Radio Stuff
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Hold The Front Page – but be prepared to justify it.
I remember it well. 0745. The story had been running since my first bulletin at 0600 when the phone call came. A press officer demanding that I don’t run the story at 0800, and if I did there would “be consequences”. Being a good journalist (and trusting the rather more senior journalist who had written…
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It’s All A Conspiracy!
Over the weekend I decided to take a break from the news. Yes, I largely ignored bulletins for the whole of Saturday because, quite frankly, I was knackered – and getting a bit bored with the post election fallout and the jolly yet sombre recollections of VE Day. So I initially missed the story which…
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Purdahtory
So the election is over, and thank goodness for that. Not that it hasn’t been an entertaining experience. As ever, I was tasked with trying to make an everyday constituency sound interesting – and I did by bit. I also juggled with the dilemma of promoting “non political” stories beyond their usual station so we…
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British Bashing Corporation
It doesn’t really matter what the BBC does with Jeremy Clarkson, because the printed press will do anything to discredit the Corporation. On a daily basis, you can search around newspaper websites and find countless examples. Take this contribution from the Nottingham Post. On the face of it, a good news story – Songs of Praise brings…
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London’s Brilliant Creation
Next time you watch a TV news report containing a press conference, look towards the bottom of your screen at the microphones. There’s one logo you’ll probably see more than any other – that of LBC. But this is not a story of anorak spotting – it’s about the almost unseen growth of an increasingly…
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Nostalgia : A Thing Of The Past?
Around two years ago I posted a blog about the return of an old name to the radio landscape. Solid Gold Gem AM played its cards purely on the grounds of nostalgia. But this weekend, it will play its final tune. So what went wrong? Although broadcasting online, and with a collection of presenters based…
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Publish And Be Dimmed
Holidays are coming, and I for one can’t wait. Billions of pounds will be spent on paid for advertising in the run up to the festive season, and these days the aim seems to be as much about getting people in a frenzy about your advert as it is buying the product. Yet some of…
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Land Of Ope And Glory
Throughout Devon towns and cities, you’ll see street signs ending “Ope”. They’re normally side roads and the meaning is simply short for “opening”. Which is apt, as I open a new chapter in Plymouth – moving to my very own Ope. When I mentioned to colleagues that my new address was on Theatre Ope, few…
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Start The Week
The tourists have largely gone, which makes exploring Devon at this time of year a whole lot easier. Yet “this time of year” doesn’t feel like the first week of October. Much of the UK has been enjoying the Indian Summer, but nowhere else has quite the same views as those in Start Bay on…
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It Ain’t What You Play…
It’s the party conference season, and in the run up to a General Election the political pundits can’t wait to tell us that this is the last chance for [insert front bencher’s name here] to make their big sell on [insert policy name here]. Of course, nobody really cares about broadcasting. It’s simply not on…
TravelCaster 