Meanwhile back at the Snooz Drive Home.Jensen exclaims ''you know.nobody plays more music at Drivetime than us''. You're not kidding 'Kid'.as he goes into the very clunky five minutes of ads/travel into the news.We don't need to be reminded you say absolutely nothing on your show.He must be loving picking up a fat cheque for no effort whatsoever.

I don't mind Jack, they do have news on the top of the hour and have more variety of tunes unlike 'other' stations. It's a lad's station and I wouldn't mind if Real XS Glasgow was Jacked. Could compete with the other rock stations with the main reason being that it 'plays non-stop music' with no interruptions.

No doubt they'll probably have record audience figures on the Glasgow frequency, if this was to happen.

Whatever happens, XS will be rebranded. It's just the question of who buys it, what goes on it (brand name/format) and where will it be based.

It begs the question, what exactly is he doing in that studio for most of that 4 hours exactly? That applies to anyone else in the same boat. There used to be this term "needle time" regards an hourly music amount. Clearly at Smooth there is now also something known as "tongue time" too!

After my comments about A Different Corner last week playing when I turned the show off and then playing again when I turned the show on 3 or 4 days later again, I put his show on tonight to be greeted by.....George Michael again, but with Careless Whisper this time.

Had a listen at lunchtime poor Lynn Parsons was only allowed to speak once between between 12.30 and 1pm and then only to say what's coming up. Surely this is ridiculous and taking this more music policy a little too far and what a complete waste of the woman's talent and the salary she is paid?

Yep.Which is why it has to beg the question is he/is anybody in the studio for the duration of the show.Given the way it sounds(highly recorded).and the catalogue of technical errors recently ,,not to mention the weekend's Bob Harris fiasco on Radio 2..I'm sorry but it all points to it being recorded.

How can they justify her salary for her talent,when its not being used AT ALL.What they are paying for is her heritage voice which you hardly hear.and her name association.
It's a crying shame.because Lynn Parsons is possibly the best female radio jock in the country.and has been for years.
Unrestrained.she is bubbly/cheerful.and very pleasant to listen to.Remember when she used to talk about 'the supplements'..? Seems a distant memory.

On a drivetime show, especially today, it was a good chance to listen and hear if he made any comment about the weather conditions in the south of England today, which would prove he was live. If nothing of the sort was forthcoming, however briefly, on such a show, then it would seem quite extraordinary and also point to the whole thing being no more than a pre-record. I must admit I cannot tell one way or the other. I'd presumed it was live, but then I had been presuming Bob Harris was live until this weekend's cock up proved it otherwise.

She is a professional who will be able to adapt to the new format if she wants to. At the moment she will have a contract and will need to be paid regardless so she might aswell work.

Personally i think she is a bit over rated but if she does the biz on the new smooth she's worth keeping. Believe it or not doing a tight format well actually takes skill. Not everyone can do it but I accept that not everyone would want to. Magic used to sound shit hot though with some very skilled and talented broadcasters.

All he said was something like ''I hope the big storm hasn't affected you too badly''. Very generic.and could have been recorded hours previous to the show.

Interesting isn't it. If you wanted to prove beyond doubt to your listeners that you were live then I think you'd try and be a bit more specific in some way. I would imagine he is live, but what a shame that there should even be any room for doubt in the first place, caused in part by the lack of speech and real interaction with the listener.

Why does ot matter so much?If the content is the same if it's live or pre recorded then I see no.issue. Most listeners would not give it a thought they just turn on the radio snd listen if they like what they hear. Tna is all.

Only enthusiasts like us will thonk about it in any detail and we make up a tiny number of the listening public.

Yes she is a professional but she is also a personality presenter who to me thrives on being topical and entertaining. Currently as far as I am concerned none of the Smooth presenters are entertaining anymore. They are doing little more than pressing buttons on the mixer. Quite frankly for what input they are providing they might as well not be there at all. The station is just downright boring & lifeless which is a big shame as it used to be a station that you could listen too all day & enjoy the chatter & the varied music.

Agreed. :yawn:

It may sound odd to you and like I said some presenters wouldn't do it, some couldn't do it but this is exactly the idea. The station is clearly going for a music driven, minimal presenter input sound and although the presenter input (however small) is vital to the sound they do not want big personality presenters.

We all know what Smooth was like before but this is a different format and in my view a great improvment on the Smooth of old. I also think commercially this is far better but I would expect to see a few presenter changes when their contracts expire. I think they will still have big name presenters though because some will 'get it' and want to work on this format.

Why exactly do you think its a great improvement? We already have Magic that plays the almost the same music & the same format. Smooth was more akin to the presentation style on Radio 2 the most listened to station in the UK. There is absolutely no point in employing big name presenters if they are unable to show off there talent. Its like booking a comedian for a theatre and telling him he can't tell jokes!!! I fail to see how the presenter is "vital" when all they are being allowed to say is what the screen tells them which is basically just announcing what's coming up next every 20 mins? Its so bland you may as well just play a jingle its not worth having the presenter there at all.

Agreed, this is the thing digital spy doesn't get. Heavy music driven presentation is a skill, it's hard to do but when done correct it sounds massive. Pat Sharp and Carlos are nailing the format to a tee, personality links but they are tight and straight back into the music. Sadly some presenters haven't managed to grasp the format and as a result are doing very bland and boring that was this is links. Jensen in particular is very poor, Parsons didn't grasp it at the start but i think slowly she's getting it.

It's also even harder to do tight personality links on smooth as while at the same time as being tight its got to sound relaxing unlike Capital where you can inject as much energy as you want.

Simon Bates, Lynn Parsons, Pat Sharp, David Jensen etc etc were employed under GMG then Real & Smooth Ltd. Global have simply inherited these presenters as they are mid-contract. When these contracts expire they will either be renewed or let go.

Thanks but yes I realised that. I presume that assuming the Smooth brand remains and Global continue to compete head on with Magic in London that they will look to continue to have a well known presenter at least on breakfast whether that is Simon Bates or ano will become clear in due course,

I think some of what you are writing about the presenters on Smooth is quite nasty. If l was one of them reading this it would be upsetting.

Oh dear, click click click "hmmm, hmm". Now 'Solid As A Rock' playing, with Pat Sharp heard talking to his producer saying a something has failed.

Just to let you know that Andy Peebles Soul Train returns over on Gold this weekend saturday 8pm-midnight

Yes classic. pat talking all over the music saying glad its not my fault and producer saying back up is playing. Guess thats what they get wanting dj's to have no personality and loads of adds. Now no news just more adds oh dear this just gets worse. please global put smooth out of its misery or sell it to someone decent. Bloody hell a weather forecast some adds and the recorded news terrible.

There's no clutter, no presenter waffle, no wierd obscure music, just familliar music that sounds quite chilled. That's why I used to like Magic so much but it's deviated a bit over the last few years from it's original sound.

It's just a great format that works well when every single thing on the air fits within the format.

Smooth trying to be the commercial Radio 2 was worth a try but in my view was never going to work commercially because it would always be compared to Radio 2 and would never come up to the mark. It was a very poor substitute and when you already have Radio 2 why go for the inferior. I love Radio 2 and am a regular listener but I am aware of how much it costs.

Funnily enough I was chatting to someone about Smooth and tuned in to show her what it was sounding like. We had been listening for a couple of minutes and this latest technical shambles happened.

Thanks to that buffoon Gilbert, I was forced to tune-out of Radio 2 this afternoon. The local BBC station was doing something unspeakably tedious, so as a last resort, tuned to Smooh Radio. What should greet me but Elton John singing 5000 Candles in 10000 Winds. Just how many times does this record get played on that station in a week?