[Breakbumper]

Well you are probably right. Theres too much radio available today with every man and his dog running radio stations. The IBA had its faults but OFCOM are simply not fit for purpose. Look at the Laser Broadcasting debarcle. There are too many licences chasing the same money and audiences, so what do they do?, Create Community Radio driving down the quality even further. Thank god for the BBC.

[barrydavidallanbda]

I was thinking I was the only person who felt ofcom was poor at the job.

I would rather have 100 great stations and with yes more national stations and a networking reduced to just 5 stations per area only rather that 90% of the uk…….. Plus I think it needs a body(like the IBA) that rules these stations .. Stations and groups plus these people at the Radio Center have too much to say.

Radio in the uk is dead and thats because we sell products to listeners rather than a service first,And the news and sport side of all local stations has gone done the pan too.

When you think of the stations like Caroline and Radio London they didnt break the rules to have 300 radio stations in 2009 to just sell wall to wall adverts … it was a music service they pushed

[fredgreek]

Breakbumper wrote:
Create Community Radio driving down the quality even further. Thank god for the BBC.

I don't agree that community radio does drive down the quality even further. Apart from BBC Local Radio it is the only real 'local' broadcaster – with the added bonus that it is probably even more local than the BBC in some cases.

Community radio however can NOT compete with the BBC who have full time staff with national links. Community radio works because it is made by the community itself!

No broadcaster comes without problems – the BBC and community radio included. But that doesn't mean they are bad.

[LenGroat]

Breakbumper

'What went wrong?'

That QUESTION deserves a whole topic if its own…. but maybe it's too complex to thrash out on a 'jingle website' ?

BarryDavidAllan

'I felt ofcom was poor at the job'.

I agree ~ for all it's faults the IBA was far better at disciplining and controlling the 'power bosses' of commercial radio. It is THEY who have reduced the regulations to weak guidelines.

JohnB

Your comments:

'Radio Lancashire is live from Blackburn 19 hours a day.'

'We operate the only fully staffed radio newsroom in Lancashire..'

These comments re-inforce my point about use of the BBC Licence fee: a commercial station of the same size in 2009 whould simply not be able to FINANCE these hours.

I could suggest that using Public money to fund suc hlong solo hours is giving your station an unfair advantage over commercial broadcasters?

Put another way, If you were limited to the same 'local hours' as they are, how much would your ratings go down?

The BBC (as a whole) needs to look again at HOW it spends public money.

'I remember Radio Trent / Leicester Sound was “syndicated” from 1984 onwards for 12 hours a day'

Yes it was; I fought strongly against it, and eventually for a few 'Golden Years' David Lloyd took over Leicester, it became more autonomous, and GEM was broadcast just to Nottingham and Derby.

I also fought strongly (and won) over us taking the (so called) 'Superstation' from Manchester at night ~ a TOTAL disaster despite the 'Big Names'. We reverted to local programes.

At the end of the day… we are on the same side of the pitch !

[JohnBarnesUK]

Len – indeed we are.
Regards
John

[enerjee]

LenGroat wrote: My broader point was that 100% of the British public continue to HAVE to pay (via the BBC licence fee) for a large network of BBC local stations, that are EXTREMELY variable in quality. There are many negative comments about Commercial Radio on here, but BBC local stations are just as guilty. If you don't want me to judge them on their 'style' (mp3airchecks) judge them on their LATEST ratings:

Or put another way, 4 out of 5 people who HAVE to PAY for BBC Local radio NEVER listen to it.

Oh no, not that old chestnut again. The BBC licence is not a subscription. I don't have children but I have to pay tax which goes towards Child Benefit to every family that has a child.

You're not defending the state of local commercial radio are you? Defend the jingles, yes, but not the stations.

[LenGroat]

I definitely was NOT 'defending the state of (local) commercial radio'. It's in a bad way already, and with the shorted-sighted removal of local identities it will get FAR worse – watch out for yet more CLOSURES.

I WAS simply making the point that 4 out of 5 people who HAVE to PAY for BBC Local radio NEVER listen to it

Paying communally to 'support' children is the future of 'society' – hardly comparable to 'supporting' BBC Local Radio which 80% of the population NEVER listen to!

Also, since this topic started, a review of BBC expenditure was featured in the news. Subsidising BBC local stations with few listeners, to broadcast 19 hours a day, is not very logical or economically sensible in recession Britain?

[LenGroat]

Can I add that the recent download:

'BBC Lancs's John Barnes's massive cock-up!'

Was a rather exagerated way to describe a simple mistake, which would not have been noticed by 95% of the listeners. It may quite likely have been down to the producer loading the wrong item on the computer listing when the show was programed?

In any case John Barnes clearly was not phased by it and sound very PROFESSIONAL.

[IainJohnstonMember]

As Len rightly says, anyone can make a mistake – at least its live, in “real time” (not what the US is currently developing software-wise for radio – “robo-jock” IS coming) and real people – and 99.99999% of the time in real-time everyone “gets it right”.

Of course, when they DO “fluff”, even on the most “staid” of stations, its always nicer when “Auntie BBC” does let her hair down a little, and everyone can “laugh with them” rather than “at them“…:^)

…as in the Radio 4 weather forecast this week, which went down so well that it got repeated on the “PM” flagship evening programme “by listener demand”!

http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1246099134_75_FT71411_radio4-muddy.mp3 filename:radio4-muddy.mp3

[Good Time Oldie]

I have to agree with Len and Iain on this, anyone can hit the wrong button or be busy in conversation with a studio guess and forget to check the running order etc. As for it being a “massive cock up”, hardly, now if he had said the “C” or “F” word etc, now that would be have been “massive”. I worked with a guy once who was presenting weekend breakfast and actually nodded off at 7.57am and thus didn't voice the “News In” or even take in the 8 O'Clock news feed from our then sister station some twenty miles away (no more incriminating info lol), is that “massive”?, he certainly got a very “big” bollocking from the boss as some insecure backstabbing colleague grassed him up, but that's radio for you

To be honest I am not sure why the audio was included in the first place, surely things like this (and worse) happen every day in radio/TV.

[Author]

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