Content Survey Live 2023: The Call of The Tribes: Semi Final 1: Melbourne V Brisbane: Night 1 (Melbourne).

 Welcome, to the first night of 2023's Content Survey Live.

This year, we are going tribal.

This is the beginning of a four week adventure. Four days a week until the end of August, you will see content on this site that lays down comparisons between various markets, in a battle to see who gets to the grand final, up against undisputed, reigning, defending Content Survey Live champion, Perth in the week of the 21st-25th of August.

This first semi final week, is between perennial Content Survey Live also-rans, Brisbane and newly de-hybrided Melbourne that came second to Perth last year.

The rules of combat... I mean survey are as follows:

The Ground Rules:

Our focus, in Content Survey Live will be monitoring Ten’s five capital city news services (a benefit of technological change, now allowing us to watch interstate bulletins on delay), using the same criteria we used in the “Great Local News Study” from Kuttsy's Pitch XI in August, 2019.

-Locally sourced stories: that is stories reported by local journos. Really big local market stories with national impacts, also fit here. Voiced over local stories are counted separately.

-Live crosses: stuff that is used to embellish a story.

-Weather is not counted.

-Sport is not counted if it’s done by obviously freelance journos, or voiced over pieces: you gotta have dedicated reporters there, with their mug on air reporting a sports story for it to count.

-And finally: Ten Brisbane will have it’s Gold Coast content tracked during it’s nights: something that has become a tradition in itself.

And, now here's the tale of the tape for Melbourne: having the first taste of tournament-style Content Survey Live.

Marvelous Melbourne (which last year got the cliché treatment on Content Survey Live) has now passed eight months since being divorced from Adelaide news. Melbourne, has had often praise for trying as hard as possible to make the hybrid with Adelaide work, while ratings plunged in Adelaide, but we’ve had savage criticism levied on one factor: weather presentation, especially since centralization in 2020.

You see, prior to the Adelaide/Melbourne hybrid product: Melbourne’s weather was more commonly presented outside the studio, and it was when the SA/VIC hybrid product debuted, a shift toward in-studio presentation occurred: which was fine when budgets are tight, but the way it was run was pretty much a downgrade for both markets, being reduced to a presenter pointing at figures on a screen that was exactly the same size as what viewers watched the bulletin on, instead of the obvious option: a chromakeyed background.

A Melbourne with 45 extra minutes to fill, is most likely going to be a preview of a Brisbane or Sydney with a extra sixty minutes: but will the rundown post 5:18 be different now the Adelaide and Melbourne bulletins are separate? That’s something we intend to find out: with our first Monday night bulletin of the Content Survey Live season.

Are you ready to survey some content...

We kick off night one, with the big AFL story of the day: the retirement of Buddy Franklin. This story got plenty of mileage throughout the bulletin inc. the lead story on both the first segment and sports segments, while tonight has seen no less than a live cross bonanza, with no less than six live crosses (just for the big sporting ticket in Melbourne tonight: The FIFA Womens World Cup's big pool game between the Matildas and Canada (which this review is actually being written during the game's latter stages). Meanwhile, we get stories about a Moonee Ponds theft, a Keysborough weekend youth incident with a machete, a bizarre press briefing with a IBAC corruption inquiry subject and a sentencing concerning a murder from last year.

All these stories were rerun after 6pm.

Whoever thought it was a good idea to have traffic reports sponsored by a lawyer named Carbone, ought to be questioned, because these traffic reports often contain a few prangs (although, we had a static shot tonight first up of people repairing powerlines).

Also, we've discovered the whereabouts of the Brisbane link truck: somehow in Airlie Beach, covering the helicopter crash offshore, while a report on the same accident was run, with a completely different reporter post 6pm.

For the first time in what seems like a eternity: Melbourne's weather is live on location, from the FIFA WWC live-site at Federation Square.

Meanwhile, we've had very little local content between segment two and the first sports segment.

Quarters is on his A-game tonight, including a cracker at the end of the first sports segment, somehow alluding that Jennifer Keyte did a shoey at the Logies last night... only to see Jennifer lose all composure.

Overall, Melbourne looks like it can stand well on it's own once more as a local news service, and hopefully: the days of tiny weather screens are well and truly over.

The scores:
Four locally sourced stories:
Three voiced over stories (all sport!)
A mammoth eight local live crosses.
Plenty of sports reporters mugs hanging around AAMI Park.

In 2022, Melbourne got 6/10 (night 1), and 7/10 (night 2)
Tonight: Melbourne got 8/10, it's highest score ever, for Content Survey Live.

Melbourne has hit the fast track this year, to potentially secure a spot in the preliminary final. Most of the problems that existed in the former Adelaide/Melbourne hybrid have been correctly addressed here. However, there needs to be a increase in local content in the middle of the bulletin, to possibly challenge Perth in the local content stakes.

Mondays with Hank:

Each year, with Content Survey Live: we always try and close each individual survey with some clip we’ve found on the internet, that somehow relates to a theme. This year, we are going with two separate themes. Our posts concerning Monday night, are going to take you on a boneshaking journey down the road that is… the evolution of country star Hank Williams Jr, and his powerful intros for the US ABC’s Monday Night Football NFL coverage in the 1990s.

It all starts, with one track released in October 1984.

(All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight video from Curb Records on Youtube)

A very fun track, and play spot the country legends in the video.

However, it would gain steam once more five years later… incidentally not long after the most innovative track of it’s day was released by Hank: the first duet of it’s kind, using technology to allow Hank Jr to have a duet with his long deceased father Hank Sr (thanks to a old demo (on acetate) found by a fellow singer who worked with Hank Sr): paving the way for other duets from beyond the grave as the 90’s arrived.

(Tear In My Beer video, again from Curb Records on Youtube)

We’ll get back to Tear in My Beer tomorrow (particularly it’s success), as we enter the 1990’s.

Meanwhile, The US ABC was getting ready to celebrate a major milestone for it’s NFL coverage: the twentieth anniversary of Monday Night Football. The choice was made to adapt All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight to celebrate the MNF milestone (with significant changes, to the lyrics, which turned it from a song celebrating a party in the country with the “rowdy friends”, into one that celebrated the NFL and how it got people together… just to flip on the TV set on Monday night to watch the NFL’s most iconic broadcast... Monday Night Football)

(All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night 1989 version from TheGetzGuy on Youtube)

The success of that campaign: led to one poor imitation in Australia in 1990 by 10: in the first year of the NSWRL having a consistent Friday Night Football slot all season (but would continue to be used until 10 lost the rights to rugby league in late 1991.)

(The Broadcom take on Rowdy Friends from Yogiew2 on Youtube)

It would take until 1995, for Australia to find it’s own FNF voice (by then with Nine having the rights to RL, at the dawn of the Super League War): aging rocker, Billy Thorpe, and Bill Medley’s track from The Last Boy Scout, “Friday Night’s a Great Night For Football” (a song about high school gridiron (a Friday night tradition in parts of the US in the fall: to the point the NFL is legally unable to play a televised game on that particular weeknight (to protect crowds at high school games), that somehow also fitted rugby league).

As for Hank: 1990 would come with a win, and a second year with ABC… a Superbowl season if you will.

Well, we will be seeing you all back here tomorrow for our coverage of Brisbane's Monday bulletin, and some more Monday night magic...

A reminder: if you enjoyed this, follow us on Patreon (and perhaps become one of our patrons: helping us build our way to a dynamic future), or our socials: on X, and Mastodon, as well as our official Facebook page.