ABC News Victoria will have a one-hour special at 7pm tomorrow (Friday) called Powering Down. It will have the latest news stories and an indepth look at this week’s shutdown of operations at the Hazelwood Power Station at Latrobe Valley.
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Sounds like April 10 will be the date of the on-air refresh… coinciding with changes to social media accounts.
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Relaunch viewing party at my place. BYO capping facilities. Vegan friendly.
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I’ve heard rumours of the ABC setting up live sites in Sydney and Melbourne where people can watch the relaunch on April 10 
But seriously, it’s great to finally hear a date for the massive ABC News relaunch. Hopefully our national broadcaster will show Seven, Nine and Ten how a proper news relaunch (as opposed to the stilted relaunches we’ve had to put up with from all three commercial news services over the past 12-18 months) is done!
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Apologies for the double post, but this post (Re, ABC News having it’s new weather graphics powered by Metra’s Weatherscape XT system) is definitely worth replying to!
Interesting to hear! So presumably, the new ABC News weather graphics will look a bit more dynamic and animated on screen than the current look?
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All this talk about “uniformity” and “one brand”, yet they won’t replace (British) Majestic Fanfare with the same new (Australian) theme that the 7pm TV bulletin will be getting.
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I’m hoping it’s the remixed version of the 1985-2005 Theme by The Bag Raiders! 
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Important as that is, identity is important too. I can just imagine the Backchat-esque correspondence the ABC would be receiving ad nauseam if they were to change their radio news theme.
Think about it from a logistic point of view as well - the radio news theme doesn’t require the overture or filler music required on the television news, as there are no headlines to read out over the theme at the beginning of the bulletin.
I’m particularly interested in the news that ABC News Radio will be part of the rebrand. I thought they were being left alone?
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Nope, ABC Newsradio was always going to be renamed ABC News since the rebrand was announced.
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It’s a little disappointing to hear that the ABC has decided to keep “Majestic Fanfare” for the radio news theme music, but since the reaction to the ABC replacing “Majestic Fanfare” as their radio news theme would probably be even worse than how viewers reacted when Seven News tried to replace “The Mission” (or derivative themes) a few years back, I can understand why. But at the very least, I personally think the ABC should’ve done an updated version of “Majestic Fanfare” as their radio news theme even if that just meant an orchestra doing a re-record of that piece of music.
Anyway, here’s a few personal predictions for next Monday.
*Graphics: I’d probably expect something that’s a little more dynamic, fluid and animated than the current look but at the same time, a new look which retains the simplicity and legibility we’ve come to expect from the branding of ABC News.
*Logo: The classic “lissajous” logo has been reintroduced to most of the ABC’s TV and radio branding in recent years, so I’d expect to see that make an appearance in the new logo for ABC News. The logo text (eg, “NEWS”, “NEWS BREAKFAST”, “NEWS New South Wales”) will probably be in that custom “OneABC” font.
*Theme music for the TV bulletins: Probably a “3rd generation” (the 1st being the original/2005 version, the 2nd being the 2010 update which we’ve been hearing on a nightly basis for nearly seven years) of the current ABC News on TV theme music.
*Sets: Probably not much change. Thankfully, the current sets for ABC News are fairly screen dependent and easily adaptable to new graphics, unlike the 2005 era sets which clashed so badly with the newer graphics around the 2010-14 timeframe. I’d probably expect the current ABC News sets to remain in use until 2020 or thereabouts.
I think that’s just about most elements covered. Bring on the April 10, 2017 relaunch of ABC News! 
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I personally like the 1985-2005 theme very much. I think a remixed version of the current generation and the 1985 version would sound really dynamic and authoritative.
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I’m hoping for the same, I hope it does make a return. Fairfax’s poll had an overwhelming like for the 1985-2005 theme over the 2005 and the 2010 one.
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I hope you’re right - I love the 2005 version and the 2010 remix so much more than the others they’ve had IMO.
They should do what they did to the play school theme - give it to triple j and have a remix contest!
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I, and many Australians, would much rather prefer a return of the 1985 Wall/Ansell theme in a remixed form. Many were sad to see it go, and Pendulum’s remix brought it back to prominence.
Wall was approached by the ABC to help lift the original recordings before it was sent to Aussie group Bag Raiders for remixing. Hopefully they use this version in the rebrand!
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Is this the first generation that some seem to like?
I never liked it, always sounded like the tape speed sounded off. I prefer the current ABC 7:45 am radio news bulletin’s theme that is an extended version of this theme
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nah it’s the one afterwards in 05
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Nope the first generation is definitely the 1985 version. If you listen to the versions made afterwards (2005 and 2010) they are loosely based off the 1985 version. The 1985 version is also the same version that was remixed by Pendulum.
I’ve listened to the 1985 version many times, thrice just after you told me to. I can’t really hear any similarities at all between the three.
Now the original post was SCTV about generations (first being 2005, second being 2010) and TV.Cynic asking what the generation was (they thought it was '85’s version).
Also RE: 1985 theme the circle jerk is strong with this one. It screams 80’s, whether it’s nostalgia or the Pendulum remix gaining popularity (when it was released, the 05 theme was still in use - 7 years in May). Even if they made a newer version, people will shit on it for being different and not the same as it used to be.
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Really? They are all different, but they all have slight similarities like the brass trumpet thing they’ve got going on.
Definitely has the nostalgia affect on me lol. And if even if a newer version was made, it won’t necessarily mean people will give it shit, I mean just look at what Les Gok did with the 2013 theme for Ten News - had lots of traditional elements from the original 1995 version.
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