Lexicon News The Third: Night 1: Set and Setiferous

 And, by the way: surprise!

Welcome to the first night, of the third series of Blackadder... I mean the third edition of Lexicon News. This year: Lexicon News, celebrates the end of a ratings year that Seven lost in Brisbane in September: while Jan 1-Dec 31 numbers are aiming toward a 26-all draw in December.

But yet the questions I still am getting (after three years of doing these events) is the following...

"What the hell is Lexicon News?"

Lexicon News's genesis

Lexicon News, initially came about as a way to extend the Content Survey Live format into a second week, but it's catalyst, was a move I made in August 2020: from Brisbane to regional Queensland, where 7's news service is not only omnipotent, but probably has been the most successful local news product in aggregated Australia for the last decade, as bulletins were added in markets that were once heartlands for WIN Television (Rockhampton in 2010, and Toowoomba in 2015) while the regional television sector played two games of musical chairs with Southern Cross and Win concerning the Nine chair in Victoria, Southern NSW and Queensland in 2016 and 2021: consigning Nine to a very deep ratings hole in our part of the world.

But it hasn't been without some growing pains, especially when Seven News in Brisbane expanded to one hour in 2014, which eventually (once Toowoomba gained a local news service in December 2015) resulted in Seven's 6pm hour in Brisbane being heavily edited into a 1/2hr service to air at 6:30, with Brisbane's sport/weather airing live statewide.

From this position (and a little help from a PVR recording the directors cut and 7+'s full bulletin), we will find out how much Queensland regional viewers don't see in the (news) directors cut of BTQ's 6pm news.

"Why the name, Lexicon News?"

The inspiration for the name: came from the most unusual source: a Christmas tape, someone uploaded to Youtube.

(There is nothing to be ashamed about people outside the industry watching TV Xmas tapes, broadcasters: especially, as even the BBC celebrated their own, back in 2018.)

This particular Christmas tape, came from BTQ in Brisbane, in 1986: and probably lines up with some of the best ever done by the Beeb (less titilation, but more of a cohesive story)

The story, is simply: parodying Bondy's Sky Channel, with their own idea... "The Lexicon Channel".

"The Lexicon 1200: unrivalled in it's performance, can time compress your favorite programs, so you the viewer can enjoy more programs in less time than any other network. Imagine Gone With The Wind being telecast in one hour, Imagine 26 minutes of commercials, and eight minutes of station promotion per hour, that's The Lexicon Channel's promise. A new generation of broadcasting has been born.

The Lexicon Channel: Taking on the challenge, taking entertainment to new... lengths.

Quote from the afore mentioned Christmas tape's intro.

The whole idea was, simply a channel that actively edited programs so as much programming could be screened as possible in as little time as possible: as famously explained by the eccentric idea of condensing the four hour epic, "Gone With The Wind", into a one hour slot... only to stick 34 minutes of non program content in, leaving only 24mins of the film.

Hence why this week is called "Lexicon News": where a hour news bulletin is condensed into a small time frame: in a small timeframe, so it can be gotten out of the way, because 7 doesn't want to move Home and Away.

The Ground Rules:

The ground rules, for the Lexicon News event, are taken from a promo, in 1987: that compared Seven's second attempt at 1hr news in Brisbane, with Nine's 1/2hr product that became dominant at the exact same time.

As it described:

"If you are watching a half-hour news, take out the weather, sport, opening music, hello's and goodbyes and the commercials, and you could only get about 12 minutes of real news each night."

Thus the ground rules for the Lexicon News challenge are for five nights:

-Time the length of the bulletin, from the moment the first story intro begins at 6, to the time the throw to sport begins, on both bulletins.

-Write down every story on the 1hr version, and compare with the half hour version to see how much content is removed.

-Subtract the BNE timing from the regional timing to get the amount of time lost to regional QLD viewers each night by simply trimming the BTQ news bulletin.

-Ultimately: add up all the figures, and come up with a final set of numbers at the end of the week.

In addition, we will be tracking how many coverups of live cross timings (usually seen as giant "LIVE" graphics superimposed) are made by Seven on the 10 minute edit during this period.

Tonight's tale...

"Good news: you're getting a new set: bad news, you are going have to do a lot more walking."

What aired in regional QLD, will be bolded and in red.
We open up tonight's bulletin, on a entirely new set: the first time a significant set change has been made at 7 on Mt Coot-tha since 2012 (i.e. not another desk).

Tonight's lead, was a search for a missing fisherman off the Sunshine Coast (inc a live cross: Seven now abandoned the stupidity of adding times to live crosses), followed by: Caboolture Hospital's expansion opening amid ramping problems, a live cross from the Parliament House balcony, a GC live cross on a gunman hunt, The seemingly never ending story of Gaza, the dumping of the boss of Home Affairs, inquest into Jeremiah Rivers disappearance, SEQ rail chaos during Xmas holidays, Newspoll/Canberra story, a significant defamation trial, wages growth, Mushroom 50 concert, M1 crash at Upper Coomera, Melbourne car surfer caught, Death of former Socceroos coach Terry Venables, youth crime arrests Logan, speed reduction figures from the Slow Down With Sam signs, opening of the Rozelle Interchange in Sydney, A new book coming out on the British royal family, Bob Katter pushing for a coin change, breaking news about a saline solution recall, Eagleby Subway robbery, Russian factory explosion and a cross-promo for the KIIS-mas Lights contest.

The timing in Brisbane tonight added up to 26min, 40secs.
The regional cut added up to 8mins, 31secs.
Seven lexiconed out of their news tonight for regional Queenslanders: 18mins, 9secs.

Seven lexiconing out QLD political stories should be called out for what it is: there may be a new person in charge at BTQ's newsroom (Michael Coombes), the same policies still exist from the previous management (Neil Warren: who has since moved on to Sydney). It's effectively sending viewers heads stuck in sand right up to Sky News Regional's door.

A couple more things for tonight: A reminder from tonight's news that did make the regional cut: a fundraising campaign by Dominic Blauw for HeartKids: as of press, he is halfway to his goal of $2000 raised. More info is available at: https://www.heartkids.org.au/my-fundraising/435/kristy-blauw

And, finally: OneQueensland's "Big Q" is being launched wider: the link to the survey is available here.

A reminder, if you want to support us here at Kuttsywood's Couch, please visit our Patreon page: and become a paid supporter, and a reminder: to see you tomorrow night!