern Cross Ten, were running a test teletext service on their analogue station a couple years back, so it’s certainly not impossible.
MyTalk datacasting runs on channel 55 in most areas, and either 66, 77 or 99 in others. Of course if you don’t have a Southern Cross station in your area, then you don’t get their datacasting. They have a list of places and stations here.
It’s good to see traditional broadcasters making a genuine effort at getting in to the online arena, and MyTalk is fairly impressive and will probably prod 2GB to expand their offerings, and push the ABC to finally become serious about having two-way discussions rather than guestbooks. I’m a bit skeptical about the point of having the digital television version of MyTalk, but it’s a start and I’ll give it some time to develop. These things always seem to take someone to take a risk and launch something new and bold, and much to my surprise, it looks like Southern Cross Broadcasting have paved the way. Now we just have to wait and see what the others do.
Samuel
April 19th, 2007 at 10:16am
2UE’s John Kerr is having another lunch, this time it will be at one of Sydney’s best restaurants, Liquidity. It will be a two course lunch starting at midday on Tuesday and I will be in attendance. I’m not sure if there are any places left, but if you’d like to attend the cost is $40 and bookings can be made by calling (02) 8223 3866.
Samuel
April 18th, 2007 at 03:29pm
2CC’s drive show has gained a computer segment, Wednesday afternoons at 3:30pm (I’m making an educated guess on the time). Mike Welsh will be joined by Peter Saville who regular listeners may recall from his previous work on 2CC’s drive show in 2003. People from Mike’s old stomping ground of Tasmania might also remember Peter from his work with ABC Local Radio in Tasmania.
Samuel
April 18th, 2007 at 01:15pm
Earlier this week I commented that 2UE’s Middawn producer, Abe, was missing from the radio station and was possibly the latest 2UE presenter to be moved on after I got used to them…as it turns out Abe was just moving house, and is now back at work.
It’s great to have him back!
Incidentally, I think Paul Makin will be on tomorrow morning, but John Kerr will handle Good Friday. (I say I think because, whilst I’m certain, I can’t be sure).
Samuel
April 4th, 2007 at 03:08pm
Kris McKenzie, 2CC/2CA newsreader and 2CC fill-in host is leaving for Melbourne. Kris is among the best newsreaders the Capital Radio Network have had in recent years and I would be lying if I didn’t say he is one of the radio people I truly admire and have a great deal of respect for.
Kris will be sorely missed by his fans here in Canberra and surrounds, but I’m sure his move to Melbourne will be very successful, and I wish him all the best for the future.
I will have to check my archives for some audio of Kris’, but in the interim I do have a tiny sample of Kris from when he was reading the news prior to Mike Frame starting a show from Bunnings Belconnen. It’s one of the videos I haven’t yet moved to the Flash based video system, so you get to choose from four formats…MPEG4, Quicktime, Windows Media or Real Media.
Kris can be heard finishing off the weather before the voiceover. That being said, it’s about a second long so you might want to wait until I have a chance to find something more substantial.
Samuel
April 3rd, 2007 at 05:30pm
I can put up with Clive Robertson not being on 2UE’s middawn shift as I like Paul Makin, and they both do a good job…but what happened to the middawn producer Abe? There was a “Ben” there this morning…I hope Abe was just unwell or taking some time off and will be back soon as I think he is the best middawn producer they’ve had in ages.
Why is it that every time I get used to a middawn producer 2UE change them?
Samuel
April 2nd, 2007 at 11:51pm
I mentioned it the other day, but just to make sure that the people who keep searching for it actually find what they’re looking…Canberra’s 1053 2CA are not covering the AFL this year. If you want to hear the AFL on the radio then you will have to make do with the ABC coverage which I don’t think is quite as much fun.
Alternatively, 3AW, who 2CA sourced the AFL from for the last two years, still broadcast it, and they have a webstream. See their website or the AFL website for details.
Samuel
March 31st, 2007 at 07:54pm
I’ll write the statistical rundown shortly (some time in the next 24 hours), but first an opinion piece.
Canberra’s first radio ratings have been released for the year, and I can only say that I’m shocked. The radio station for people without ears has won the ratings (666 ABC Canberra), with 18.5% of the audience.
Somewhat surprisingly Canberra’s two FM music stations did quite poorly…they both lost a fair bit of ground. FM 104.7 down to 18.4% from 22.2%, and Mix 106.3 dropping even further to 18% from 22.2% (they were equal leaders last survey).
2CC lost a little bit of ground, 8.9% from 9.3%, which is interesting considering that the programming is an awful lot better than on 666.
JJJ were next, gaining ground to 8.7% from 7.0%, followed by more strong gains for the ABC, Radio National 8.2% from from 5.8%, and Classic FM 7.3% from 4.8%.
2CA were the only commercial music station to gain, 4.3% from 2.9%. I’ll miss the AFL on 2CA this year, but it’s good to see 2CA gaining ground again.
I can honestly say that NewsRadio being the only ABC station to lose ground does not surprise me, it’s a station designed for 15-30 minute listeners and it requires too much attention for most people. It should have stayed on AM and left room for 2CA to move to FM. NewsRadio dropped to 2.7% from 3.1%.
Unlisted stations attracted an audience of 5%.
The amazing swing towards ABC stations in these ratings, and away from the commercial FM stations, indicates to me that the sample group may not have been particularly similar to the one used last time. Perhaps not enough people are receiving the ratings books for the sample groups to be consistent.
Whilst it is possible that this is an accurate reflection of the radio audience in Canberra, I find the large swings just a bit unusual, and I fail to see how such a large number of Canberrans could all change to the ABC (or any other group for that matter) in the one survey. Perhaps these ratings are truly reflective and previous ones weren’t, perhaps it is the other way around, I don’t know. But what I do know is that if these ratings are accurate, that I live in a town filled with a lot of people who don’t use their ears.
(Statistics to follow)
Samuel
March 30th, 2007 at 03:09pm
I often hear people who visit Canberra saying that Canberra is too hard to get around because they keep getting lost and going around in circles.
The last person I heard saying that was 2UE’s Paul Makin, shortly after 12:30 this morning. Rather than getting in to a debate with him about how much easier it is to get around Canberra than Sydney, I decided to offer him a bit of wisdom…just after 2am.
“You do realise that this is the home of bureaucracy!”
Now if that doesn’t explain why people in Canberra go around in circles, I don’t know what does!
Samuel
March 27th, 2007 at 08:13pm
Congratulations to 2UE’s John Stanley and his wife Elissa who have recently celebrated the birth of their first child.
Just for the sake of fun, here is the “card” I sent to John and Elissa by fax last year when they got married and had their first honeymoon at the Melbourne Cup.
Whilst I have already sent John, Elissa and Bub an email, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly wish them all the best for the many years they have to come. I do have to wonder if John will get any sleep at night in the next two years though? Perhaps he’ll move to middawns?
Samuel
March 27th, 2007 at 03:00pm
Summary of webstreams:
2GB (Real Player and Windows Media)
2UE (Windows Media)
ABC2 TV (Windows Media)
ABC Local Radio Sydney (Real Player and Windows Media)
ABC NewsRadio (Real Player and Windows Media)
The media isn’t leaving this Saturday’s New South Wales election to chance…quite the opposite, there is almost too much live coverage!
ABC television will, as usual be conducting their coverage on their main channel in New South Wales and the ACT, as well as ABC2 Digital (including a webstream – thanks for the link Tim!) for those in other areas. The other television stations will undoubtedly have updates throughout the night.
But radio is where the choice becomes quite mind boggling, ABC Radio see a need for two separate coverages. 702 ABC Sydney will lead the network for ABC Local Radio across New South Wales, naturally this will be streamed from their website as well…but NewsRadio will have their very own national coverage, completely separate from ABC Local Radio, and also with its very own webstream. I can see a reason for both networks to cover the election, but I see no good reason for them to have their very own coverage teams.
The ABC 702 coverage will be headed up by Tony Delroy and his guests (including the retiring president of the NSW Legislative Council Meredith Burgman and former Liberal MP Stephen O’Doherty).
NewsRadio’s coverage will be run by Russell Powell and long-time state political reporter Steve Chase.
Over on the commercial networks, 2GB are seriously shifting Alan Jones, making him start at 5pm to cover the election. He will be joined by Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca and Opposition Transport spokesperson Gladys Berejiklian, and don’t be surprised if you hear Jason Morrison, or probably more excitingly for some of the readership, James Goodwin. I can’t confirm that, but I have my hunches and I would be very surprised if James doesn’t have a role in the coverage. Naturally their webstream will also be in service.
2UE and whatever stations usually take Saturday Night Live with Paul Makin will instead hear John Stanley and Steve Price from 6pm, and until a result is known (sounds like one of those “free drinks until the first goal” offers doesn’t it?). They will be joined by Labor Party heavyweight Stephen Loosley and former Liberal leader Kerry Chikarovski plus current Labor Minister Eric Roozendaal. Naturally they, just like everyone else, will have reporters in the Tally Room and other places, and their webstream will be in full swing.
“But wait, there’s more!”
Macquarie Regional Radioworks‘ network of stations (the one run by Macquaire Bank, not the 2GB/2CH network of a similar name) will also be covering the election, but not to the same extent. Gold Coast News Director Greg Henricks and Philippa Mooney will have regular updates from 7pm in the NightMix…they are effectively doing it the commercial television way…normal programming plus updates.
Naturally many stations will have post-election wraps on Sunday morning…including a special edition of ABC Radio’s “AM” program at 8am. Actually, I get the feeling that it will be the topic of choice on talk radio in and around New South Wales until at least Tuesday evening.
Samuel
March 22nd, 2007 at 06:27am
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