Worst. Backdrop. Ever. Having lived in Mackay I’m thinking WTF… if you want something generic use an image of a sugar cane field at least. This is not going to challenge Seven at all, it’s pure laziness. Not a fan of any of these Nine bulletins so far besides Sam Heathwood. It’s just a dodgy attempt to make SCA feel like they’re getting something for paying more affiliate fees while Nine can use it as an excuse to cull costs in Darwin. #rantover
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Yeah, the picture is of the lighthouse at the Marina, which is quite iconic to Mackay locals, but the picture used is overall pretty terrible.
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Again, the use of “Nine Local News” has resulted in confusion and subsequent anger for viewers:
Comments from Mackay I’ve seen so far:
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Or a shot of the mackay city itself overseeing the pioneer river.
That backdrop is awful. Who in their right mind thinks that’s okay for broadcast?
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Anyone know how long Wave FM breakfast presenter Travis Winks has been reporting sport for the Illawarra’s regional bulletin?
More comments I’ve found from Mackay viewers:
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I get if you’re a local you’ll get it but why not show the whole lighthouse and surrounds bf give it more context? It could be any lighthouse by just showing the light! Aargh! These sh*thouse cheapo regional bulletins drive me insane! Nine should know better…
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I’ve done a full montage up of 9 News Mackay.
It’s been uploading for 11 hours and is 44% complete, so I hope to have it posted sometime next week…
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So it seems that the weather is being split into “North”, “Central” and “South” forecasts for Regional Queensland? I did notice that Rockhampton was mentioned in the forecast that aired during Nine News Mackay, so presumably both regions will share the same forecast next week when Nine News Central Queensland launches.
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Yeah, that appears to be the case. They’ve grouped Cairns and Townsville together, and now Mackay and Rockhampton markets have been grouped together for weather as well.
They probably will, but hopefully they don’t group all 3 remaining markets together with each other, there’s a heap of cities to cover across the Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba markets, I don’t see it being a good idea to group all 3 together.
Similar to with the NQ weather updates at launch, there were quite a lot of issues with that Mackay report, plenty of locations missing that BOM provides, and a spelling mistake on a town name as well. I sent a message in to Nine News regarding these errors, so I’ll be watching again tonight to see if there are any improvements.
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Of course, my stupid laptop decided to restart itself and do a Windows Update at 6:54pm, so completely missed the Mackay weather to check for the updates 
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I am presuming all the 9 Regional promos are done out of Brisbane, take note of the Emergency Services chopper shot used in the promos.
The Emergency Services helicopter shown is either based in Townsville or Cairns. Mackay, Rockhampton and Wide Bay have either RACQ Rescue or Lifeflight. Given that the rescue services provide video of their rescues, local people would be aware that the helicopters shown in the promos are not "local."
Also, there’s a shot shown in each promo of a fire truck and a 9 crew - note the Santa in the top right of frame, are they getting in early for Xmas or was it shot last year?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIg39KH_VdU (Mackay)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT3wE4fncIc (Wide Bay)
That shot just before the endtag was probably filmed sometime in November/December last year.
And it’s actually not even from anywhere in Queensland - it’s of Fairfield in South Western Sydney! 
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Yeah, that is the EMQ chopper, based here in Townsville.
Found this comment on the 9 News North QLD Facebook page:
Again highlighting viewer confusion about the format.