Did anyone else just hear Toby Anstis speaking to Disney “ledg” Mickey Mouse?
Can anyone see the point of him being in Florida?
Is this REALLY the best we can do?
The Cream Of Commercial Radio
October 19, 2009 by Dave AletZak DeLuxe
September 13, 2009 by Dave AletDid we ever find out who Zak was?
Oh yeah, about Terry Wogan
September 8, 2009 by Dave AletExcuse my tardiness! Of course I have an opinion on the New Year Radio 2 shuffle.
Chris Evans replacing Terry Wogan is the perfect course of action for Radio 2.
As genius as Wogan is, it’s time! The rest of Radio 2 seems to me to have developed into recent years as if it really is the home for people who, 20-odd years ago, were listening to Gary’s Bit In The Middle. Like we’ve all grown up together….
….but then there’s this strange period in the day where time has stood still… between Sarah Kennedy getting into the studio (I like to picture her leaving the car like Edina and Patsy in Ab Fab leaving a trail of empty gin bottles in her wake) and Ken Bruce popping his “Popmaster” book into his BBC box for another day.
It is about time that part of the network, lovely and cosy as it is, was gently put to bed and the introduction of Evans on Radio 2 breakfast is the first fantastic step.
And those worried that he’s not the right man for the job…..you are hideously wrong. He’s perfect for it. Quite simply the best music radio presenter of his generation.
Make your choice TOG’s and TYG’s. Embrace the new guard or shuffle over to BBC 3 Counties etc…
I can’t wait to hear CE on breakfast, and I look forward to commercial radio’s robust challenge to the might of Moylew and Evans assaulting their listeners. I wonder what they’ve got planned….
……I hope it’s a series of dynamic programming stratagies…..
….but I bet it’s a complaint letter to Downing Street whining about OFCOM!!!
We shall see!
Lord Vader’s Global Address
September 7, 2009 by Dave AletI don’t know what you’re doing as you read this, but if you work at a Heart station I imagine you are either listening to a breakfast jock, or you are that breakfast jock, having a paranoid rant about the interview in this morning’s Independent with Global’s Richard Park…and with good reason! It’s not comfortable reading for first thing on a Monday morning!
I was the same but I’ve now read it a couple of times and have calmed down a little bit.
The main crux of the article is that commercial radio may be growing but it’s chance to develop is being stunted by the helping hand given to the BBC and he makes it obvious that Global intend to make Heart a national radio station to fight this unfair advantage rather than a pseudo-localised “network”…and therein lies the worrying element of this article and the reason why people across the programming desks of what was formally your hot-rockin’ One Network local station shake their heads and tut loudly.
It’s this passage that causes most coffee-spluttering – “Although Park is frustrated that Ofcom rules prevent (Jamie) Theakston and (Harriet) Scott’s London-based breakfast show being aired right across the Heart portfolio…”.
That looks and sounds to me like a clear statement of intent. This says to me that local jocks and local shows are being given notice. Don’t get me wrong, everyone involved in Heart Breakfast shows across the group have had this thought deep, deep down in the back of their sub-concious since before the Global/GCap merger was announced but having it in black and white in front of you, well… it makes the lack of RAJAR celebrations when numbers went up across the group understandable…because no-one cares what you’re doing, local teams! These rises are all due to the higher rotation of ABBA’s “One Of Us” and the good name of London’s Heart. Get back in your boxes and look after things until OFCOM let us play the game we want to play! Oh yeah, and STOP WHINGING!
Let’s put the horribleness of and hysteria caused by that statement to one side (although it MAY be worth noting that Lord Vader’s frustration is an observation rather than a quotation…oh it isn’t you say….oh, sorry!) and look around it.
It’s an interesting piece, especially if you work in Global because decisions are explained (Denise Van Outen went from Capital Breakfast because Lord Vader didn’t think she “had the appetite for it”). It’s encouraging to real jocks. It’s encouraging because he really really values the professional radio broadcaster. Van Outen couldn’t cut it. Alex Zane’s stint on XFM breakfast is dismissed as an experiment in putting a comedian in to do a radio show and the decision to replace him with a proper bona-fide music broadcaster on a proper bona-fide music station (see also Pete Mitchell’s introduction to XFM Manchester breakfast) is a positive note. The dismissal of the idea that you need to be “street” to get on air..it’s all encouraging if you have spent time honing your talent as a radio broadcaster.
Also encouraging, I would say, if you’re a Heart jock is the 8th paragraph where he talks about the need to refresh your show every now and again. This is a huge clue as to what you should be doing in your show that London’s show ISN’T doing. Social networking is a theme. What do you do with Facebook and Twitter? What do your listeners do? Look at what Zoe and Gilles from Galaxy South Coast do with Facebook – it’s brilliant. You’re being told what to do before Xxxx Xxxxx and people of that ilk forward the email on with their name on the bottom instead.
Also, there’s a call to action at the end of the piece. What can YOU do to reflect what’s going on in London in 2012? How can commercial broadcasters (especially those in London) own the Olympic experience without actually being involved in the stadia? Whoop-de-do, the BBC will be commentating on the races but YOU as commercial broadcasters should be there to reflect and inform on the Londoners perspective. It’s all well and good telling people who is winning but most Londoners won’t be competing….so who cares! What are the average Londoners doing?
Felt like any control over your show and career is slipping away? Ian Burrell’s article may very well be the kick up the arse that you need.
What I know about radio part 1
August 23, 2009 by Dave AletThere is no greater way to spend an afternoon than with a good book in one hand, a beer in the other and Test Match Special on the radio.
Cast iron fact!
10 Reasons Why I Love….Pete Mitchell
August 17, 2009 by Dave Alet01 His passion for music is undying – You can tell not just from his voice and delivery but from the fact that when he gets a bit of freedom it’s always eclectic.
02 He sounds much better and more comfortable on commercial radio, proving that the BBC isn’t necessarily the only place broadcasters can flourish. I’ve always been of the opinion that commercial radio doesn’t have to be a breeding ground for the same dull generic voice talking for 5 seconds about how that’s “a great song for a Wednesday afternoon” and Pete is my proof.
03 Doesn’t waffle about minutiae when selling the music – Mark Radcliffe seems to be turning into John Peel slowly but surely rambling around a point for hours on end, Stuart Maconie can sometimes be accused of the same, Steve Lamacq for all his good points gets bogged down in “the first time I saw them live” and other stories. Pete tells you who it is, what it;s called and when it’s out. Simple.
04 Never treats listeners like idiots. There’s always an undercurrent of respect for you.
05 Pete and Geoff in all its various forms…which he doesn’t get enough credit for…and doesn’t seem to mind.
06 Always replies to emails, always. Not many do and it’s infuriating!
07 He’s playing Captain Beefheart!!! On a Commercial Radio station!!!! Owned by GLOBAL!!!!!!
08 He’s done it the hard way – hospital radio, cricket reporter, swing jock, afternoon gig, double-header, national breakfast, Radio 2 and a breakfast show in his own right coupled with a dedicated networked music show. THAT is a career!
09 IQ and Razor Cuts are among the most intelligent while also being the least worthy music-focused shows on radio. See point 3.
10 HE’S PLAYING THE FALL!!!!!! – introducing me to the love of my musical life. I first heard them during a Bank Holiday “Manchester Music” feature on Key 103 (every third song was a Manchester band) at the end of an hour when, knowing radio as I do now, I imagine he was supposed to play M People, he played “Victoria” by The Fall…at 4 in the afternoon! Fell in love with them since then.
***However – whoever is tech oping Razor Cuts, sort your fucking timings out! If I were responsible for this show and heard the gaps after adverts and at the top of the 7.00 hour that I heard on Sunday I’d be going absolutely loopy!!!
New Radio Blog on the block
August 14, 2009 by Dave AletThis started a matter of hours after I started this one with the same objectives.
His is much better by the way!
Guardian : Where are the big hitters?
August 12, 2009 by Dave Alethttp://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/aug/11/tim-westwood-1xtra-radio
Where can a thirty-something single bloke go for bespoke radio entertainment?
Probably have to dip in and out of different stations. You can’t have a successful commercial station which is geared to a fraction of what is a small section of the UK populace in the first place which is why radio, in the main, is so general. Even those stations set up in the commercial sector to cater for a specialist market has to blur the lines into the mainstream to keep going, look at the differences at Kiss, Choice and Galaxy in recent months.
As an industry we can’t cater exclusively for every section of society. You’ll just have to like it, lump it or get an iPod!
What’s in it for the listener?
August 10, 2009 by Dave Alet95% of the time, the answer to the ridiculous question should be, for my money, to ENTERTAIN!!!
Bull**it Bingo
August 10, 2009 by Dave AletSee how many words or phrases from the Radio Programme Manager’s Book of Bullshit you can find in this quote from “Regional Programme Director for 96.3 Radio Aire”, Anthony Gay with reference to the exclusive U2 deal they have.
“We are delighted to have secured this sought-after opportunity to host this major live cross-network broadcast. U2 are the world’s biggest band and we are sure our multi-platform approach and bespoke programming plans will deliver a true ‘appointment to listen’ music event for thousands of our listeners.”
I counted 6, just off the top of my head.
How about a quote in….I don’t know….English? “We’re really excited to bring our listeners the chance to hear one of the world’s greatest bands on their own local stations”. Who gives a shit about their bespoke programming plans?
And another thing, unless the county boundaries have changed and “96.3 Radio Aire” is now classed as a region, isn’t he Regional Programme Director for Bauer Radio Yorkshire?
It’d be a fucking small region if it was!
