Mister Brisbane: Back to the beach!
Are we classist? Big Brother's older sibling. Kath & Kim redux. Media moves
Does anybody fancy a drink out with more than a few mates? Or maybe a trip to the cinema, or to Far North Queensland? Or, perhaps, like me, you’ll be heading for the beach. (That’s not me, pictured below, but that’s where I hope to be in a few weeks.) It’s all suddenly possible thanks to the surprise easing of Covid-19 restrictions by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. They only came into effect on Monday, so I’ll have more to say about that as things unfold. For now, just a small plea: don’t stuff this up by thinking it’s open slather. The virus is real, and it’s still out there.
OLD SCHOOL TIES
A good education may be the key to the future, but does it matter where you received it? A few days ago, a former colleague pointed out to me how Brisbane’s daily newspaper still regularly identifies people by which high school they attended. Quite often it’s in the first few paragraphs of the story; sometimes even in the headline — but only if the school in question is a member of the Greater Public Schools association (mostly the elite, established private schools). This has been a point of discussion on social media, with one person claiming that, until relatively recently, a prominent mainstream media organisation had a policy of only hiring private-school graduates. I’m told that some law firms and other “top end of town” businesses still do. It raises the question: should hiring or promotion is based on the school you attended rather than the marks you received and the experience you have? In society, do we still judge people by their old school tie? Does having graduated from a private school make you a better employee, or a better person? If so, why? And if not, why would the media make such a big thing of it?
SEAT SURRENDER
Is this the theatre seating plan of the future? The Berliner Ensemble in Germany has come up with this layout to comply with social-distancing requirements. It will also cease having an interval and allow people to go to the toilet at any time, thus eliminating the half-time rush to the facilities. It’s not an ideal experience, and it’s only viable because of the high level to which Germany subsidises the arts, but at least the show will go on (albeit not until September). And, no doubt, theatre operators in Brisbane and around the world will be watching with interest. The Guardian has more here.
On the subject of theatres, and at the risk of being branded a curmudgeon, I feel obliged to share my disappointment over an item on the TV news last Thursday. The story linked the Tivoli entertainment venue in the Valley with the old Tivoli theatre, which was opposite City Hall in what is now King George Square. The Valley venue wasn’t a theatre until its stylish makeover by Ann and Harry Garms in the early 1990s. It started out as a bakery. The CBD Tivoli was demolished in 1969.
DOOR DILEMMA
Hat tip to my Mum for pointing this out: door handles these days are much higher than they used to be. Check out an old worker’s cottage and, most likely, the knob will be at waist height. Now it’s more like shoulder height. My initial presumption was that this is because people are, in general, taller than they were 100 years ago. But it may also be a health and safety issue, to prevent children from opening doors. Does anyone have any insights?
ON THE AIRWAVES
Neil Breen began his new breakfast show on 4BC on Monday, but it will be a while before it’s known how he’s doing in the official ratings. While all the radio networks are no doubt doing their own research, the official GfK survey has been suspended due to the coronavirus. This gives Breen an extended “honeymoon” in which to find his audience. If he keeps most of Alan Jones’s 9 per cent he’ll be judged a winner. The station owners, Nine Radio, will also want audience growth across the rest of the day.
Breen (above, left) will be competing for the talk audience with the established Loretta Ryan and Craig Zonca (above, right) show on ABC Brisbane. As for the older audience, he’ll be pitted against music stations, including competitor 4KQ and another Nine station, 4BH, which has recently been revived with a networked breakfast show hosted by Steve Jacobs. The bigger challenge is to get up among the stations that are regularly topping the survey: Hit 105, Triple M, Nova 106.9 and 97.3 FM. Of course, in Sydney and Melbourne, commercial talk stations 2GB and 3AW out-rate all comers in terms of overall audience. Is that doable in Brisbane?
PS: One seasoned radio person’s review of the first show: “Definitely sounded local. Live, local and LOUD!”
My interview with Neil Breen for InQueensland is here.
PAPER CHASE
We may have a new radio show, but at the end of this month, dozens of regional and suburban newspapers across Australia, many of them in Queensland, will cease to exist. Some will remain as online mastheads, but over time their individuality will diminish and they’ll inevitably disappear. Hundreds of people — reporters, subeditors, photographers, designers, production people, advertising, circulation and administration staff, pre-press and press crews, distributors and contractors — will be out of work. Many of them will have trouble finding new jobs because the market is flooded with people with the same skills.
We all know that printed newspapers are dying, but many of these titles had, and have, a lot of life in them. Surely some dailies could’ve transitioned to weeklies, and other mastheads could’ve been sold off to owners who wanted to maintain them in their local communities.
I know that journalists get a bad rap, and sometimes it’s deserved. But without journalists in regional, rural and suburban media, there can be no properly sourced and sorted news. There is nobody to cover court cases, council meetings, car crashes, flower shows and weddings, or collate sports results. Local news risks being lost online, and it will almost certainly put behind pay walls where readers will be asked to shell out for not just less local news but less-focused local news.
I hope the remaining titles find a way to remain relevant and make their presence felt online. I wish their remaining staff all the best, but I also hope that new news services will emerge: ones that are owned locally, or at least run by people who appreciate that each community is unique and that one size does not fit all.
BROTHERLY LOVE?
I can’t say I’ll be watching every episode of Big Brother when it returns on Monday, June 8, after a long hiatus. But I am intrigued by it as a social phenomenon. Here are a few facts supplied by Channel 7, plus one from me:
• More than 53,000 people applied to be on the new Big Brother
• The house took 50 days to build
• There are 65 cameras in the house including GoPros and purpose-built set cameras
• Over 100 crew worked on the series
• 2019 marked 20 years since Big Brother first aired in the Netherlands; since then, 480 series have aired across 62 markets producing more than 28,000 episodes
• 7,153 Housemates around the globe have spent more than 35,000 days in a Big Brother house, with over 5,000 live evictions
• Before all that, in October 1998, there’s was Andrew Denton’s House from Hell.
Another show I never quite got into is Kath & Kim, which will be testing its durability with repeats on Channel 9 on Tuesdays at 7.30pm from June 9. I can’t say whether it’ll succeed, partly because I wasn’t a fan the first time around — even though I admire the people in it and have enjoyed their performances in other shows. The debut double-header will be followed by The Dish, a gentle comedy based on the true story of Australia’s role in the space race, starring Sam Neill.
MEANWHILE …
Queensland Theatre’s free online series Play Club continues tonight, June 2, at 7.30pm with the live reading of The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table by Wesley Enoch, directed by Isaac Drandic. It stars Guy Simon, Ursula Yovich and Roxanne McDonald. It will be broadcast on Zoom and you must book first here. (If it’s a full “house”, get in early for the next one.)
A few people correctly guessed the names of the former 4BC presenters in last week’s newsletter. First in was Janelle, followed by Adrian (who won the previous quiz). The answers were: Ian Skippen, Greg Cary, Ian Maurice, Peter Dick, Haydn Sargent, John Miller, Wayne “Waynee Poo” Roberts, Jamie Dunn and Loretta Ryan.