Let's hear it for the Lions
A thank-you on behalf of all the fair-weather fans. Also: More media movements.
Brisbane is a rugby league town. There’s no escaping it. Even people like me, who don’t closely follow sport, know that.
Except, of course, when our rugby league team is rubbish and our AFL team isn’t.
So, we’re all Lions fans at the moment. And we will be until the Lions start losing or the Broncos and/or Dolphins start winning again.
That’s the way it goes for the fair-weather fans: the people who don’t know much about sport but know that it’s preferable to attach yourself to a winner than a loser.
In case anybody wants to debate the relative merits of the two football codes, let me just say that I’m not the only one who isn’t entirely enraptured by watching one group of people try to take a ball from one end of a field to the other while another set of people try to stop them.
I’m reminded of my Belarusian friend who accompanied me to the Gabba (on my brothers’ season pass) almost 15 years ago.
Her verdict when we left at the three-quarter mark: “This is the most ridiculous game I have ever seen.”
And that’s from somebody whose national sport is the biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and target shooting.
MEDIA MATTERS
Before the gossip … my thoughts and good wishes are with Triple M and Channel 9’s Ben Dobbin, who was seriously injured after he swerved to avoid a snake while cycling. All the best for a full recovery, Dobbo.
Sometimes it sucks to be right. A few newsletters ago, I reported concerns that 4BC would abandon its local weekends programming.
Well, it’s just happened. With Weekends host Peter Fegan moving to Breakfast, he’s been replaced by a show from Sydney hosted by Luke Grant. Olympia Kwitowski remains the local Weekend Breakfast host, but four hours of local programming on both Saturday and Sunday have been lost, meaning her two hours on air each day (maybe three when daylight saving starts) are the only Brisbane-generated programming over the weekend.
This is personal for me, because nearly four years ago I was the inaugural producer for Spencer Howson, who presented the first local Weekends show on 4BC in many years.
I hope the axe doesn’t fall any further at 4BC as the hardworking staff continue to pay the price of bad management decisions. Having said that, Nine Radio did at least treat the departing Breakfast team of Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine with respect, including a nice tribute on Channel 9.
For trivia fans: Come Friday, October 4, Sofie Formica will overtake Howson (who left 4BC last year and has been doing fill-in shifts on ABC Radio) as the longest serving continuously-on-air presenter in the current era on 4BC (since it returned from many years of full networking). Her total number of years on air? Just three.
Neil Breen, who was chosen to relaunch the “live and local” format was around for two years on Breakfast and one on Drive, and the much-hyped Peter Gleeson lasted just 15 months before being lured away by the opportunity to run a greyhound track.
Meanwhile, the likes of Stav Davidson at B105, Robin Bailey and Kip Wightman at KIIS, David “Luttsy” Lutteral and Ash Bradnam at Nova, Greg “Marto” Martin at Triple M, plus just about everybody on air at ABC Brisbane, including Steve Austin, Rebecca Levingston and Kelly Higgins-Devine, have been around for decades.
There’s a “sweet spot” for people to be on air, and for audiences to create a connection and a habit of listening to them. I don’t know what it is, but — unless the presenter is an absolute disaster — it’s more than a couple of years.
(By the way, I’m aware that the music stations are networked most of the time outside of the Breakfast show. I’m also aware that a presenter not being in a Brisbane studio does not necessarily mean they can’t connect with a Brisbane audience. However, it’s hard to talk about local people, places and issues if you’re not walking the streets, meeting people and joining in activities.)
The good news is that Channel 10 is investing in talent here in Brisbane. Having returned the local bulletin from Sydney, with Sharyn Ghidella reading and Liz Cantor presenting the weather, the network has now hired a sports reader, Veronica Eggleton. That’s a potent, all-woman line-up.
PREDICTIONS?
As I said on social media a few days ago, I think somebody should sign up Laurel Edwards to star in a reality TV show with her husband Troy Cassar-Daley and their children Clay and Jem.
What next for axed Brisbane Broncos coach Kev Walters? He could join another club, but I reckon he’ll end up with a media gig.