ILR’s first Blogger ?

ILR’s first Blogger ?

“There are stages in every disc jockey’s career when all he utters turns to dust, though he may not realise it at the time. He may get an inkling of this state of affairs when he is taken off his normal show and given the overnight job, or 6 to 8 on a Sunday morning. This happens more often to the chap who is on the staff. Contract men are just got rid of. At these times, keep your mouth shut in the office, stay bright on the air, check all local place names for their proper pronunciation, and start looking for another job. The reason you need to do all this may never become clear but one thing is plain. You can’t argue with it.”

Some good advice there, yet rather more pert and to the point than the more verbose ‘blogs’ that litter the internet from 2012’s ‘radio Gods’, and would-be ‘disciples’? And as you may note there is only mention of ‘he’. This was before we were blessed with likes of radio ‘stars’ such as Fearne Cotton and Vanessa; or the gaggle of female side-kicks on just about every 'ILR' breakfast show in Great Britain.

Further clues about when this ‘blog’ was composed can be gleaned from this:

“You will pass your programme controller in the corridor and , seeking a word of confidence in your ability, say “All right?” “Great” he will say. But little do you know that he is at that moment on his way to see the managing director and that the managing director will have taken great dire offence at the way you said. “Goodmorning” or pronounced a local place name. It will then be the programme controller’s stern duty to pass these weighty matters on to you as if you had broken all ten commandments simultaneously.”

Of course in 2012 most dj’s would be unlikely to pass the programme controller ‘in the corridor’ as the majority of surviving dj's (it’s a dying breed) are 50 to 350 miles away from the group’s programme controller. The dj is more likely to get a short email when 'he' goes into work to voice-track another week of shows?

 “Pop radio isn’t old enough yet to have solved the eventual mystery of where old disc jockeys go to....  With the imminent expansion of ILR there will be a bit more job security and choice of location for a few years anyway. Perhaps a few will go into the lower echelons of management but as training in ILR is in a rudimentary state it seems unlikely that such opportunities as arise will go to disc jockeys. It’s a pity that the industry seems to hold them in such contempt, especially when they are its bread and butter.”

And of course there WAS ‘more job security’ in the 1980s, and part of the 1990s. But in 2012 much of the industry DOES still treat dj's with 'contempt'. It expects them to be bright, sharp and topical within a 'programme straight jacket', and a 'variety' of the same 30 songs. All this carefully marketed- researched- moulded for a target audience of under 30 year olds for whom 'X Factor' is the 'cultural' highlight of the week.

By now you’ve worked out that the 'revived' words of 'wireless wisdom’ go right back to the 1970s, the days of ILR’s innocence, long before the intrusion of consultants and financial advisers caused it to lose the ‘L’, and now the 'I'. And I also had to cheat here, and remove a large clue at the  “....” which (amusingly) said..

‘apart from Radio Hallam’.

Yes, these gems were selected from a longer article in a radio magazine going back to 1978 or 1979 (it was so long ago I only have a photocopy now). They underline that ‘blogging’ is nothing new. At the time this precise crisp article was ‘manna from radio heaven’ to us humble, early ILR dj’s, who, for a while, only ever booked a one week holiday in case the ‘swing’ presenter (this was before the days of ‘sitting-in’) was better than us!

I thought it would be good to post this on the last real radio workday before Christmas, after yet another often unhappy year in the creatively dehydrating British radio industry, now limited to the programming philosophies of just a few individuals, steered by the ‘research’ and ‘focus groups’, hidden inside over-large impersonal groups. An industry ironically littered with too many pseudo glossy award shows... for less and less staff.

One good thing; it’s re-assuring to know that the author of the words of wisdom is still with us, the venerable Gillian Reynolds. Her ‘radio pedigree’ goes all the way back to being a manager at Liverpool’s Radio City in the 1970s. 

Maybe some of those large groups would be wise to take Gillian on as a consultant?

I will certainly share more of her article soon, as the British radio industry seems to have forgotten much of what made it successful originally, and as we all know, any culture that loses touch with its roots.....

Things were not perfect in ILR in the 1970s, but I can guarantee it was more fun than it was in the 1990s, and I would recommend any potential broadcaster with individuality and creativity NOT to venture near it; go straight to the BBC... or an internet station.

Personally I’m having the ‘best time of my life’ right now, unpaid, on an internet station where a few crusty old ILR ‘individuals’ have grouped together on an internet radio service that is PURE radio ~ just music and personalities, no ads or corporate marketing, or research... and at the same time I am ALWAYS on holiday !

‘Radio Like It Used To Be’.

Len Groat

(The 1960’s Cafe ~ Monday to Friday on SolidGoldGem.am )

What makes Radio people 'Delighted' ?

Happiness Is.....

Spending the weekend

...trying to forget this week's

RAJAR figures for your station?

Ofcom again relax the rules



Ofcom again relax the rules about where

 a UK networked station can broadcast from...

Richard Horsman's "IR: Why We Need a New Map"

RichardHorsman.com: IR: Why We Need a New Map

A very good thoughtful piece.

My thoughts:

"four decades of tinkering"

A great way to sum up all the financially motivated, selfish, merging of local radio stations into quasi-national stations!

It started in the 90s with the regulators being pressurised more and more by bigger and bigger groups, and giving in. Now they 'punish' small community stations for what are minor indiscretions, but allow the 'suits' to broadcast 'local' services from 100s of miles away.  Their excuse is that to maintain the service they need to cut back financially, and sell ads nationally BUT in the 70s ILR was successfully launched and had high ratings during a serious fanancial depression and strikes ! It also only had ‘50% needletime’ imagine the syndicated stations having to do 50% speech now!

Worst of all, services that used to aim at 15-54 year olds are allowed to narrow-cast to under 29s, with a mindless diet of insubstantial pop, and short, poor local news services. One was recently told "there were just enough stories that would be of relevance and interest to listeners in the ********** & ***** area to satisfy the station’s format requirement to provide local news"

The ONLY solution is to take radio from Ofcom, and set-up a new regulatory body for LOCAL commercial radio. Then, stop narrow-casting by demographic, and strip-down the 'giant sized' groups by 50%, allocating those areas to CREDIBLY run companies not rooted in their income, but their community. THAT would offer the choice and variety of style that is sorely lacking now.

'The heritage and the evolution gets in the way'

And therein lies the answer, unless we look back at what WAS achieved, and then destroyed, and LEARN from it, there can be no more 'evolution'.

One of the many perks

One of the many perks of voice-tracking

on a quasi-national radio station...

Mike Nostalgia's radio station knows its priorities...

Mike Nostalgia's station knows its priorities

Women in Radio ?

A new Blog prompted by a report of a 'Women in Radio' scheme (founded by Maria Williams) of mentors and 'mentees', run with the BBC Academy, plus an allied Blog on Blogger by Richard Richard Horseman.

RichardHorsman.com: Journalism Training: New Model Needed

The justification for the scheme is made in comments by the 'training agency Skillset'*. This is a:

"mentoring scheme following research by training agency Skillset, which shows that women in radio are less likely to make it to the top of the profession*"

And "while women working in radio are better qualified than men (73% of women have degrees, compared to 60% men) they are paid, on average, £2,200 less each year"

The founder of 'Sound Women', Maria Williams states, “Sound Women is all about unlocking the potential of women in radio."

I have to comment about the 'Sound Women' that I find it elitist and biased to suggest that a Degree in ANY way makes someone more able to work in (or run) radio. To start with they are ignoring 'gut feeling', and 'native talent'. The statement is presumption used to justify a rather narrow-cast 'mentor/ mentee' scheme that is clearly costing a lot of BBC funds and time.

The fact women have more degrees than men cannot be used to justify that they would be any better than men, or should paid the same, as their career progression is not just controlled by ability.

The KEY point here is that radio is a CAREER and the women running this scheme have IGNORED the fact that 'mother nature' dictates that most women have to have several 'career breaks' to start a family (their choice).

How CAN these women 'keep up' with their male counterparts as regards top jobs?

I can think of MANY good UK radio managers/ broadcasters who do NOT have a degree: top of the list would be Orion's David Lloyd one of THE most respected people in our broadcasting industry, who has worked in every style of radio from LBC, BBC to many ILR stations.

The Women in Radio scheme is biased, and at a time even 'award winning' journalists are being sacked/ laid-off, or leaving commercial and BBC radio, WHY give untrained ones false hope, and train yet more!?

Len Groat

** I am NOT biased against women in radio I employed/trained/worked with, far more on my stations in the 80s and 90s than many other ILR managers, including Jenni Costello, Erica Hughes, Sarah Pennells, Anne-Marie Minhall, Penny Ballard, Jane Hall, Krissi Carpenter and others.

Van Gogh or Rihanna ?

Van Gogh... or Rihanna ?

A short reply to a Blog by Dick Stone turned into an epic, so it's only fair to post it here.

You can read the preceding debate here :

THE DICK STONE BLOG: Past is past...

Hi Dickie

I read your posts carefully again, as they are intense; I did not want to be out of focus in this response.

YOU "It remains the case, just as it did "yesterday" that the level of importance and interest in things local is greater with older listeners than younger ones".

I think where we differ here is whether radio got less 'local' because people stopped listening to it or because it was cut back by new owners over the last 15 years to increase profits? Did the new, younger listeners since the mid-90s dictate the change, or was it controlled by the radio groups? I recall Trent Nottingham having a 34% reach in 1994; I thought it never went any higher, it was just the profits that went up? So the 'changes' were not listener-led.

Most of the syndicated groups now actually state in their promise of performance with OfCom that they are programmed primarily for under 30s. This change had nothing to do with the station's locality, it was dictated by demands of the advertising industry. My point about commercial radio 'putting up its hands' and saying 'we give in', relates directly to this. Faced with taking on Radio 2 for middle or older age listeners it opted out, even though this is the largest most affluent 'slice' of the population. It is cheaper to broadcast a mainly music 'pop' service from a central location than one with locally-based producers making local documentaries (except for Sony Awards) covering community or social issues (such as the Careline did in the East Midlands for many years).

The long list of examples you and another contributor posted of all the technical changes over the last few decades only prove there have been a lot of technical changes.

Regardless of HOW they hear it, RADIO is STILL about a broadcaster, a listener, and communication using words and music.

If the words are local, produced in the area, it will clearly hit home more than a dj in London reading scripts, a news bulletin padded-out with football manager's comments and national stories, or an interview in London with a pop star.

I believe, Radio should be ART.

My version of 'change': Vincent Van Gogh painted masterpieces in the last 10 years of his life that you could only have seen if you caught a boat and trains to France or Holland. Nowadays you can travel to a gallery with his works in a few hours, or in 1 second, browse them on Google. The fact there has been much change in HOW you might view his Art does not change its achievement, does not mean it has to BE changed? Van Gogh invented the Art 'wheel' 150 years ago; in the same way radio was pretty damn good in Britain as far back as the 1980s, and certainly better than much of the US radio it emulated. People hark back to it because it WAS good; if it had been 'bad' we'd not be having this debate?

Your post: "I do get annoyed when we try and reinvent the wheel when it really isn't required, and perhaps we should spend the time and energy working on what we will do with the wheel now we have it."

It was the newer radio groups who 'took the wheels off' local radio, confining it to a mainly London-based service, it is they who need to create some new local 'wheels' if they are to not fade away.... If they just peddle a narrow diet of music and showbiz news, these are far easier and quicker to get from YouTube, or all the big internet providers. Young people know they don't need to sit around waiting 42 minutes for the next time a syndicated station will play Rihanna ~ it's available every second of the day.

The only 'usp' local commercial radio had was it being LOCAL; Radio 1 and Radio 2 (with no ads and 'much more' of 'Today's Hit music' or a 'Bigger Music Mix') could even be badly programmed and STILL win in the ratings. Much of commercial radio has already 'thrown the baby out with the bath water'; it's the syndicated stations that will be forced to CHANGE in due course.

THE DICK STONE BLOG: Past is past...

In Praise of Songs

In Praise of Songs

If you are under 30 you probably do not recall that songs once were heard on EVERY radio station, but sadly, not now. Let me explain, I’m writing about radio station songs, or more precisely long jingles that sang the praises of the station!

A long long time ago, in a land far away (America) there was a ‘Hometown’ song*1 made by PAMS jingles of Dallas designed to celebrate the station’s location “Houston, that’s my home town”. Despite programmers initially saying they would not play it as it was ‘too long’, it proved so popular it was even issued on 45, (that’s vinyl, err disc, err not compact, plastic) sold 4000 copies in the first week and eventually dozens of stations bought the song, had it customized for their ‘hometown’, and sponsors paid for ‘pressing’ the discs in return for the name on the label !

Slightly less of a long time ago (1964) in a nearer land, Britain, when it and radio were both ‘great’, the ‘Hometown’ jingle had a London version recorded for the pirate ‘Big L 266’. That station also had one minute jingle that proclaimed it was ‘Wonderful’ in its best known ‘SonoWaltz’*2. This moody rhythmic instrumental was not actually sung over, but had the ethereal electronic voice ‘Sonovox’ *3 singing ‘Wun Der Ful Ray De Oo Lun Dun”.

Here I have to double interject. To achieve my (musical) mission I am adding some asterisked numbers so those under 30 know what on earth I’m raising my voice about, and can HEAR examples, just see the asterisked footnotes links. Now if you are confused, or lost attention and are playing with your new iPad, best stop here.

So, the station song was born in Britain in the 1960s, and should theoretically be celebrating one of its 50s birthday soon? Well not exactly, because although at one stage you could not avoid them, they are now an endangered species. This is strange as when I asked on Facebook and Twitter which ones people remembered, they did not only name songs from the 70s and 80s, they recalled the WHOLE lyric in their posts! Depending on your age and location, you may recall….

“You can turn on a friend, turn on the show” (Capital Radio London)

“Driving down the A1, on a weekend trip to Whitley Bay” (Metro Radio)

“The buzzer on the clock says it’s time to get up” (BBC Radio 2)

“And if you live in Rotherham, or on the River Don” (Radio Hallam)

“The quiet places, Newstead Abbey, the Vale of Belvoir, Newark Castle” (Radio Trent)

“Across the Downs to where the new cars are in gear” (Chiltern Radio)

 “Fly on the wings of progress to Hull, Birthplace of Amy Johnson” (Viking Radio Hull)

“We've got it all, from Oswestry to Hodnet Hall'” (BBC Radio Shropshire)

“Pour a coffee and we’ll spice it with a smile” (GEM-AM Great East Midlands)

“In Northumberland, Cleveland, Tyneside and…” (Great North Radio)

“Writing history, Merlin’s Wizzardry and Surfer’s having fun …” (Pirate FM) *4

.. and endless others , some of which even escaped me, such as:

“Radio Blackburn, the Lancashire sound on the air, And we'll take care to bring you the news and all of the views, of all of the people, of all of the people like you, on Radio Blackburn, Radio Blackburn, Radio Blackburn..”

Colin, a jingle collector of 38 years standing explained, “Custom songs were useful in opening and closing stations in the pre 24 hour days but are probably now viewed as something which gets in the way of the music or meaningful speech (sic) When ILR first began, most stations had a song. One of the worst was the BRMB song which extolled the virtues of BRMB being ‘the safe way to spend your day.”

I’d certainly nominate the 1974 BRMB song as THE worst ever, as it had lyrics that sounded like a public service advert and did not actually NAME the radio station.

So, in Britain both the BBC, locally and nationally, and ILR (Independent Local Radio - an ironic name now as 95% of it is NOT Independent OR even local!) both embraced the station song, in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

But suddenly…. the industry was ‘all out of love’ with the song, and d.i.v.o.r.c.e. swiftly followed, as radio programmers held on to their jobs by employing freelance consultants who dictated that stations either dropped ANY sung jingles, “it saves $$”, or, if they had them they were short instrumental ‘themes’ with ‘sonic logos’ and the only lyric was ONE phrase with the station name always at the end. I called these ‘Blingles’ in a recent blog.. .

The jingle lyric/ phrase most of these unimaginative stations use is ‘created’ by arranging some of these words in any order

‘Bigger’ ‘Today’s’ ‘Best’ ‘Hit’ ‘the’ ‘of’ and ‘Mix’….

So………. the radio station song is DEAD !

NO! Wait!

There is one, newish, ‘over the borders, up Scotland way’ on ‘Fife’s Kingdom FM” ! *5

So that’s it, the stations with big ratings, consultants, and 16-20 hours a day coming from London do not NEED to use station songs now. They are too dangerous to your output, get in the way, blah bla, cost too much, are old fashioned and would NEVER pull the ‘under 40s' commercial radio seek?

“YES”

Well, actually..

NO

Because one of the two highest-rated radio programmes in Great Britain has its own song!

“But surely they can’t play it very often, or except after midnight and it can’t be very long?”

No, it’s over 2 minutes long, it’s played every weekday at 7am, and even though the consultants and commercial radio people think there is no place for a song’ in today’s’ radio, it’s on a station none of them can equal ratings-wise, it’s the ‘Cheesy Song’*6 on the Radio 1 Chris Moyles show.

“But surely that song is a joke even down to its title ‘Cheesy song”?

Well no, they only call it that as it gives the deejay (who was 'weaned' on Radio 1 in the days of JAM jingles and still plays old ones) a chance to use a station song. HE at least appreciates it can garner a loyal listener following, be fun, (earn some great PRS income) get him talked about by having an endless variety of lyrics to reflect the week or events, and get the programme mentioned in Blogs by ‘radio pensioners’ like me.

Of course I could be wrong; one 40 year old friend with 20 years of radio experience asked "Why play a station song that sings about playing music, when you could actually be playing a record that you're promising to play?!”

I guess, because the songs rarely ever DID song about music, they sang about places in the radio station area, to tie the station to the local listeners, or, nationally told their listeners they were a ‘happy’ station, or were ‘company’.

I’d also quote a listener comment on YouTube about the ‘Cheesy song’;

 “when i was goin on to the air port last wednesday i herd this song and i thought wtf? and i ended up singin it all day”

And the ‘Cheesy song’ owes rather a lot to the LONGEST station song ever recorded, for ‘New York 97, WYNY’*7 by JAM jingles*8 of Dallas, Texas.

BBC local radio has been sent off to a jingle-less land, and just uses ‘voice indents’ now all made in .. London. But then again the BBC thinks their more senior local audience prefer all-speech breakfast shows featuring medical problems at 8.12am, even though they listened in their millions to the 'solid gold stations' in the 1990s.

But Radio 1 and Radio 2 could easily have a ‘write a new station song for us’ competition? I’m sure would have 1000s rushing to their ‘home studio’ on their computer.

And ILR could simply dig out those old songs from the GREAT days of radio. Oh, hang ON! NO. Trent can’t, it’s changed it name; BRMB can’t, Chiltern can’t, Piccadilly, Beacon..

So, here’s a challenge, is there ANYONE in commercial radio who is BRAVE enough, believes IN local radio enough, to create a NEW station song in 2012? Maybe use some ‘real’ instruments rather than the drum-synth sound they’ve all been buying for the last 10 years, because some jingle companies don’t know how to actually WRITE music?

If it ‘works’ for Chris Moyles, it could work for you. And please don’t tell me you can’t afford it, this old pensioner ‘radio man’, has just bought his OWN song*9, for my weekly show*10 on a local, internet station.

Well I’ve got to ‘keep up with the Moyles’s’ !

Len Groat

(Sincere thanks to the following for thoughts, ideas and audio! Norman Barrington, Simon Harrisson, Andrew Hewkin, Andy Lloyd, Chris Moyles, Richard Murdoch, Dave Nightingale, Colin Ridley, Christian Spooner, Andy Walters, Paul Woodley, JAM Creative Productions, PAMS Jingles, TM Jingles,  and anonymous others )

*1 http://smallproblem.com/my_hometown/ (hear Duluth, Louisville, Winston-Salem !!)

*2 http://youtu.be/hqjrIhMwU8U

*3 http://youtu.be/kH-krlgo2e8 AND http://youtu.be/nwbGm-39Z4w

*4 http://youtu.be/usLIUCrtllQ

*5 http://youtu.be/WD278NaycG8

*6. http://youtu.be/cAQ5KNuyE1E

*7 http://snd.sc/zZHezB

*8 Radio ‘guru’ John Myer’s recently voted JAM’s ‘Breakthrough’ package the BEST ever made

*9 http://youtu.be/XEsf43-yiqw 

*10 http://www.trentsound.com/ which also has a 1985 Trent song re-sung!

Radio Royalty to ‘save' BBC Local?

Radio Royalty to ‘save' BBC Local ?

At the end of the day that saw the John Myers report on the future and funding of BBC local radio, I saw on Twitter that John was to appear the next morning, 28 February, on the BBC station in ‘my’ old radio stamping ground of 20 years, Nottingham! I was working on my computer and had also just seen a copy of an old Radio Trent Christmas card, featuring a ‘cartoon’ of the djs. They were all 30 years younger as the card was from 1981-1982. Looking at a group of just 4 of us from the cartoon*, I realised that our lives (careers) had all gone in different directions.... but it also gave me an IDEA…. So, here I am. burning the midnight oil, to type this, with only a 'voice-tracked' radio station to listen to...

On a national basis Dale had of course (as we all expected then) ‘gone’ the farthest, he had ‘star quality’ and it was only a matter of time before he left radio to join television. Of course on local radio, you are a ‘big fish in a small pond' so I must explain that the blonde is Tony Lyman, who worked in Nottingham constantly from 1978, and later in Leicester and Derby, as he was a mainstay on Radio Trent, GEM-AM, and then Saga Radio and its ‘highwayman’ Smooth. So he has known the region (and the listeners have known him) for thirty four years! Slightly ironically, it was John Myers ‘at the helm’ of Smooth when Tony lost his show (because of syndication) after 30 years on-air in the region…

Even better known is the bearded man, the ‘father of Nottingham Radio’, John Peters. No one has been heard more on Nottingham airwaves in the last 37 years... He ‘opened’ Trent on its first day in 1975, did breakfast for longer than anyone, then did GEM breakfast for much if its (sadly) short life. It reached 24% of the Nottingham listeners before being melted into the ‘Gold’ mould where it shrivelled back to a 3% reach (thanks GWR/Capital) before the name was finally lost. John was STILL the voice of Nottingham (Great East Midlands) breakfast in this century; firstly on Saga, then Smooth. If you’ve never heard of him, I would label John as ‘the Terry Wogan of Nottingham’.

Now the fourth one in the picture is me, but I was at best a ‘shooting star’, two years at Metro, a slightly lack-lustre time at Piccadilly (it and me ), then from ’77 great fun at 'Trent Towers'. But even as early as 1982 I was receding into the background. I knew radio careers are delicately balanced and with great presenters around like Dale, Tony and John, I found management, music (and making the jingles) more satisfying and I have to say ‘secure’. By today’s terminology, I would be labelled a ‘suit’, but I never acted like one… I promise!

Why have I recorded all this nostalgia (even history) now? Because my ‘radio senses’ kicked in after a good glass of Portuguese Alentajo Vinho Tinto this evening.

Those Nottingham listeners who in the 70s and 80s had followed Tony, John, Dale and myself, and given us a 30%+ reach each week, were then 15-24s, or 25-35s.

Hey! That means they are NOW 45-54s, or 55-65s…

Now… let me think, which radio station targets those groups NOW?

Of course, BBC Local Radio!

So does this mean that those Trent /GEM listeners:

♦who loved ‘music radio’

♦who wrote in profusion

♦who knew all the dj names

♦who could sing all our jingles

♦who left cakes on reception (in Nottingham not London)

♦who listened fervently DESPITE awful double-glazing/tyre ads

♦who came to gigs every week

♦who formed crowds outside when Cliff, Diana Dors or Gene Pitney came in...

Have got 'old';  no longer want radio with ‘fun’, lively jingles, a ‘heritage factor’ ? Do they REALLY prefer a NEWS-led, journalistically driven station as all BBC locals persist with? Are 45-65s REALLY so different now to when they listened to ‘our’ style of radio in their youth?

I think .. NOT.

So, if the BBC is brave enough to do it, one more idea in addition to the very sound ones outlined by John Myers…

Bring–in ‘radio royalty’ from YOUR area to DO the main shows*

ILR made them what they are, but YOU get the benefit..!

We know how many GOOD ILR presenters were suddenly without a job as Heart, Smooth, Real, Capital etc merged closed machinated ‘local radio’ into a computer controlled ‘radio mousse’ digitally squeezed from London.

The biggest ‘weapon’ BBC local has to fight back is:

♦ to mix its (often) good editorial skills** with a new music based mix featuring a team of presenters of the SAME GENERATION as its target audience. In Nottingham, they could have John Peters, Tony Lyman and others (but Dale’s busy!)

And in every part of the country, there are still the ‘djs you grew up with”, who fell under the ‘scythe of syndicated radio’***. They could invigorate the limp rag that is (sometimes) BBC Local radio, with its misguided, under-performing, over-journalistic principles.

T o save offending anyone, I know that Tony Lyman already works on other BBC services (but not Nottingham), and Paul Robey, (both a presenter and later manager at Trent/GEM) is already on Radio Nottingham.

Let’s get the presenters WHO made radio… who made radio LOCAL… who got those huge reaches back in the 70s and 80s.... BACK on what is left of local radio. The only outlet now** is BBC Local radio ~ but if the Beeb, 'bite the ILR bullet’ and take on these ‘names’ who are STILL remembered by those 45-65s, I predict, your stations will indeed regain the ratings you seek, and NEED to justify not being severely cut-back financially.

Why am I writing all this? I was after all always an ‘ILR man’, and I never felt the BBC licence fee system was fair or worked.

Easy. If BBC locals take this very strong, high, ‘heritage’ ground, mix 'heritage' LOCAL personalities, with good music and local speech programming, they will gradually undermine the ‘quasi national syndicated’ services that live in the carcass of what was ‘Independent Local Radio’. And maybe, we will eventually see the initials ILR, meaning just that once again; so wherever you are in Britain, your station is from YOUR city. So, “Best of Luck” to the BBC !

Len Groat (definitely retired****)

* To save hurt egos, retain friendships, the card featured too many to elaborate on: Colin Bower, Steve Merike, Viv Evans and someone called David Lloyd !

** Apologies to the (hard-working) BBC presenters currently on these shows but if it's a choice between station first, or presenter first - journalist or personality radio ~ the station/personality MUST win.

*** A STRONG word here for the enthusiasts on Community / Internet stations, doing a great job, and often secure in ‘real’ work as well as having fun being local on the radio. With the ‘journalism gene’ swept away from BBC local,  from their ranks may come the next generation of BBC local presenters.

UPDATE: 12 January 2015 : **** Except weekdays 10am to 1 pm on www.solidgoldgem.am 

Jingles ... OR Blingles ?

Jingles OR Blingles ?

As a devotee, collector, connoisseur ‘jingle anorak’, and more, I think it’s a crucial time (for the sake of UK radio) to look back and write a serious review of what has happened to sung radio station identification in the last 10 years. Yes, JINGLES ! That word may tempt you to stop reading this as ‘jingle’ is a ‘dirty word’ in many radio circles in 2012 but I hope you thought, “ooohhh BLINGLES, what ARE they?”, and read on…

I believe radio stations now under-sell themselves as they are using what I call ‘blingles’ rather than the Jingles that worked so well for radio for 50 years from the 1950s.

Why have things changed? Because the newest generation of ‘adults’ live in a ‘low attention-span’ world where they endlessly seek something new, a new device, fad or fashion, and ‘throw out’ what already works and is perfectly ‘sound’.

Basically people under 30 are the demographic most of the large, quasi-national radio stations in the UK favour , pander to, and so the ‘true adults’ between 30 and 65 are left to seek ‘their radio’ from the BBC nationals, the few (still individual) commercial stations, on-line stations, or if even older, the sombre BBC locals where every day is, ‘hey let’s remember a Golden Year, and see who died in it !”

The quasi-national radio stations have reduced their programming to ‘lowest common denominator music’ and at the same time have reduced their identification to ‘lowest common denominator jingles’.

It all started when some radio groups  took over dozens of local stations in the early 90s and introduced more ‘economical programming’. This meant less staff (except in the sales department) less ‘free speech’ (replaced with scripted ‘liner cards’), less music variety (research became ‘God’), and NO sung jingles (it SAVED £££). For over 10 years the only actual STATION idents were ‘voiced’ drop-ins by a ‘station voice’. All this had the affect of killing any true ‘fun’ or creativity by the presenters… and by the time sung jingles returned, the station staff had forgotten (or had never learned) WHAT made a good jingle.

This, and the "Smashy and Nicey syndrome" triggered the ‘death’ (some might call it ‘putting down’) of ‘Won-der-ful Ra-di-o 1’ in 1998, and its replacement with so-called ‘credible’ Radio 1. Out went ‘happy’ deejays, with quality voices, music people actually KNEW, and at the same time they played their last ‘Dallas’ jingle.

Of course it was not just the jingles that were swept away in a wave of ‘radio political correctness’ .A new style dj appeared on radio, more the ‘yoof or yob next door’ than the ‘star’ on the Top of the Pops stage. Some even introduced female breakfast show presenters, whose ratings soon proved that this was NOT something the audience (male or female) appreciated.

The ‘Dallas jingles’ produced originally by PAMS, TM and others, and later by PAMS ‘immaculately conceived love child’ JAM, had been the ‘bread and butter’ sound of UK Pirate Radio in the 1960,s the BBC 'pop' services from 1967 to 1997, and then on ILR from 1988 for 15 years.

It’s time we looked at WHY we need to have TWO words where one previously sufficed. If you check through the criteria below I think you will agree that Jingles and Blingles are very different animals?

Blingles

♦A ‘Blingle package’ typically has only about 8 cuts

♦Have vocals where you can hear each of the singers, and a maximum of 2 or 3 singers

♦Many have only female singers, 2, ‘stacked’ but not in unison

♦Mainly synthetic, ‘drum’ led tracks ~ think “Kylie Minogue meets Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Rod Stewart’s Faces”

♦A track designed to be digitally edited to make many versions from 2 to 40 seconds long

♦No ‘transition cuts’

♦A ‘sonic logo’* for the station name which is also played on a synthesised instrument at the start of the jingle

♦Lyrics: station name ALWAYS at the end, only ONE  ‘strapline’, no local place names

♦The end notes of station name are sung in a very HIGH register

♦Only one ‘strapline’ for example, ‘Love Life, Love music’

♦Instrumental ‘sonic logos’ for weather, sport, travel and news cuts

♦Over an instrumental section the singers do a ‘woo ohho ho yeah’ type sequence (This is in place of any alternate lyrics, and there are no ‘fun elements’)

♦Both the track and vocals have a lot of eecchhooo, and the end has echo and reverb..

( I make NO apology for not naming the main ‘Blingle companies’ as you can HEAR plenty of examples on-line and in any case last year one in North America had a post of mine about their product removed from a discussion website… sensitive!! )

* ‘Sonic logo’ a (trendy) confusing phrase created by new Blingle companies to replace ‘logo melody’. It was defined by one man as the equivalent of the Alka Seltzer ‘plink plink fizz’. Each syllable is exaggerated so (for example) the new ‘Ab so lute Ra di o’ sonic logo = “plink fizz plink fizz plink fizz”.

Jingles

♦A ‘Jingle package’ typically has 15-30 cuts

♦Have ‘group vocals’ to form a ‘block sound’ where no one singer stands out, and may also have some solo sections

♦Most have 5 singers for a contemporary sound, 7 for a ‘classier style’

♦Mainly ‘real’ instrumentation

♦Tracks designed to be used at that length, though pad or donut versions can be created by mixes without the front or centre lyrics, and the end may form a shorter mix

♦Tracks with ‘fast to slow’, or ‘slow to fast’, ‘transition cuts’ to bind programme elements together, seamlessly

♦A ‘melody logo’ for the station name

♦Lyrics: station name sung in various places; several phrases/ or ‘straplines’, local place names often included

♦Vocal jingles for weather, sport, travel and news

♦No instrumental section where the singers do a ‘woo ohho ho yeah’ type sequence

♦Have some ‘fun element’, in the lyrics, or by using sound fx or other creative methods

♦Have very little noticeable echo

I make NO apology for not naming the main ‘Jingle companies’; if you do not know them you should not have read this far !

There are some ‘mutations’, for example the Chris Moyles ‘cheesy song’, which instrumentally is a jingle but has Blingle vocals, and nowadays some Dallas-based companies have made packages with ‘Jingle vocals’ over ‘Blingle tracks’ ..

For the last 10 years or so many British radio stations have moved to ‘Blingles’, and the people at the radio stations have forgotten HOW to commission proper ‘jingle packages’.

The UK ‘jingle industry’ itself is also partly to blame, as it seems NO ONE is brave enough to be original and CREATIVE, musically or lyrically…

CONCLUSIONS

We should RETURN to ‘jingles’; your listeners deserve a better quality product, and, most importantly, you need to make your station stand-out from the ‘blingle wilderness’ that predominates in Britain.

WHY sound EXACTLY the same as all the others you think you are better than?

WHY do jingles work better than Blingles? Just “LISTEN” to and complete these:

“It’s Smoo--oth Sail-ing with the ….”

“Music hour by hour, too much, on your tower, it’s great, of po-wer…”

“We’re fishing at Grimsby, so why not take your time and…”

“Wake up to Wogan, on ….”

“In Ilkeston and the Vale of Belvoir…”

“From the Tamar’s bridges down to Land’s End…

“Britain’s Favourite ….”

“Across the Chiltern Hills, all you need to know…

Cheesey ? Maybe.

Memorable ? YES!

F U N ? YESSS !!!!

If you can complete any 2 of those ~ the jingles worked THEN, and NOW!..

Did they work ? YOU tell me!

If you want to HEAR some jingles......

.....check out my 'In Praise of Songs' blog from March 2012!

Len Groat

(Between 1980 and 1994 Len lyriced and co-produced more custom jingle packages than any other programmer in UK radio. Radio ‘guru’ David Lloyd noted on a DVD celebrating 35 years of Radio Trent that Len had spent £250,000 on jingles.)

The TRUTH .... about today's sad Radio industry..

The TRUTH ....

about today's sad Radio industry..

... in ONE picture! 

(Courtesy Mike Askins Oklahoma USA)

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