End of year recommendations

Happy new year to you all, I hope your enjoyment of radio goes from strength to strength.

Here are just a few recommendations in case you’re at a loose end over the next day or two.

Erin McKeown has a new album out and it is terrific. It was crowd-funded and well worth the eight-month wait. She deals with some important isues of the day, but even apart from that, the songs just sound good.
NPR – First Listen – Erin McKeown – Manifestra

As mentioned previouly, Mike Harding has a new weekly Folk Music programme, now on the internet. Last night at 5pm, 27,000 of us logged into The Mike Harding Show – and promptly crashed the server! Apparently, it’s all fixed now, and his Podcast #1 is avaialble for your enjoyment, an hour of good music uninterrupted by news, weather, sport, traffic and trails.

On a totally different note, the Today programme on Radio 4 a couple of days ago included a fascinating discussion between presenters John Humphrys and Ed Stourton with guest editor Dame Ann Leslie about their religious beliefs and experience. It will be on the iPlayer until 5/1/2013. Skip to 42 minutes.

And on a lighter note, Danny Baker with Baylen Leonard presented a show of songs from Broadway and beyond. It was a fun listen, a one-off show on Radio 2 but, who knows, maybe there’ll be another show when the next holiday season encourages the regualr presenters to take a break 😉
Danny Baker on Radio 2 available until 4/1/2013.

New year’s resolutions are all the rage. Well, mine generally tend to be variations on “be more tidy” and “be more organised”. My “list of things to do” is quite long, so if it’s shorter by the end of the year, that’ll be a bonus. And I must try harder not to squeeze everything in. There really isn’t time to read all the newspaper articles I want to, there isn’t time to read all the books I want to, there isn’t time to listen to all the radio, watch all the TV and films I want to. So my resolution is to (at least try) not to feel guilty about the things that go by the wayside. Good luck to you with any changes to your lifestyle and besst wishes for 2013.

The latest news

I’ll be going through the listings soon to plan my Christmas-time radio listening. I do know that Tour de France and Olympic Time Trial Champion (not to mention Sports Personality of 2012) Bradley Wiggins will be on 6 Music with Paul Weller.

Danny Baker is the new Elaine Paige. Yes, together with Baylen Leonard, the Candyman will be playing music from the shows on Radio 2, sometime over Christmas.

Mike Harding’s final show on Radio 2 will be broadcast on December 26. But then, just a few days later, he’ll be producing a weekly one-hour long podcast online – there’s not much information as I write, but I anticipate this will be very similar to his RAdio 2 show: music, chats and gig lists. But no trails. And no news. Might as well bookmark the site.

And finally for now, it was announced today that in the new year, Jon Holmes will be presenting the Breakfast Show on Xfm.

Here’s the full story.

That’s it for now: I thought I’d drop in and see how the old blog’s holding up, I’ve been away for a while.

 

Happy 90th Birthday, BBC.

Well, yes, let’s celebrate the BBC, the good bits, the radio, the entertainment, the information and the education. Never mind the recent shambles, Savile, Newsnight, pin-headed weasels that pass for middle management, DG’s working for a couple of months for a full year’s pay.

BBC Radio 4 Extra have put together 90 short programmes, funnily enough. just 90 seconds each,all memorable moments.

90 by 90. they will be broadcast but thank goodnes the iPlayer is working its butt off to bring us all this fascinating stuff.

I’m sure there will be plenty of memorable moments that won’t appear in this series: I would love to hear Andrew Sachs’s play, The Revenge, one more time, for example. I heard it at the London Hospital when it was first broadcast. No, I wasn’t ill, I was visiting my then girlfriend and wife-to-be, Sarah, who was training there. If I remember correctly, there was no dialogue, the story was told using sound effects only.

And I would love to hear my Mum singing along to Housewife’s Choice again.

At 17:33 GMT, every BBC radio station in the universe will be broadcasting a very special programme simultaneously. No getting away from it. The three-minute transmission will be based on recorded messages from listeners around the world on the theme of the future. Each of an estimated 60 BBC radio stations will choose one message and many of them will then be mixed together and set to a musical score specially composed by Damon Albarn, the Blur frontman. I suspect this is one to keep for the grandchildren and whoever else is around in another 90 years’ time.

Radio Reunited – a global simulcast.

Also tonight, the results of our donations will begin to come to light. Yes, all those old tapes and cassettes that the great British public found in the loft and down the back of the sofa and then taken to the BBC in a kind of ‘amnesty’ have been processed by a team of audio experts and the results will be aired in a series starting tonight, BBC Radio 2, 10pm.

The Listeners’ Archive.

In other news: Danny Baker was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame last night. I was hoping the Radio Academy might put up a recording of the speeches, but until they do, there’s this, which isn’t top quality, skip to 7m30 for Peter Kay, who presented the award to the Candyman.

(Later: ) Here is a better quality version on YouTube.

Save the Treehouse – continued

Danny Baker’s BBC London show axed, shock, horror (part 2).

Well, who knew this 2 hours of radio would be so… interesting … to the rest of the world. Yes, world. For a while on Twitter, apparently, ‘Danny Baker’ was trending worldwide. Along with ‘Christmas.Blimus.

But the news made it to Radio 4’s PM programme two days running, catch the shows here:
Thursday 1st November from about 55min10sec.
Friday 2nd November from about 43min00sec.

The latter is a very short extract from David Robey’s appearance on Vanessa Feltz’s morning show on BBC London. The whole half hour segment can be heard here:
Vaness Feltz on BBC London from about 2hr26min00sec.

David Robey is the Managing Editor of BBC London 94.9. After all these years, he still has the knack of talking down to the listeners but not listening to what they’re actually saying. And he seems proud of the fact that he doesn’t talk to Danny Baker himself, he speaks to Danny’s agent.

And on the Today programme, the lads had a jolly good laugh at the goings-on. Not sure Justin Webb entirely understood what was happening, to be honest.
The Today programme from about 2hr24min00sec.

As ever, these programmes are available on the iPlayer for 7 days after broadcast.

Here’s a fascinating discussion on DigitalSpy.

Not convinced by this Independent article which takes the story in a different direction.

Daily Record.

How NPR reported the furore, some say contretemps, some say brouhaha.

I’ll miss the afternoon show, that’s for sure. But he was back on air this morning as usual, BBC Radio 5 Live.

Save The Treehouse!

Just when you think the BBC would want all the good publicity it can garner (in view of the Jimmy Savile mess)…

And remember Mark Thompson’s famous initiative, “Delivering Quality First”?

Well, guess what the BBC has gone and done now.

As Danny Baker tweeted this morning:

So. Just been told the BBC London Show – the Treehouse – is to be shut down after all. Saves BBC money apparently. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrYJMkr_I8s

You don’t need to watch that YouTube video, of course, it’s the Zane Lowe TV Promo for his BBC Radio 1 show. One bugbear is that while the BBC claim to be saving money, they’ll waste millions of pounds on tails and promos such as this.

If only GLR had been given some publicity, back in the day. If only BBC 6 Music had been given a decent marketing budget. Then maybe beither would have been threatened with closure, due to audiences being too small.

Anyway, back to Danny Baker. he broadcasts on BBC London 94.9, Monday to Friday, 3pm-5pm. No idea what the audience figures are, but it is without doubt one of the most creative shows on radio at the moment. And, I’m sure, one of the cheapest. I don’t think they’ll be saving much money. But I’m not an accountant, I don’t run the BBC.

Following on from the Candyman’s initial tweet, the following ones appeared:

Danny Baker: Also. I am being “inducted” into The Radio Hall Of Fame next week. Big honour. BBC salutes by cutting five sixths of my shows. #IronyNotLost

Yes, next week, the Radio Festival takes place in Salford, and one of the highlights will be the induction of Danny Baker into the Hall of Fame. So of course it makes sense to axe the show this week. It remnds me of a few years ago when Jonathan Coleman won a Gold Sony Award for the Heart FM Breakfast show – and he was sacked the following week.

Danny Baker: BBC asked me not to say anything just yet about axing best show on British Radio. Why? Because it’s embarrassing? Because they’ll look bad?

Yes: once again, BBC’s management look bad. Why, it was only a short while ago I was writing in a similar vein about Mike Harding.

Ross Noble: How can the BBC axe our greatest radio talent @prodnose show.after recent events they should be celebrating what they do well.

Stephen Fry: Next week @prodnose is inducted into Radio Academy Hall of fame. Not surprising, he’s the best. Today the BBC are axing his show. Dickwits.

Gideon Coe: There are quite a few wonderful things on the radio and several of them are presented by, or indeed influenced by, @prodnose

Yes, I know: Danny Baker’s not everyone’s cup of tea. There’ll be people out there dancing around their living rooms at the news. But my theory is, if you don’t likea radio (or TV) show, then just don’t listen. There’s plenty to choose from. Too much, in my opinion. But it’s a sad day when one of my personal favourites disappears.

So, obviously, as I write this, I’m listening to what may be the last programme. the first record: Radio Ga Ga.

Irving Welsh: @stephenfry @prodnose Outrageous. They have their heads up their arses. Next thing they’ll be harbouring necrophiliacs. #vivadannyb

Rob Brydon: Glad that BBC are axing @prodnose Danny Baker’s daily radio show. I’ve had it up to here with his wit, warmth and originality.

Apparently Amy and Baylen are paid £50 for each show. As Danny said: the BBC probably paid Jimmy Savile more in 6 months than his radio partners have earned in the last ten years.

Keith Waterhouse: @prodnose: there is an old English expression to sum up the ludicrous #EndOfTreehouse… the expression.. Oh yes.. It’s Bollocks!..

Well, I’m sure there’ll be another Campaign to Save Something from the Mindless Morons that pass for Managers at the BBC, so keep an eye on the internet.

But most importantly, listen to and enjoy the show while you can.

Read this in the Telegraph.

This is what the BBC itself says.

This is from The Guardian.

GLR – Where are they now?

It’s a well-known fact that GLR was probably the best radio station that there has ever been. Ever. It went off the air in March 2000 but its memory lingers on. Here’s a quick update on some of the old GLR presenters: where are they now? Most of the updates come from Twitter.

David Hepworth has announced this week that the music magaize The Word will publish its final edition next month. It’s been going for nine years, and I feel slightly guilty that I haven’t bought every edition nor subscribed to it. But then, I haven’t been buying or subscribing to other music magazines either. There’s just too much other stuff going on, I haven’t got the time. It’s one of those magazines that I really enjoy when I do dig into it. Crikey, it takes all week for me to get through Saturday’s Guardian newspaper.

Danny Baker usually broadcasts on BBC London 94.9 on weekday afternoons and on 5 Live on Saturday mornings. But he’s taking a couple of months off as he is working with Jim Henson’s company writing the scripts for their new project, “No Strings Attached“. And we mustn’t forget, his long-awaited autobiography will be published… eventually.

Gary Crowley has been sitting in on BBC London for the last couple of weeks and continues to present his Saturday 1970s/1980s show there.

Jeremy Nicholas continues to speak after dinner and to present some funny items for the BBC East Midland local news. His main job is to be the stadium announcer for West Ham. But just last night, he was the announcer at a Twenty20 cricket match at Trent Bridge. His book “Mr Moon Has Left the Building” is a fantastic read, very funny, even for a non-football fan such as me.

Emma Freud is currently working on the latest Richard Curtis movie “About Time” which I have traveled into the future to watch, and I can highly recommend it. She is also a regular contributo to Radio 4’s Loose Ends, and her recent interview with Simon Le Bon was fantastic, very funny and one that I, unusually, listenedto a second time. And I’m not even that big a Duran Duran fan.

Not to be outdone, Gideon Coe recently reported that he is to be the DJ at his son’s school’s Summer fair. Oh, OK, he still presents a great show on 6 Music at 9pm Monday to Thursday.

Sony Radio Academy Awards 2012: Winners and nominees in full – Media News – Digital Spy

I can do no better than point you to the full runners and riders from last night’s Sony Awards. I tied watching online, but it was decided that a sound-only stream would be provided, such is the nature of radio.

Sony Radio Academy Awards 2012: Winners and nominees in full – Digital Spy.

I blogged when the nominations were announced on March 30th. So how did my preferences get on? All I can say is: this is why I stay out of betting shops.

Very surprised and disappointed that Kiss Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin and Charlie won the Breakfast Show of the Year (10 million plus). Partly becaus it has no appeal to me and partly because: does it really attract over 10 million listeners?

Best Music Programme went to Fearne Cotton on Radio 1. I’ve not heard the show and have chosen not to because, whenever she’s on TV, at Glastonbury, say, she tends to over-use the word ‘amazing’ – to the point ehere nothing is amazing. It’s like having a boss whose every job is ‘urgent’. In the end, none of them can be, you just do what you can.

Adam and Joe won silver for Best Entertainment Programme. Hooray!

Chris Evans, Lauren Laverne and Christian O’Connell won gold, silver and bronze respectively for Music Radio Personality of the Year. Can’t really argue with that.

Jools Holland is Music Broadcaster of the Year. This is one show that keeps me entertained whjile at work, well, for an hour a week, anyway.

Danny Baker won Speech Radio Personality of the Year for his 5 Live show. And as I write, I’m listening to him on BBC London where he is berating the folks there for not being in raptures at his success, and for not putting this show forward. He just played an old GLR jingle by way of making some kind of point.

Best Comedy went to Mark Steel’s In Town on Radio 4. I do like Mark Steel but so far, I’ve managed to miss this particular show. I’m sure I’ll catch up with it on Radio 4 Extra.

A Tale of Two Cities got the bronze for Best Drama. When I first mentioned it, I hadn’t heard it. I’ve since heard one episode, and regret to say, I didn’t get on with it.

And UK Station of the Year is BBC Radio 6 Music which is terrific news. And to think a couple of years ago, it was under the threat of being closed down due to some misguided management at the BBC.

It was good to hear Tom Robinson accept the award for Best Use Of Multiplatform or Social Media for Now Playing @ 6 Music. This is a great little programme that invites listeners to take part and help build the playlist. It’s one of those programmes that you’ll love one week and turn off the next. But as I always say, it’s good to hear the unexpected, even if you don’t like it.

Danny Baker

Danny Baker broadcasts on BBC London 94.9 every weekday afternoon from 3 to 5pm. I listen to the show most days and i have been known to participate once in a while.

There is also a Danny Baker Show on BBC Radio 5 Live every Saturday morning. I don’t usually listen to this one because in its early days, there was too much football for my taste. Plus, there’s only so much Candyman magic anyone can take.

A while ago, Dan suggested he might be sitting in for Chris Evans on the RAdio 2 Breakfast show for a couple of weeks in April. Well, we now know this was either a hoax, or wishful thinking, maybe a genuine mistake or possibly a fishing expedition.

Instead of Danny Baker on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, while Chris Evans was away watching a game of golf, we had that Richard Madeley off TV. I wouldn’t have been able to listen anyway, most days, but I know at least one person who had to turn off the radio and play a CD on the drive to work instead.

One of my pet peeves (if you’re interested) is that Radio 2’s bosses think that you can take a ‘celeb’ off the TV and think they’ll be good on the radio. A few are, but by and large, they just can’t do it. The sense of intimacy that we like radio for is just not there with some people.

But back to Danny Baker. His radio career started with GLR back in 1988. Banging on the desk in the studio (until the producer, one Chris Evans told him to stop), he declared himself the new sheriff in town. Before that, he was a TV presenter. Not only famous for the Daz adverts, he reported for, amongst others, Janet Street Porter and with  Michael Aspel on the Six O’Clock Show in the London LWT region.

From GLR, he moved to Radio 1, Talk Radio (with his friend Danny Kelly), to Virgin Radio (with one Chris Evans) and then back to GLR’s replacement, BBC London. He returned there despite having been told by one radio controller that he’d never work for the BBC again. He returned to present the breakfast show; his co-presenters greeting him each day with ‘Good morning, Candyman’. This greeting is the preferred option with co-hosts and with listeners, even now his daily show is on in the afternoons.

A few years ago he became DJ of the Year at the Sony Awards – at a time when he was not allowed to play records during his show. The irony of this accolade, and the not so subtle message to BBC London management still raises a smile.

The show would be nothing without the listeners who, given the most obscure and unlikely subject matter, come up with some very funny and/or fascinating stories. He can now play music and comes up with some great stuff. Currently, at the slightest excuse, he will play some (or all) of Bernie Winters’ flop 1972 single It’s Bernie. This theme is likely to become the modern equivalent of one of his worst ideas ever: The Cats v Dogs Superbowl. Believe me, if you don’t know already, you don’t want or need to know its details.

Yeah, I know Danny Baker isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I think he suffers a bit from the hanging out with Chris Evans and Paul Gascoigne a few years ago. All I would say to anyone is, give him another listen.

Danny Baker on BBC London 94.9

Danny Baker on BBC 5 Live

Danny Baker on Wikipedia

By the way, he’s currently writing his autobiography, so that’s something to look out for as Christmas approaches.

Sounds of the 60s

Happy International Women’s Day – to everyone.

On BBC London 94.9 this afternoon, Danny Baker is wearing high heeled shoes to mark the occasion.

But I remember about 20 years ago on GLR when Johnnie Walker became Jenny Walker to acknowledge International Women’s Day. All the records he played were by women and it is one of those shows I wish I’d recorded for posterity.

All of which, of course, has absolutely nothing to do with Sounds of the 60s which is the main topic for today.

This is another one of those shows that I try to listen to each week, but usually end up hearing later in the week. It’s presented by Brian Matthew, and has been for over 20 years now, although the show itself has been running since 1983. The format has evolved over the years but I do like hearing songs from the 1960s, probably for the first time. Equally, it’s nice to hear some old favourites for the first time in many years.

Lately, Brian has also been playing old BBC sesions, whether from his old 1960s show Saturday Club (which I would listen to whenever I could get away with it) or from later in the ’60s, bands like Pink Floyd on John Peel’s Top Gear programme.

So, that’s Sounds of the 60s on Radio 2, and pretty much every show on BBC 6 Music playing John Peel sessions.

Something that I don’t think will ever stop surprising me is just how much 1960s music is being released now on CD: so many compilations.

And, not only that: I was too young in  the ’60s to buy new records, and I feel I ought to make up for lost time, and buy some… But then, with a programme like this on every week, I probably have my fill of 1960s pop music.

Playlists for every show are available at the BBC Sounds of the 60s site.

BBC local radio

Later in the afternoon, I started listening to Danny Baker on BBC London 94.9. The Candyman’s studio companion today was David Kuo. He’s a financial expert in real life, but in this show he’s allowed to read and abuse listeners’ emails. No matter what the subject matter under discussion, the main entertainment is Dr Kuo’s misread electronic communications.

Other members of the ‘Candy crew’ are Amy Lamé and Baylen Leonard who appear twice a week each. This listeners’ stories are the point of the show, and Danny Baker plays some great music too, come familiar, some not so much. But very rarely do I have to switch off in disgust!

This programme was under threat last year. Well, the whole of the BBC local radio network was under threat when BBC management wanted to slash its budget. But listeners are very loyal to their own local radio stations, they can be a focal point for the community. Following a public outcry and a backlash, the BBC Trust have (so far) told the management to hold their horses.