Piss off, Dave
UPDATE 13 August 2009:
He’s back, right now on 89.7 FM (91.7 in Myrtleford & 106.5 elsewhere in the area). Get him off!
We're lucky to have a broadcaster like Joseph Thomsen in this area but when Joseph isn't there why do we get boring 'Dad & Dave' Lennon?
And get back to work, Joseph Thomsen!
Joseph Thomsen is an award-winning broadcaster who has a morning show on Local Radio ABC Goulburn Murray from 8.30 am to 11 am that I thoroughly enjoy. It’s on 89.7 FM in Bright, 91.7 in Myrtleford and 106.5 everywhere else in the north east including Albury-Wodonga & Wangaratta.
The only problem is, Joseph takes too much time off and, as it seems they have no back-up broadcaster at ABC Wodonga, we are regularly switched through to the ultra boring Dave Lennon from ABC Bendigo. In fact we’ve had to endure ’the dull one’ for the last two days.
Lennon is not only a boring nerd, he plays crap music. Worse still, his show deals entirely with Bendigo region issues so why the ABC thinks we’d be interested in that is beyond me.
Surely the better alternative whenever Joseph is either sick, on holiday, at a conference or just ‘not there’, is to give us the full Jon Faine show from ABC 774 in Melbourne. We can relate to what Jon talks about because it’s either Statewide, National or International topics and, after all, we already get Faine’s ‘conversation hour’ from 11 am anyway so what is the problem, why do we get stuck with ‘Dad & Dave’ Lennon?
And it’s not like we’ve got a lot of alternative stations around here. The choices are either a couple of FM stations in Albury that play awful 80s music non-stop or the terrible, ultra redneck-radio 3NE in Wang. Listening to 3NE is like being forced to sit through 2nd rate versions of Alan Jones & John Laws shows. It’s so reactionary & conservative it makes you want to scream. And, again, the music they play is rubbish.
I’ve sent emails and made phone calls about this situation with Joseph & Lennon but to no avail. I keep getting fobbed off on the phone and no one replies to my emails. But it’s ‘our’ ABC and I think we need to make a noise about this. Maybe the best thing to do is to wait until Thomsen returns and then give him a call on his Talkback segment and put him (and the ABC) right on the spot.
The number is 1300-147-222. Please call Joseph and say:
“We like you, we like your show, but we’re sick to death of that bore Dave Lennon. Why don’t you turn up to work more often you lazy bastard?” or words to that effect.
UPDATE, Reply from ABC:
Dear Mr Dixon,
Thank you for your email. Due to a combination of illness and rostered time off, it does feel like Joseph Thomsen has been away a lot this year.
Our decision to broadcast ABC Bendigo to the Goulburn Murray area is made on a number of factors.
One of those is about community of interest. Some of the stories covered by that program are local to Bendigo and north west Victoria, but we believe there are also stories of relevance across northern Victoria and beyond.
I am sorry you don’t find the program meets your listening needs. I can assure you that all points of view are considered when making these decisions, and we will take yours into account when we next need to fill behind Joseph.
And by the way, Joseph is back on Thursday morning.
Yours sincerely,
ABC Goulburn Murray Team
Comment:
Not good enough. There are NO stories on ABC Bendigo that are relevant to this north east region.
And they haven’t explained why they don’t simply put us through to ABC 774 Melbourne and the excellent Jon Faine whenever Joseph’s not there.
And it doesn’t “feel” like he’s had a lot of time off . It’s not a “feeling”, it’s a fact.
I’ve sent them my further thoughts on this.
Contact: ray@grevilleagardens.com
Click 
Raymond, I am a huge ABC radio fan. I start my morning off with Fran on Radio National and she is without peer, magnificent. Morning is never complete without AM, also on Radio National. I’ve stopped listening to lightweight populists like Thomsen and even worse that clown G
whoops, sorry about that, fingers were obviously racing too quickly. Was going to say, that clown Gaye Paterson.
Now am streaming 3RRR in Melbourne. Admittedly it doesn’t do “local” or regional issues but I can do without them if I have to rely on that lot to do it. People who listen to commercial radio deserve it. Not this little black duck.
3RRR plays a deal of eclectic music, much of it from Oz. It’s talk programs, predominantly on Sunday morning I can listen to without wanting to pull the plug out. Still think Radio National slaughters Goulburn Murray and what’s it listener range, apparently less than 1%. Not surprising. As much have little time for AFL celebs, Chris Judd went up in my estimations when i heard he was a regular Radio National patron.
Yes, Thomsen is a ” lightweight populist” I suppose, Baldrick, but that’s his job and he does it well. He’s also quite objective and, most importantly, he covers a huge range of local issues. Some of his interviews with the likes of Mirabella (who he doesn’t seem to like and vice-versa) are excellent.
Radio National is a just a bit too ethereal for me. I like to stay connected to the real world.
Btw, who is clown G?
We crossed posts there. Gai Paterson is pretty good too, compared to commercial jocks like the redneck they have on 3NE. And if Chris Judd (the ultimate nerd) is a big fan of Radio National, that’s no advertisement for it.
I realise ABC Local Radio is more mainstream than alternatives like 3RRR but give me a break, we need to stay connected to the mainstream otherwise we don’t know what alternative is and we end up living in la la land.
Besides, it’s just about staying informed and I’ve found many important local topics coming out of it.
Ideally I would like to see a community radio station in our area, one that is run by locals for locals and that had a breadth of material, including commentary on local issues.
The Mt.Beauty station is taking an eternity to get over here and I’m not sure that’s what we want.
It’d be as boring as all hell. Amateur hour by amateurs. Please.
But imagine you could have your own program and prattle on endlessly.
Never mind the Broadcasting Authority or the sensible police.
I’d only do it if we could have a ‘talk back’ hour.
Imagine all the Save Brighters calling in (voices disguised of course). It’d be a real hoot.
And we could get a few councillors on and see if they can put coherent sentences together.
Yeah, I’m warming to the idea.
See. The idea has considerable merit. In all honesty, it could have the potential of providing vibrant, current debate and dialogue.
And I’d be hankering for a berth on the micordiophone to get the tips out early and do Neil Young anthems. What an audience I’d have.
Well, in theory, Baldrick, it’s a good idea. But these things fall down in practice because of lack of interest from the community. I’ll just stick to my opinionated blogging thanks.
The obvious question here is what’s the crap music Ray? What’s good music? Get to the nitty-gritty please.
We have the best local ABC station here in Hobart. Peter Cundall on talkback, Tim Cox the magnificent., Annie Warburton the culltured… and the music is so good I’ve often had to chase it down to get it onto my MP3 thingy.
It sounds like the ABC is letting you down – they’re supposed to be the voice of the country aren’t they? Not much use if the part of the country isn’t yours. Keep at them.
Ooh, Neil Young – on the right track Baldrick.
Dave Lennon plays country music, Rox. Enough said?
I can’t stand JT. He stops talking every 4 words. like this –
JT – “Well good morning…. ….listners.
Today we’re touching on the topic…. ….of evolution… …is it real… or is it… …just …”
Me – “oh for phuksake” and I switch him off. Drives me batty.
He’s interviewed me before and everytime he paused I made a point to jump in on top of him.
I mean, just have a look at him. The baseball cap is a dead giveway. Mind you, Joseph’s no oil painting, but at least he doesn’t play “Stand by your man”. He doesn’t play much music at all actually, he’s more into the talky thing.
I know what you mean, Orville, it’s a very annoying trait of his. He ums & ahs a lot.
And I admit, he’s not “the brightest penny in the box”.
But overall he puts a pretty entertaining show together and he does get across local issues – even if he’s not quite at grips with them himself.
What did he interview you about? (If you can say without revealing too much)
now now Ray. The reason I found this blog is because I had a ‘google alert’ about a certain topic I am interested in and it popped into my inbox and surprise surprise these was my name liked to an article from your blog.
You gave me a bucket load (and it made me laugh) so I added you to as a fav…. ya prick
I gave you a “bucket load”? Are you local? I’m not meaning to pry or “out” you but I’m wondering who I’ve poured crap on?
Maybe you deserved it !!!!
Anyway, I appreciate your contribution to this blog and … oh, sorry about the Tigers not being able to score for 80 minutes against the Saints.
ROFL. How bout this. Next time I’m in bright, I’ll pop in and introduce myself.
And no I didn’t deserve it but for a blogger you do all right. All fair in love and blogs.
Re: Tigers – get stuffed.
P.s. No I’m not Bernie Finn
“Next time I’m in bright, I’ll pop in and introduce myself.”
Ditto. I’ve never been to Bright, but my husband used to live in Albury. He’s still recovering.
Please do, Orville & Rox.
my husband used to live in Albury. He’s still recovering
For some, it’s too late (Dave from …. ?)
ABC radio is the only thing that makes sense when I’m driving. I need brain food to listen to and most music on commercial radio is crap. Unless it’s Don McLean.
UPDATE #2:
More success? ‘Dull Dave’ Lennon is back on today but Gai Patterson from ABC Wodonga did the first half hour to make sure some local issues were covered. Gai also stressed that Joseph Thomsen WILL be back on air tomorrow. (It was Gai who sent me the reply yesterday)
I accidentally heard some of Dull Dave today, right at the start of his stint and he readily heralded the return of Thomsen. Then straight back to RRR it was. Maybe you could give a daily round-up of the local issues covered Raymond, so I don’t have to listen to these types.
Well looking at the local paper there are only two main issues in Bright of any note:
(1) An official report that the Alpine council’s planning dept is in disarray, disillusioned and dysfunctional. A lot of ‘dises’ there … but not a lot of surprises.
(2) An application for a 5 hectare pebble & boulder quarry by the Buckland River in Porepunkah. That one is bound to be highly controversial and may even attract as much opposition as the Coles matter. Well, more actually. I think I might be opposed to it too.
HI Guys,
I appreciate your forthright comments and totally understand your frustrations when i turn up when Joseph is off ill or on holiday.
I need to explain in this forum the reasoning for what i do when you hear me.
the core audience i cover is central vic, the wimmera, and mallee and when i network to you while i try to “expand” the stories to take in your part of the world my main focus is and always must be the audience i talk with every day because when JT returns they are still with me and you are not.
It is not an ideal situation we all know that but we are funded by the taxpayer we can’t sell “ads” to increase revenue so we cut our cloth.
the answer as mentioned above is to basically strap JT into the studio chair and make sure he doesn’t escape!
However i am really, really impressed by your passionate desire for local stories and local presenters …thats the whole point of ABC local radio and what we try to deliver as much as possible
cheers
dull dave
Raymond, I wouldn’t believe everything that is printed in the local tissue as being gospel. Ask the reporter whether she has actually visited the area alluded to. Ask her what is really planned as opposed to what she wrote.
I’d be the first to jump up and down if there was to be environmental degradation of the area but my sources tell me that this area is already a massive mess from dredging from our wise forefathers. I understand that this is to be taken from the area to be used in landscaping etc. Now I might be wrong here and of course I haven’t been engaged in the exhaustive investigative journalism that graced the front page.
The term “quarry” conjures images of the Glenrowan quarry monstrosity and “mine” seems to be somewhat misleading as well. The images created from these evocative words can easily be misconstrued.
There are farmers in this area who have lost significant income and in this case it may well be that the landholder is trying to utilise “a useless wasteland” (does that compete with the journalist) to try to break even.
Hopefully the reality of this situation will come to light. I am intrigued as to what environmental or other damage will occur in this case. You know what? I might even read the entire application myself.
Thanks for your candid & good natured comment Dave. I’m sorry to ’sully your name’ but it’s not really directed at you – i.e. I realise it’s not exactly your fault that you found yourself having to cover the Murray Goulburn & North East Region as well as your own.
I received a response from Gai and also from ‘head office’. The head office one was a little less gracious and somewhat offended by what I said about you. However (and I think you might agree) if you’re a public broadcaster you’re going to cop broadsides from the public. It comes with the profile and the territory.
Keep up the good work (for Bendigo, not here) and ‘Stand by your man’.
Cheers,
Ray
Baldrick, I haven’t formed a firm opinion on the quarry yet but I think you’ll find there are residential amenity & noise issues, if not environmental ones. No doubt this is going to be a very hot topic so I’ll wait until I know more before I say more.
Kudos to Dave for his good-humoured and reasonable response.
Here, here. And I hope Dave continues to contribute even if it is under a pseudonym. Won’t take long before Raymond gets in a Grevillea Gardens plug for when you come to visit Dave. Beware.