Thanks GT. Appreciated.
Footnotes:
I think we possibly lost there someone who would have worked at 6music extremely well. His personality was different from RS - young for 38 - but clearly he had the same knowledge, enthusiasm and, judging by the very end of the second clip, the voice. He would have matured. Clearly too he was the rare sort of presenter who inspired feeling in listeners and loyalty. I note that World FM is the sister station of CFOX and that he was tried there for a while in a breakfast programme with a world music format no less. Very interesting and it would be nice to think that something similar could happen here at some stage. Radio 3? I jest.
On RS, I don't say he was bad. Far from it but obviously he was more complex than he seemed. Such is life I guess. One might criticise him on hearing what happened in 1975 and then being so cool about it on the surface but it is also a testament to his consummate professionalism. For me, his golden years were 1973-1977. I would particularly pinpoint 1976 during which he managed to find some pretty decent tracks in musical hard times. From the early days when he would play rock n roll to passers by out of his house windows to the 1980s when he moved from Capital because of stifling playlists, he was the antithesis of a fake.
I still think you could study the nuances in his delivery of the mundane - time checks and weather - and see it as textbook stuff. Only now I think I can see what he was doing there. It was both positive but regular; celebratory without hysteria. You talk up the good and present the rest as routine rather than dire. And he knew his music. It is clear from some of the comments I have read that his son came to appreciate that legacy whatever happened on the way. Of course, it also helps to have people who fit into the "architecture" of a station. Post UBN - and there's a story - Capital had that then, not least because of the inventiveness of Everett who along with George Martin gave it real sparkle. He was a more ordinary presenter on R1 for that reason.
The station was struggling by 1977-1982 what with punk etc which it found difficult to incorporate - see Strummer/Jones - in spite of RS's efforts and contributions from CG. Its early bravery in music programming owed much to Attenborough and the regulatory authority. The station has for many years been nothing. It sounds more like a group of people you would find on a London bus but that doesn't mean that it sounds more like London. If a station soars across the rooftops while linking distant lights in tower blocks it is radio. It creates a sense of place that is that place and yet a version of it that enhances it by changing perspectives. If it sounds like another day in a classroom or the office, or looks the same as every high street, I doubt that it justifies its concept.
.
Footnotes:
I think we possibly lost there someone who would have worked at 6music extremely well. His personality was different from RS - young for 38 - but clearly he had the same knowledge, enthusiasm and, judging by the very end of the second clip, the voice. He would have matured. Clearly too he was the rare sort of presenter who inspired feeling in listeners and loyalty. I note that World FM is the sister station of CFOX and that he was tried there for a while in a breakfast programme with a world music format no less. Very interesting and it would be nice to think that something similar could happen here at some stage. Radio 3? I jest.
On RS, I don't say he was bad. Far from it but obviously he was more complex than he seemed. Such is life I guess. One might criticise him on hearing what happened in 1975 and then being so cool about it on the surface but it is also a testament to his consummate professionalism. For me, his golden years were 1973-1977. I would particularly pinpoint 1976 during which he managed to find some pretty decent tracks in musical hard times. From the early days when he would play rock n roll to passers by out of his house windows to the 1980s when he moved from Capital because of stifling playlists, he was the antithesis of a fake.
I still think you could study the nuances in his delivery of the mundane - time checks and weather - and see it as textbook stuff. Only now I think I can see what he was doing there. It was both positive but regular; celebratory without hysteria. You talk up the good and present the rest as routine rather than dire. And he knew his music. It is clear from some of the comments I have read that his son came to appreciate that legacy whatever happened on the way. Of course, it also helps to have people who fit into the "architecture" of a station. Post UBN - and there's a story - Capital had that then, not least because of the inventiveness of Everett who along with George Martin gave it real sparkle. He was a more ordinary presenter on R1 for that reason.
The station was struggling by 1977-1982 what with punk etc which it found difficult to incorporate - see Strummer/Jones - in spite of RS's efforts and contributions from CG. Its early bravery in music programming owed much to Attenborough and the regulatory authority. The station has for many years been nothing. It sounds more like a group of people you would find on a London bus but that doesn't mean that it sounds more like London. If a station soars across the rooftops while linking distant lights in tower blocks it is radio. It creates a sense of place that is that place and yet a version of it that enhances it by changing perspectives. If it sounds like another day in a classroom or the office, or looks the same as every high street, I doubt that it justifies its concept.
.
) - they've even posted the playlist, I notice. Best to be prepared.
Comment