Month: March 2009
-
Bad Ads
As I mentioned the other day, the Radio Sales documentary on Radio 4 on Saturday ended with the infamous “Superscreen” ad. OK. Here it is: In recent days there was another really annoying advert. A certain major soap opera was advertising a major event that took place in last Friday’s episodes. Radio advertising is the…
-
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle
Stewart Lee’s new comedy programme is excellent, if the first episode is anything to go by. Each week Lee addresses a different topic and this week it was books. OK – so this ticked all the boxes with me, with Dan Brown, Russell Brand, “Tragic Lives” and Chris Moyles all targeted for their books. Moyles…
-
Likes and Dislikes
Things that have annoyed me in recent days: Channel 4 not including a “series link” in their Freeview EPG for Red Riding. It meant I had to look “elsewhere” to find episode 2. Sci Fi Channel in the US renaming themselves SyFy (this is not a joke). My computer at work. Apple releasing an iPod…
-
Multimedia Meets Radio
I was invited to present at the EBU conference Multimedia Meets Radio conference in Prague. More alert readers might realise that the EBU is a union of public service broadcasters and wonder why someone who works for a commercial radio station would present there. But we’re all radio services and there’s always plenty to learn…
-
BARB Changes Afoot
An interesting piece in Media Guardian this morning about some forthcoming changes to TV ratings from BARB. I look forward to reading a bit more detail about how exactly they’ll be able to monitor these new programme streams.
-
Martin Kelner on 6Music
Kelner is always worth a read: [Lesley Douglas’s campaign] a central plank of which was the replacement of Gideon Coe with the supposedly more female-friendly George Lamb, ranks in success somewhere between Balaclava and Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.
-
Ofcom v Global
Perhaps that heading is a little misleading, but that’s what it feels like at the moment. On Friday, Ofcom gave GWR FM (Bristol and Bath) a yellow card for not operating within its format. GWR has a format which states (All stations’ format can be found on the Ofcom website). The format for GWR FM…
-
Ane Brun
For some reason – two weeks after I went to see the gig, I haven’t mentioned that I saw Ane Brun at the always wonderful Union Chapel. It was absolutely superb – it’s really hard to explain how wonderful the sound was. Brun has a recent album out, possibly re-released recently with a couple of…
-
Radio Sales
This evening’s Archive on 4 documentary was a terrific piece based around radio advertising in the UK through the ages. Presented by, the much missed Brian Hayes, it started with ads way before LBC and Capital Radio became the first legitimate UK commercial radio stations in 1973. Listen to it on the iPlayer, or catch…
-
Google Ad Preferences
So the big question: is Google’s new advertising initiative actually as bad as Phorm? Sir Tim Berners-Lee doesn’t like it, and neither do I. Do I really have to visit this site from every browser I use to opt out? That’s not something I appreciate. This site is also worth visiting. I understand how advertising…
-
Secondary Ticketing
What a foul expression “secondary ticketing” is. It’s the terminology used to refer to those sites that let the “fans” resell their tickets. Sites such as Seatwave and Viagogo allow you to buy and sell tickets safely and securely. They’ve grown out from the eBay ticket selling business. But are they really for the “fans”?…
-
David Mitchell on Digital Radio
Last Monday’s Just A Minute included a round on the subject of digital radio. David Mitchell isn’t a fan… Listen again to the whole show on the BBC iPlayer (by next Monday).