japitts

I've posted similar over on cm.net, but here goes... 1: Capital going national. It's well known in radio & media circles that Global group (who own Heart & Capital) don't want local anymore. The existing 7hours weekdays & 4 hours weekends of "local" (I'd call it regional, but still) content is only paying lip-service to Ofcom - if they were allowed to drop the local stations, they would like a shot. I can see Heart going first, but who knows. 2: BBC-national is not the same as Global-national. In Global-land, national just means all the stations networked together. In BBC-land, national means just that. BBC network radio covers from Lands End to John O'Groats, offshore islands, the lot. Can you get Heart in Orkney on FM, or Capital in Falmouth? Nope. 3: With the state of commercial & local radio in this country being as it is (i.e. falling apart if it wasn't for the BBC), I'm not surprised Capital would be looking to R1 as the possible source for a new big-name DJ. It's not as if there's many other proving grounds left. But the prestige of working for R1 over Heart or Capital surely stands for something... As much as I would be worried if Global didn't have their eyes on a few big-R1 names, I just can't see it happening... Rant over :-)

Looks pretty good to me, at least it's not prerecords. I hope they don't overbrand it as a "1-Extra Takeover" though, it's "extra", R1 is the main station. Overnights Saturday-Sunday when it's probably only the specialist audience listening I can take it (although the constant reminders of "1 Extra on R1" are a bit irritating. But please.. if it's a daytime simulcast please don't push "1-Extra takeover" too much.

No, I don't think that's fair, although it depends what you want from local radio. If you want entertainment, chart music etc, mixed in with local stuff - then yes, you're stuffed these days. ILR stopped doing that years ago. If you want local news and chat, then BBC local radio is right up your street. It's genuinely local, and isn't trying to be something it's not. And to be honest, some of their evening shows aren't bad for background listening as I've discovered over the past few week. (I'm served by BBC Bristol). But it doesn't do chart pop - probably more of a Radio 2 mixture I'd say. If you want "get involved, get listening, entertainment" radio - then yes, I'd agree. No-one can touch BBC network radio at the moment. Is that a sad reflection on commercial radio, or a positive reflection on the state of BBC radio, or a mixture of both? I'm not sure.

Well Capital's relaunch has gone down like a lead balloon in certain parts - FB pages for Capital & Radio Today making a very interesting read. Ex-listeners from Leicester Sound, Ram & Red Dragon particularly unhappy, surprise surprise! I would assume those stations are ones that stood out from the bland ILR crowd and had a bit more of a loyal following, not unlike GWR in Bristol. Even now in Bristol - people either love (well, don't know any better) or hate (or have realised there is life elsewhere on the dial) Heart. Although I'm (pleasantly) surprised we've not seen more talk about the "taking on Radio 1" angle.. that would have made for a real giggle.

Is there anywhere, a list of download sites that OCC do use for compiling the official chart? All their website says is along the lines of, "all the main ones" - I know the "Big top 40" only does iTunes which OCC do have on their panel..

In defence, the odd half hour I half heard - she did make a virtue out of not being live, and being "back to normal" next week, even after 1pm. As other posters have said, there's something "different" about live radio - listener interaction, not being able to "go back and do it again", and general freshness. Prerecords on daytime are something the likes of Heart & Galaxy do. BBC network radio is better than that. Specialist, overnights and christmas - well slack can be cut there to varying degrees.

Normally a great fan of the Sunday morning show, but it's a prerecord this week as just posted on Faceache... BBC Radio 1 Sara Cox is recording her Sunday show this morning, if you know what you'll be doing on Sunday morning and fancy a shout out - let her know below.... I don't doubt there's a reason somewhere, but I wonder what the next daytime show to be prerecorded will be? Oh well, not entirely sure I'll bother with R1 until 1pm on Sunday then.

As posted on the other Christmas (press release) thread... Christmas day and, to a lesser extent boxing day, seems very much a "TV and CD" day once the waking-up ritual is over, so having a live breakfast show then doing something "different" that iPod FM wouldn't, seems pretty reasonable to me. The only thing that would bug me, would be substantial prerecords on daytime 22-24, and 26/7/8. At the very least keep breakfast and afternoons live. So having Dev live on early breakfast 24th but then prerecords from 7-10am before going live again seems the most glaringly daft thing to me. Much of the other stuff seems reasonable. Have some specialist show or repeat/prerecord until 7am, put Dev on live breakfast then leave the rest as is. I'm a teeny bit surprised they're not using Coxy (guessing she doesn't want the overtime in which case fair enough) or Matt Edmondson more.. gives him more daytime exposure and experience, and keeps R1 live..

I dunno. Lets be honest, christmas day and, to a lesser extent boxing day, is very much a "TV and CD" day once the waking-up ritual is over, so having a live breakfast show then doing something "different" that iPod FM wouldn't, seems pretty reasonable to me. The only thing that would bug me, would be substantial prerecords on daytime 22-24, and 26/7/8. At the very least keep breakfast and afternoons live.

I notice on Moyles' tour this week, he doesn't have as many controls as the main studio desk does and has made comments to the effect of the sound OB truck doing things - also Aled pressing a few buttons from his desk. Also during some OBs (Greg in Belfast last week a prime example) there was some comment about "back in London pressing the buttons) This got me wondering.. I'm guessing Chris (or indeed any OB DJ) has just got a few basic faders and the cartwall, Aled's got the playlist and music.. and everything else is done from the OB truck with the desk in London set to "outside source".

This doesn't surprise me, but a few things just don't add up.. Neither Capital nor Heart have complete national coverage like the BBC, so to say that they're "taking on R1" does sound a little like a cheap marketing ploy to me. Which brings me neatly onto daytime DJs... Really can't see Moyles going, didn't he work at Capital enroute to R1, and has always said that it's not just about money but the profile of Radio 1 too. Mills.. hmmm.. ex-Heart unless I'm much mistaken and he's already (rightly or wrongly) the main breakfast stand-in and also has one of the flagship slots himself. I'm only a listener, but surely part of it is also the profile of working for Radio 1, not just the money - I'm sure some of the daytime DJs could earn more in the commercial sector... Dunno, just thinking out loud.

Hmm.. a couple of thoughts. 1, not going for a prerecord request show but sticking with a DJ.. excellent! 2, Dev getting a flagship daytime outing.. excellent too!

Sorry, but I disagree!! Yeah, the Request show is more music-based than some, but it just didn't sound the same on those pre-record ones a few weeks back. When R1 start having daytime shows pre-recorded without batting much of an eyelid, they're not a great deal better than iPod & tin-pot FM (i.e. Heart among others) IMO.

Looks like Reggie's in for a bit of "hot footing it" on Saturday.. On R1 for the request show until 7, then DJ'ing in Newquay from 10.30pm. That's pushing it a little bit!! Does BBC Cornwall have the facilities to host the request show? Come to think of it, we're more used to it with Moyles and the karaoke tour nights, but is any BBC regional studio capable of carrying a R1 network show?

Probably that it'd be nice for the second webcam to be pointed at the DJ desk again. Here's where I find that it already has been.. :-)