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July Radio
News
Michael Jackson's
Thriller was the most played Jackson hit song on
Australian capital city radio in the past week. (Source:
Aircheck Broadcast Monitoring.) In the US, radio
celebrated Jackson’s music in a huge way following news of the
King of Pop’s death, as Jackson’s biggest hits jumped nearly
1,735 % in overall airplay over the previous week, with many
stations solely dedicating their play lists to Jackson’s
discography. More details.
A radio show on
FM 99.3 in Sydney has been caught up in a
global Michael Jackson spam storm, after its website was
hijacked in a bid to infect users with malware. Full story.
Not everyone is
singing Michael Jackson's praises. Former Brisbane
radio talk back host Chuck Brooks sent us his
thoughts. Comment.
Lauren
Duggan is joining the
announcing team at Sun FM Alice Springs on
the 10am-2pm shift. She replaces Amy
Collett.
Senior executives at racing radio station
Sport 927 are stunned by the decision of its
major advertiser, Tabcorp, to stop its agents and outlets
using the station's broadcasts. Full story.
Snow
FM and Eagle FM have picked up the 'Hour of
Power'
becoming the first station outside the 2DAY network to take it. It
commenced in June 9th.
A presenter for 2MIA a NSW
community radio station that specialises in multicultural
programming has been reprimanded after she was revealed to be
an administrator of several racist, anti-immigration groups on
Facebook. Full story.
The ACE
Radio Network has launched new nights programming
this week on its group of FM stations across regional
Victoria. In January of this year, ACE Radio became the
first regional network to pick up the Hamish & Andy Show in drive and has now added Kyle &
Jackie O’s Hour of
Power and the
Hot 30 with Tim Lee & Biggzy to
the night time line-up. Group Program
Director, Mark Taylor, says the network is
simply furthering its commitment to offering the very best in
Australian radio broadcasting to regional Victorians: “We’re
thrilled to be able to work with Austereo’s Today Network to
gain access some of their outstanding programming currently
heard on 2DAY FM, B105, SAFM, Perth 92.9 and
Fox FM.
On July 1st
ABC switched on its digital radio
services in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Full story.
Congratulations to Gary Sands (4ZR Roma) and Arthur Muhl (Sonshine FM Perth) who have
both won a copy of 'Thanks For
Listening - History of Radio' (2DVD-set). All
our subscribers were entered into a draw for a chance to win
the DVD and thanks to the 'random number' web site you
guys won. (We trust our winners will be nice enough to
share the DVD around with their other staff
members!)
 Thought we might share this photo with our
Jocks' Journal readers. Perhaps this '70s photo explains
why Steve
Britten (then at
6KYPerth) abandoned his
interviewing skills and moved into a voice over career.
June Radio
News
Ken
Sparkes reports: "Friday was so frantic for media
around the Globe. My client Jack
FM
Oxfordshire called me urgently regarding some voice tracks. PD
Sue
Carter and the team headed by Ian Walker decided to change the call sign to 106 JACKO
FM as a tribute to Michael Jackson. This would only happen once in a lifetime of
programming so I departed from the function, whizzed back to
my studio on Sydney’s North side, opened the mail, started
recording, sending three pages of voice overs back to
production whizz Joe Thomas. Some will say, no
big deal, but it reminded me of how far radio has travelled
since we put in the telephone live to air and all got excited
with Windows 3X in 1990. Here are some samples: “Some called
him, bad, some called him dangerous-we call him the King of
Pop. Rest in Peace-106 JACKO FM” “Weird? Yes!
Wonderful? Certainly! Missed? Definitely! 106 JACKO FM.
I just love the immediacy of radio and love today's
technology!"
Matthew
Johns has continued to firm as favourite to anchor
Triple M Sydney's proposed new sporting
breakfast show, in the wake of this week's ratings survey.
Austereo's
head of content Guy
Dobson has confirmed his commitment to finding a new
breakfast mix. Full story.
Kyle
Sandilands
is in Los Angeles and apparently he is pitching a new
television show. He's on a two-week break from his
Austereo radio
commitments and is in LA pitching to some of the big US
networks. The word is he has signed to the powerful William
Morris Agency - one of the most respected celebrity agents in
the US.
 Michael
Jackson
(1958-2009). When Richard and Bridge were completing
their 25 hour marathon (see below), I'm sure they weren't
prepared for the news that would filter through at 9am
confirming the death of Michael Jackson. In the meantime, many
radio stations immediately prepared for
tributes (including the gold music station that I (JJ
editor) work for as a casual) and going on air at
9am once again I found myself on radio announcing the
death of a music superstar. My mind also flashed back to
the times when I was on radio doing news flashes on
the passing of Elvis
(today by the way
was the anniversary of his 'last concert'),
John Lennon, Michael Hutchence and John Denver.
Regular Jocks' Journal columnist Dave
Rogersonhas put together some timely thoughts on
Jackson's passing and the impact on radio and other media. Full article.
At 9 o’clock this morning (June
26), Richard and Bridge from the 92.5 GOLD FM
Breakfast Show successfully completed a
marathon 25 hours live Broadcast – “25 Live for Give Me
Five”. More details.
Douglas
Ell who
programmed several NZ radio stations including Radio Hauraki during the '70s and '80s and was a
leading salesperson for TRN (ARN cousin)
including NewTalk
ZB has passed
on. He died as the result of a melanoma.
Solid Gold
FM announcer Murray
Inglis reports that there were about 800 guests at
his funeral on Wednesday June 24.
Ex 4TTT
Townsville presenter Peter Brown has joined
the ranks of my105fm
Mackay as Imaging Producer. He commences on Friday 26th June
and will be fully responsible for enhancing the existing
station imaging.
.jpg) Keith McGowan celebrates 19 years on
overnight radio today. It was on June 25 1990 that he
commenced hosting the weekday mid-dawn shows at the former
3AW studios in La Trobe Street
Melbourne. He was hired by Denis O'Kane
and Steve Price. Apart from his
passion for his wife Angela, and the St Kilda football club,
he's also a keen photographer and one of his Central Australia
pics recently came second in the Royal Melbourne Show
Photography Contest.
Longtime
Austereo Brisbane creative writer
Matt Dawson is leaving. He's joining
the creative writing team at ARN Brisbane on July
23.
Anthony
Milich
has been appointed as the new PD at 5CC/Magic FM Port
Lincoln.
Myf
Warhurst and
Peter
Helliar are facing the axe after their
Triple M breakfast show scored its worst-ever
ratings in the latest Nielsen survey, dropping 1 point to 3.2
per cent.The station's overall audience share slipped 0.6
points to 4.3 per cent — the lowest in its 20-year history.
The result prompted former announcer Peter Grace to make a stinging attack on Guy Dobson, executive director of Triple M parent company
Austereo. "Triple M's problems go all the way to
the top," he said. Full story.
Bob Longwell, CEO of the
Australian Radio Network, has today announced his resignation after nine years in the
role.
Longwell told ARN, which is equally owned by APN News
& Media and US group Clear Channel, that he will not renew
his contract when it expires at the end of
December.
Angela Anderson has resigned as Drive
Newsreader at 1029 Hot
Tomato on the Gold
Coast, and is packing her bags to move up the road after
accepting a job in the B105/Triple M newsroom and
commences on July 27.
SPECIAL OFFER
(new
subscribers). Sign up for 6 months for just $88
before June
30 and receive the 2 DVD
"Thanks For Listening - The History of
Australian Radio." Details. (PS All
current subscribers are also in draw to win this DVD for
free. The three lucky winners notified
by email or phone at end of
month.)
FM 98.5 Shepparton CEO
Graeme Macartney has retired from his
position effective 26 June 2009. Graeme has been involved in
the station since 1994, starting as a Sports Host, before
being promoted through the ranks to station CEO. He has also
been heavily involved in the Southern Community Media
Association during his time at FM 98.5. FM 98.5
Breakfast Host Vince
Vincitorio has also stepped down from his position,
effective 19 June.
Community
radio broadcasters claim their future is in grave danger and
have made a last-ditch call for public support. But ACMA
believes changes proposed to Bendigo bandwidths will have
little impact on them. Phoenix
FM technical representative Peter Williams has urged ACMA to not
sacrifice community radio for the sake of a government
broadcast. Full story.
The latest Nielsen metro ratings were
released on June 23. In Brisbane B105 has knocked off Nova and claimed the No 1 spot
for the first time since Survey 7, 2004. In Melbourne 3AW has returned to No 1 beating
FOX. 2GB, ABC in Adelaide and Mix 94.5 Perth all remained at
No 1. Full
results.
Scott Rollo, dmg Chief Engineer is laeving to
take on a Broadcast Engineering role with Tabcorp working with
2KY and Sky Racing Television.
Stripe - Australia's first
mobile radio network allowing subscribers to download
individual radio stations to their mobile phones and computers
- was launched last October. But the network has closed down
after disappointing subscription levels. Full story.
Matt Innes is leaving Star 104.5 Central Coast and is
heading to B105 Brisbane
in late July to become an image producer. (See
'Radio Jobs' .)
ABC radio sports presenter
Glenn Mitchell will not
be heard on-air for several months, after an apparent
disagreement over rugby league coverage prompted an abrupt
holiday. Full story.
4BC/4BH Brisbane creative writer
Pete Laurie has been
appointed as the new Creative Director at Sea FM Maroochydore. He
commences on July 13.
Barry
Nicholls has been appointed as the new Regional Drive
program on ABC Local Radio
WA. Most recently his daily morning program at ABC
Alice Springs was awarded the gong for Regional Program of the
Year at the 2009 ABC Local Radio
Awards.
Stripe, Australia's first mobile
radio subscription service, established by Glenn Wheatley, has
closed. Customers have received this brief message: “Important Notice: Stripe Station will
close. We apologise for any Inconvenience.” The
website simply states: "Stripe:
Thankyou for your support." A sad ending to a new
business that began with much enthusiasm and optimism on March
20.
Dan King,
B105 Brisbane breakfast audio producer, is leaving
the station and moving to the Central Coast in
NSW.
Sydney’s newest Digital radio station
will launch very soon on Digital radio and online.
Gorilla Super Digi is
the brainchild of Sydney radio mogul Bill Caralis who is the sole
owner of his 36 station 2SM
Supernetwork, the largest independently owned and
operated commercial radio network in NSW. Full
details.
Jay
Dixon (Ewan J Dixon) 92.1 Breeze FM (Gold Coast/South
Brisbane market) breakfast jock, has been undergoing medical
and surgery procedures for stomach pollops and suspected
cancer over the past few weeks. Jay says he's pleased to
report that at this point at least, all seems fixed now. More
details.
SEA FM 91.9
FM morning crew member Honour is in quarantine after a
visit to Melbourne. Due to the increased demand on the
lab, with nearly 150 people testing positive to Swine Flu
across Queensland, it’ll be 72 hours before Honor finds out
the results for the test and has been told to go into
quarantine at home for the next three days. Full
story.
Hot
100 Darwin breakfast announcer Jess Perno (daughter of Richard)
is moving on to study the ‘Showreel’ course at Screenwise Film
and Television School. See 'Radio Jobs.'
Mark
Hogan ex 4GY
has been appointed Assistant Manager at 4AM Tablelands. For the time
being he will also conduct weekday breakfast. Former KOOL-FM brekkie jock Melanie Piotto will soon be back
on the air with Mel @ Lunchtime,
this time on
4KZ.
Commercial radio stations in Sydney
2GB, 2CH, 2UE, 2DAY, TRIPLE M,
2KY, WS-FM, MIX 106.5, 2SM, NOVA, VEGA Radar, Pink Radio,
Koffee and NovaNation began broadcasting
DAB+ digital radio services on June 15, joining stations in
Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane completing the five
state metropolitan switch on and taking the total number of
digital radio services on air in Australia to 44.
Manufacturers producing DAB+ digital radios include; Pure,
Roberts, Bush, Revo, Grundig, iRiver, Sangean, Yamaha and Teac
with other manufactures expected to introduce further products
throughout 2009.
A mystery woman who swam to Sir Richard Branson's private
island convinced him to call Sydney community radio station
FBi. The station
has been running an "Ask Richard" campaign to hit up the
jet-setting entrepreneur for $1 million in emergency
funding. Listeners have thrown themselves out of planes,
held busking marathons and made video games to get the
music-loving businessman to notice. But it was a
"soaking wet" young woman on his Caribbean island who grabbed
Sir Richard's attention. More
details.
2AY
has dropped Derryn
Hinch stating that there was greater listener support
for a mostly music format program hosted by Emily Canning. Full story. Listener's comments (mostly
negative).
Update on the "Baa-Baa Black Sheep" audio which we
received from Steve
Britten . Audio. Triple M Adelaide's Kevin Mulcahy emailed: "6 years ago when I was doing breakfast
with Jana Heyer on
Mix 102.3, we had a
segment called Untalent Time and this guy called Gerry O came along and blew us
away with this. He has since gone on to appear on the Sydney
Footy show doing this (see it on youtube) and a bunch of other
TV appearances, as well as a regular spot at Dave Flanagan’s
Comedy Cellar here in Adelaide. The audio has been
played on radio stations all over the world and I get it
emailed to be my someone at least once a month saying “Hey
have a listen to
this!”
Gold
FM on the Gold Coast could face action from the RSPCA
after the breakfast team attempted to make a piglet fly using
helium balloons. Full
story.
Dave Foxx, Creative Services
Director of Z100 New
York, is doing a one-time-only live teleseminar answering
every question you have about radio station imaging.
It's on Saturday, June 27. For more details: http://danoday.com/foxx/
 Mix
102.3 Adelaide has appointed Carol Atkinson as “Executive
Producer” of Mix Mornings with John, Jodie and Snowy. Carol has extensive
senior management experience in Adelaide. Her radio experience
includes roles at Radio
Adelaide and producer of the “Bazz and Pilko” show on 5AD (now Mix102.3)
Mix102.3 PD Stuart
Endersby says: “This is an
exciting appointment for our new breakfast team. We have
managed to recruit an experienced professional who knows
radio, the Adelaide market and most importantly - understands
who we are talking to. Carol is 43 and a mum of three. This is
a great advantage for the only family friendly breakfast show
in the Adelaide market.” Carol commences June
22 and joins assistant b'fast producer Sean Salter and b'fast web
content producer Joel
Polkinghorn.
The Nova Network has
announced the appointment of Tom Ivey as producer for
the national drive show - Ryan, Monty and Wippa –
weekdays from 4pm. Tom joins the Nova Network after five
years producing breakfast shows for Austereo around
Australia. He got his start in
radio in 2004 producing SA FM Milly and Lehmo in
South
Australia.
The MY105fm program JT’s Country Sunset, hosted by
Jeff Timor will now be
heard in Cairns on 987
FM as well as in Mackay. More
details. (See 'Radio Jobs' for the My105fm
'Talent
Bank.')
 Around 1000
entries have been received for this year’s Australian Commercial Radio
Awards (ACRAs), a three per cent increase on last
year and one of the highest number. The 2009 ACRAs, the 21st
annual event, will be held at the Sydney Convention and
Exhibition Centre in Sydney on October 10. Australian Idol host, Andrew G, who also hosts
Australia’s biggest weekly radio countdown, “Take 40 Australia”, will again MC
this year’s event, for the second year in a row.
Congratulations to Joel Helmes (Helmes Media
Solutions) and his wife on the birth of Emily Helmes on June 5.
Dad reports "(Emily) came safely into
the world this afternoon at 2:15pm. All is
well."
 A brand new guide to
help people entering the media industry has been
published. Written by news veteran Roger White , Better Media - Your Simple
Guide to Better Writing and Reporting is aimed at
helping University and other graduates make a smoother
transition from the lectureroom to the challenges of on the
road reporting. The guide contains contributions from
radio and television veterans including Damian Ryan, Murray Olds, Felicity
Davey, Chris Smith and Glenn Daniel. (More details in
new Jocks'
Journal).
Bruce
Lamond, a former 2ST
Nowra announcer and journalist, has passed away at
his home in Bowral. Bruce was raised and educated in
Nowra, but spent most of his adults years on the Southern
Highlands, working as a journalist and announcer for 2ST and
as a freelance television camera man and journalist. He
worked extensively for WIN
TV and the all of the Sydney television station's,
covering some of the local area's biggest
stories.
Need a freelance
reporter for Wimbledon? Call Brett Phillips on 0408 540
185. (See ad - left
column.)
 Steve
Ahern, who was the director of radio at the Australian Film Television and Radio
School until earlier this year, is in this year's
Queen's birthday honours list. Other media personnel to
receive awards were former 60
Minutes journalist Ian
Leslie and the chair of public broadcaster SBS Carla Zampatti. Full
story.
"Cynics don't bother Richard Mercer host of Love Song Dedications." (Full story - Sue Javes.
SMH)
 Triple
M Sydney radio host Ugly
Phil O'Neil is once again facing an uncertain future
following word that Triple M bosses have started casting about
to replace the radio veteran. (Station is 13th in breakfast
ratings.) Full
story.
Long running US industry trade Radio & Records is closing
its doors and ceasing publication immediately. Parent Nielsen
Business Media is ousting about 40 staffers and will also
discontinue the company's web site. The trade publication's
music charts will move to sister publication Billboard. Full story.
Shuree
Glass has resigned as GM of 5CC/Magic Port Lincoln.
(See 'Radio
Jobs'.)
Ronnie
Stanton, ex-Prime
Radio Sunshine Coast, now programming Virgin Radio Vancouver, reports:
"Newly launched Virgin Radio
Vancouver, had a monster survey result for their 'Spring'
Book. Virgin achieved the following results:, #1 F25-34, #1
F25-44, #1 F18-49, #1 F25-54 and #1
A25-44."
Fewer than 10,000 Australians will be
able to listen to digital
radio as it is meant to be heard during its first
week of official operation. Full
story.
Kyle
and Jackie O
are highlighted on Media
Watch regarding their "longer lasting ....
interview". Full
details.
POWER
FM Ballarat are heading a major campaign driven
to get US singer Pink to
Ballarat. It's also a promotion to raise funds for cancer
research. On Friday June 5 Ballarat will be renamed
Pinkville and for one day Power FM will become Pink FM. All businesses
and schools are encouraged to wear pink on that day. More
details.
May Radio
News
Andrew Daddo
has hosted his final statewide evening show on
702 ABC Sydney.
Lisa Forrest is
currently filling in. Daddo is expected to sign on for a new
commercial TV program. More
details.
 Commercial
Radio Australia's digital workshops designed to
bring agencies, advertisers and media consultants up to date
on the new DAB plus medium were held on Thursday May 28 at The
AFTRS Campus in Sydney.
As part of the workshops examples of text, slides and
interactive opportunities from Australia’s major commercial
radio networks were featured. Sydney commercial stations will
officially launch their digital platforms on Friday 29th May
as part of the final roll out plans which so far have included
Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne. Commercial digital
broadcasters will be joined by their public sector partners
ABC radio and SBS radio when they launch their
platforms on July 1st. (Photo of part of a sample mobile
device that was on display highlighting the scrolling picture
and text functions for 2GB Sydney’s digital
platform.) More details at www.digitalplus.com.au
Alan
Waddell, ex 3CS
Colac, is searching for ex Bay
FM/3XY announcers that would be willing to take part
in a 1 hour audio tribute to 20 years of Bay FM, via
''telephone reminiscing segments'' that will be used/included
in the tribute.
The tribute will be available online to
download.
If you can help, please email Alan at bootsman74@gmail.com,
phone 0434 393 444, or
contact him through the BayFM Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=65490697873
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