I'd thought, we'd start with a little ditty.
“Bill McDonald-man, Bill McDonald-man,
Thought he’d get his contract renewed, man,
Seven let him go, due to ratings-man,
Bill McDonald-man, Bill McDonald-man…”
Bill McDonald’s departure from Seven entirely (a issue cemented, due to the tennis/cricket swap between 7/9 this summer ending his last major gig: tennis work at the Brisbane International) is one thing we can safely say Kuttsy’s Pitch did not predict in September 2017: however it inadvertently predicted the exact situation that Ten Melbourne did do (Ross Dagan, we know you are a closet Kuttsy’s Pitch reader), when Jennifer Keyte rejoined the network in June: which saw Stephen Quartermain (who had read the news for Ten, since Mal Walden retired) go back into sport. However, the problem for Seven in Brisbane now is in the hands of Max Futcher: who now is attempting to right the BTQ ship so sunk with the McDonald-Ghidella pairing… which now brings up another key issue for the network: simply, how Seven has simply mis-used Sharyn Ghidella, to the point nobody cares, if she is reading alone.I personally believe, if Sharyn Ghidella is to be trusted by viewers to read the news solo, the move has to now be made to have Sharyn return to filing occasional stories: That is, not like what Seven did in 2013, and stuck her on Today Tonight, but giving Ghidella creative control on what she goes and reports on... just like Max Futcher.
The promos keep screaming it out.
“Being there matters” BTQ news promo, July 2018.
Unfortunately, for Sharyn Ghidella (much like how we described Seven’s presence on the Gold Coast way back in 2013), that line, is a statement defining a empty promise.
November 2019, will mark thirteen years, since Sharyn made the switch from reading the Today Show’s news updates, to a weekend newsreading position for Seven in Brisbane, which in turn, turned BTQ’s news around. The weekend gig worked, not just because she worked alone, but also had weekdays free to raise a growing family. It also helped, that weekend news bulletins were still half-hour products.
Today, BTQ’s local news output on a weeknight, is now two hours more than it was five years ago. But, yet: Nine is still dominating on the Gold Coast, despite the free audience exposure to Seven’s product during the Commonwealth Games, and for every step Seven is making… Nine take giant leaps of their own. And that, leads us onto the first interstitial, of Kuttsy’s Pitch X.
“Ahh yes, the Commonwealth Games!” Chas Licciardello, on the Chaser’s War on Everything, 2006: in reference to ACA’s cross-promo fest during the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
You are all wondering, how the hell I spent time during the Commonwealth Games. I did, what any upstanding, patriotic Australian would do… watch the news… with breaks for sport. Simply, I subjected myself to a stomach-churning task. Watching 840 minutes of Seven’s 6pm Brisbane news service live, and counting how many mentions and full stories on the Commonwealth Games (and the royal tour alongside) Seven made each night. I had a benchmark: 26 full Melbourne 2006 stories on ACA over 14 nights, as tracked by the Chaser team 12 years ago. And, the race was on.
By the time, the Australian team marched out at Carrara and Sally Pearson delivered the baton (i.e. the last three days leading in to the Games), Seven had aired in Brisbane twelve full stories and 31 separate Games cross-promotions on the 6pm news.
I initially targeted, based on these early trends, that Seven would shatter the ACA cross-promo story mark from 2006, by day 7 of GC2018 (after the last night of the swimming). But, like Steve Titmus, stealing the show in the crowd, these early predictions would be shattered, on Day 3 of GC2018 (and day 6 of ChasOmeter survey): when Seven’s number of cross-promo stories overtook ACA’s with a piece about ticket sales, and effects on Broadbeach restaurants.
By the time, it hit night ten of ChasOmeter survey, Seven’s Brisbane 6pm news service had doubled the ACA figure from 2006. And, when it was all said and done, after Johanna Griggs said her bit: Seven’s cross-promotion bonanza ended up on April 16 with the following stats:
Cross-promotions for both Comm Games and Royal Tour on 7’s Brisbane’s 6pm news: 165 different instances.
Full stories for both Comm Games and Royal Tour on 7’s Brisbane 6pm news: 80 different stories, tripling what ACA did in 2006, and equal to a story per Australian gold medal at GC2018.
I nicknamed, this cross-promotion achievement by Seven: The “CJ Bruton Trophy”, after the failed attempt, Chas Licciardello did, to get basketball player, and 2006 Comm Games gold medallist, CJ Bruton a interview with Tracy Grimshaw on ACA. But, all that constant news watching left me with this awkward feeling (which actually turned me off the 6pm news for a while post-GC2018), that led to an epiphany…
Skyhooks Horror Movie, music video, 1975 (from ozgirlkeh000 on Youtube)
The ideal of age and experience comes in, when we are looking at the QLD parliamentary press gallery: which has also seen stark changes in the last few months, with both 7 and 9 losing their top guns at George St, with both networks going for a younger approach to QLD political coverage: although, a younger approach may not work in the long haul, unless there is more mentoring from the experienced journos left there, towards the new faces to make them work harder and dig deeper.
All this, is more apt, in the wake of the Fairfax/Nine Entertainment Co. merger/takeover (depends on who one hears it from), which will likely introduce to Brisbane, a vertically integrated newsroom consisting of Nine’s television newsroom (based on Mt Coot-tha), Fairfax’s Brisbane Times website (based in Brisbane’s inner city) and Macquarie Radio Network’s 4BC/4BH, plus the QLD branch of Macquarie National News (based at Cannon Hill). Cue another Skyhooks clip.
Skyhooks "All My Friends are Getting Married", live from Festival Hall in Melbourne, 1983 (from Peter Green on Youtube)
This marriage means that Nine’s newsroom will effectively have access to a multitude of resources, that was impossible just a few short years ago. Fairfax’s Brisbane newsroom, are online journalism pioneers, and have created a product without print (and without a paywall), that has outlasted the Daily Sun of the 1980’s, in a far more competitive marketplace. The way Nine approaches the Brisbane Times question is whether or not, it is now feasible to either:A. Put up a paywall, to monetize the existing site.
or
B. Develop a paid product (that is, a fully digital Brisbane Times newspaper for tablets and smartphones), but keep the existing website free to use, and utilize Nine’s advertising skills in TV and online to make it pay.
Nine will also need to realize openly, that the Brisbane Times website, will be giving the network a local online presence largely absent since the migration of ExtraOnline to Our Brisbane (which also shut down a few years later) in 2009.
This triple play, will indeed be giving Seven a major headache, in the long term, especially as Nine would now have a radio presence in Brisbane (beyond the news simulcast tieups with Grant Broadcasting owned River 94.9 in Ipswich and community station Juice 107.3 on the Gold Coast), along with a strong online presence. The way it all ends up, will indeed be left to the ACCC… but there is one thing I’d surely love to see happen, as closure for last year.
“What many of us will want to see out of the Fairfax/9 merger:
Kylie Blucher (becoming GM for 4BC/4BH in addition to QTQ/NBN role), walking in like General MacArthur, into Macquarie's studios at Cannon Hill, and announcing a return of a locally-presented lineup.” Tweet, July 26, 2018 in wake of Fairfax/Nine merger.
Well, here we are with the oddness of a Doug Murray Memorial Melbourne Cup pick in August… which is normally, near-impossible. But when, we shifted the numbering, in 2017, to mark what would have been Extra’s 25th year on air, we realised, that there was a gap of two Melbourne Cups, between the end of Extra in 2009, and resumption of the tradition, by Kuttsywood’s Couchcushion in 2011. Thus, like the Man Booker Prize of 1970 (retrospectively awarded in 2010: as the Lost Man Booker Prize), we now have to retrospectively tip a Melbourne Cup winner, that we already know of: although, there would be times Dougie would have picked a correct winner. Today, is just not that day though.
(The hashtag, for this act is: #reviveBrisbaneTen)
"Meanwhile due to Ten's shoddy marketing in QLD, Masterchef will soon slide under 100k in the SE corner. 7 and 9 are everywhere in SEQ. Ten is visibly absent." Twitter post, 14th of May, 2018.
It is a well-known fact, that Ten in Brisbane is the lowest rating commercial station in the country. Yet, despite the management roundabout Ten has had in the last eight years or so, nobody has stood up, and took a wholesale look at the ratings each individual station is pulling. It is high time, now CBS is in charge, that TVQ in Brisbane got a good looking at, in order to potentially get better ratings for Ten’s product nationally. After all, if Ten’s second half lineup, doesn’t get eyes onto Ten in Brisbane, the main channel is staring down the barrel, of a sub 10% ratings year (which Ten would conveniently leave the Commonwealth Games out of any Brisbane figure), just as CBS is assuring their presence within Ten’s management.
I am first reminded of BTQ promo king, the late, Gary “Locked In” Linaker: who successfully turned around the Brisbane station, to become Seven’s highest rating station in the country in the mid eighties, with a homespun attitude to the station (not roast chook, as David Leckie did to 7 20yrs later) and a song at it’s heart, alongside knowing how to market Seven’s product right.
That song, hit top gear thanks to Kim Durant 35 years ago. That song, was simply: “Love You Brisbane”, and it took BTQ not just to the top of the ratings, but to the top of the Brisbane music charts. Seven’s marketing of it’s own product in Brisbane from 83-87 was also on the spot... along with the reach throughout Queensland, BTQ’s news and current affairs gained through many a penstroke.
The fight was on to attempt to copy what Seven did, and in the five years afterward: eight attempts at the local promo track were done by competitors: three for Nine, five for TV0/Brisbane Ten, and only one campaign got close: the locally recorded version of Frank Gari’s master stroke Turn to News for TV0 (aka Stand Up and Tell’em Brisbane’s Great, which lasted for two years: and delivered survey success for TVQ in early 1987, and paid of grandly by the time Expo came around) and had a equally powerful promotion chief behind it: the late Mike “Big Bird” Lattin.
And yet, here we are today, where Ten in Brisbane is constantly in third place of the commercial stations (heading towards fights with the ABC, instead of 7/9), while 7/9 constantly harp on about their community image, in the most parochial market in the country, while Ten’s practically invisible. But this invisibility at Ten can indeed be fixed.
The first thing that must be done: Actively market Ten in Brisbane as a local station.
This means: ramping up the local promotion, bringing network shows down here more often: after all, the Project has done zero shows in Queensland in it’s near ten years on air: yet has done shows in Adelaide and Sydney. Studio 10 took their product on the road to SEQ last year: and drew amazing crowds for the only non-caravan park show they did, in Brisbane’s CBD. And, when we mean local promotion needs to be ramped up, this means digging deep, and reviving a heritage brand for Ten in Brisbane: a reminder of the days, when TVQ could pull 28% audience share (rating #2 in Brisbane), when Neighbours was kicking Carroll at Seven into the ground, and when TVQ attached itself to a event still ingrained in people’s minds today.
TVQ Stand up and Tell Em, Brisbane's Great, 1986 (from irt5 on Youtube)
The second thing that must be done: investment in the news service.
Seven and Nine’s dogfight on the Gold Coast: along with the launch of local afternoon news bulletins by both 7/9, has done superficial damage to Ten’s news brand in Queensland, as much as people at Ten want to deny it. Prior to BTQ re-entering the Gold Coast news stakes, in July 2016, let alone prior to Nine introducing local afternoon news in 2014: Ten’s Brisbane bulletin was a ratings winner, despite losing Bill McDonald to 7 in 2013, that was competitive with the 5:30 gameshows: in fact, just four years ago (26-30 May, 2014: four months before Nine flipped the local switch for their afternoon bulletin in Brisbane) Ten was averaging 105,000 viewers every week for their 5pm news service in Brisbane.
Today (21-25 May, 2018 that is), that figure is 83,000. You can’t blame anything like streaming, declining audiences for news, all the riffraff under the sun (yes, even Millionaire/Chase being 1hr long is seen as a excuse), for a near 25,000 viewer drop in just four years, other than the increased local news offerings by 7/9 between 4-6pm. Thus it is time for Ten to fight back. Again, we take a trip back into the past, for Ten: this time to Melbourne, and the big gamble to air news at 6, for a hour… while 7/9 were eventually forced to move to 6pm, in that market: simply because their 6:30 1/2hr news services were smashed by a Ten newshour that started earlier.
Ten’s Gold Coast news bulletin, should simply be at 6pm (a slot I have said privately, as far back as 2015, would be a major winner, for the growing Gold Coast commuter market): with whatever Ten is developing for that slot post-Family Feud (a Pointless idea to be honest, especially if Ten can’t even market it to QLDers, with the hosts down here for the Logies back in early July), airing on WIN’s channel on the Gold Coast.
Alongside this, Ten would launch local late news in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast (again, targeting the commuter market: as the average commute in Brisbane is now making it impossible for Ten to lure people to their 5pm news, especially as Seven and Nine have tied up with radio stations (96.5 (7) and River 94.9 (9, but likely to change with pending 4BC purchase) to broadcast their news at 6) The concept of local late news would be rolled out nationally, and would become the flagship of Ten’s news brand: not the 5pm bulletin as it currently is.
The second weapon, would be a complete reboot of the Ten news brand in general, dumping the “Eyewitness News” brand, in favour of a new name, and completely new look and sound.
The new name: “News10”. The new look and sound, would be based off the CBS O&O sound and look in the US, including, The Enforcer news theme (replacing the Les Gock-produced news theme that has evolved for a quarter of a century with Ten’s news product), and visual elements taken from various CBS O&O’s, new sets etc, to drive home the element of a classy news service, that makes real news matter: simply put, TVQ’s (and for that matter: Ten’s) news has to become “Your Person to Person Source for Real News”, expanding the former TVQ tagline (Person to Person) nationwide.
The third thing that must be done: is to expand the community involvement Ten has with Brisbane.
Keeping in touch with one’s community, is a fantastic way to build a profile for a television station. For Nine and Seven, community involvement has indeed become a staple part of the fight to get eyes on the product. Who here remembers the efforts 9/7 have done to try to get the Ekka partnership right over the last decade: inc. return of news bulletins being filmed on site… especially, as TVQ led in that field in the late 1990s/early 2000’s, with a tweaked version, of TVQ’s Expo 88 presence (and the infamous, but clever tagline: “Ten days of EKKA” (i.e. the Ekka is 10 days long) to promote it:), that eventually sat unused (as Nine’s news bulletin return, was done in the Governor’s Pavilion near the main arena) until the redevelopment of the Industrial Pavilion in 2011-12. Same applies with Riverfire: when Seven got the event for a three year stint, between 2007-09, only to see Nine snaffle it back in a stealthy manner. In fact, most major events in the south-east corner, are either sponsored heavily by Seven, or Nine, increasingly holding a grip on the SEQ community, while Ten are left with usually nothing viable enough to cross-promote with, to try and build a rapport with viewers, and the events they do have: aren’t marketed to their top potential.
Ten needs to make a serious attempt, at bidding for sponsorships for events like the Ekka, and Brisbane Festival instead of sitting idling while other stations are dialing, and succeeding. Other critical local involvement options include:
-Negotiate to acquire the sponsorship and (critically) naming rights, to a big ticket SEQ event that has rarely changed hands. Examples include: the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show (in Seven’s hands since the days of Brownie’s Coastwatch) and the Bridge to Brisbane fun run (in Nine’s hands since inception, and could potentially be out of Nine’s hands post-Fairfax merger, due to it being a News Ltd-created and promoted event)
-Negotiate with events that have had poor coverage by Brisbane stations in recent years, and commit to a expansion in coverage: examples include, the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race (once a Good Friday Brisbane TV sporting spectacle, 2018 was the first live coverage of the start in years… which was only done due to Comm Games baton being in the Shorncliffe/Redcliffe area), Brisbane’s St Patrick’s Day and Anzac Day parades (last covered commercially by Seven in the late nineties), Brisbane’s Lord Mayor’s Christmas Carols (produced in-house at BCC for the last two years, and must have creative control on Ten’s end: having no creative control by Ten in it’s original run with the Brisbane Carols, led to the “Carols in The City” variation, that became heavily religious), and most importantly: New Years Eve, which hasn’t been covered properly by a BNE commercial station since 2000.
-Negotiate to acquire “The Great South East” trademarks, and re-establish the bridge Seven burned with 4KQ when the “Great Day Out” in-house production by 7 launched in 2017. This can lead to Ten reviving the GSE program in the long haul.
-And most importantly, negotiate new opportunities, for SEQ events (Gold Coast marathon (which TVQ actually aired in full and live, back in the eighties), festivals outside BCC area etc.) and some local sports (e.g. NEAFL, Brisbane club rugby, Football QLD’s three main state leagues (NPLQ (top tier of QLD football), NPLWQ (state womens league) and the new FQPL second division (which also introduced promotion/relegation between NPLQ and FQPL, when it launched earlier this year), to bring Ten in as a television partner. Another strategic move, would be negotiating with Fox Sports to allow Ten to carry local A-League teams on FTA in their markets, in addition to the current allocation of A-League matches Ten gets.
And, finally: the fourth thing that must be done: Relocate the TVQ newsroom off Mt Coot-tha.
The biggest unfulfilled promise, Brisbane television has had in the last twenty years, that wasn’t named “Local Edition”, has been the possibility of TVQ moving off Mt Coot-tha. The project was originally, a goer in 2000, with two sites investigated: the former Light St bus depot (eventually split into Homemaker City Fortitude Valley, and the Emporium complex) and the site of the former Arnotts factory at Milton (eventually turned into apartments). Eventually, the move was abandoned, and a refurbishment happened at Mt Coot-tha: which came up at the right time, as the former newsroom for TVQ served as the main QLD TV and radio newsroom for the ABC for five years, from 2006 to 2012, while awaiting a permanent facility at South Bank.
In the eighteen years since the original TVQ relocation project was mooted, commercial stations in every capital city in Australia except for Brisbane have abandoned legacy facilities, in favour of modernization in a new home. Even Perth’s “TV Hill” at Dianella, is now a distant memory, with Ten leaving for Subiaco in December 2016, mere months after Nine’s departure for Perth’s CBD. The only station in Brisbane that has been game enough, to modernize a near-60yr old building on Mt Coot-tha, however: has been Nine, albeit out of necessity rather than a itch to relocate: the fact that QTQ’s news studios needed a HD upgrade, and the Southern Cross/Win switch in 2016 (which saw Nine deliver the return of local news to the SCA stations) saw a complex project occur over the first half of 2017: a rebuilding of QTQ Studio 1’s entire layout, to support not just native HD news, but the presentation of regional news bulletins (later extended to include producing Darwin’s news bulletins), without compromising the quality of QTQ’s on-air product. That has proved the world of good, about staying on the mountain for Nine, but for others on the hill, hamstrung by budgets, getting ever tighter: (and in Ten’s case, space is also a factor: as the current news studio has to share it’s space with Ten’s children’s television production slate: a problem unique to Brisbane), the itch to ditch Mt Coot-tha, is a tempting idea to scratch.
But, for Ten it wasn’t always this way in Brisbane… At the genesis of TVQ’s news service in 1974, a decision was made to initially run the newsroom out of 4IP’s studios in Brisbane’s CBD, with presentation happening on Mt Coot-tha itself: with newsfilm driven up the hill, in time for the 6pm news.
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| "What the heck ever happens on Mt Coot-tha?" Promo for TVQ's news service launch, May 12 1974 (from SLQ microfiche) |
ENG’s arrival ended the original CBD operation, when the decision was made to set up a single newsroom at Mt Coot-tha, and bar, the Expo exhibit between March-October 1988, TVQ’s news has not shifted since. Meanwhile, technology has accelerated far beyond what was possible at Expo 88. The same trip, the newsfilm made in 1974 (around 15-20minutes) is now done almost instantly either via satellite or fibre optic cable: and allows the possibility of remotely controlling news bulletins, produced on Mt Coot-tha from a off-Mountain newsroom.
I personally believe, the next step for TVQ: is to move it’s newsroom back to Brisbane’s inner-city, but it even divides into two options.
I personally believe, the next step for TVQ: is to move it’s newsroom back to Brisbane’s inner-city, but it even divides into two options.
-Option 1: Newsroom relocates, studio included, with childrens production remaining on Mt Coot-tha, along with Ten being able to take additional production onboard. This would mean that Ten would require, around 500-2000sqm of office space, with the ability to convert at least part of it into a television studio to produce Ten’s Brisbane news bulletins.
-Option 2: Newsroom relocates, but news bulletin production remains on Mt Coot-tha, linked to the new newsroom (which would require space for a control room) via a fibre optic link, in much the same fashion that Queenscliff Surf Club, was linked to Pyrmont for production of the shortlived Wake Up breakfast program in 2013/14. Ten’s current facility at Mt Coot-tha also would be refurbished, so childrens production is no longer squeezed into the same studio as Ten’s Brisbane news bulletins. The office space, Ten would require would be around 500-1500sqm.
Other requirements both options would need include:
-Carparking for journalists, ENG vehicles and live link units.
-The ability to be heavily rewired at a whim, along with support to handle future evolutions in news and communications technology.
-The potential for Ten’s sales teams (currently inside MCN sales, until January next year) to relocate under the same roof.
-The investment, in news bureaux in locations throughout SEQ (and for that matter: Queensland) just to match the coverage levels 9/7 currently have (which has seen not just investment on the GC, but in Brisbane’s west: with new bureaus in Ipswich (7 choosing Riverlink in Ipswich, and Nine partnering up with USQ at Springfield, to set up a training facility): including a news production facility, similar in size to Brisbane Option 1 (500-2000sqm) for the Gold Coast.
-Provisions for WIN to open a Brisbane bureaux within the Ten facility (sharing equipment etc.)
And, finally: -Ten’s planning for any newsroom relocation off the Mountain, should be within the 3-5 year range: meaning they can get a nice pre-commitment somewhere in the inner city (preferably, inner north/CBD/West End) especially if option 2’s fibre optic link to Mt Coot-tha is warranted, instead of option 1’s full newsroom/studio relocation.
This would also open Ten up, to come on board for the major redevelopments happening as part of Cross River Rail (Brisbane Live at Roma St, any Woolloongabba station project), as a anchor tenant.
“Channel Ten, Channel Ten,
Can’t get any viewers in Brisbane,
Marketing’s bad, no matter how they spin,
Where to begin with Channel Ten.
Channel Ten, Channel Ten,
Ratings up here seem to not be their friend,
Meanwhile the Comm Games triggered a downward trend,
Not again, Channel Ten.
CBS man, CBS man,
Now looking at poor Brisbane Ten man,
CBS man, is asking why nobody’s watching Brisbane Ten man,
Want a solution? Here’s one from a fan that can.
Just ask Brisbane man, CBS man.
Channel Ten, Channel Ten,
An easy way to get Brisbane watching again,
Localize, and everyone wins,
That’s how it’s done, Channel Ten.”
This is the end, of the landmark, tenth edition of Kuttsy’s Pitch, and we all remind you to enjoy the third Kuttsy’s Pitch spinoff, also this weekend. #Bris3xit, is a wonderful addition to the spinoff family but…
What the hell was that? Stand Up 4 the Northside? I cannot believe that for one second.
Well, see you next year… that is unless Seven admits they can put Nine under the pump, like they have done this year… something extra perhaps?
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