Posts filed under 'TV/Radio/Media'
Details of the first rating season in Canberra for the year are slowly seeping out. The results aren’t in general public circulation yet, but radioinfo is reporting that Mix 106.3 has won the ratings, followed by 104.7, ABC666 and 2CC. Radioinfo says that the biggest improver this time around was 2CC, which is hardly surprising given all of the bus advertising they had zooming around the city.
No info on the other stations as yet, but based on the details that are available at the moment, it sounds like my predictions may be more or less correct.
Time will tell…and more details as they come to hand.
Samuel
June 15th, 2006 at 05:18pm
According to page 4 of this document from Nielsen Media (the people responsible for radio ratings), the results from the recent Canberra radio ratings are due for release today. I’ll get the details online ASAP, which will probably be this afternoon at some stage.
And just for the record, the long forgotten Blog View Stats for last month will be online tomorrow. They slipped my mind as I was too busy concentrating on work…they appear to have a reduction in visitors compared to previous months, but that’s probably not such a bad thing.
Samuel
June 15th, 2006 at 12:30am
If metro ratings schedules are anything to go by, Canberra’s radio ratings should be out today. In metro areas, radio ratings are released on the 2nd Wednesday after a ratings period…today is that day in Canberra…fingers crossed!
Samuel
June 14th, 2006 at 07:07am
A long weekend that brings back familiar voices, a presenter on holiday during a major event, a new breakfast duo, and ratings due out this week…it’s all fun and games at Capital Radio.
Going back to Monday June 5, and with the radio ratings season over, 2CC breakfast host Mike Jeffreys went on leave for two weeks, leaving Mike Frame in charge…but could anybody have predicted what was to follow? From the moment the ACT budget was announced on Tuesday afternoon, the local shows on 2CC have been generating a telephone meltdown as people ring in to vent their anger. 2CC have done a wonderful job as the forum for that anger, but I’m sure it was not quite what they had in mind for last week, and probably the rest of this week. I’m pretty sure they would have been expecting the annual fireworks discussions in the leadup to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend…but Mr. Stanhope made sure that didn’t happen.
Speaking of the long weekend, who forgot to tell Mike Frame about it? Every single day, he was there, and he’ll stay there until midday on Sunday when he finally gets to have a break for five days.
Whoever forgot to tell Framey about the public holiday, yelled the information at 2UE, who decided that Monday should be part of the weekend, and as such brought some familiar voices back to the 2CC airwaves. Queen’s Birthday Monday went something like this:
12am-6am: John Kerr (via 2UE)
6am-9am: Mike Frame (local)
9am-12pm: George Moore and Paul B. Kidd (via 2UE…and a pleasure to hear them on 2CC again)
12pm-3pm: Glenn Wheeler (via 2UE)
3pm-5pm: NRL (via 2GB)
5pm-6pm: Highlights of the Mike Welsh Drive Show (repeat and local)
6pm-12pm: Mike Williams (via 2UE).
Thankfully most people wouldn’t have known that Mike Welsh’s highlights show was a repeat, as it originally aired at 6am on Saturday in the place of “Bits of the Mike Jeffreys Breakfast Programme”, which is difficult to produce without a show to base it on.
And what was that promo being splashed around during 2CA’s AFL coverage? It was the long-awaited promo for 2CA’s new breakfast show, featuring two people called “Paul & Lleyton”. It might be long-awaited (2 and a half months), but it seems odd to start a new breakfast show after a ratings season and before the results…but so be it, with any luck Paul and Lleyton will be Canberra’s most interesting and useful breakfast combination, which wouldn’t be hard with the terribly annoying and distrubing Mark and Lisa on Mix 106.3 and that trio of idiots on 104.7…and do 666 ABC Canberra have a breakfast duo any more? I can never keep up with their continuously changing schedule.
I will wish Paul and Lleyton the best of luck, it’s quite obvious that 2CA are trying to win back some of the youth market they have lost to the FM commercial stations…they might succeed, but will they retain their older audience? It’s a tough ask being on breakfast on an ailing station, but with two and a half months of preparation from 2CA management, you would have to give Paul and Lleyton at least half a chance…good luck boys!
Update: Whoops, looks like it’s actually “Paul and Leighton”!
Samuel
June 13th, 2006 at 08:49am
A little birdie has informed me that their spies say Clive Robertson will be filling in for Glenn Wheeler (who is filling in for Stan Zemanek) on 2UE, 2CC and network stations tonight from 8pm-midnight.
Probably not a bad idea considering that good ol’ Glenn has been having some issues with his voice lately.
It is also interesting to note that Stan is one of 2CC’s big ratings attractors and was plastered over the back of a heap of Canberra buses for the ratings season…with three nights (including tonight) left for him in this ratings season to appear on the airwaves, he is yet to appear, instead being replaced by both Clive and Glenn. 2CC’s ratings will be very interesting indeed.
Samuel
May 31st, 2006 at 07:31pm
I enjoyed the state of origin match last night, I muted the television and listened to the coverage on 2CC with Andrew Moore, Steve Roach, Daryl Brohman and Tony Megahey, which was quite excellent as usual. The match was brilliant, although it did have a few contentious referee decisions, although it is hard to think of a single NRL match that doesn’t have a contentious decision these days.
The one thing that I’ve been thinking about for a while which I think needs improvement in the NRL, (and I raised this with Andrew and Steve after the match) is that the “modern” game is too fast for one referee. Personally I think we need two referees, one ahead of the play (much like what we have now) watching general play, and another in closer watching the play-the-ball incidents and the other little things that the main ref seems to often miss.
Steve didn’t seem to think that would work as the close ref would get in the way of play, and he is probably right, but we eventually agreed on giving back some power to the touch judges, who used to fill the role of “close ref” before the video referee came in. In my view this would be a good idea, and would improve the game as it would be cleaner, and there would be less controversy. I would give the touch judges the power to pull up play when there is a forward pass or play the ball error (how long has it been since you’ve seen somebody use their feet in the play-the-ball? It’s rare…very rare) or some other problem which needs to be pulled up.
So what do you think?
Samuel
May 25th, 2006 at 12:35pm
On Friday morning whilst listening to The Best Of The John Laws Week on 2CC, I had an amusing, silly, unworkable and not in the least bit serious idea about radio and television in Australia.
Basically the idea was that it could be made federal law that every television and radio station in the country must broadcast the half hour or thereabouts of The Best Of The John Laws Week, and the transmitters would have to be set up to ensure that this would occur.
As I said, completely unworkable, silly and not in the least bit serious…but amusing none the less.
Samuel
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:43am
It’s Mike “not quite in the plane” Frame’s birthday today (21 May), so happy birthday Mike.
Mike, it would appear, was merely filling in for the period of time between Andrew “Pye in the sky” Pye leaving for Wollongong, and Dennis Lee (could be any number of alternative spellings) taking over traffic completely.
I like Dennis, he reminds me of the stereotypical busy major capital city traffic reporter.
But I digress, Happy Birthday Mike! You must be happy that you’ve finished breakfast traffic before winter sets in.
Samuel
May 21st, 2006 at 12:45am
This morning on 2CC something went wrong with the 5am news from Sydney (my guess is that somebody didn’t press the right button at 2UE), and instead of news we got silence for 15 seconds, followed by the 2CC emergency tape. I’ve heard this new emergency tape a few times but it until this morning I had only heard the first few seconds.
The new emergency tape starts the same way as the old one…a short, generic, 2CC station ID, but after that it is completely different. Some presumably witty person has the first bit of “programming” on the tape as a song…namely Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound Of Silence”, a rather apt song for a tape which is launched automatically after 15 seconds of silence.
Following this song there is an outdated but relatively generic promo for Mike Jeffreys’ Breakfast Program and, if I recall correctly, one of those “advertise on commercial radio” ads.
By this stage in the emergency tape I was mildly worried about the dodgy Optus satellite that carries the Southern Cross Broadcasting signal. Thankfully though a weather pulse came through, which prompted 2CC’s computer to break the studio silence and therefore interrupt the emergency tape. The weather was followed by the return of John Kerr’s programme, which indicates to me that it was human error at 2UE that created silent news.
None the less, I hope the infamous alphabet song is hidden on 2CC’s emergency tape somewhere, as an emergency tape just isn’t an emergency tape without the cheerful sound of “A you’re adorable, B you’re so beautiful, C you’re a cutie full of charm…”. It has a strangely adorable quality that almost reassures the listener that everything will be back to normal soon.
Samuel
May 20th, 2006 at 02:41pm
2CC’s “voice of reason” and 2UE/2CC afternoon host John Stanley has signed with Southern Cross Broadcasting until the end of 2008, which means that he will most likely continue to host “Afternoons with John Stanley” until the end of 2008. (That being said, if John Laws retires I wouldn’t be overly surprised if John Stanley takes over after a short period of Tim Webster filling in).
The thing that makes this story more interesting is that, during the regular segment with resident money expert of the afternoon show, Paul Clitheroe, just after the federal budget, John presented Paul with a hypothetical scenario about a person who seemed to match John’s own description, contemplating retirement, but wondering whether or not he should put it off for a few years, after taking into account the superannuation tax break announced in the federal budget. Paul suggested that it would be a good idea…and lo and behold a short time thereafter the news emerges that John Stanley has agreed to stay with 2UE and parent company for another couple years.
Coincidence? I think not.
Samuel
May 19th, 2006 at 09:13am
About a week ago I brought you the news that 2CC are advertising on the backs of some ACTION Busses, I even brought you a photo of one such ad, spotted on the back of bus 999.
Unfortunately the back of bus 999 was a bit dirty when I took that photo, so I have since taken a photo of a 2CC ad on the back of a cleaner bus, although I can’t remember which bus it was.
I have been carefully monitoring busses that I see, and jotting down the bus number of busses which are carrying the ads, and so far I can confirm that there are 2CC ads on busses:
116
121
884
900
901
910
913
916
917
931
934
938
950
994
999
Whenever I have been at an interchange and had spare time whilst waiting for a bus, I have done a lap of the interchange to see which busses have the 2CC ad, today I did about five laps of Woden interchange.
Interestingly, I caught a number of busses today, and on all but one the driver was listening to 2CC…one such driver even turned the radio up so that most of the passengers could hear it (incidentally that bus had a 2CC ad on the back). This probably means one of three things:
- The ads are working, and people are making the switch to 2CC.
- 2CC have some kind of agreement with ACTION where certain busses have their radios tuned to 2CC (unlikely, virtually impossible to enforce…and probably not in drivers’ contracts).
- I was just lucky (again unlikely as I caught far too many busses for this to be a statistical anomaly).
Also interesting in this ratings season advertising blitz is that 2CC have let go of some advertising revenue, by placing the Southern Cross Syndication “BiteSize Cooking” program in an ad break during the John Laws Morning Show, with a spoken intro from Lawsie.
Also interesting is that the “instant ratings” (level of talkback calls on local programming) appear to be on the rise. This is probably another good sign for 2CC.
I am surprised that I have not seen any advertising from the other radio stations. Last year Mix 106.3 and FM104.7 advertised on taxis, the ABC advertised on commercial television, and 2CC/2CA did nothing noticeable…looks like the tables have turned this year (with the notable exception of 2CA).
I suppose the one thing which might work in 2CA’s favour is people who check out 2CC after seeing a bus ad, don’t like it, fiddle with the dial and land on “The new sound of Canberra’s 1053 2CA”, which reminds them of Mix 106.3 but sounds better, and so they stay. It’s a long shot but I’m sure it has happened to a few people.
Samuel
May 10th, 2006 at 04:33pm
The results for the final ratings survey before the 3AW/Magic frequency swap are in, with 3AW and Magic both recording gains. This is Melbourne Ratings #3, 2006, for March 26 to April 29 inclusive.
The largest gains went to 3AW (+2.2), Fox FM (+1.0) and Magic (+0.4). The largest losses went to ABC Local Radio (-1.8), Gold 104.3 (-1.6) and Mix 101.1 (-0.5).
| Station |
This
Survey (%) |
Last
Survey (%) |
Change |
| 3AW |
16.7 |
14.5 |
+2.2 |
| Fox FM |
11.3 |
10.3 |
+1.0 |
| ABC Local Radio |
11.2 |
13.0 |
-1.8 |
| MMM |
10.5 |
10.3 |
+0.2 |
| Nova |
9.0 |
9.0 |
0 |
| Gold 104.3 |
8.3 |
9.9 |
-1.6 |
| Magic |
6.0 |
5.6 |
+0.4 |
| Mix 101.1 |
5.1 |
5.6 |
-0.5 |
| 3MP |
2.5 |
2.2 |
+0.3 |
| ABC Classic FM |
2.5 |
2.4 |
+0.1 |
| SEN |
2.4 |
2.3 |
+0.1 |
| ABC Radio National |
2.1 |
2.4 |
-0.3 |
| ABC News Radio |
1.7 |
1.6 |
+0.1 |
| Vega |
1.4 |
1.6 |
-0.2 |
I’ll bring you the next Melbourne Radio Ratings as well, which will be the first after the frequency swap. The results should be interesting. That survey will be for May 7 to June 10 inclusive, and is due for release on June 20.
Samuel
May 9th, 2006 at 07:23pm
It looks like the Optus B1 satellite may be having issues again (much like it did in late March). Lawsie has been off air for just over ten minutes, with 2CC now resorting to playing funny clips of Laws in between ads.
No news from Southern Cross Syndication or Optus yet, but I’ll keep you posted.
Update: Looks like the issue is sorted, after nearly twenty minutes.
Samuel
May 9th, 2006 at 10:25am
It is 7:15AM, which means Melbourne was in the midst of radio history exactly one week ago when 3AW changed frequency from 1278kHz to 693kHz. The changover was (apparently) done by AFL legend Ron Barassi by flicking a large yellow switch on the top of a big black box with wires attached.
Unfortunately I fear that the switch was more of a press event than anything else, as the changeover semi-occured before the switch was flicked. Here is what was heard on 1278kHz
Ross Stevenson: “Throw that switch”
(Sound effect)
Ross Stevenson: “Ross Stevenson”
John Burns: “John Burns”
Ross Stevenson: “Welcome you to the new age on 6-9-3”
Whilst on 693kHz the following took place
Ann Gilding: “You know Andy there’s just one thing I’d like to do, just one more time before we move to 1278”
Andrew McLaren: “I hate to think Ann”
Ann Gilding: “Can we play a Magic 693 jingle just one more time?”
(Magic 693 Jingle)
(Silence)
Ross Stevenson: “Throw That Swi…”
(Silence)
Ross Stevenson: “Ross Stevenson”
John Burns: “John Burns”
Ross Stevenson: “Welcome you to the new age on 6-9-3”
None the less, the changeover was interesting, and the technicians obviously only had one chance to get it right. If it had been me I would have tried to get 3AW on 693kHz starting with the sound effect. I suspect they did too, but not to worry, it all worked out in the end.
Magic 693 ended with the song they came to life with, “Magic Moments” by Perry Como. The man who played the song when Magic first went to air, Artie Stevens, said that “it was a significant thing to finish with”.
With thanks to Robert “Wombat Lover” I am able to bring you some audio of the changeover.
Firstly we have the last minutes of Magic 693, the changeover, and the first minutes of 3AW 693 (10 minutes 13 seconds, 4.3MB, Click here to download)
Next up we have the first topical discussion on 3AW 693, a discussion about the Fremantle V St. Kilda inaudible siren fiasco, and the first 3AW news on 693, which features a story about the changeover, including the audio from the 1278 version of the changeover. (9 minutes 45 seconds, 4.1MB, Click here to download)
Magic 1278 came to life, not at 10am as promised, but at 10:05:16 when the ad break between the 3AW news and the Magic 1278 weather started, the Magic 1278 weather started at 10:06:01, and the Magic 1278 intro featuring a potted history of Magic 693/1278 and Olivia Newton John’s “Magic” started at 10:06:37. The download for this features 3AW using Auld Lang Syne as their goodbye to 1278kHz, 3AW News, the Magic 1278 intro and the Magic breakfast hosts dropping in on the morning host for a little chat. (17 minutes 15 seconds, 7.2MB, Click here to download)
So there you have it folks, Australian radio history recorded on Samuel’s Blog, and therefore the National Library of Australia’s PANDORA archive.
The final radio ratings containing Magic 693 and 3AW 1278 is due out tomorrow (the survey period ended on the Saturday prior to the changeover), and the first ratings containing Magic 1278 and 3AW 693 is due out on Tuesday, June 20 (the survey period started yesterday), and I will endeavour to bring you both.
Samuel
May 8th, 2006 at 07:15am
Welcome to the first radio ratings season in Canberra, which will run from now until Saturday June 3, which means results will be due sometime around June 13.
If those of you with (and even the rest of us without) survey books could be so kind as to tune your radios to 2CC for the duration of this season I would be most grateful, and I’m sure you will agree that you have stumbled on to Canberra’s best radio station.
Naturally I’m looking forward to seeing how this ratings season pans out, 2CC are already off to a good start with ads on busses, but it will be interesting to see what tricks the other stations in Canberra pull out of their collective hats. Last year ABC Local Radio pulled off the dirty trick of advertising on commercial television, a trick I wouldn’t mind if they had advertising themselves, but the fact that they (the ABC as a whole) cry poor and then squander precious taxpayer funds on expensive television advertising is a very low and dirty trick. Of course the question as to why the ABC pay to be included in commercial radio ratings is beyond me, but I suppose they have to do something to make themselves look like a worthwhile budget hole. If the ABC are allowed in to the commercial radio ratings using taxpayer funds, perhaps the government should just make it an open and honest affair and pay for the community stations as well.
In my view, Canberra’s radio market is severely split into two markets, one being music, and the other being talk. In recent years the music market has been a fierce competition between Mix 106.3 and 104.7, with Triple J, ABC Classic FM and 2CA making up the rear of the pack. Last ratings season 104.7 gained an astonishing 2.6 ratings points to take the lead from Mix 106.3.
Having recently been subjected to multiple hearings of 104.7, I can safely say that I think they are going downhill quickly, and will struggle to retain top spot. Mix 106.3 will probably regain top spot, and the rest are unlikely to change. 2CA could have gained if they had informed Canberra of their new format which is similar to Mix 106.3, but as they haven’t done that, I don’t forsee many gains for them.
In the talk market, the ABC have dominated, with ABC Local Radio absolutely sweeping the field with just over 2.5 times the ratings share as second place 2CC in the last survey. Radio National were just behind 2CC last time, and News Radio came last in both the talk market, and the overall Canberra market.
This ratings season sees a few interesting changes. The ABC Local Radio lineup has changed, with the awful Ross Solly (who by his own admition entered radio because he was no good at farming) heading the convoluted breakfast schedule, and being followed by good newsreader but horrible feminazi Virginia Haussegger (already complained about on the ABC guestbook) as their answer to John Laws (good luck…Ha!). ABC Local Radio have also lost their main attraction of a saturday morning, gardening host Mark Carmody, which has probably prompted listeners to fiddle with the dial and find alternatives.
I can’t understand why the ABC insist on changing their schedule, if they want to keep listeners they need to find a schedule they can keep for any length of time. They are slowly but surely driving people mad with their constant schedule fiddles.
2CC have had the same schedule for quite some time, albeit with minor alterations caused by 2UE schedule changes. In fact the only real changes at 2CC in terms of local programming is minor improvements such as a recent change to the Trading Post (whoops, new sponsor, it’s the Tradies Post now…and I thought it was a typo in the script when I heard the promo for the first time) which made calling to sell things a fairer experience for all and sundry.
2CC have a tried and tested formula which is popular amongst the listeners (and much more interesting than ABC Local Radio in my opinion), and a timetable which is easier to remember.
Of the other stations in the market, ABC Radio National has had plenty of success in podcasting, which has probably raised their “brand awareness value”, which in turn may work in their favour, although I think when it comes to their programming which has no local content, people might be happy with just the podcasts. ABC News Radio is really facing extermination here, their conversion to FM didn’t help them in the last survey, and the only reasons they survive is the taxpayer funding that keeps them there, and the fact that the other ABC stations don’t really want to take over the parliament broadcasts, which are a niche market and bore most people to tears (I personally love televised question time, which is a circus of comedic proportions). The budget proceedings may help News Radio, but their chances of getting anywhere in this survey are almost null.
It’s an interesting few weeks ahead in Canberra, and I wish all the stations the best of luck, although I wish 2CA and 2CC much more luck than the others!
Samuel
May 7th, 2006 at 12:27am
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