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Call it the COVID radio yo-yo effect: when lockdown looms, talkback booms. When the threat is gone, we crave a song.
The latest radio survey, the fourth of the year, covers the period April 18 to June 26. The most recent COVID lockdown in Melbourne began on May 27, right in the middle of that survey, but for at least a week beforehand the city feared it was likely. And that creeping sense of dread – and the need to know whether our worst fears would come to pass – appears to have fuelled a surge in listening to the news-led AM radio talkback stations, at the expense of the music-led FM offerings.
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Ask a few people how they feel about getting their COVID-19 vaccine and, once they finish complaining about the bureaucracy – the wait times, the long times spent on hold to the hotline – and, in some cases, the side effects – one word seems to resonate: emotional.
Among them is ABC Melbourne radio host Raf Epstein, who documented his entire vaccination experience this month for the network’s Facebook page. “Yes, I was emotional. It is one of the biggest challenges of our lifetime, and I was starting down the path of protection,” says Epstein, 50.
Celebrities who have shared “vaxxies” include (clockwise from left) the Duchess of Cambridge, Dolly Parton, Adam Liaw, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein and Mariah Carey.
Vaxxie: Is the COVID vaccine selfie is the most important social media trend of 2021? theage.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theage.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
AFR hit job on Samantha Maiden backfires spectacularly Amanda Meade
When the Australian Financial Review and senior reporter Aaron Patrick set their sights on Samantha Maiden for what is known in journalism as a “hit job”, one could have been excused for expecting it would do the seasoned reporter some damage. Dig up her work history, delve into her childhood, fling around words like “challenging”, “spiky” and “difficult” and the reporter who revealed allegations that Brittany Higgins had been raped in Parliament House might be cowed.
What the editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, and Patrick didn’t foresee was that what many believed amounted to the bullying of a top female journalist, who has led the coverage of harassment and sexual violence against women in politics, would backfire so spectacularly.