Radio Moments - Clips

Each week, the fine Radio Academy podcast features interviews and content from the world of radio at http://www.radioacademy.org/podcasts/.

The Academy podcast concludes with a slice of audio memories from the radio week in history, as they invite me to assemble a weekly compendium of my daily #radiomoments tweets @davidlloydradio, with audio and narrative.

Here's just that #radiomoments weekly review on its own, for the week ending 5th Sept 2014, without the sensible interviews and discussion.

This audio is now also heard at the end of the excellent weekly @radiotoday podcast http://audioboo.fm/channel/radiotoday

Traces of the Roger Scott vocal influence are to be found in so many of the presenters on the most successful of the first generation of UK commercial radio stations. Slightly American, almost self-compressed, a marginally extended s, and utterly slick.

Roger, influenced by DJs in American markets, where commercial radio was so much more mature, lent his own vocal style and slickness to those who followed in Britain's nascent pop radio industry. Roger began at WPTR in New York in 1966. Like John Peel, his accent alone elevated him to 'friend of the Beatles'. During a spell in Montreal at 1470 CFOX, he witnessed the Lennon/ Ono 'bed-in' for peace.

On returning to the UK, Roger aimed for the new Capital Radio, with time at the influential United Biscuits Network (UBN) proving an excellent grounding, alongside a brief detour at a young BBC Radio One as 'Bob Baker'. On the new Capital Radio in London, his drive-time shows became hugely popular. Roger left Capital in June 1988, returning to Radio One. He died in 1989 at just 46.

Enjoy this insightful documentary, introduced by Alan Freeman and produced by Johnny Beerling, in which he tells of all the above, his happy days and his frustrations. From his name changes to storming out over Cat Stevens. The programme was broadcast on 4th November 1989, five days after his death. (Part One of Two, thanks to Ian Whitten for this)

I hope one day this will be a fond piece of #radiomoments history. It is the ends of three ads from the same ad break today.

Under UK laws and restrictions, ads are currently required to carry all manner of disclaimers. The idea is that they protect consumers. They truly do not. Anyone who understands how radio, and indeed the consumption of much media, works knows well that listeners reap only a few takeaways from each ad. The people whose job it is to produce ads know that all too well. Any detailed caveats therefore are utterly pointless and lost.

No-one can buy anything instantly by shouting at the radio, there is ample time for due consideration of deals and small print. The point of advertisement is not the place. It achieves less than nothing, and the time must be right for a sensible view of the sort of regulations which drive these requirements. They ill-serve consumers. Even 'Ts and Cs apply' is a pointless phrase: a) what is the opposite? Absolutely no terms and conditions apply to this offer? And b) Many listeners may not even understand what a T or a C is.

I rant more here: http://davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/can-i-have-p-please-bob.html

This truly was what we now call native advertising. Ovaltine rides rough-shod over Ofcom rules on transparency, given the product being advertised is only made clear some considerable way in this lengthy ad which sounds like a proper drama. And – at the end – today’s RACC would likely take a sharp intake of breath as they hear the claim that “perfect health” is “the inevitable result” of “regular Ovaltine”. Thankfully, neither body was around to stamp its feet as this ad was first aired on 18th December 1938.

These sorts of ads were very much part of programming on the early commercial stations across Europe. Stations like Normandie and Luxembourg sold off chunks of their output to the likes of Ovaltine, Quaker Oats and Cadbury. The brands then went on to embed their brand merrily within the output by creating entire programme strands; and ads as long as they liked. Food for thought for today's programmers wrestling with the new brand integration freedoms.

Each week, the fine Radio Academy podcast features interviews and content from the world of radio at http://www.radioacademy.org/podcasts/.

The Academy podcast concludes with a slice of audio memories from the radio week in history, as they invite me to assemble a weekly compendium of my daily #radiomoments tweets @davidlloydradio, with audio and narrative.

Here's just that #radiomoments weekly review on its own, for the week ending 29th August 2014, without the sensible interviews and discussion.

This audio is now also heard at the end of the excellent weekly @radiotoday podcast http://audioboo.fm/channel/radiotoday

Each week, the fine Radio Academy podcast features interviews and content from the world of radio at http://www.radioacademy.org/podcasts/.

The Academy podcast concludes with a slice of audio memories from the radio week in history, as they invite me to assemble a weekly compendium of my daily #radiomoments tweets @davidlloydradio, with audio and narrative.

Here's just that #radiomoments weekly review on its own, for the week ending 22nd August 2014, without the sensible interviews and discussion.

This audio is now also heard at the end of the excellent weekly @radiotoday podcast http://audioboo.fm/channel/radiotoday

Walk into any old antique shop and you'll see the huge old radio sets. Some will have dusty tuning dials marked with places, like Luxemboug, Moscow, Paris, Warsaw and little old Droitwich in Worcestershire.

The Droitwich masts tower into the sky to this day, visible from the M5, and seen at night too, thanks to the glow of the aircraft warning lights. The aerials beam out Radio 4 on Long Wave, and 5 Live, Talksport and Absolute on Medium Wave.

At its time, the transmitters at Droitwich were some of the most powerful in the World. Their history is almost a history of broadcasting itself, from the early days of regional and national radio, through strategic wartime use to the Home and Light Programmes, right through to present day BBC and commercial services.

The Long Wave transmitter was first switched on on September the 6th 1934. Although engineer, John Phillips, was not to join the Corporation for another nine years, his knowledge of those early days is flawless, as he proved to me when I spoke to him at Droitwich Heritage Centre, surrounded by his artefacts in the exhbition to commemorate 80 years of the masts: 'Droitwich Calling'.