Can no news be good news?
News doesn't stop happening on the weekends, so why have local bulletins ceased? Also, goodbye (for now?) and good luck to Peter Gooch!
I’ve been thinking about the news, which may not be entirely new, that Radio 4BC has stopped producing local bulletins on weekends.
(Before I go any further, I know that other commercial radio stations have networked news most of the time, but they’re not pitching themselves as news-talk stations nor making a big deal about their “live and local” coverage.)
My first thought, as a former producer of the local Weekend Breakfast and Weekend (mornings) shows on 4BC — which have also been axed (although the Breakfast show was replaced with a local show, Step Outside with Paul Burt) — was: what are they going to do when a big story breaks?
When I was there, the program producer (me) and presenter would work closely with the journalist/newsreader to ensure we were in synch, informing the audience to the best of our combined abilities. As producer, I would immediately be on the phone trying to find somebody who knew what was going on and get them on the air to talk about it with authority.
According to Radio Today, the station manager, Siobhain McDonnell, said 4BC has “been consolidating our on-air product” and is delighted with the performance of the new program. (Some of my sources beg to differ, but the ratings will tell the story soon enough.*)
Citing recent 24/7 coverage of Cyclone Alfred, McDonnell has assured us all that “the station is excelling in providing live and local content to our audience and are there for the people of Brisbane to deliver their up-to-date news when they need it most”.
I have absolutely no doubt that the talented team at 4BC will pull together in a crisis, but my concern relates to radio being an immediate medium. When a big story breaks, a news-talk radio station shouldn’t just want to have the best coverage, it should want to have the first coverage — demonstrating that people really ought to be locked on to that station if they want to know what’s going on in their backyard.
If you lose listeners because you are not talking about an important thing that just happened, how are you going to lure them back?
Every team member on every show should be equipped to hit the ground running on a big news story.
With no local journalist on site on weekends, is anybody monitoring the wires, the internet and other news sources looking for local stories that the national newsroom may overlook?
I don’t want this to read as a personal attack on Burt and his producer, but are they — or the people in Sydney that they hand over to after 8am — fully equipped to cover a big, breaking Brisbane story? Would they even be able to identify one that’s relevant to the core audience? Or have they been let down by management not wanting to spring for a journalist to support them?
Mister Brisbane remains free to read, but if you appreciate what I’m doing here, and/or
at The Wrinkle, you can buy me a coffee. The choice to do so (or not) is yours.
Meanwhile, 4BC’s news-talk competitor, ABC Brisbane, does have a local radio newsroom operating and producing bespoke bulletins and updates on weekend mornings. In fact, partly because ABC News Online is based in Brisbane, there are journalists at the South Bank Parklands studios 24/7. So, if something happens in the River City at any time, they have no excuse for not covering it.
You may argue that it’s not an even playing field given that the ABC is government funded and 4BC relies on advertisers who pay to promote their products and services to the listeners. Of course, you could also argue that 4BC would have more money to spend on local news and programming if it had more listeners — especially if it had the size of audience enjoyed by its sister stations, 2GB and 3AW, and could charge more for advertising.
Is it a matter of which comes first — the live-and-local news service or the listeners?
However …
It may be the case that we, the people, don’t necessarily want more news.
The Guardian reported recently about the phenomenon, noticed in the UK, of “news avoidance”. It seems that many people are switching off from news bulletins because they feel overloaded.
But that seems to be most common among people aged under 35, so it shouldn’t affect thinking at either ABC Brisbane or 4BC, whose core audience is, ahem, considerably more mature.
Peter Gooch signs off
On the subject of 4BC, the station has also quietly dropped its locally produced traffic reports on the weekend, meaning one of the greats of Brisbane radio, Peter Gooch, is no longer heard on the station.
Goochie is probably best known for his years at ABC Brisbane, previously 4QR, where he filled many on- and off-air roles, including as the first host of The Conversation Hour. Now known as Conversations, it reintroduced the long-form interview to radio and has become an ABC national staple.
His connection with Brisbane goes further back, though, to the glory days of 4IP/ Radio 10/ Stereo 10, where he introduced and played the hit songs everybody wanted to hear.
If he wants to continue in an on-air role, I hope another station picks him up, because he has enormous experience and a voice that is a pure joy to hear.
Otherwise, Goochie, I wish you a long and very happy retirement!
P.S.
Speaking, as I was before, of national news bulletins, I hate it when I’m listening in Brisbane and I hear a reference to “the Premier” when it means the leader of NSW or Victoria, not whoever is in charge up here. Or references to suburbs and towns that I’ve never heard of without any kind of clue as to where they might be.
*4BC Weekend Breakfast has, pretty much since its inception, rated well above the station’s average. It would be difficult to spin anything less than that as a success.
The usual disclaimer, that I used to work at 4BC, is pretty much explicit in this week’s main story. I probably should also disclose that I have been heard a couple of times on ABC Saturday Mornings recently, so I just have.