I see from today’s Broadcast that ITV2 has commissioned “FM” a 6 x 30 minute sitcom about a “neurotic indie DJ” who works at Skin FM. The sitcom will apparently feature real bands and current tracks which is quite an interesting idea – if you think about it, with the exception of trails, sports montages and the radio left on in various pubs and cafés in the soaps, contermporary music is fairly missing from mainstream TV (OK – there’s been Glastonbury, T in the Park and Later…, but that’s still a limited amount).
Anyway, we’ll probably have to wait until next year to see the fruits of this labour, but I wonder if it can be as good as other sitcoms set in radio stations. There was Frasier of course which is fairly peerless as a sitcom. Then there was The Lenny Henry Show from 87/88 which was set in a pirate radio station somewhere in South London and also featured Gina McKee. I know there’s WKRP in Cincinatti which always seemed to be on late at night when I was younger, but I can’t say I really watched it (and from all accounts the DVDs are a shadow of the real show since nearly all the music has had to have been replaced for copyright reasons).
But I think Kit Curran, the self proclaimed “king of the airwaves” must be my favourite. Starring Denis “Wedge” Lawson, there were two series of it. Unless my memory is playing tricks on me (and much internet searching is unclear on the matter), the first series was broadcast on ITV, while the second series ended up on Channel 4. Anyway, given some of the rubbish that’s being released on DVD these days, it must surely get a release one day.