Old Codger Fan

Oooh boy, I could be here all day! So best just pick one for now - Absolute Radio. Two major annoyances - Too many adverts, and not enough range 'across the decades' on DAB/ MW. I'd earmark particular one-hour blocks through the week, with no adverts in them. And then further earmark the middle-hours of some three-hour shows a particular decade, on a rota. So a 'no-advert guarantee', 7pm-8pm on Sundays (during request show), for example ... And 5pm-6pm with Bush & Ritchie could be 80's on Mon, 90's on Tues, 00's on Wed, and 10's on Thurs.

Do you mean - Which shows from other stations do we consider to be particularly good quality?

Yeah, maybe. Still a long wait though.

The ones already announced.

Anyone else feeling that September is quite a long wait for the major schedule changes, and that they should crack on with as many as possible sooner?

I'm going to stick my oar in here (again!) and say that I think Jack Saunders at 8pm is a great move. Entertainment at mid-morning (RM&C) should be a higher priority, and I've always found Saunders a bit too 'lively' past 10pm. Plus, there was a thread on here some time ago bemoaning the downgrading of Indie* - so 8pm raises it's profile again, and will be a positive choice for those of us who would rather stick with the radio than switch to the TV, in the evening. 10pm for chill material works for me, too - It will compete with Gideon Coe on 6 for my affections. It's really not like me to be so welcoming of change, so surprised myself by writing all this! (* broadly speaking - anything made by non-millionaires, where you can hear (at least some) real instruments, and non-autotuned vocals).

If it happens quickly, then we'll know the 'more time writing and with my children' was the polite cover-story. Graham Norton always liked to joke that he was 'too lazy' to do more than one day a week at R2 .. right up to the moment when he was offered two days on Virgin.

There's been a real dearth of strong personalities on mid-morning for years ... You may even have to go back as far as The Two Simons (Bates, Mayo) for when there was some really distinctive offering on at that time (Yes, I am THAT ancient ...) - so making RM&C 'mainstream' must be a good shout.

... Well, this thread suddenly got a whole lot more relevant! ,,,

Impressive! - How do we nominate you for next Controller?

^ That's a whole lotta chill! ^

^ Further to the above: I missed the moment itself - good job, because it was even worse than the aftermath (which you may remember me complaining about at the time) - Alex Belfield gives a full survey here - Watch from 02:30 onwards. ? WATCH ? BBC Unforgivable Prince Philip Coverage ? Indefensible Unprofessionalism? £3B Disgrace - YouTube

^ Just a shame that "Absolute 10's" not available on DAB ? ^

The music they play on their own show is not for me, but they always make a really entertaining job of things, when covering for others.

Sorry, still don't see it. Radio 1 'does it right' when it enthuses about new music. That's what it was set up to do. Certainly, the adverse 'scrutiny' it has attracted on this forum is due to it's failure to do that. The Head Of State dying? - Sure, we'll all expect a significant shift of tone & emphasis, across all media. But - the spouse of the Head Of State?? - A man who was NOTED (and, in the end, celebrated) for blurting out awkward things? -- The more you think about it, the less sense it makes ...........

Trouble is, everything JW does in that time slot, Janice Long does over on Radio Wales, only so much better ...

I don't get the 'very careful' bit. As if the Queen would be saying, 'They better not be playing The Chart today!' ...

Exactly right. But how to feed that back to the decision-makers??

He always seems to go up a gear when co-presenting - I'd put him with a newbie female in a more relaxed, late evening spot.

Sounding like a nice, easy-flowing fit to me on Weekend afternoons.

1) For the talk-based networks: LBC has come on leaps and bounds, very well-established brand now, often on top of breaking news and does 'what it says on the tin'. TalkRadio is hampered by a line-up consisting (largely) of pub-bore presenters, but is doing well pushing it's constant streaming. TimesRadio deserves credit for relying on sponsorship only (no adverts as such) - Style is deliberately more 'dry' than the others, but I put an hour aside for John Piennar. TalkSport2 is building a reputation for ACTUAL sports coverage, as opposed to the acres of inane 'banter' on the main TalkSport. 2) For the music-based networks: There are quality shows to be found in many places, but there's no one station I can stick with for an extended period of time. They all default to too many blocks of overly-predictable playlists, too-long ad breaks, and too many restrictions on what the presenters can do. Still, honourable mentions for: Chris Evans & Graham Norton on Virgin, Frank Skinner & Bush & Ritchie on Absolute and Simon Mayo on Greatest Hits. I sometimes fantasise about one combined station, which would give room (and breathing space) to all of them ... 3) Just to note that I regret it now seems to be out-of-the-question altogether for any show to divide its time equally between talk and music. Nick Abbot was able to do that for a time on the old 'Virgin 1215', in a richly entertaining way.

Fair enough - But who then fills his shoes on R1? He is, after all, R1's equivalent of Steve Wright - a 'Mr Dependable', who most demographics can get along with ...

I will simply say this: If they're struggling to 'fill time' at any point, then I'm sure there's a boat-load of artists who would appreciate more exposure through the 'Introducing' route - you know, instead of that just been shoved away in it's Sunday night corner ....

From the odd bits & pieces I've caught, the evident excitement displayed by the new lot (including tripping over words, like 'Spitney Spears'!) was a great thing to hear - As opposed to some of the established voices (naming no names) who largely just coast through their slots with 'shout-outs', adding precious little to material supplied by the listeners ,,,

He's somehow struck a seam where, whether you're 15 or 50, then, provided you take at least a passing interest in new pop, chances are you don't mind a bit of Scott. I say this as a 45 yr-old, and his is the only Mon-Fri daytime R1 show I actively listen to ...