Sunday, 3 December 2006

David of ... wrote:

looks like the they are now on air. no it is not at test as it dose not

 say test on winamp. if you want to give it hear type this
 http://212.72.165.26:9146/<

It seems to be just 'another' web stream David, and since August according to their home page, nothing more.....no wet panties here ;o)

Andy

Of course the Victory was just an old tub that provided a platform for war. Why do people lovingly maintain it?

The Mary Rose was a huge failure. Why was it not just left at the bottom of the sea?

And why do people spend their weekend maintaining steam trains that long ago were junked as being uneconomic?

Why do people maintain A35 cars when a new Astra is far cheaper to maintain?

Why do people buy worm ridden antiques when they could just visit Ikea?

Why do people buy record cylinders and retain when they could just copy to CD and resell?

The point is that people just do. They have an interest in maintaining and restoring.

Personally, I also surround myself with antiques. Why? Because I like them. I understand the mentality.

It's very difficult for the casual user to get the right input level (and impedance match) and to control deviation. Hence the output from most devices will sound dreadful.

Quoting a previous Sterling Times contribution:-

The point is that people just do. They have an interest in maintaining
and restoring.

But aren't they supposed to be enthusiasts of a radio station? I mean, fair do, there are the guys that turn up at Maidstone on a regular basis to do their replicating of Radio Caroline from 30 years ago. And there are the listeners who sit-up proudly listening to those doing the replication.

But, my point is, what has this got to do with boats?
—
* Christopher England just said that *

Christopher England <...> said:

But aren't they supposed to be enthusiasts of a radio station? I mean,
fair do, there are the guys that turn up at Maidstone on a regular basis

to do their replicating of Radio Caroline from 30 years ago. And there
are the listeners who sit-up proudly listening to those doing the
replication.

But, my point is, what has this got to do with boats?

You are looking too deeply into this, Chris.

These people associate the ship and the radio station. For them, the two are inseparable. They contribute a little cash and a lot of manpower in the hope that they can pretend to be offshore radio DJs like Tony Blackburn.

For you and me, it's totally irrational. Surely, they talk about the great day when the Ross Revenge will resume broadcasting from the Knock Deep and command an audience of millions and converting the population to "loving awareness".

The great shame of this is that Radio Caroline from the Ross Revenge wasn't a very good radio station at all. It wasn't innovative, it was hardly news worthy, and the DTI left it alone for many years.

From: "Sterling Times" <2@slewis.biz>

Of course the Victory was just an old tub that provided a platform for
war. Why do people lovingly maintain it?

The Mary Rose was a huge failure. Why was it not just left at the bottom
of the sea?

And why do people spend their weekend maintaining steam trains that long
ago were junked as being uneconomic?

Why do people maintain A35 cars when a new Astra is far cheaper to
maintain?

Why do people buy worm ridden antiques when they could just visit Ikea?

Why do people buy record cylinders and retain when they could just copy
to CD and resell?

The point is that people just do. They have an interest in maintaining
and restoring.

Personally, I also surround myself with antiques. Why? Because I like
them. I understand the mentality.

I can understand the argument from both sides regarding the Ross, but as money is tight, I can't understand why money that could be used to make the radio station better is wasted on a ship that has no real use anymore. Is Radio Caroline a RADIO station or a SHIP PRESERVATION society?

From: "Sterling Times" <2@slewis.biz>

The great shame of this is that Radio Caroline from the Ross Revenge
wasn't a very good radio station at all. It wasn't innovative, it was
hardly news worthy, and the DTI left it alone for many years.

I disagree with this point.
In 1983 when Caroline came back just look at what was around at the time. Where I lived in Merseyside we had our local BBC station broadcasting to the over 90's, the local ILR's playing a mostly top 40 format with loads of chat and speech content programmes due to the needletime restrictions. We also had Radio 1 which I thought was a good station at the time, but again Top 40, with lots of speech from "personality" djs.Plus Luxy, another Top 40 station.Here on Merseyside we could pick up the Irish pirates, including Nova with it's "clutter free" top 40 format, which was great, and probably my favourite at the time.
But lets be honest, there is more to music than the top 40, as a 17 year old in 1983 I was looking for more than just the top 40. Caroline provided a very good alternative, less chat more music, non top 40, it was great. But then again we are dealing with musical tastes here, so it's opinions rather than facts, I'll accept that for you it may not have been very good. But for me it was great.

Quoting a previous Sterling Times contribution:-

The great shame of this is that Radio Caroline from the Ross Revenge
wasn't a very good radio station at all. It wasn't innovative, it was
hardly news worthy, and the DTI left it alone for many years.

But when was Radio Caroline actually innovative?

Maybe that short period when it was playing 'album music' in the 70s counts, 'cos nobody else was doing / had done such a format. I think there are many folk who were introduced to the 'new music' of the day and ran out to buy new albums that were totally unheard on the licensed networks.

Certainly in the 60s it just (badly) copied what all the others were doing. (Having said that, it seems the north ship actually got it right and was more worthy of being tagged as 'innovative'.)

For a few months or so when the station first switched on in the 80s from the Ross it seemed to offer the potential of 'exciting new radio', but I recall becoming very rapidly bored and disappointed by it (and the same bloody oldies it played over and over again) and ending up only listening for administrative purposes.

I think the fact that nobody was listening was why the DTI left it alone.
—
* Christopher England just said that *

Quoting a previous Steve Martin contribution:-

Here on Merseyside
we could pick up the Irish pirates, including Nova with it's "clutter
free" top 40 format, which was great, and probably my favourite at the
time.

<snip>

Caroline
provided a very good alternative, less chat more music

I still find it completely fascinating that we anoraks will collectively cite the non-stop music-ness of things like Nova and the offshore stations are being an integrated part of their appeal. Yet, with a second breath we'll moan about Borg stations citing the fact that they play non-stop music as one of their ills.

Are we all a tad confused?
—
* Christopher England just said that *

I notice, having scooted around a number of other places, that Anorak Nation remains the most oft-spoken of anorak website.

Now, sometimes it's when we exclusively break new news, but usually it's just bitching about us. This bitching is by the small-minded collective of nutters including Will (the 80s one) and John (jaybs), and those other guys who hide behind false names (I don't mean Paul Rusling), who will infest places like Chris Cary's board or David Parr's Caroline forum in order to take their pot-shots at people who dare to have opinions other than their own 'party lines'.

You certainly know you are doing something right when all these fish-wives can do is snipe at people who are free-thinkers and hold opinions or knowledge they can only ever dream of.

And when these fish-wives do actually bother to use these other places to talk on-topic about radio rather than sniping at free-thinkers?

Yep, that's right, they've nothing new to say unless it's to worship and adore a set number of the people who they willingly allow to convince them that black is white and white is black! (Those involved in IOMIB and the Ork-car-knee Superstation come to mind as examples.)

Pathetic, eh?

Now then, Anorak Nation has a brief to be a place of anoraking (these sad snipers should try to read the words in the 'About' it might help them). That's what we do. Also we treat the vanity broadcasters with the same contempt as we treat the Borg, or indeed, where appropriate and deserved, we give them the same reverence. But it has to be earned.

Meanwhile, all these fish-wives can do is stand at a safe distance bitching about Anorak Nation and its contributors (mainly me, I notice!). They sound exactly like the old Les Dawson fish-wife type fat lady who used to gossip over the garden fence all day about other people!

So, come on you old fish-wives, instead of ruining other boards poking your tongues out at Anorak Nation, why not come on over and try to actually join in with actual conversations about radio past and present rather than just jealously reading and whinging?

I think we all know why you won't be able to, and what your real mission is, don't we.
—
* Christopher England just said that *

From: "Christopher England" <...>

I still find it completely fascinating that we anoraks will collectively
cite the non-stop music-ness of things like Nova and the offshore
stations are being an integrated part of their appeal. Yet, with a
second breath we'll moan about Borg stations citing the fact that they
play non-stop music as one of their ills.

An interesting point that you make. Obviously I can only speak personally, but back in the late 70's and early 80's the main thing that I wanted from my radio was music. Those were the days when I would record the Top 40 on a Sunday, then skillfully edit out all the talkie bits. Stations like Nova were to some extent an extension of that, if you like, just like a tape, with very little chat and the odd block of commercials.
I think as I have got older I want more from my radio, and to a certain extent radio has got better over the years, by that I mean more choice of different genres. I just wish that would extend to the FM band, that is my only gripe I think, there isn't a wide range of choice on the FM band, where I live anyway. If you tune along the FM band you will hear regionals like Century, locals like City and Buzz, and the smaller stations like Dee all playing the same safe Top 40 format with the same djs and their stupid dj voices.
Getting back to your point about criticising the same things we championed 25 years ago, the only thing I can think of is the fact we are talking about completely different eras. Back in ye olde days we needed Nova and Laser to put a freshness back into a stale radio market. Today radio has to compete with music TV channels (and the remote control) also ipod/winamp in shuffle mode. It has to be different to survive. How? I haven't got a clue to be honest!

Are we all a tad confused?

Yes. Probably our age! It's probably the "It's not as good as when I were a lad" syndrome!

Why do you care so much about what they do? I
certainly don't.
--- Christopher England <...> wrote: Another old article revisited – The Rust
Revenge, why bother?

Different times isn't it? When radio consisted largely
of morons chit-chatting with occasional music non-stop
music Laser stylee was a refreshing change. Now radio
consists largely of non-stop music with only the
occasional moronic interjection some yearn for a bit
of variety. Personally I don't listen to music radio
any more – being interested in having choice and
access to unfamiliar sounds – so I don't much care.

--- Christopher England <...>
wrote:
I still find it completely fascinating that we anoraks
will collectively cite the non-stop music-ness of
things like Nova and the offshore stations are being
an integrated part of their appeal. Yet, with a second
breath we'll moan about Borg stations citing the fact
that they play non-stop music as one of their ills.

Nice tribute to Alan Freeman just played on Radio 1 at the very start of the Chart Show (4pm). It was mainly a montage of Alan and his catchphrases / style, plus a little bit of him talking about himself, and explained as being played at the start of the Chart Show because the modern day Chart Show grew from the original Pick of the Pops.

 From a quality anorak point of view, the examples they'd dug up had really low sampling rates – at times you could even hear 'aliasing' on the recordings. But a good and fair montage nevertheless.

—
* Christopher England just said that *

Quoting a previous Nicholas Mead contribution:-

Why do you care so much about what they do? I
certainly don't.

Personally I don't either, but here I am locked in the role of MC of this fair community, and offshore radio and its artefacts form much of the daily fascination of anoraks.

(I think I did something wrong in a previous life)

Having said that, I've never understood the fascination for looking after the tools of somebody else's trade rather than admiring their actual finished work.
—
* Christopher England just said that *

Quoting a previous Steve Martin contribution:-

Obviously I can only speak
personally, but back in the late 70's and early 80's the main thing that
I wanted from my radio was music.

I remember this was a time when the legal stations were suffering from needletime so would do anything humanly possible to stretch-out their tiny allocations to last the 24 hours of a day. Long discussions about lost budgies and how to organise an embassy ball (apologies to Tony Hancock) didn't sit easy with da yoof of the day, and there was nowt else apart from radio that could deliver music.

When today's kids want music, the radio is, of course, the last place they go to find it.

Those were the days when I would
record the Top 40 on a Sunday, then skillfully edit out all the talkie
bits.

Aha, you sound like Steve Conway! That was one of his 'jobs' on Caroline in the 80s. I'm sure he'll confirm that, and tell us about the old TV 'Chart Show' where they played 90 seconds of a single, and he had to then stretch these out to 3 minutes.

I think as I have got older I want more from my radio, and to a certain
extent radio has got better over the years, by that I mean more choice
of different genres.

As in genres of music or genres of radio content?

If you tune along the FM band you will hear
regionals like Century, locals like City and Buzz, and the smaller
stations like Dee all playing the same safe Top 40 format with the same
djs and their stupid dj voices.

Do you think this might be due to the near impossibility of RAJAR to properly measure anything that isn't pandering to this middle ground?

Oh, out of interest, are these stations 'different' in the evenings? That seems to be the way of the licensed stations in London, and how they 'get away' with all being the same by day.

Today radio has to compete with music TV channels (and the remote
control) also ipod/winamp in shuffle mode. It has to be different to
survive. How? I haven't got a clue to be honest!

I think it has to distance itself from non-stop music delivery. It hasn't got a skip button, and it has to play commercials so it can't compete with an iPod (other mp3 players are available – and most are far easier to use, cheaper, and far better quality to boot).

This is where formats like those of Radios 1 and 2 possibly win, and why audiences are increasing. Yes, they are still playing music, but the music has equal billing with the other content. That content is 'talk' and it's not available on the iPod.

So, maybe the 'difference' radio needs is to do anything the iPod can't do, and that points to 'talk'. Probably not just talk alone, but 'instantly accessible' talk. So, I'm wondering what the actual experience of listening to your all new City-Talk will be (assuming it has content other than sport!).

Down here in London village we have LBC, which has curiously distanced itself from the conventional (and arguably 'heavy') style of phone-in radio like you'll tend to hear dominating talkSport and 5 Live, and is sort of leaning toward the much lighter 'interactive talking club' of CB radio (of the 80s). Interestingly, this pisses off the older and more established LBC listeners (who are as bad as anoraks going on about "I remember the good ol' days of LBC") who arguably 'don't get it' and want the more conventional format back.

Sometimes I wonder if this new LBC format is as near to modern day (talking) pirate radio as a legal station dares to get. But certainly, it's not really something I can easily get via my mp3 player or, to that matter, TV. So, possibly, the future for radio really is all talking.

—
* Christopher England just said that *

Quoting a previous Nicholas Mead contribution:-

Personally I don't listen to music radio
any more – being interested in having choice and
access to unfamiliar sounds – so I don't much care.

"Unfamiliar sounds"?

—
* Christopher England just said that *

I still find it completely fascinating that we anoraks will collectively
cite the non-stop music-ness of things like Nova and the offshore
stations are being an integrated part of their appeal. Yet, with a
second breath we'll moan about Borg stations citing the fact that they
play non-stop music as one of their ills.

Are we all a tad confused?

--
* Christopher England just said that *

We may well be confused Christopher, but I as I have said several times before, despite the 'Borg' stations playing non-stop music of whatever type you may describe, I, along with many others it would seem on this forum, find something distincly lacking in their output. Personally, again I've said this before, for me I think it's variety, but I can't speak for the other contributors on here.Tight playlists – ugh! Perhaps it's the 'Borg' part that is the issue, we want some personal input as far as the music choice is concerned. You cited in another post the 70's Caroline album format as being innovotive and I agree, but it for me it was more than that. It gave me the chance to hear tracks from albums that I would never hear anywhere else. Financial constaints meant that I had to be choosy about the records I bought, so the opportunity to hear several tracks from a new album was very important, rather than just hearing the single or two that may come from it. 'Going back in time' I would relate to the Doors example – a listener requests something by the Doors – what do we hear – yes, of course it's going to be Light my fire – what else – well on the 70's Caroline it often was something else.I may, or may not have liked the track, but that didn't matter, at least it gave me the choice and opportunity to decide whether or not to buy that album.

Another point perhaps? I know adverts are pain as far as I'm concerned, but I recognise their need for commercial reasons – but hold on a minute! Have I hit on part of the reason? How about the station having a larger say in the 'sound' of the commercial, so it kind of fitted the station's output. Would this help? I feel it would certainly improve the overall 'sound' of the station. Perhaps that's why we may appear confused – can we quantify what we think is wrong? Anybody else have any ideas?
Regards – Tim

From: "Christopher England" <...>

I remember this was a time when the legal stations were suffering from
needletime so would do anything humanly possible to stretch-out their
tiny allocations to last the 24 hours of a day. Long discussions about
lost budgies and how to organise an embassy ball (apologies to Tony
Hancock) didn't sit easy with da yoof of the day, and there was nowt
else apart from radio that could deliver music.

Yes agreed.

When today's kids want music, the radio is, of course, the last place
they go to find it.

Yes my own are a fine example of that.

Those were the days when I would
record the Top 40 on a Sunday, then skillfully edit out all the talkie
bits.

As in genres of music or genres of radio content?

Sorry, I meant music genres, but I suppose I mean both.

Do you think this might be due to the near impossibility of RAJAR to
properly measure anything that isn't pandering to this middle ground?

Possibly, but also, the fact that PC's, mainly out of fear and commercial pressures will not experiment. They will tinker slightly after a bad RAJAR, but not much more. And I must say I cannot blame THEM too much when people's livlihoods are on the line. Perhaps the way the whole commercial sector is regulated may be worth looking at and changing. But don't ask me how, I fear I have far more questions than answers!

Oh, out of interest, are these stations 'different' in the evenings?

Not during the week, but certainly at weekends. Some go for the 80's Skooldaze type thingy, others club/dance music,

I think it has to distance itself from non-stop music delivery. It
hasn't got a skip button, and it has to play commercials so it can't
compete with an iPod (other mp3 players are available – and most are far
easier to use, cheaper, and far better quality to boot).

Yes it is a problem it has face head on and quickly. But equally this may be a good thing in the long run. As the decline starts to happen, the pie will get smaller and so their piece of the pie will decrease. Instead of all sounding the same they may have to experiment to survive, do something different and try and get a bigger piece of the pie. Who knows?

This is where formats like those of Radios 1 and 2 possibly win, and why
audiences are increasing. Yes, they are still playing music, but the
music has equal billing with the other content. That content is 'talk'
and it's not available on the iPod.

Yes both stations do this very well.

So, maybe the 'difference' radio needs is to do anything the iPod can't
do, and that points to 'talk'. Probably not just talk alone, but
'instantly accessible' talk. So, I'm wondering what the actual
experience of listening to your all new City-Talk will be (assuming it
has content other than sport!).

There are two options City Talk could take. It could try and turn the clock back and bring all those tired old names of the past who are well known radio celebs on Merseyside, the likes of Derek Hatton, Roger Phillips, Gerry Phillips, Pete Price, Richard Jardine etc etc, or it could try some new blood. I suspect it will go with the old personalities and play safe. I also think it will be heavily football orientated.

Sometimes I wonder if this new LBC format is as near to modern day
(talking) pirate radio as a legal station dares to get. But certainly,
it's not really something I can easily get via my mp3 player or, to that
matter, TV. So, possibly, the future for radio really is all talking.

Maybe the future of radio is the talk format, like the pirates I have been listening to over the past couple of weeks, discussing grass roots community issues.

Yeah. "Freebird" is a familiar sound. "Birds in the
sky", for example, isn't (to me anyway – and after all
I am the only one that counts when programming my
listening).
--- Christopher England <...>
wrote:
"Unfamiliar sounds"?

—
* Christopher England just said that *