Swanny…
Requiescat in pace.
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That google alert is still alive tho
Ooh, what a good nostalgic thread. I joined at the start of 2012, having wanted to contribute for some years (as well as other forum sites), sites like this would appear in Google when I was interested in something on TV.
I think I can remember the first thread that got me aware of MS, I had a keen interest in Ten News around 2009/2010, have tons of old VCR tapes too and I remember reading posts from an old “Ten News” thread which ended in 2008, last posts IIRC were talking about stuff like “Kathryn Robinson filling-in”, “Tarsh on maternity leave”, “Belinda Heggen filling-in”, etc etc towards the end of 2008.
Before that was closed and two new threads were created “Presenters and Reporters” and “Content and Appearence”.
Found so much history about random specifics from daily basis’.
Wow what a thread to come across lol. I joined in 2006 at the age of 14 (I think my username was originally SevenVsNineVsTen, then I shortened it to just SevenVsNine as I never really saw Ten as a big competitor). I remember I stumbled across the site because I had always found news presentation an interesting subject (still do), and I’d lived in Newcastle, Adelaide and Sydney and was always fascinated to see posts (well mostly caps and videos) on what other cities looked like. I eventually changed my username to AnchorWade, and then Mr Wade at some point before eventually settling on just Wade (which is my actual name).
I also remember early on during my time on here, that majority of users favoured Seven, and I was one of the few that favoured Nine. I can’t remember where that started to be honest, I mean if you look back at some of Nine’s news presentation in the mid-late 2000’s it was pretty ghastly, especially against Seven’s more modern look. I also had aspirations to join the media industry, but that was later quashed when I spent more time reading and posting and downloading lots of crap (no regrets though lol), but I didn’t get the marks required - and my interests have slightly dwindled over the years. And I don’t have as much time these days to make regular posts, but still an avid reader - that probably won’t change.
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Great idea for a thread… I first joined Media Spy sometime in 2014… but didn’t post then when the site was upgraded i joined again in Jan 2016. I first came across this site in 2014 via Twitter if i recall correctly from @SydneyCityTV . I had an interest in Media since mid-late 2013 but didn’t start uploading content until late August 2014, I think the biggest regret i have is probably not capturing content earlier but have been sent/gifted great stuff from @SydneyCityTV @Zampakid @TV.Cynic EVO & BDVideos (Apologies if i’ve missed anyone) Probably should of captured more local QLD Content in 2014/15 instead of more Sydney Centric News via NBN & Prime7.
My first upload from TV Tuner.
Snapshots of a few others:
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I joined in I think 2006 or 7 after searching for ratings numbers in Google. Been a member since although this is my second incarnation. I recall running the local AFL and NRL Tipping Competitions at one point and contributed to the Ratings Tipping comp before OzTAM went Stalin on us.
My love of the FTA business is what keeps me here at least I can have some connection with the common person on all things Australian FTA.
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I joined around Christmas of 2003. I was a very active user in those days, not so much now.
The Producer was one of our star contributors back then, who was of course Sunrise’s Adam Boland. In 2004 he invited me in to Sunrise set at Epping one morning… which made for one very excited young mediaspyer.
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I originally joined in the early 2000s – can’t remember the exact year – after having moved across from the austvlogos Yahoo! Group.
I also ran the “AUtv!” website with clips from my personal archive. Anyone remember it? Here’s a screenshot of it from 2003:
No YouTube to upload videos to back then.
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I watched a hell of a lot of videos on similar websites (lol, memories of the RealOne Player with its horrible adware)…
There was the austvhistory.tripod.com site which was pretty decent and I think the first one I stumbled upon was some page run by a bloke called Fintan.
I think my 10 year old self would have just about died if I had access to the range of archival content available on Youtube these days.
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Oh Real Player… I’d forgotten all about that!
Was that the site put together by an Irish guy with a comprehensive logo history for each network?
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You may be thinking of Fintan O’Mahoney’s web site which had Aussie and Irish caps.
I also remember Evan Davis’s web site. He had lots of NBN and Gold Coast stuff. Also Michael Costello (aka michos) who founded Austvlogos. He had a Geocities site full of caps IIRC.
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Stop making in me feel old
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This is probably it: https://web.archive.org/web/20040221035940/http://www.finnswebsite.com:80/tv.html
Also, there’s a few pages of aus.tv.history via archive.org where there’s still some (but not all) playable videos!
https://web.archive.org/web/20041018144906/http://www.angeltowns.com:80/members/austvhistory/index.htm
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I’m sure that’s the website that I found Media Spy from. Used to love the history and videos on that site!
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I remember listening to 5MMM on RealPlayer back in 1998 which was my first experience with streaming radio. Plenty of buff-uff-uff-ering but it still blew me away as a 12 year old.
As for my own story with MediaSpy, I first lurked in around 2007 or 2008, about the time DTV Forums radio section went quiet. I’m not sure if there was any radio discussion prior to this on MS (and radio is still very much a minor part of the current forum if we’re being honest).
I do miss dbrmuz from 2010-2013; I think he ruffled a fair few feathers but it was all good fun.
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