Mr B's weekend update
... about radio novices, Brisbane's Metro, fireworks at the festival, a poor artistic decision and now there's turmoil at the Opera
In my most recent newsletter, I wrote about the problem with young staff at stations with older audiences with particular references to Nine Radio’s 4BC.
The very next day (or so I’m told), bosses at the station issued a memo reminding staff about the anniversary this weekend of the death of Princess Diana that included an explainer about the popular royal and how she died. Really?
Now, some people might think it’s unfair to expect people to know about stuff that happened before they were born, but I beg to differ. It’s called history and you can learn it.
Or, as a friend of mine put it, “I wasn’t alive when JFK was assassinated, but I know about it.”
Nobody can know everything, but being familiar with landmark events in history and having a general sense of the things that interest your audience ought to be a bare minimum requirement for employment as a journalist or a media producer.
Still, it could be worse. I hear a young staffer at another radio station was overheard saying how sad it was that Pauline Hanson was wrongly convicted for murdering a baby at Uluru.
MORE METRO
How wonderful it is to hear that the Brisbane Metro is to be expanded.
How awful it is to hear that it’s still being called a Metro when it isn’t.
FESTIVAL FURORE
There are, as is usual at this time of year, a lot of rumblings in the arts community about who gets the ear of the Brisbane Festival programmers and who does not.
Obviously, not everybody who wants to put on a show can expect public funding or billing under the festival banner, and envy is a factor.
But, given I reckon too few people in Brisbane are actually aware of the festival beyond the big fireworks show, I think it’s time for some public discourse about the direction it ought to take in future years.
What’s its purpose? To entertain and/or enlighten the people of this city? To provide opportunities for local creatives? To show what we’ve got to the big wide world? All of the above, or something else?
Assuming we get a new state government in October, perhaps one of its priorities could be a gathering of “stakeholders” (a word I dislike), including everyday citizens, to determine how our arts dollars are best spent.
Meanwhile, one show I can recommend is Oliver Hetherington-Page’s The No Bang Theory, a one-person show I caught a couple of years ago as it was being developed. I’m pretty sure that, at the time, I said it would be a great festival piece …
P.S.
On the subject of the Brisbane Festival, the rumour mill has it that one company not known for making the wisest choices of late passed on a surefire blockbuster that would’ve replenished its unexpectedly depleted coffers.
P.P.S.
Speaking of the arts in general, another senior job has opened up. It’s been reported that Opera Australia artistic director Jo Davies has quit, effective immediately. Earlier this year, Lee Lewis departed early as artistic director of Queensland Theatre and the Queensland Ballet’s Leanne Benjamin left within six months of starting.
What’s going on?
Disclosure: Brett Debritz used to work at 4BC, which was the station his father listened to for many years. He’d like to see it reach its potential not disappear due to a series of avoidably bad management decisions.