"Welcome
to the news at 6. It's ten past 6...."
What's
the story Rory???? I don't know what its like where
you live, but here in Australia there is a cheeky little
trick being played out to keep viewers on the channel
they're watching. Here's an example. The nine network's
Who
wants to be a Millionaire aired across Australia
during the week, is scheduled between 8.30 and 9.35pm.
Does it ever end at 9.35? Never! The
idea is that if the viewer has planned to switch to
the Seven Network to watch another show at 9.30, they're
unlikely to do so, because they are hanging on the edge
of their seats to see if "John Smith" is going
to make it up to $250,000. Often "Millionaire"
goes ten minutes overtime. By that time, the viewer
has missed the beginning of the show on Seven, and ends
up staying on Nine.
To
add insult to injury, Channel Seven's
Today
Tonight show, which is a daily domestic news
show aired between 6.30 and 7pm, did a story on this
very subject, and then ran late by 5 minutes! Naomi
Robson (pictured right) is the presenter for Today Tonight.
Whatever you may think, the bottom line is simply that
running TV shows late is successful in keeping the viewers
on your channel. I'm pretty sure this doesn't happen
with the main networks in the US, or Britain for that
matter, but they're getting away with it here!
As
you may know, we have "The Jam-Song" available
for download on this site, but I have recently been sent
the uncut version of that same song, not alot different,
but none-the-less, fun to listen to! Thanks Andrew Hanlon
for sending. Oh, and if you're a true anorak, you won't
be able to resist the actual lyrics in that song, which
is dated 1983. Andrew also sent us a nice clean set of
KIIS jingles.
For those of you who don't know what "The Jam Song"
is, well, back in the early 80's a company called Jam
Productions produced state-of-the-art jingle packages
for the world's top radio stations, such as the BBC
in the UK and WNBC in the US. Jam also did name-checks
for world-known DJ's such as Rick Dees and Kasey Kasem.
Our own Radio Nova and KIIS FM Dublin bought jingle
packages from Jam back in 1981. In '83 they recorded
a song which comprised of nothing but jingles all the
way through, as a little promotional piece to sedn to
their clients, namely, thousands of radio stations.
I remember getting a copy at Radio Nova and blasting
it out in my tatty little car as I drove around Dublin.
It was fabulous to someone in the radio industry.
They were (and possibly still are) the ultimate producer
in this field. Of course nowadays most radio stations
don't use "singing" jingles - and what a shame!
