You are both massively overestimating her role on the programme. She reads sports bulletins twice per hour, which we can all agree is hardly “fronting the show”. Not to minimize her work, but her departure is hardly some massive blow, and there’s no way it will lead to Iain Lee returning to the airwaves.
The Daily Mail article is (unsurprising for them) full of crap.
Yeah I love Iain but I can’t see him coming back to radio after the shitshow that was Jack FM (which was beginning to implode around him when he pulled the pin)
Following the rapid developments in Syria, the BBC World Service will offer enhanced services to audiences across the country.
The Syrian radio network will go out on medium wave, 720kHz and 639kHz, and on 93.0 FM.
A spokesperson for the BBC denied the corporation is blocking the song being played, stating it does not have ‘specific policies on tracks or ban any songs.’
In unsurprising news following the Media Act, Global have announced that local programming on Capital, Heart & Smooth will come to an end in England. XS Manchester will be replaced by Radio X 90s. Local programming in Wales will be merged.
Fascinating that they didn’t havw another go at gettting Capital Xtra onto the XS frequency.
No mention too of Capital Cymru - bit of an odd one out as it broadcasts entirely in Welsh.
Capital Cymru is closing:
BBC Cymru understands that the independent radio station, Capital Cymru will end all Welsh programs next month.
Station owner Global Radio has announced a number of changes, including ending all local and regional programming on England’s Heart, Smooth and Capital stations.
The changes are possible following the introduction of the new Media Act last October, which removes any requirements for the formats of each station.
In Wales, offices in Cardiff and Wrexham will close, while a new studio center will open in Cardiff.
BBC Cymru understands that Capital Cymru will stop Welsh programs on 24 February.
It is not clear how many people will lose their jobs, but staff were informed of the changes on Thursday morning.
Local programs every afternoon on Capital in the north and Capital in the south will be combined to create one program for the whole of Wales, with the same happening to Heart’s local programmes.
Capital Cymru has broadcast Welsh programs separately from the rest of the Capital network since May 2019.
Welsh language programmes, including local news and Welsh music, began for the first time in December 1998 when Champion 103 began broadcasting to Anglesey and Gwynedd.
So much for the nations strategy. If it involves speaking the nation’s language, Global isn’t interested.
XS Manchester has been run on the smell of an oily rag in the last 12 months - Communicorp had cut back to just breakfast and weekday drive announcers, and while musically superior was definitely sounding like a poor Radio X clone by the end. Not the worst idea putting Radio X 90s on - hopefully some more hosted hours to offset this.
Feeling for those left in UK radio, and feeling contempt in advance for the Australian executives who will be using this to fuel their renewed push for reduced/removed local content quotas. I’d be weary if there’s a change of government in May.
It’s sad, isn’t it? I can just about remember when these stations were all local. Might be the rose-tinted specs but the output felt like it was much better. Not as slick as Global’s stations now, obvs, but it felt… more human. I get why everything has turned out the way it has, certainly from a business perspective, but it’s still sad to see what were once fully local stations be completely eroded by the machine.
To be fair, it wouldn’t be a case of having a go. They could just do it. However, it’s been 5 years since that first attempt, and the market has massively changed. The target Capital Xtra audience is much more likely to be listening on DAB than FM, so Global have clearly made a decision that they might as well cater to the pre-existing Radio X/XS audience instead.
When discussing this with some others before the news came out. I was placing my bets on either Radio X Classic Rock, or Gold (which has just seen the reintroduction of a drivetime show) replacing XS.
Local radio is vastly over-rated. Second-rate content made by second-rate people. And the only people who are any good don’t want to work in an affiliate, they are merely using the station as a stepping stone to London.
That’s not necessarily true, though. And even so, what’s wrong with it being a stepping stone? So much talent has come through these local stations over the years, and it’s a real shame to see them all having been swallowed up into the glorious wholes they are now. It’s all so homogenised now, and I find that really sad.
I understand what you’re saying, but I think we can often get a bit too folksy and misty-eyed when thinking about local radio. No one really wants to listen to lost and found pet calls and whether the local parish are having a boot sale or the Rotary are selling bacon butties.
Give me big-time, London-based, well-produced, real-radio any day of the week.
I think there can and should be room for both.
Doesn’t matter what country you are from. You need BOTH “big-time, -based, “well”-produced, “real”-radio” and “vastly “over-rated”. “Second-rate” content made by “second-rate” people” in every single market. And the quotation marks refer to subjective opinions people will have. I can give Australian examples to this regard but I’ll stay on topic.
Sure, have your big names syndicated and whatevers. but when the shit hits the fan locally, like, let’s say, a giant fucking fire (Grenfell, LA and our typical Australian fires to name but three) is impacting, let’s say, Norwich. Do you think London people will give a shit about Norwich and give vital, relevant, life saving information to those people?
No. Because then people from Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-tyne, etc, will complain. These networked stations need, and be forced to have the capability to opt-out for relevant local content that might save lives, and let the rest of the network carry on their shitty show.
Local radio should be the priority when it comes to licensing for this reason. In any country. UK, Australia, USA, Chad, wherever.
The talent in London (or Sydney, or wherever) radio by be first rate, but is run by second rate people.
That’s a very Australian attitude. It’s no wonder we are the most over-regulated nation in the world.
The Poms, like the Kiwis and the Yanks are much more liberal minded. Let the market take care of itself. That’s why OfCom is giving the thumbs up to Global’s ‘nations’ strategy.
I remember when I was working in Aotearoa and Civil Defence wanted to run regular warnings on the station because of some ‘weather event’ that never eventuated. Go away and just let me play Rick Dees.
That’s complete bollocks that Australia is over-regulated. Especially compared to the UK. Until very recently the UK had format conditions on commercial radio. New Zealand went from being one of the most restricted radio markets in the world until the 1990s to being completely unregulated yes, but lets not pretend they’ve always been this paragon of the free market - that’s just laughable. Australia has a much, much longer history of commercial radio than both NZ or the UK. The first commercial stations in the UK were only licenced in the 70s for goodness sake, not the 1930s like Australia.
I understand you’re a New Zealander so you actually don’t have much of a historical reference for Australia. And yet you somehow manage to still want to stay in this “over-regulated” Australia? Curious.
I understand you’re an Australian so you actually don’t have much of an understanding of how over-regulated you are in this country because you are numbed to it. Probably takes someone from a free-settler country to point it out to you:
And yet you’re still here? Why? I would think you’d want to return to a free-settler country.
