Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Radio Daze concluded

R na G - Camchuairt
The reliance on lots of plainsong - despite this being the what’s on guide - shows the problem that Gaelic has in attracting new speakers - Welsh can rely on the odd Catatonia track and the likes of Anhren +spelling totally awry+ but when did you last hear Gaelic rock?

Jazz FM - Nicky Horne
‘Little’ Nicky Horne, late of American Football coverage on Channel Four, offering “smooth jazz and classic soul”, apparently, although what he’s actually playing [Angela Johnson] sounds more like bog standard new R&B to our untrained ears. “Have you heard about this movie Analyse That...” reads Nicky, lining up a feature about the largely unwanted mob-psychosis sequel. Apparently Jazz FM have got involved with the promotional work. Every time they think they’ve got out of the contract, they get pulled back in again.

Akash Radio - Bhangra Fever with DJ Sunny
Coming live from the Arches Business Centre, of course. The address is excellent. DJ Sunny, on the other hand, brings all the joy of a local radio DJ to his links, even doing that irritating thing where-ah every word-ah is ended-ah on an ah-ah. And talking a little bit too fast only with long gaps between every word, as if this is any way going to give an impression of excitement. It doesn’t. Also the tracks seem to have been passed to Stock and Aitken to produce, so everything good is lost in the mix and you’re left with a workaday beat on the top. Gah.

1Xtra - Drivetime with Rampage
Proving that music radio doesn’t have to be mind-deadened, Mike Anthony is orchestrating a text and email forum about the costs of djing now that vinyl is becoming a luxury item. You can’t help wondering if the predictions of the sceptics when 1xtra launched - that it was a way of stripping the beats out of Radio One - might not have had something of a point to them as the daytime stuff over on FM we’ve heard recently has been pretty, well, pale, if not exactly white. Having said which, it’s great that there is now potential to build a specialist network of stations that can, with their national footprint, find a wider audience and perhaps sustain themselves. Whats curious is that while the Asian market is being explored, and the BBC have got ‘urban’ under control, there’s loads of gaps still being left to wait for their moment in the sun. And equally interesting is the lack of any advertising on the services which aren’t also represented on the proper radio. A company with a stack of ideas and a decent sales force could be making hay here. Anyone got a cheque book?

BBC R n Gael - Caithream - Cluil
On the other hand, you might suspect that the gaelic speaker in search of a what’s on show is rather superserved at the moment.

Galaxy FM - Drivetime with Simon Dale
Standard Top 40 dance gubbins

BBC7 - The Big Toe Radio Show
“We need your emails” they plead, before playing Sinead Quinn. “First play” they announce, which on 7 might be true, but to try and claim some sort of exclusive on the number two record is pushing your luck a bit. Still, at least this time round Kid’s radio bosses have decided to abandon their strict refusal to allow pop music on their shows. If only they had kept some rules about shite pop music.

MeanCountry - The Drive Time Show
Does anyone want to text anna and say “My dog done died?” No? Just me then. Mean sticks firmly to the mushy country music that you hear in dockfront pubs. This station is, of course, part of the Mean Fiddler empire, and as such is to be given a hard stare anyway.

Phew, and then it’s the Pub Channel. Which is on TV...


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