ABC News Presenters and Reporters

Opener and closer of tonight’s bulletin, including the ‘Events of 2016’:

6 Likes

So are we expecting a relaunch of ABC News this month?

I personally think it’s more likely to happen after the US Election, around the Late January or Early February timeframe.

Usually Australia Day is it not?

It was Australia Day in 2005, but July for the launch of ABC News 24 in 2010. No idea what time of year it was for 1998 (or was it 1997?).

2 Likes

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! :smiley: :sparkles: :confetti_ball: :tada: :balloon:

it’s been a while since my last extensive post about the discoveries I had made about the upcoming News rebrand such as fonts, identity and other tidbits, such as the new website design on the ‘About’ page. As we are now into 2017, I felt it would be a good time to get back to the topic, as we are only merely a few weeks away! And I see as I’ve been typing this since yesterday, I see people have already started talking about it again! :wink:

Going back to the topic of the upcoming rebrand, I think we can safely base some predictions on what we have seen so far. I’d also like to top on some predictions and hopeful expectations, and some questions I have. Sit back, this is going to be a bit of a long post (again). :stuck_out_tongue:

To start off, Predictions, and first, On-Air Presentation.

Just like the current graphics package, I feel that photography will play a strong part, as highlighted by the latest overhaul of the ABC App, now showcasing the contemporary black and white theme and “classic” ABC logo we all know and love, which we know are key elements of the rebrand. However, like the contemporary black and white theme, photography may act in the same way, with the yellow to be used like defining colour that stands out, as the App banner appears to signify. If this does go this way, it’d be a interesting approach, but a good way to distinguish their News service to the others. To support this, as quoted by the ABC themselves about the black and white branding approach,

I think the yellow colour will be as prodomient as the black and white in the new graphics, judging from this new-look website banner. Perhaps we’ll see a blend of dark grey, white and yellow for some graphics like the ticker on News 24, though I’m not sure how this will clash well, with “Breaking News” as it is also coloured yellow currently.

As this is the case with the entire package, I’d imagine this App banner is a taste of things to come.

Second, News/Breakfast Set.

As we’ve known for months now from what I know, both ABC News & ABC Breakfast production has been moved to temporary sets as the new ones were being created. As I said previously, since black and white is a acccuring theme, sets may probably be designed in the same way too, with large amounts of the colour duo, and possibly the yellow colour acting like an accent colour on various set fixtures, such as the desk, and other presenting areas. Since ABC Breakfast is more light-hearted in presentation, their new set may feature more yellow and white colours for a more cheerful tone, as that also makes sense for morning TV due to time of day. Just as another quick prediction, the new Breakfast logo will most likely use the new ‘oneABC’ font family, like the ‘News’ logo, as we’ve seen that’s a pattern with new ABC content. I think the logo may be presented as “()()() Breakfast” and not in the bold uppercase look of the “News” logo.

Now, Hopeful Expectations. Return of a modernised 1985-2005 ABC News theme.

As Fairfax stated back in last August, the ABC was discussing the idea of using one theme across all their services, both TV and Radio, and one of the most mentioned candidates in the article, was a remixed modernised composition of the 1985-2005 theme. And this wasn’t just a suggestion, as Peter Wall, one of the two composers next to the late Tony Ansell, had to look high and low for the original audio copy on a obsolete format to extract the recording, so that’s a lot of effort for just for a candidate. It was then sent to Australian electronic group Bag Raiders, to be remixed, and Peter Wall was very impressed by the result of the remix, as quoted in the SMH article,

“I was blown away by the results,” Wall said. “I don’t think it’s possible to do a better remix than they have done.”

Very positive comments from one of the original composers. If you haven’t heard any of the Bag Raiders music, I highly suggest you should look on YouTube, as they have a very interesting techno style in all the music. You may have already heard some of their music without even knowing it, as there was a meme going around using their song, Shooting Stars: :slight_smile:

I think it’s a good choice for The ABC to choose an Australian music group like the Bag Raiders to remix the composition, and a new modern techno twist should breathe some new light into the theme, that’s if The ABC chooses to go this route, which I hope they do.

However with massive changes, come implications, and we’ve already started to see complaints with the changes of the ABC App and already, lots of people LOATHE the yellow colour scheme, with some people asking if they can change the colour, so not a good reception so far, but hey, most have no idea of the massive changes happening very soon, so if the major corporate rebrand will become more prominent later this year, I wonder how the ABC will promote/present it.

I have a few questions that I have on some other factors pre and post-relaunch.

When will the ABC start promoting the relaunch?

To quote the Fairfax article again regarding this,

“If the ABC decides to change broadcast themes or identity, we’ll provide audiences with ample notice.”

If we do expect them to roll out this relaunch this month like the Radio rebrand, it seems they’ll only have a few weeks to do so! What was the case for the 2005 relaunch? Was there any announcement or fanfare to go along with it? Unlike the 2010 relaunch, there’s no service to promote it with this time around.

How will The ABC respond to possible backlash?

Back in 2005 from what I have read, there was a bit of controversy with the new ABC News theme, and rumors of a Majestic Fanfare replacement that never developed. With rumblings now that Majestic Fanfare’s days are numbered, and a new News theme planned to replace the current one that most have gotten used to since 2005-2010, for both of these things to change around the same time, may cause a bit of an uproar, especially from older radio listeners who grew up with Majestic Fanfare, as mentioned in the SMH article. We’ll just have to wait a see.

When will ABC News relaunch?

I have a feeling the relaunch may occur between Mid to Late January, with February being the latest. As ABC Radio plans to relaunch in two weeks (delayed for Adelaide until they reach an agreement with Radio Adelaide) on Monday, January 9th, the flagship ABC News bulletin launching with a new presenting team on Monday, January 16th (can presenter shakeups coincide with relaunches?), and of course with Australia Day being a significant date, I think we could perhaps see the relaunch between that time-frame. I’m hoping for a Australia Day relaunch like the 2005 one. :australia:

To finish: I feel photography in black and white will play a large part in the relaunch, with yellow being the defying colour and in graphics, black and white used prominently in set design with yellow being used as an accent colour (Breakfast opting for more lighter white and yellow colours), hopeful for a return and rebirth of a modernised 1985-2005 ABC News theme, and some personal thoughts and questions I have. I feel this will be the most major rebrand since the 2005 relaunch, and I think we’re only weeks away! :slight_smile:

14 Likes

A very interesting and insightful post there!

As far as the sets are concerned, personally I’d imagine that most if not all of them will only get minor changes with the new look. New plasma graphics and backdrops are probably to be expected but for the moment, I wouldn’t expect to see any major visual differences to the sets apart from perhaps some different coloured lighting and the changing of the “sliders” panels to something that better reflects the newer graphics.

You also have to remember that the current ABC News 7pm bulletin sets aren’t even that old. Queensland got their current set in 2012, WA in 2013 and the others were rolled out progressively between January and March 2014. So the state/territory 7pm news sets will be 3-5 years old this year depending on which market you look at.

To put things into perspective, some states/territories kept their previous 2005 relaunch ABC News sets in use for 9 years+ (the current 6pm Nine News sets on the East Coast with their design dating back to 2009 are really positively modern in comparison!) with only so much as minor tweaks along the way, even though they were really starting to look dated and clashed badly with the newer on-screen graphics by the end of their time on air…

While the current ABC News sets are certainly an improvement on that look and I’m definitely thankful you can do more than 2-3 decent camera angles with them, I think that the next major set changes to ABC News will probably happen when the national broadcaster finally decides to roll out new infrastructure (if some of the equipment currently in use for the production of ABC News bulletins around the country dates back to the start of 16.9 widescreen news production in the Early-Mid 2000’s, I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised) for the production of news bulletins in High Definition.

Completely new sets are probably going to be needed if ABC News is to ever be produced in HD because lets be honest, these types of camera angles and blurry/pixelated weather graphics on the videowall are barely acceptable for SD news production:

I would probably expect the ABC to be rather flexible with the timing of it’s relaunch as well. I’d think they want they’d want to avoid clashing with any possible branding changes of other news services and avoid switching the branding over during a time period which is a fairly heavy one for major news, like during the US Presidential Inauguration when the ABC will probably be focusing it’s resources on the actual coverage of that major event. So I’d probably stick with the Late January/Early February timeframe.

Even though the 2005 relaunch happened on a Tuesday while the 2010 one happened on a Thursday, I’d also be inclined to predict that the ABC would most likely change the branding over on a Sunday or Monday night (not just for “news relaunches generally always happen on Mondays” theory, but also remembering that the ABC’s Monday night programing is largely dominated by news/current affairs during the year!) for maximum viewer impact.

Yes that was another lengthy post, but sometimes you really need to get into detail to get to the point! :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Maybe we will see the graphics as early as Trump’s Inauguration? It falls on a Saturday our time. Highly doubt it though

1 Like

Paul Higgins presented tonight’s bulletin.

2 Likes

Paul Higgins also presented Wednesday night’s 7pm News.

1 Like

Tamara Oudyn is back from holidays and presenting Friday - Sunday in Victoria.

2 Likes

Good post, I remember when I used to care this much.

Would be good if they go for a paired back, imagery-driven opener - something less abstract than their current sliders. I’d be happy to see something like their #knowthestory promos, a few cuts of slow-motion news footage set in time with the new theme. Real polished and minimalist.

2 Likes

Urgh I wouldn’t. Stuff like that always looks horribly pretentious. And without fail includes close up shots of ethnic children, as if they are photographic scenery, or are meant to convey something meaningful through their eyes. Dated, dated, dated.

That is a particular bad version of the ‘genre’ there.

1 Like

Well, here’s a random fun fact: A small audio sample of the ABC News theme is played, when you get a ‘Breaking News’ notification via the ABC app. Nice touch. :+1:

1 Like

I’m assuming you just got the “breaking news” of Australia not doing well at the oscars or whatever?

Ahaha yep, spot on! :wink:

Not just wondering. It’s things like this that keep me up at night.

5 Likes

Ian Henderson is back from holidays in Victoria tonight.

3 Likes

No news is more inane as the obligatory yearly news reports on Australia’s ‘performance’ at the Oscars/Golden Globes.

Hello all.
So does anyone have any new info. on what might be happening with ABC news presentation and the news themes etc. Do we believe we will see any changes soon?