Not multi award winning Hollywood legend (in EVERY sense of the word) Tony Curtis!

Jamie Lee Curtis’s dad!

Do you remember when Peaches Geldof’s dad did Live Aid??

I’m glad there’s at least ONE newsroom in the world that realises what an idiot I am and how I need every piece of information in the simplest terms!

Thanks Global!

I’ve a horrible feeling the obsession is about to spread.

Hope you’ll be OK friends and colleagues, and that I’m wrong!

One self-important simperpot from the station is asking for questions to put to the deputy Prime Minister.

With this being Heart I imagine the questions are being chosen to fit the brand so stay by your desks as we find out about his perfect weekend, who his favourite shoe designer is and, most importantly, should Robbie have rejoined Take That!

John Humphries is working on his showreel as we speak!

One self-important simperpot from the station is asking for questions to put to the deputy Prime Minister. With this being Heart I imagine the questions are being chosen to fit the brand so stay by your desks as we find out about his perfect weekend, who his favourite shoe designer is and, most importantly, should Robbie have rejoined Take That!

John Humphries is working on his showreel as we speak!

www.jackfm.co.uk

Location:Radioville, UK

So…..

….anything happened while I’ve been away?

Can anyone see the point of him being in Florida?

Is this REALLY the best we can do?

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!

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.