If you were waiting for the early AM after the 7am news on Radio
National this morning, you may have been surprised to hear horrible
music, punctuated by the odd announcement about technical difficulties
the ABC was addressing.

Finally, at 7:30, summer Breakfast host Stephen Crittenden told us that there had been no AM because of industrial action. Meanwhile, this email was winging its way around the national broadcaster:

FYI Folks…

There is a stop work by radio current affairs staff this morning. This means no AM, and at the moment it appears unlikely there will be any current affairs programming for the rest of the day.

Cheers..

Peter Hughes.
Sydney Radio News Editor.

ABC insiders say John Cameron, the Corporation’s Director of News and
Current Affairs, is launching a cost-cutting attack on the NewsCaf empire, and staff aren’t happy. Between this and the
upcoming negotiations over the much-hated Performance Management
process, 2006 could be a rocky one for staff relations at the ABC.

Stand by for more technical difficulties.