Anybody who's been following my Twitter stream closely will know I've been haing a running battle with Telstra (without going into details, the latest is they stuffed up in March and owe me more than $100 but I won't get it for another four or five weeks). Now I'm sad to report that they Telstra isn't the only telecomms company making a fortune for offering a minimal service. Here's some "highlights" from the global roaming section of my lates 3 Mobile bill:


Yes, that's right, it cost me $1 when somebody called me and hung up immediately. For a two-second call from Egypt (I realised I'd dialled the wrong number), the cost was $2.60. The mark-up on the actual cost of providing this "service" must be enormous. In the UK, new providers have sprung up offering discount global roaming -- is anybody in Australia doing it?

Queensland MP Aidan Mclindon talks about the Regent:

Like about 1.5million Australians, I sat down on Wednesday night and watched the winning ABC trifecta of Spicks and Specks, Gruen Nation and Yes We Canberra. The shows gave Aunty, which regulalry comes fourth in the ratings, the top three spots on the night's ratings chart, and helped push Channel 10 -- which had been riding high until very recently on the success of MasterChef -- to the overall No.4 position. (There's more on the numbers here.) What it all proves is that the days where viewers would stick to the same station hour after hour, night after night have long gone. Now, more than ever, we pick and choose the programs we like, wherever we can find them. With the internet offering a whole new range of ways to access programming, this presents a big challenge to the broadcasters -- unless, of course, they are also in the business of making the shows that people want to see.

The quickened pace of the news cycle continues to confuse traditional media. For newspapers, one of the big questions these days is: should we publish something in print after it's already appeared online, especially on our own websites? In the case of the Courier-Mail today, the answer was yes (in regards to a picture on page 14 which was all over its webpage yesterday). Today, the printed C-M finally caught up with the death of the world's oldest Twitterer, Ivy Bean, who passed away on July 28. A two-day lag for news from Britain used to be commonplace, but it's not now. Meanwhile, mX surely set some kind of record yesterday with an item about this controversial new website, catsthatlooklikehitler.com. Sorry to burst the bubble, but it's been around since June, 2006 (do a search on the Wayback Machine if you doubt me)! A hip'n'groovy, youth-oriented paper like mX oughta know stuff like that.
PS: This intro from the C-M could have been written by the copywriter for a washing powder commercial:

NEW tests have smashed Queensland's first case of DNA innocence testing after analysis found a convicted killer was 45 billion times more likely to be linked to blood from the scene.

More likely than who or what?

July 28, 2010: Ivy Bean, 104, British woman who was regarded as the world's oldest Twitter and Facebook user. Her thousands of fans included TV and music star Peter Andre, politician Lord Prescott and writer and broadcasterr Stephen Fry.
Link: Wikipedia

With MasterChef having sailed off into the sunset for 2011 [correction: 2010], what will be the next big gastronomical reality show on television? Well, if I have my way, it will be Australia's Best Cook, a competition to find somebody among us who excels in making real Aussie tucker rather than 3-hat restaurant fare. Ideal contestants would include bachelors and bachelorettes who specialise in domestic meals for one and busy mums to cooks from country pubs and suburban clubs who keep the masses fed with tasty but simple fare like lamb chops and veg, steak sandwiches, works burgers, seafood baskets, pavlovas and lamingtons. Bringing the best qualities of both Matt Preston and George Calombaris (i.e. fat and bald), I'd be one of the judges. Sounds like fun? I really think so -- now I just need Shine Australia, Fremantle Media and/or one of the networks to get behind it. You can hear me speaking about the proposed format towards the end of today's spot with 612ABC's Spencer Howson, where I also talk about an online newspaper integrity index and reveal some Doctor Who gossip.
Update:The edited audio describing Australia's Best (Basic) Cook is here.
PS: If you're in the TV business and want to know more about the format -- and trust me, there is more -- contact me here.

This comment slipped through the net at The Australian online today. The blacked-out words have been censored by me; they appeared in full on the Oz's site:

The comment, which probably isn't from the well-known journalist it's attributed to, has since been removed from the Matthew Franklin article.

In an ever changing world, some things stay the same. One of those things used to be the fact that Channel 9 broadcast the highest-rating commercial television news service in Brisbane and, indeed, in Australia. That success was built on solid news judgment, selective hirings from other networks (particularly the ABC) and a reputation for trustworthiness. Somewhere in the past few years, though, the banner has been passed to Channel 7. Sure Nine is still the home of Laurie Oakes, the journalists' journalist, and a few other heavy hitters, but people aren't buying it like they used to. In Brisbane, Seven is now the viewers' station of choice. Today, Seven claimed the ratings year for news and current affairs. In a media release, the network said its News, Today Tonight and Sunrise had an "unassailable lead in the 40 week ratings year in south east Queensland". The statement continued:

7 News and Sunrise have both won 22 from 22 weeks while Today Tonight has won 21 from 22 weeks in the 40 week ratings year. Max Walters, Managing Director of Seven Brisbane said,“ This is the fourth year running that our flagship news and public affairs programs have won the ratings year in south east Queensland, a wonderful achievement in such a competitive market . SEQ audiences continue to turn to 7 News, Today Tonight and Sunrise to keep them informed on local, national and international events.”

PS: In its media release, Nine claims overall SEQ victory last week (by a whisker), bringing its total this year to 17 out of 22 surveys.

A supporter of this campaign has compiled a list of superannuation companies who will be investing in the Regent development via owner ISPT. The list is as follows and the suggestion is that, if your super provider is one of them, send them a letter or email expressing your opposition:

(savetheregent.com has not independently verified this list; we welcome corrections and/or additions.)

July 24, 2010: Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, 61, Northern Ireland snooker legend, of throat cancer. He was world champion in 1972 and 1982.
Link: BBC

We live in an age of celebrity. You can't pick up a newspaper or magazine, or switch on the TV, radio or internet, without seeing something about Brad and Ange, Tom and Katie, Lindsay or Britney. Like it or not, they've become the subject of many a watercooler conversation and, dare I say it, are genuine "household names". On the national front, there are the big names of TV (Bert, Kerri-Anne, Eddie and Ray among them), plus a smattering of musicians and, largely now-expat, movie makers (Hugh, Russell and Nicole). Recently, the finalists of MasterChef, Callum and Adam, have joined that hallowed society -- but for how long is anyone's guess. You'll note here that I've mentioned only first names but I reckon almost everybody reading this would know exactly who I'm referring to. Which brings me to the big question for Queensland readers only: Who are Brisbane's household names? Which homegrown talents, in whatever field, are instantly recognisable to a large portion of the population (not just the media junkies who read this blog) by their first name or nickname? I've got a few ideas of my own, but I won't be writing them down just yet. Suggestions by email or by Tweet, please. When I've assembled a list, I'd like to test the theory with members of the GP. Maybe we'll all get a surprise as to who's really on the A-list and who isn't.

Congratulations to all the nominees for the Australian Commercial Radio Awards (the full list is here), but what a shame that Brisbane is underrepresented in the major categories. No Queensland-based announcers appear on the list of nominees for the big metro awards, although B105's Mitch Braund and Nova 106.9's Ryan Rathbone are up for the best program director award, and Nova's Kate Casey and B105's Ryan Tothill have been nominated for the best music director gong. Peter Verhoeven, of 4KQ and 97.3FM, is up for the most popular station manager award; Brett 'Nozz' Nossiter from Nova 106.9 has a nod in the best new digital format category (for Novanation and Koffee); and Stav Davidson from B105 and 4BC's Jamie Dunn and Ian Calder have been nominated in the best station-produced comedy segment category, the latter for their serial The Rudds, which is broadcast across the Fairfax radio network. Ben Ryan from Nova 106.9 is up for best achievement in production. Brisbane nominees also appear in sales and promotion categories. In the non-metropolitan awards, Katrina Davidson has been nominated for best show producer for her work with 92.5 Gold FM on the Gold Coast, which presumably means she and her husband Stav will both be attending the presentation ceremony the Crown in Melbourne on October 16.

July 20, 2010: Jon Cleary, 92, Australian writer whose works included the novels You Can't See Round Corners, Degrees of Connection and The Sundowners. His best-known character is the Sydney detective Scobie Malone, the subject of 20 crime novels.
Link:Brisbane Times

July 19, 2010: David Warren, 85, Australian-born inventor of the aircraft "black box" data recorder.
Link: NY Times

The big question about the Brisbane Festival is: who is it for? As I said on 612ABC this morning (the audio is here), there is plenty for people who like contemporary dance but not a lot of breadth or depth to the "high arts" program, and precious little for the Average Joe or Jo (apart, of course, from Riverfire). The community section seems to be targetted more at the community that creates art than the communities who might want to consume it, and there's not much in the way of family entertainment. A lot of this year's program was obviously put in place by former artistic director Lyndon Teraccini; the challenge for the new AD, Noel Staunton, is to decide what the festival is all about and put his own stamp on it. Hopefully, he will decide that it's not just for elites; that it should include some truly popular entertainment that will engage the entire Brisbane community. As I've said before, I'd love to see the return of a Warana-style community parade, built from the grassroots up, and we definitely need an Edinburgh-style fringe festival to inject a little fun into proceedings.
PS: This is a personal thing, but I think the new logo is amateruish; remiscent of the rush of wacky typography we saw when computer users discovered the likes of ComicSans.

I speculated in a tweet a few days ago that Hey Hey It's Saturday might not come back after its mid-season break, and I got some interesting responses. A lot of what is said about Hey Hey comes from sentiment, a deep affection for the original show that was part of so many Australians' childhood and youth. But the cold, hard fact is that, despite the success of last year's reunion specials, it just isn't cutting it in 2010. Spencer Howson points out that Hey Hey Red Faces judge Red Symons told him on 612ABC that the show will be back later this year, possibly on a Saturday. Hey Hey currently faces tough competition on a Wednesday night from the all-conquering MasterChef, but there's not much evidence to suggest it would do significantly better in another timeslot. And, when you factor-in the enormous costs of "live" television -- Daryl Somers' undoubtedly large salary, the band, the touring acts etc. -- Hey Hey is expensive television, and TV networks don't like to spend big money unless they get big returns. According to last week's figures, Hey Hey had an average national audience of 849,000 against MasterChef's 2.1 million and, in its second hour, Lie to Me's 950,000. Of course, MasterChef is a formidable opponent and, as I said in my tweet, Hey Hey probably deserves a run when it isn't competing against the single most popular show on TV. It may come back after the Commonwealth Games but I doubt we'll be seeing it again next year. Surely Nine can't afford to throw good money after bad. While there are examples -- like Neighbours and Seinfeld -- of programs that built momentum after very slow debuts, you must remember that Hey Hey isn't a new show, it's a revival of a show that hit its peak in the 1980s. The Nine network desperately needs to plough what original production money it does have into a show that has MasterChef potential -- the realistic chance it will pull in big ratings numbers, and thus advertisers' dollars, regardless of what's scheduled against it. Hey Hey isn't that show.

You read it here second: the next big talent show to hit Australian television will be called Don't Stop Believing. The Guardian reports that the show's format has been sold to the Ten network, which dumped Australian Idol last year. The UK version, which will screen on Channel Five from this weekend, is being pitched "as an energetic feelgood competition to find Britain's best all-round singing, dancing and acting group". It's being sponsored by retailer Argos and a deal is in place with MySpace for clips to be used on the social network site. The show will be "deliberately softer and less cruel than The X Factor". So, no Kyle Sandilands clone on the judging panel, then...

Anne Wood and the cast of Mamma Mia, the Divas, the cats of Jesus Christ Superstar, David Hamilton Puppets, Greg Moore, Velocity Dance Company and Oscar Theatre Group are among a growing bill for the Hats Off Briz-Vegas concert at the Playhouse, QPAC on August 23. Tickets $40; proceeds go to the Oz Showbiz Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS charity. Book here.

In the Courier-Mail today (July 16, 2010), Matt Condon writes of his frustration with the stock reply he received from the Premier's office when he wrote, as a private citizen, to ask Anna Bligh to intervene on behalf of Brisbane's Regent theatre, which is scheduled for part-demolition to make way for an office tower. About 20,000 people have joined Facebook groups to protest the proposed development, and an online petition to state parliament has more than 6000 signatures.
Condon writes:

I also know enough about life to understand that any government that treats its people and their concerns as unworthy of mindful consideration, that deems it satisfactory to subject them to cut and paste mimeographhs on matters that go to their hearts, and that frankly disrespects them as fools who know no better, has lost its grasp of democracy, its purpose and its obligation to the people it pretends to represent.

I think everybody who received the same form letter should write again to the Premier with specific questions -- such as: How long will the deal to screen films in the "cinema" in the new tower, albeit it on a limited, weekends-only basis, remain in place?; Why is this tower necessary when Brisbane already has a glut of office space and even the government is dentralising its staff?; and Why did the state government change its mind on this issue after initially ordering the protection of the whole building?) -- and demanding real answers. Don't let the Premier and her team treat us with contempt.
(Cross-posted, with additions, from www.savetheregent.com)

In the Courier-Mail today (July 16, 2010), Matt Condon writes of his frustration with the stock reply he received from the Premier's office when he wrote, as a private citizen, to ask Anna Bligh to intervene on behalf of the Regent. Condon writes:

I also know enough about life to understand that any government that treats its people and their concerns as unworthy of mindful consideration, that deems it satisfactory to subject them to cut and paste mimeographhs on matters that go to their hearts, and that frankly disrespects them as fools who know no better, has lost its grasp of democracy, its purpose and its obligation to the people it pretends to represent.

Well said, sir!
I suggest everybody who received the same form letter as Matt write again to the Premier with specific questions and asking for real answers. Don't let the Premier and her team treat us with contempt.