given that 'The Krankies' have actually spent a long time working as professional entertainers, I'm sure they'd know more about most things that the coterie of girly types who currently tick the boxes come DJ holiday time on the basis that their dad was on the telly, or that their mummy used to be the editor of the Sunday Express (although I'm sure that's just coincidence).
The krankies onradio 2...That would be Fandabbiedoozie
It'll be interesting to see whether Claudia Winkleman appears on daytime Radio 2 again after today. From what's been said on air, she's done something to the desk that's necessitated a move to another studio (where the compression is all over the place), and Popmaster was 40 minutes late. And whilst acknowledging that their records were in the 90s, she described the Spice Girls as still a little bit of an 80s act.
I can't help but think if this was some weekday 6 Music presenter being given a shot at covering primetime Radio 2, they'd probably be moved to weekend 6 Music before very long. But Claudia is famous from the telly so they'll probably apologise to her for all the problems...
Ken Bruce must be thinking this is his perfect cover presenter.
Personally, I just love the way Mr Controller at BBC Radio 2 has done so much for the station. His massive filofax - with page after page of 'useless tv has-beens' and 'would you like to come to a dinner party at mummy and daddies house on Saturday' type contacts, has brought a winning touch of acute banality and outstanding blandness to some parts of Radio 2's schedule.
I've written to him (I'm sure he can read quite well !) asking if he'll consider some of my own favourites - Basil Brush would be excellent on a Sunday afternoon doing requests for the gushy wannabe showiz second XI types (and he could always read some news bulletins now that they've got rid of their few decent continuity / news people) and 'The Krankies', who I feel would energise the swing jock area with a much needed breath of fresh air and witty banter. Also, given that 'The Krankies' have actually spent a long time working as professional entertainers, I'm sure they'd know more about most things that the coterie of girly types who currently tick the boxes come DJ holiday time on the basis that their dad was on the telly, or that their mummy used to be the editor of the Sunday Express (although I'm sure that's just coincidence).
I can't wait for his reply !
Les Dennis in character as Mavis Riley must be a shoe in for a weekend slot!
Les Dennis in character as Mavis Riley must be a shoe in for a weekend slot!
Excellent idea - the question is, how's Shennan's ever growing contact book looking for impressionist / post-satire actors ? I'd think there's probably a space there for Les !
Excellent idea - the question is, how's Shennan's ever growing contact book looking for impressionist / post-satire actors ? I'd think there's probably a space there for Les !
I'm sure he's looking into his ever growing contact book with a view of getting somebody else to present a show that drive away music loving listeners .
It's a simple question to ask yourself would you prefer a commercial bland sounding dj who can be slick with vocals and jingles but say very little. Kind of like a safe pair of hands like Allinson. Or would you prefer someone enterraining who has something to say. I'm sure most people would choose the latter.
Why is being on the radio so exclusive that you have to have started on overnights on hospital radio in order to do it. Anyone who has something entertaining to say and understands the medium can do it. It's really not that hard if you're already a tv presenter.
Well said. I'd also like to see some evidence from the usual suspects that music lovers are being "driven away" from Radio 2. Ratings by day, reputation by night. It's been that way for the best part of 15 years now.
Well said. I'd also like to see some evidence from the usual suspects that music lovers are being "driven away" from Radio 2. Ratings by day, reputation by night. It's been that way for the best part of 15 years now.
If anything the reverse is true. The more they bring known people into daytime and weekends. The more the audience goes up.
Listeners to daytime radio 2 don't want bland wallpaper and people who can read texts and hit vocals. If they did they'd be listening to commercial radio.
Not sure Radio 2 has ever been a station for music lovers. I suppose Jim Moir moved it towards a music orientated station, but historically R2 has always been the radio version of BBC1 as far as I'm concerned.
The Radio 2 schedule in 1990...
7.30 Derek Jameson (former newspaper editor, hadn't done anything on the radio before standing in for Jimmy Young)
9.30 Judith Chalmers (off the telly, and only six months of the year because she was on the telly the rest of the time, usually replaced by Mark Wynter, a singer)
11.00 Jimmy Youg (had been on the radio for ages, but started as a singer)
1.00 David Jacobs (started as an actor)
2.00 Gloria Hunniford (singer and TV presenter)
4.00 Celebrity Choice (which speaks for itself)
5.00 John Dunn (probably the only one there who was anything like a full-time radio presenter)
There were also regular shows for Anne Robinson (journalist), Michael Aspel (off the telly), Ronnie Hilton (singer)...
The Radio 2 schedule in 1990...
7.30 Derek Jameson (former newspaper editor, hadn't done anything on the radio before standing in for Jimmy Young)
9.30 Judith Chalmers (off the telly, and only six months of the year because she was on the telly the rest of the time, usually replaced by Mark Wynter, a singer)
11.00 Jimmy Youg (had been on the radio for ages, but started as a singer)
1.00 David Jacobs (started as an actor)
2.00 Gloria Hunniford (singer and TV presenter)
4.00 Celebrity Choice (which speaks for itself)
5.00 John Dunn (probably the only one there who was anything like a full-time radio presenter)
There were also regular shows for Anne Robinson (journalist), Michael Aspel (off the telly), Ronnie Hilton (singer)...
True, though Aspel had a good radio pedigree.
People like Ray Moore were on telly first and Wogan was a bank clerk. I have no issue with anyone off the telly being on R2 - as long as they are any good
And now let's have a look on Radio 2 playlist today
Vanessa Feltz - former TV presenter, now does 4 hours a day on two radio stations
Chris Evans - former TV presenter, now does radio for years
Ken Bruce - radio DJ
Jeremy Vine - radio DJ
Steve Wright - radio DJ
Simon Mayo - radio DJ
Jo Whiley - radio DJ
Yes, Radio 2 Controller employed too many celebrities!!!1!
Radio 2 undoubtedly has some 'real' Radio and entertainmant people and I know that it's impossible to please everyone of its listeners hence the need for a litle variety outwith the core daytime output. Sadly, it also has a tendency to draw in non-radio folk for whom the station appears to serve as a personal shopfront.
From this page alone...truly, some expensive emperor's new clothes on display...
Vanessa Feltz - outside of a few north London media circles, totally alien to the majority of the audience. Would anyone in the real world employ this gahstly woman ?
Claudia Winkleman.....very well connected, but absolutely nothing that I can see to commend her as a national radio presenter. Still, doubtless a good appointment for Mr Controller's career in the future.
Jamie Cullum - er, he plays piano. Ergo he's a natural choice for radio.
Elaine Paige - she's sung preposetrous songs from faintly preposterous musicals in a variety of (in the main) preposterous accents..
Mark Radcliffe - in a twist to the above logic, Mike Harding was sacked to accommodate Mr Radcliffe's apparent career needs.
Anneka Rice - gushy, twee and another favourite from the very small north London media merry go-round on which Mr Controller seems to enjoy travelling.
Dermot O'Leary - baffling that he thinks he should be on TV let alone radio. Not exactly sure what he imagines his USP is.
Clare Balding.....ditto. Another example of the job appearing to meet her career needs rather than her satisfying the needs of a slot on air.
Graham Norton - "I'm Irish, camp and a litttle outrageous !" One trick pony, a little of whom goes a long, long way.
Diane Louis Jordan - another bland, rather empty vessel.
Paul O'Grady - He used to perform a drag act.
Rather than rush to slate me for expressing my opinion, ask yourself if, in the real world, you would honestly pay hard cash from your own programming budget to employ any of these names ? They may or not be gifted within their own spheres (that is, those who actually have a sphere of operation) but for radio, the only element I can see that they have in common is an abundance of bland mediocrity - with the possible exception of Graham Norton.
Surely only the BBC's 'civil service with headphones / other people's money' mentality would tolerate - and support - such dead wood ?
Radio 2 undoubtedly has some 'real' Radio and entertainmant people and I know that it's impossible to please everyone of its listeners hence the need for a litle variety outwith the core daytime output. Sadly, it also has a tendency to draw in non-radio folk for whom the station appears to serve as a personal shopfront.
From this page alone...truly, some expensive emperor's new clothes on display...
Vanessa Feltz - outside of a few north London media circles, totally alien to the majority of the audience. Would anyone in the real world employ this gahstly woman ?
Claudia Winkleman.....very well connected, but absolutely nothing that I can see to commend her as a national radio presenter. Still, doubtless a good appointment for Mr Controller's career in the future.
Jamie Cullum - er, he plays piano. Ergo he's a natural choice for radio.
Elaine Paige - she's sung preposetrous songs from faintly preposterous musicals in a variety of (in the main) preposterous accents..
Mark Radcliffe - in a twist to the above logic, Mike Harding was sacked to accommodate Mr Radcliffe's apparent career needs.
Anneka Rice - gushy, twee and another favourite from the very small north London media merry go-round on which Mr Controller seems to enjoy travelling.
Dermot O'Leary - baffling that he thinks he should be on TV let alone radio. Not exactly sure what he imagines his USP is.
Clare Balding.....ditto. Another example of the job appearing to meet her career needs rather than her satisfying the needs of a slot on air.
Graham Norton - "I'm Irish, camp and a litttle outrageous !" One trick pony, a little of whom goes a long, long way.
Diane Louis Jordan - another bland, rather empty vessel.
Paul O'Grady - He used to perform a drag act.
Rather than rush to slate me for expressing my opinion, ask yourself if, in the real world, you would honestly pay hard cash from your own programming budget to employ any of these names ? They may or not be gifted within their own spheres (that is, those who actually have a sphere of operation) but for radio, the only element I can see that they have in common is an abundance of bland mediocrity - with the possible exception of Graham Norton.
Surely only the BBC's 'civil service with headphones / other people's money' mentality would tolerate - and support - such dead wood ?
With the exception of Mark Radcliffe (who really does know his stuff and is clever with it), I'd agree with the names put forward, but perhaps for different reasons.
I simply can't stand VF, because of her shallow, insincere and disinterested attitude and seeming need to get things done asap so she can get on; plus her quite rude attitude too fellow female colleagues (bit of jealousy perhaps?)
CW; her gushing drives me up the wall, does she still say 'Shh wait'? Or something similar?
I don't listen to these two women.
I can't stand EP's ridiculous chortling laugh..She sounds as if she's being throttled (don't say it!)...O'Learly I can't stand his sychophantic manner or his use of the illiterate but fashionable use of random when he really means odd, or strange.
Norton, same reasons as you. Too much 'Aren't I camp, and brave?'..
Paul O'Grady I can take or leave. He keeps the ironing lot happy I suppose, but I baulk at Malcolms theft of Steve Wrong's 'in joke' of playing tootally inappropriate 'love songs'..I suppose in this case everyone's in on the joke, whereas on SW sunday they're not; so the listeners may be genuinly surprised to hear 'The sun ain't gonna shine any more' as a response to 30 years married bliss, after 'loving the show'.
It'll be interesting to see whether Claudia Winkleman appears on daytime Radio 2 again after today. From what's been said on air, she's done something to the desk that's necessitated a move to another studio (where the compression is all over the place), and Popmaster was 40 minutes late. And whilst acknowledging that their records were in the 90s, she described the Spice Girls as still a little bit of an 80s act.
I can't help but think if this was some weekday 6 Music presenter being given a shot at covering primetime Radio 2, they'd probably be moved to weekend 6 Music before very long. But Claudia is famous from the telly so they'll probably apologise to her for all the problems...
Ken Bruce must be thinking this is his perfect cover presenter.
It is not the first time that equipment has gone faulty. Have you any evidence that she 'broke' it? Seems poor design if a presenter can break it short of pouring liquid into it and even then they should be able to withstand modest levels of spillages.
It is not the first time that equipment has gone faulty. Have you any evidence that she 'broke' it? Seems poor design if a presenter can break it short of pouring liquid into it and even then they should be able to withstand modest levels of spillages.
Could this not have been a bit of banter, rather than factual? Not presenters fault if kit goes faulty.
There really are some very unforgiving posters on here. And whilst your opinion of presenter X, Y or Z is perfectly valid, so too are the numbers of listeners tuning in.
Why is Graham Norton considered to be "camp and brave"? Certainly he's the former, but his Saturday morning radio show - and indeed his Friday night TV show - were previously occupied by Jonathan Ross. In many ways, the appointment was "like for like" in providing a mainstream entertainment show for Saturday mornings.
Jamie Cullum - he plays the piano? Yes, and he's thoroughly knowledgeable about his subject, which I would have thought more than qualifies him to present a jazz show.
Seriously, moan all you want. I can't possibly see why Bob Shennan needs to tick any particular career boxes for him or his signings. Ratings wise he's doing a fantastic job at Radio 2.
There really are some very unforgiving posters on here. And whilst your opinion of presenter X, Y or Z is perfectly valid, so too are the numbers of listeners tuning in.
Seriously, moan all you want. I can't possibly see why Bob Shennan needs to tick any particular career boxes for him or his signings. Ratings wise he's doing a fantastic job at Radio 2.
The Sun newspaper gets pretty good 'ratings' too - and I'm not comparing like with like here, but given that BBC R2 is a national FM platform (the only L.E./ pop national FM platform), it'd be difficult to entirely balls up the audience figures.
I'm not hugely interested in music radio, and find the whole thing mildly amusing - it certainly reeks of socially aspirational glory basking by Mr Shennan (doesn't he have a normal pension fund ?) but the only point that irks me is Mr Shennan's seeming love of celebs from elsewhere in the light ent world, and his assumption that they will resonate with the audience at large throughout the country. Only someone too close to the forest to see the trees could think that (for example) Ms Feltz has much to offer a nationwide demographic.
Sunderland ? Glagow ? Devon ? Aberdeen ? I can't imagine her type of bafflingly over-confident bu ulimately empty personna playng well with normal people outwith parts of the home counties. As to her integrity as a 'broadcaster'...questionable some might say.
To me, that particular appointment is a key indicator of the disdain he has for his audience and his limited vision. Sure people will continue to listen, but I'd suggest that many will are listening to Radio 2 - not this particular presenter. In spite of and not because of to put it another way. Meanwhile, he draws from a very small pool.
There are more important thing to worry about in the big world out there, and on a scale of 1 to 10, Mr Shennan's abilities as a PC don't even move the needle. The situation just looks a little odd and if nothing else - a little self-ingratiating, in an amusing (and at the same time, sad) way...
I'm not hugely interested in music radio, and find the whole thing mildly amusing
Why bother commenting then?
it certainly reeks of socially aspirational glory basking by Mr Shennan
Fancy that, a controller who wants his station to acheive high audience levels.
There are more important thing to worry about in the big world out there, and on a scale of 1 to 10, Mr Shennan's abilities as a PC don't even move the needle. The situation just looks a little odd and if nothing else - a little self-ingratiating, in an amusing (and at the same time, sad) way...
If that last paragraph made any sense it would be easier to comment on it.
Radio 2 undoubtedly has some 'real' Radio and entertainmant people and I know that it's impossible to please everyone of its listeners hence the need for a litle variety outwith the core daytime output. Sadly, it also has a tendency to draw in non-radio folk for whom the station appears to serve as a personal shopfront.
From this page alone...truly, some expensive emperor's new clothes on display...
Vanessa Feltz - outside of a few north London media circles, totally alien to the majority of the audience. Would anyone in the real world employ this gahstly woman ?
Claudia Winkleman.....very well connected, but absolutely nothing that I can see to commend her as a national radio presenter. Still, doubtless a good appointment for Mr Controller's career in the future.
Jamie Cullum - er, he plays piano. Ergo he's a natural choice for radio.
Elaine Paige - she's sung preposetrous songs from faintly preposterous musicals in a variety of (in the main) preposterous accents..
Mark Radcliffe - in a twist to the above logic, Mike Harding was sacked to accommodate Mr Radcliffe's apparent career needs.
Anneka Rice - gushy, twee and another favourite from the very small north London media merry go-round on which Mr Controller seems to enjoy travelling.
Dermot O'Leary - baffling that he thinks he should be on TV let alone radio. Not exactly sure what he imagines his USP is.
Clare Balding.....ditto. Another example of the job appearing to meet her career needs rather than her satisfying the needs of a slot on air.
Graham Norton - "I'm Irish, camp and a litttle outrageous !" One trick pony, a little of whom goes a long, long way.
Diane Louis Jordan - another bland, rather empty vessel.
Paul O'Grady - He used to perform a drag act.
Rather than rush to slate me for expressing my opinion, ask yourself if, in the real world, you would honestly pay hard cash from your own programming budget to employ any of these names ? They may or not be gifted within their own spheres (that is, those who actually have a sphere of operation) but for radio, the only element I can see that they have in common is an abundance of bland mediocrity - with the possible exception of Graham Norton.
Surely only the BBC's 'civil service with headphones / other people's money' mentality would tolerate - and support - such dead wood ?
I think I agree with all of that except for Cullum and Ratcliffe.
Cullum is clearly an authority in the field in which he is performing and more inportantly here, presenting.
How you can include Ratcliffe is a little bizarre, a radio man through and through and unlike a large number of presenters knows and respects the music he plays. I liked Mike Harding's Folk Show very much and was disappointed when he left but there's no questioning Ratcliffe's credentials as his replacement. A quick of his musical background would make that clear. Apart from his very annoying "um err" habit which drives me nuts I like him very much.
If I'm listening to music radio , I expect the presenter to informative of the music that they are playing along with being respectful of that music , that would entertaining to the music listener.
Let's be fair, apart from specialist shows and more focussed music stations when did we ever expect presenters to know about the music.
Even the country's most listened to presenter, Chris Evans, is no music authority, far from it in fact. Despite the fact that he would like to give the impression to the contrary, he clearly doesn't have much of musical knowledge. In fact, listening to his show, you get the impression that the music gets in the way judging by the way he treats it.
I think I agree with all of that except for Cullum and Ratcliffe.
Cullum is clearly an authority in the field in which he is performing and more inportantly here, presenting.
How you can include Ratcliffe is a little bizarre, a radio man through and through and unlike a large number of presenters knows and respects the music he plays. I liked Mike Harding's Folk Show very much and was disappointed when he left but there's no questioning Ratcliffe's credentials as his replacement. A quick of his musical background would make that clear. Apart from his very annoying "um err" habit which drives me nuts I like him very much.
No - I agree with you entirely anout Radcliffe. I only included him to refute any suggestion that specialist presenters were best drawn from the ranks of performing artists on the basis that veteran singer / writer and performer Mike Harding was sacked to make way for Radcliffe.
As for Jamie Cullum I'm sure he knows his stuff, it just seems a little fashion led and inconsistent. I remember Alexis Korner presenting on R2. he also knew his stuff, but paired that with a little more experience of both life and his art.
<snip>
Vanessa Feltz - outside of a few north London media circles, totally alien to the majority of the audience. Would anyone in the real world employ this gahstly woman ?<snip>
I would say Vanessa is known within the general public although that's down to her TV work in the 90s and the coverage she got after that mainly due to her marriage break up.
Comments
I can't help but think if this was some weekday 6 Music presenter being given a shot at covering primetime Radio 2, they'd probably be moved to weekend 6 Music before very long. But Claudia is famous from the telly so they'll probably apologise to her for all the problems...
Ken Bruce must be thinking this is his perfect cover presenter.
Les Dennis in character as Mavis Riley must be a shoe in for a weekend slot!
Excellent idea - the question is, how's Shennan's ever growing contact book looking for impressionist / post-satire actors ? I'd think there's probably a space there for Les !
I'm sure he's looking into his ever growing contact book with a view of getting somebody else to present a show that drive away music loving listeners .
Well said. I'd also like to see some evidence from the usual suspects that music lovers are being "driven away" from Radio 2. Ratings by day, reputation by night. It's been that way for the best part of 15 years now.
If anything the reverse is true. The more they bring known people into daytime and weekends. The more the audience goes up.
Listeners to daytime radio 2 don't want bland wallpaper and people who can read texts and hit vocals. If they did they'd be listening to commercial radio.
7.30 Derek Jameson (former newspaper editor, hadn't done anything on the radio before standing in for Jimmy Young)
9.30 Judith Chalmers (off the telly, and only six months of the year because she was on the telly the rest of the time, usually replaced by Mark Wynter, a singer)
11.00 Jimmy Youg (had been on the radio for ages, but started as a singer)
1.00 David Jacobs (started as an actor)
2.00 Gloria Hunniford (singer and TV presenter)
4.00 Celebrity Choice (which speaks for itself)
5.00 John Dunn (probably the only one there who was anything like a full-time radio presenter)
There were also regular shows for Anne Robinson (journalist), Michael Aspel (off the telly), Ronnie Hilton (singer)...
True, though Aspel had a good radio pedigree.
People like Ray Moore were on telly first and Wogan was a bank clerk. I have no issue with anyone off the telly being on R2 - as long as they are any good
Oh. OK
Vanessa Feltz - former TV presenter, now does 4 hours a day on two radio stations
Chris Evans - former TV presenter, now does radio for years
Ken Bruce - radio DJ
Jeremy Vine - radio DJ
Steve Wright - radio DJ
Simon Mayo - radio DJ
Jo Whiley - radio DJ
Yes, Radio 2 Controller employed too many celebrities!!!1!
From this page alone...truly, some expensive emperor's new clothes on display...
Vanessa Feltz - outside of a few north London media circles, totally alien to the majority of the audience. Would anyone in the real world employ this gahstly woman ?
Claudia Winkleman.....very well connected, but absolutely nothing that I can see to commend her as a national radio presenter. Still, doubtless a good appointment for Mr Controller's career in the future.
Jamie Cullum - er, he plays piano. Ergo he's a natural choice for radio.
Elaine Paige - she's sung preposetrous songs from faintly preposterous musicals in a variety of (in the main) preposterous accents..
Mark Radcliffe - in a twist to the above logic, Mike Harding was sacked to accommodate Mr Radcliffe's apparent career needs.
Anneka Rice - gushy, twee and another favourite from the very small north London media merry go-round on which Mr Controller seems to enjoy travelling.
Dermot O'Leary - baffling that he thinks he should be on TV let alone radio. Not exactly sure what he imagines his USP is.
Clare Balding.....ditto. Another example of the job appearing to meet her career needs rather than her satisfying the needs of a slot on air.
Graham Norton - "I'm Irish, camp and a litttle outrageous !" One trick pony, a little of whom goes a long, long way.
Diane Louis Jordan - another bland, rather empty vessel.
Paul O'Grady - He used to perform a drag act.
Rather than rush to slate me for expressing my opinion, ask yourself if, in the real world, you would honestly pay hard cash from your own programming budget to employ any of these names ? They may or not be gifted within their own spheres (that is, those who actually have a sphere of operation) but for radio, the only element I can see that they have in common is an abundance of bland mediocrity - with the possible exception of Graham Norton.
Surely only the BBC's 'civil service with headphones / other people's money' mentality would tolerate - and support - such dead wood ?
With the exception of Mark Radcliffe (who really does know his stuff and is clever with it), I'd agree with the names put forward, but perhaps for different reasons.
I simply can't stand VF, because of her shallow, insincere and disinterested attitude and seeming need to get things done asap so she can get on; plus her quite rude attitude too fellow female colleagues (bit of jealousy perhaps?)
CW; her gushing drives me up the wall, does she still say 'Shh wait'? Or something similar?
I don't listen to these two women.
I can't stand EP's ridiculous chortling laugh..She sounds as if she's being throttled (don't say it!)...O'Learly I can't stand his sychophantic manner or his use of the illiterate but fashionable use of random when he really means odd, or strange.
Norton, same reasons as you. Too much 'Aren't I camp, and brave?'..
Paul O'Grady I can take or leave. He keeps the ironing lot happy I suppose, but I baulk at Malcolms theft of Steve Wrong's 'in joke' of playing tootally inappropriate 'love songs'..I suppose in this case everyone's in on the joke, whereas on SW sunday they're not; so the listeners may be genuinly surprised to hear 'The sun ain't gonna shine any more' as a response to 30 years married bliss, after 'loving the show'.
It is not the first time that equipment has gone faulty. Have you any evidence that she 'broke' it? Seems poor design if a presenter can break it short of pouring liquid into it and even then they should be able to withstand modest levels of spillages.
Could this not have been a bit of banter, rather than factual? Not presenters fault if kit goes faulty.
That is what I thought, I have heard banter before after something failed.
Why is Graham Norton considered to be "camp and brave"? Certainly he's the former, but his Saturday morning radio show - and indeed his Friday night TV show - were previously occupied by Jonathan Ross. In many ways, the appointment was "like for like" in providing a mainstream entertainment show for Saturday mornings.
Jamie Cullum - he plays the piano? Yes, and he's thoroughly knowledgeable about his subject, which I would have thought more than qualifies him to present a jazz show.
Seriously, moan all you want. I can't possibly see why Bob Shennan needs to tick any particular career boxes for him or his signings. Ratings wise he's doing a fantastic job at Radio 2.
The Sun newspaper gets pretty good 'ratings' too - and I'm not comparing like with like here, but given that BBC R2 is a national FM platform (the only L.E./ pop national FM platform), it'd be difficult to entirely balls up the audience figures.
I'm not hugely interested in music radio, and find the whole thing mildly amusing - it certainly reeks of socially aspirational glory basking by Mr Shennan (doesn't he have a normal pension fund ?) but the only point that irks me is Mr Shennan's seeming love of celebs from elsewhere in the light ent world, and his assumption that they will resonate with the audience at large throughout the country. Only someone too close to the forest to see the trees could think that (for example) Ms Feltz has much to offer a nationwide demographic.
Sunderland ? Glagow ? Devon ? Aberdeen ? I can't imagine her type of bafflingly over-confident bu ulimately empty personna playng well with normal people outwith parts of the home counties. As to her integrity as a 'broadcaster'...questionable some might say.
To me, that particular appointment is a key indicator of the disdain he has for his audience and his limited vision. Sure people will continue to listen, but I'd suggest that many will are listening to Radio 2 - not this particular presenter. In spite of and not because of to put it another way. Meanwhile, he draws from a very small pool.
There are more important thing to worry about in the big world out there, and on a scale of 1 to 10, Mr Shennan's abilities as a PC don't even move the needle. The situation just looks a little odd and if nothing else - a little self-ingratiating, in an amusing (and at the same time, sad) way...
Why bother commenting then?
Fancy that, a controller who wants his station to acheive high audience levels.
If that last paragraph made any sense it would be easier to comment on it.
I think I agree with all of that except for Cullum and Ratcliffe.
Cullum is clearly an authority in the field in which he is performing and more inportantly here, presenting.
How you can include Ratcliffe is a little bizarre, a radio man through and through and unlike a large number of presenters knows and respects the music he plays. I liked Mike Harding's Folk Show very much and was disappointed when he left but there's no questioning Ratcliffe's credentials as his replacement. A quick of his musical background would make that clear. Apart from his very annoying "um err" habit which drives me nuts I like him very much.
Let's be fair, apart from specialist shows and more focussed music stations when did we ever expect presenters to know about the music.
Even the country's most listened to presenter, Chris Evans, is no music authority, far from it in fact. Despite the fact that he would like to give the impression to the contrary, he clearly doesn't have much of musical knowledge. In fact, listening to his show, you get the impression that the music gets in the way judging by the way he treats it.
No - I agree with you entirely anout Radcliffe. I only included him to refute any suggestion that specialist presenters were best drawn from the ranks of performing artists on the basis that veteran singer / writer and performer Mike Harding was sacked to make way for Radcliffe.
As for Jamie Cullum I'm sure he knows his stuff, it just seems a little fashion led and inconsistent. I remember Alexis Korner presenting on R2. he also knew his stuff, but paired that with a little more experience of both life and his art.
I would say Vanessa is known within the general public although that's down to her TV work in the 90s and the coverage she got after that mainly due to her marriage break up.