Couldn't agree more. Had a long drive yesterday and cycled through my 10 saved radio stations. Having grown up listening to Chris Tarrant on Capital, what we have now is pretty dross. The only stations I ended up dwelling on were Times Radio and Gaydio. The latter is interesting: they know their audience, they have a huge amount of interaction, news is presented in a different way to other stations. The other issue for me is the curse of the playlist; we've all got spotify now so if you're Virgin Anthems or Heart Dance (both in my saved 10) you really have to try a bit harder or why is the audience going to bother listening to ads?
Good point about these multi brand competitions... I'm surprised OFCOM allow this and Bauer seem to be the main culprit...I was tuned the other week to Wave 105 while driving through the area. They were advertising the 'Cash Register'... a 'Hits Radio Network' competition... with both GHR and HR also Broadcast in the same TSA, for a normal listener, they'd think they were in with a chance locally, and the 'part of the hits radio network' was a rushed part of the script at the end!' I'm unsure whether the average listener knows Wave for example is part of the Hits Radio Network and have little chance of actually winning..??! Same goes for Bauer National Brands competitions as well...will a Kiss listener know that Planet Rock listeners are also in the same hat.....I appreciate they mention it but is rather like the rushed disclaimers at the end of ads no one listens too or understands!! At least Global keep the competitions per Brand... eg. Capital's Give me the cash!
It's pretty rare I'll leave a comment somewhere, but amen to today's column. There are so many reasons, but the culture has certainly changed. Moyles couldn't get away with much of what he used to do back in the day with current social mores (for good or bad), nor the sort of stuff that folks like Caesar the Geezer or James Whale were pulling 20-30 years ago.
Iain Lee and Katherine Boyle were doing some gripping stuff on TalkRadio a few years ago but since he left last year he's been unable to even pick up a graveyard shift on local radio. Howard Hughes is about as exciting as it gets now with his talk about ghosts, conspiracies and UFOs, or, if you're so politically inclined, perhaps the odd controversial outburst from someone on LBC or TalkRadio. Stations don't seem to want to attract attention nowadays, in case any of it is bad and results in hordes of people hassling their advertisers on Twitter.
"Perhaps I've missed loads of stuff" - You haven't. And whilst this is by your standards a little grumpy, it is not inaccurate, and although you are a little late, it is nice to see you at the party...
I would say though. Who cares? Radio doesn't compete with radio, it competes with all entertainment, and as long as we have something we enjoy making, and something we enjoy watching/hearing, then I say, let them have their grayscale broadcasting, it's their money to waste.
Most people aren't sitting at home decrying the homogenisation of radio, they're watching Disney+/Youtube/Twitch listening to podcasts.
In short, you are completely correct, but it doesn't really matter.
Anything with adverts is boring. How anyone can enjoy a radio station that has to play advertisements is beyind understanding.
Couldn't agree more. Had a long drive yesterday and cycled through my 10 saved radio stations. Having grown up listening to Chris Tarrant on Capital, what we have now is pretty dross. The only stations I ended up dwelling on were Times Radio and Gaydio. The latter is interesting: they know their audience, they have a huge amount of interaction, news is presented in a different way to other stations. The other issue for me is the curse of the playlist; we've all got spotify now so if you're Virgin Anthems or Heart Dance (both in my saved 10) you really have to try a bit harder or why is the audience going to bother listening to ads?
Good point about these multi brand competitions... I'm surprised OFCOM allow this and Bauer seem to be the main culprit...I was tuned the other week to Wave 105 while driving through the area. They were advertising the 'Cash Register'... a 'Hits Radio Network' competition... with both GHR and HR also Broadcast in the same TSA, for a normal listener, they'd think they were in with a chance locally, and the 'part of the hits radio network' was a rushed part of the script at the end!' I'm unsure whether the average listener knows Wave for example is part of the Hits Radio Network and have little chance of actually winning..??! Same goes for Bauer National Brands competitions as well...will a Kiss listener know that Planet Rock listeners are also in the same hat.....I appreciate they mention it but is rather like the rushed disclaimers at the end of ads no one listens too or understands!! At least Global keep the competitions per Brand... eg. Capital's Give me the cash!
It's pretty rare I'll leave a comment somewhere, but amen to today's column. There are so many reasons, but the culture has certainly changed. Moyles couldn't get away with much of what he used to do back in the day with current social mores (for good or bad), nor the sort of stuff that folks like Caesar the Geezer or James Whale were pulling 20-30 years ago.
Iain Lee and Katherine Boyle were doing some gripping stuff on TalkRadio a few years ago but since he left last year he's been unable to even pick up a graveyard shift on local radio. Howard Hughes is about as exciting as it gets now with his talk about ghosts, conspiracies and UFOs, or, if you're so politically inclined, perhaps the odd controversial outburst from someone on LBC or TalkRadio. Stations don't seem to want to attract attention nowadays, in case any of it is bad and results in hordes of people hassling their advertisers on Twitter.
"Perhaps I've missed loads of stuff" - You haven't. And whilst this is by your standards a little grumpy, it is not inaccurate, and although you are a little late, it is nice to see you at the party...
I would say though. Who cares? Radio doesn't compete with radio, it competes with all entertainment, and as long as we have something we enjoy making, and something we enjoy watching/hearing, then I say, let them have their grayscale broadcasting, it's their money to waste.
Most people aren't sitting at home decrying the homogenisation of radio, they're watching Disney+/Youtube/Twitch listening to podcasts.
In short, you are completely correct, but it doesn't really matter.