After a year of not noticing, Nine Entertainment has updated its Nine for Brands marketing website to correct the embarrassing mistakes I pointed out here.
For more than a year, the site has been promoting long-gone Breakfast and Drive shows. Suddenly, though, it’s all up to date.
Luckily, I kept the receipts:
Of course, I’m thrilled that somebody at Nine is reading, and paying attention to, Mister Brisbane. However, this raises the question: why should it take a former employee* who still cares deeply about the station to point out such a failure?
That’s the thing about 4BC: all the people I know who work in the Brisbane studios — and those I’ve met who’ve been there in the past — are passionate about the brand, about talk radio in general, and about the station’s potential.
They’ve been continually let down by Sydney-based bosses who talk big but care so little that they can’t even ensure that a website designed to promote the station and sell advertising to fund the business is kept up to date.
If they didn’t notice that, what else were they not paying attention to?
Whether the Nine Radio network is for sale or not, there should be some accountability at the top. This is not yet another thing to be blamed on someone further down the line.
*Disclaimer: That’d be me.
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A big show in a small space
It must be the musical I’ve seen most often. Little Shop of Horrors — an unlikely love story involving a boy, a girl and a killer plant — became an instant favourite when I first saw it at La Boite way back in 1990.
Directed by Paul Dellit and Gerowyn Lacaze, it was a sell-out hit that went on to run at the Gold Coast Arts Centre (now HOTA) for a week, followed a two-week return Brisbane season at the now-demolished Rialto Theatre in West End.
I saw that marvellous production, which starred Sharonlee Martin and Ben O’Leary, with the huge plant designed, made and wrangled by David Napier and voiced by Chris Maver, twice. I also saw another local production at the Tivoli theatre in the early 2000s, and, from memory, a touring production at QPAC (but I can’t remember when).
I’ve also seen the Frank Oz movie — which stars Ellen Greene, Rick Moranis and Steve Martin — a few times, and even the non-musical original Roger Corman film on which it was based.
As I write this, I have one of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s catchy tunes running through my head.
The good news for those who love it, and those who will love it but haven’t seen it yet, is that a new production of Little Shop of Horrors is playing at QPAC’s Cremorne theatre — an intimate space that’s ideal for this show — from January 2, 2026, with tickets on sale here from September 26.
This revival will be directed by Alister Smith with music supervision by David Young, musical direction by Heidi Loveland, set design by Penny Challen and choreography by Dan Venz.
I can’t find a cast list, but Little Shop is almost unbreakable so I’m sure it will be fabulous whoever steps on stage.
4BC was good when I worked there, the last time being in 2014-2015, but since Nine took over meh. You're right about Sydney not giving a hoot about it, so hopefully that will change for the better