Saturday 25 April 2009

What John said to Val

Here's the opening dialogue with 4CA AM's John Mackenzie and Cairns Regional Mayor Val Schier, on Friday morning.

Mackenzie asked the Mayor about the 4CA arrangement and said that there has always been a commercial arrangement between radio stations and Council. Schier said she needs to be made aware of whatever arrangements may have been struck, and she wasn't, which was a cause of serious concern. They argued over the reasons why she has not been able to appear on his show until recently.

  • JOHN MACKENZIE: Just all this kerfuffle in the media the last couple of days, just a couple of points, Val, I'd like to make on this, I saw you say, oh well, we mustn't have any money going to that radio station.
    I've got to say, and I understand Noel Briggs agreed with this yesterday, historically there has always been a commercial arrangement between the radio station and the council. Councils everywhere have an advertising budget, and if indeed that advertising budget, or if you like, if there is no arrangement between this radio station and the council as far as that advertising budget's concerned, these sort of things don't become available. So there's always been a history of commercial dealing between the council and the radio station.
    So when I heard you say yesterday, oh, not one more dollar must go to that radio station, obviously it wouldn't bode well for the future of the relationship between us and the council, if indeed we weren't going to be discussing, our sales department wasn't going to be negotiating advertising in the future.


    VAL SCHIER: Look, John, this is all about really being transparent and being open, and as you'll be aware, I have wanted to come on this radio station, and we've been talking about it for a while, but certainly, I need to be made aware of whatever arrangements may have been struck, and I hadn't been, and so that was obviously a cause of concern for me, and that's how we ended up on the front page of the paper, and of course that's the last thing we want to have happen.
    I mean I make myself available to speak to people, I speak every morning on Radio Port Douglas, I also speak with Lacho sort of once a fortnight, I go on the ABC, and so I try and make myself available as much as I possibly can, because I know the people want to listen to me.
    And one of the things people have been saying over the past year is, how come you won't go on Macca's show, and I say, well, I haven't been able to do that.

    JOHN MACKENZIE: No, no, no, the reality was, the arrangements were made straight after you won the election, I remember clearly, you standing up on the first Wednesday after the Saturday, and you said, “I can't commit to this program, I've got an agreement with Port Douglas Radio”. After that...

    VAL SCHIER: Oh no, wait a minute, wait a minute, John, hey, hold on...

    JOHN MACKENZIE: That's exactly what you said, Val.

    VAL SCHIER: Well, you must have misunderstood that, John...

    JOHN MACKENZIE: Well how do you misunderstand that, I can't commit to this spot on Wednesdays, because I've made an arrangement with Port Douglas Radio? How else would you read that?

    VAL SCHIER: Well I don't know, John, I would have to go back - there's no way in this world -at that stage I hadn't even been sworn in, at that stage, I had no idea what my commitments were, I think there was a subsequent Wednesday as it was at the time, when I was in Brisbane, so it was just something that we needed to organise...

    JOHN MACKENZIE: Well we drew up a roster, and it all fell apart, people just didn't turn up, and that's why it was discontinued, not because of any particular bias against you, we just couldn't get the consistency. Now the manager here has given me an assurance that there's been a guarantee from the council, that in future these appointments will be honoured, and that's why we're back together, doing this.

    VAL SCHIER: Well, and that's right, and there will be times that I'm not here, so I mean for instance...

    JOHN MACKENZIE: As long as we're told, that's fine.

    VAL SCHIER: ...at that stage, certainly, I understood that was the impression, so there seems to have been a bit of a breakdown in communications then last year, because certainly there were a couple of Wednesdays I wasn't available, but other than that, I had been. But anyway, we just need to move forward...

    JOHN MACKENZIE: I just want to make another point to listeners too, this perception, oh well, you've got to provide time to the council free of charge. Look, certainly we do, but we also are a commercial operation, we are not a charity, so please, no more of this thing, oh, how dare there be any money going between council and the radio station. That happens with all councils, it happens with councils and television stations, councils and newspapers, and councils and commercial radio, there is nothing untoward about that.

    VAL SCHIER: No, but there certainly is also other media, I mean I know on the Sunrise program, they used to have Kevin Rudd and Joe Hockey on that, that wasn't a commercial arrangement. The reality is that certain television stations and radio stations do bring their - many, many of them actually bring their elected representatives on, because it's a community service, so there's a couple of ways of looking at this, and certainly we look - we've got an advertising budget, we look at where we spend it, and we have to decide whether this is good value or not, John, so...

    JOHN MACKENZIE: Exactly. If you were spending it with all the commercial competitors, for example, other radio stations of a commercial nature, other commercial TV stations or newspapers, and not with us, I don't think that, if you like, gesture, would be extended every Wednesday.

    VAL SCHIER: No, well, I mean that's what we need to think about, you know, where do I get best value for money, you know, how many listeners have you got out there, are they tuning in, is the switchboard lighting up out there when I come on, and are we genuinely doing something that's helping me to communicate? That's the decision that needs to be made, and so that's what I'm most interested in.

    JOHN MACKENZIE: All right, the point being, once again I want to reiterate, we are a commercial operation, and there is nothing the slightest bit untoward with commercial dealings with councils, it happens everywhere.

    VAL SCHIER: As long as it's transparent.

6 comments:

Bryan Outlaw said...

Michael, Michael, Michael. Why do you even misrepresent something simple like a transcript? You didn't attribute this work, which was clearly done by others (as it has major defects). For one, this wasn't the "opening dialogue" with John MacKenzie. And you've misspelled the Mayor's name, Locco's, name, and who knows what else. But since you didn't provide a proper attribution, you'll get the blame for the errors too, mate.

KitchenSlut said...

It's not clear what of any substance you claim has been misrepresented Outlaw? Misspellings?

Where are the major substantial defects you claim? You certainly haven't indicated any?

That wasn't you tonight down at the Shangri La with an increasingly small cabal of elderly Liberal faithful? For a gathering of just a dozen with the new state leader organised by the local bore so far past his use by date its just not funny any more?

KitchenSlut said...

P.S. Don't fret about being left out Outlaw, if it wasn't you at least Quickie was there to represent what passes for your brain, and unfortunately seemed to have his mouth open enough to be getting the ear of the dapper new opposition leader!

Michael P Moore said...

Thanks Mr, Mrs or Ms Outlaw.

Made the corrections to John's and Val's names in the transcript.

It was provided to me by a Councillor.

Dutchie said...

Interesting that now that the full transcript is there, no-one publishes any critique. Indeed, Val did a sterling job. And, anyone that knows Macca's market share in the morning (bugger all), will understand Val's comments; he's not worth the trouble.

Lillian at Yorkeys said...

It would indeed be good if B. Outlaw could manage to get his head out of his bum before he makes his snidey comments.
Re transcript - makes interesting reading. Ms. Val did indeed hold her own & in fact turned the tables on him - he was saying "our programme is so important, you must realise you've got to pay for the privilege" & she turned it in to "well, we don't know whether the time is worth our effort". Very nice. Maybe Ms. Val is coming in to her kicking arse phase. Go girrrl.