Sunday, 13 April 2008
I've just been listening to a discussion on t'wireless about Friday's Rickmobbing of Liverpool Street Station in London. They were desperate to make sense of it all. I was laughing into my late night bowl of Coco-pops at them going on about not getting it, or assuming it's all some viral publicity campaign for the re-release of the record. It isn't! It's a thousand people all having a laugh and enjoying themselves.
Ok, just to fill you in if you're a virgin to this whole thing. Firstly, there was 'Flash mobbing'. This is where random collections of people who don't know each other all descend on a particular place but are mingling in the crowd. At a precise given time, they all start performing a specific action. The 'action' might be to all start mooing or pretending they are goats, or whatever. At another precise time they stop, and immediately dissolve back into the crowd.
There's now also this Rickrolling phenomena that won't go away. It was at first the art of giving people spurious links on t'internet that would always end up at a video of Rick Astley singing 'Never Gonna Give You Up' rather than the 'hot pictures of Johnnie Walker nude' or whatever had been the promise. This has also mutated into a protest song, typically sung outside the Church of Scientology's indoctrination and recruiting centres which are now regularly 'Rickrolled'.
So, you get 'Flashmobbing' and 'Rickrolling' and you put them together and you have 'Rickmobbing'.
Yep, random people getting together in a given place and at a given time all suddenly starting to sing 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. That's what Liverpool Street station got treated to on Friday.
And the media just doesn't get it. Commentators are discussing the psychology of it, or trying to. They're writing about it. Debating it. Dissecting it. But, in the end they just don't get it. In their world everything has to make sense, and this just doesn't.
Well, good, I say. This is something that can't be picked apart and analysed by late night 'experts' nor should it be. It is something fun that should be encouraged, enjoyed and joined in with. And that's all it is.
Ok, Never Gonna Give You Up will be number one in a couple of weeks, and commentators will say this Rickmobbing was all a plot by those involved in remixing / re-releasing the song to engineer that. But they'll be wrong. Rick will be there because of the power of the people to make it so. Not because they love the song, far from it. It'll be because it was fun to make it so. A laugh. And, the song was re-mixed / re-released because of the rickrolling and rickmobbing and not t'other way round. Power to the people, man!
Blimey, we so need a radio station in tune with this. When was the last time a radio station managed to get a mob to Liverpool Street station?
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* Christopher England just said that *
Quoting a previous plus8 plus8 contribution:-
And the media just doesn't get it.Au contraire Christophe, some of the media get it . Remember the Beeb
did 'Flashmob the Opera' ( BBC 4?) a couple of years ago .
BBC 3 – Ah, yes, I stand slightly corrected, >some< of the meeja get it, but that's the art luvvies having a greater access to TV than to radio, maybe.
Also, radio no longer has a sense of humour or sense of adventure, and spends most of the time taking itself so seriously when in reality radio should be fun and adventurous and at the forefront of 'stuff'.
When was the last time radio was irreverent totally pointless yet laugh out loud fun?
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* Christopher England just said that *
When was the last time radio was irreverent totally pointless yet laugh
out loud fun?
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* Christopher England just said that *
When Marconi's balls first sparked.
The Guff
I don't suppose anybody here is still following the Man in the Morning's blog http://breakfastdj.blogspot.com/ are they?
Now, this surely must be building up to being published properly. It needs a bit of subbing but there's more than enough words there for it to be a huge book and a monster read already! Yet, every day out spurts yet another episode.
With Global now owning almost everything, ultimately we will have quasi-national (or regional) networks where once we had individual self-contained radio stations. (Remember when ITV1 was a collection of regional TV stations?) This means that in truth we will slowly start to have less radio in the UK. The only people that'll be welcomed onto this tier of networked radio will be people with TV careers, already in the public eye. The radio man (or woman) won't exist except in a few of the old folk who are still on the air, and have only ever done radio. Once they're all dead, there'll be no new radio-only stars.
Anyway, the Man in the Morning's daily blog is charting the slow death of a bland radio station as it slips away down the route I've just discussed. Brilliant read. I wanna start a Zak de Luxe fan club.
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* Christopher England just said that *
Ridiculous! The operator has been put on a tag and a curfew which are supposed to keep violent thugs off the streets just for playing music. details here:
http://forum.breakbeat.co.uk/tm.aspx?m=1970317085
—
Steve Leyland
http://mar.exilenet.org:9042/listen.pls
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
article 19.
Quoting a previous Steve Leyland contribution:-
Ridiculous! The operator has been put on a tag and a curfew which are
supposed to keep violent thugs off the streets just for playing music.
details here:
Ok, I'm all for this level of treatment if 'Frequency Radio 88.1' was jamming or interfering with other stations, like a load of them are in London, but as far as I know technically they were completely clean.
Having said that rider, I'd agree 100% with the shock reaction to this. (No pun intended with the use of the word 'Shock') How can it be right that playing music on the radio attracts far harsher penalties than for going out mugging and hurting people? It's disgusting.
As radio slowly dies on its arse by becoming a networked, pre-tested, auditorium-friendly outlet for safe and boring wallpaper, there really needs to be a way that 'free radio' is allowed to operate on platforms that can actually talk to the masses. Ah, freely talking to the masses. That'll be the problem then. We can't have actual communication, can we? People might realise what's really going on.
Anyway, no pressure, but why not click on this a sign the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/radiofrequency/ (Ignore the cheeky bit where the ipetitions organisation tries to get you to donate to 'em!)
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* Christopher England just said that *
Just had a nose around t'other places, and I notice my name is coming up a lot on the Garry Stevens message board. Brilliant. It's when they're not talking about you that you need to worry! I see me ol' mate Peter Moore had to mention me a number of times, and Will the gardener is doing his bit of trying to reveal my real name, etc., etc. Same old same old. I'm used to them crossing the line and getting personal about me.
Of course, the real victim of their collective bullying is Neil Gates. Cor blimey, do they get quite cruel about the fellow or what? It doesn't rest. There's poems about him, there's constant gripes and slagging, rude words, the lot. It just doesn't seem to stop, which is a real shame, because the Garry Stevens board promised so much when it first started. It had a good philosophy, seemed to fill a niche market, and looked like it was going places. It's all very disappointing.
So why is the Garry Stevens board yet another board to degenerate into being a place to just openly bully others? Is that all that old geezas can do? They never seem to know the difference between constructive criticism and cruel bullying.
Neil has put himself forward as the founder of a new offshore radio project. So, if you think he's not got a chance in hell, or his figures are wrong, then for goodness sake just deconstruct them by debate and discussion, don't just get rude and personal about the guy and writing poems about him!
It's sad to see Garry Stevens appear to accept and sanction all this. Come on Garry, tell them to stop it, before you're just another radio board that bites the dust 'cos it scares away the more timid ordinary radio fan posters!
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* Christopher England just said that *
Christopher England <...> said:
I don't suppose anybody here is still following the Man in the Morning's
blog http://breakfastdj.blogspot.com/ are they?
Yes, I am. Worked out who it is, yet ?
—
Charlie
Quoting a previous Charlie Davy contribution:-
I don't suppose anybody here is still following the Man in the Morning's
blog http://breakfastdj.blogspot.com/ are they?
Yes, I am. Worked out who it is, yet ?
I have (well, to be honest, I was told), but was a bit disappointed, even though I don't know them personally. I was hoping it would be a single notable individual, as in, erm, how can I put this, a lot more of a household name. (I have a feeling I'm going to regret putting it like that) :)
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* Christopher England just said that *
It's a common practice in a certain outside broadcast truck to spend down time playing on a Wii. Well, I mean, what else are the large hi-def monitors and surround sound for?
Anyway, bored with some Lara Croft thing, a discussion ensued about a recent Gavin and Stacey episode. So, it was decided to watch it again via the BBC's wonderful iPlayer. Well, blow me down, using the Wii the BBC's iplayer service is really extremely good quality. And that's with a temporary 2 Meg internet connection for the truck.
So, is this the future? I mean, you've got Sky +, right, and it works by you having to remember in advance that you want to 'record' something, so you set up your Sky + box to store it. In other words, if you forgot to set it up, you've lost it.
In contrast, the iPlayer holds for 7 days all the programmes that have been broadcast. So, no having to pre-plan the 'recording'. You just go there and play the programme you missed, no problem. And now it's even in reasonably high quality on a big telly via yer games console. No need for Sky + for any BBC programmes ever again.
So, is this the way ahead? And will Sky counter this by bringing out a box that automatically records everything and holds it for an entire week?
Also, I wonder what the rules are with regard to having to have a TV Licence.
I was an anorak of Sky + when it first came out, but I suspect the iPlayer is just the beginning of a real revolution to the way we consume TV programmes.
(Just remember I said that, and a couple of years from now come back and say what a wonderful sooth-sayer I am!)
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* Christopher England just said that *
Christopher England <...> said:
I have (well, to be honest, I was told), but was a bit disappointed,
even though I don't know them personally. I was hoping it would be a
single notable individual, as in, erm, how can I put this, a lot more of
a household name. (I have a feeling I'm going to regret putting it like
that) :)
I suppose it depends upon how much of a radio geek you are, innit.
PS: The next person to e-mail me to ask who it is will be "lucky caller 13".
—
Charlie
Ahoy Hoy
Christopher England <...> said:
Quoting a previous plus8 plus8 contribution:-
BBC 3 – Ah, yes, I stand slightly corrected, >some< of the meeja get it,
but that's the art luvvies having a greater access to TV than to radio,
maybe.
It's the Beeb that call the shots on that one,being in a very privileged position of the recipient of the entertainment tax. As far as I know, no commercial radio operation has a drama department for example. Capital had in seventies, but it was shut down. So commercial radio concentrates on cheap and cheerfull chewing gum for the brainless. My mind takes me back to Radio 4's dramatisation of Len Deighton's play 'Bomber' – set in real time, it took you through the flight of a Lancaster bomber raid on Germany ,very graphic and gripping, you had to stay with it throughout the day to get whole picture. The borg would never take that risk.
Also, radio no longer has a sense of humour or sense of adventure, and
spends most of the time taking itself so seriously when in reality radio
should be fun and adventurous and at the forefront of 'stuff'.
Again the Beeb takes comedy shows e.g Alan Partridge, Little Britain ,Down the Line etc. and then punts it on to telly. For the reasons I refer the Honourable Gentleman to my previous answer. Mainstream music radio sucks, it's dull, boring and pointless- I prefer my Ipod, I choose the chunes without some dickhead trying to entertain me. We are so far up our backsides trying not to offend anyone, we have lost our greatest quality , the ability to dish it out and take it back with good grace.
When was the last time radio was irreverent totally pointless yet laugh
out loud fun?
You got me on that one. All I can think of is Kenny Everett or Wolfman Jack. Both dead of course. Then again, Tommy Boyd.(who is not deceased I think)
P.S. Drum & Bass is a criminal offence.
Quoting a previous plus8 plus8 contribution:-
but that's the art luvvies having a greater access to TV than to radio,
maybe.It's the Beeb that call the shots on that one,being in a very privileged
position of the recipient of the entertainment tax.
Hmmm. Mainly I'd agree. But, commercial TV does do its fair share of commissioning arty shite. Ok, not as leftfield and un-watched as the BBC's maybe. The BBC does have the advantage that programming doesn't have to be commercially viable, I suppose, but it's not completely alone.
You know, when I was young I hated the BBC and the licence fee. Now that I'm 19 I don't hate the BBC, but I still have issues over the 'licence fee'. That's a whole new debate, but I'm not against a publicly funded institution like the BBC, because I now see how it is because it is not beholden to advertisers and shareholders that it can be adventurous. That's got to be a good thing, right?
As far as I know, no
commercial radio operation has a drama department for example. Capital
had in seventies, but it was shut down. So commercial radio concentrates
on cheap and cheerfull chewing gum for the brainless.
This has surely got to be down to the weakness and capitulation of the Radio Authority and Ofcom over the years. They changed and revised formats to allow the various groups to drop their services to the lowest common denominator – bland wallpaper music radio. Yet it's absolutely impossible to get a radio broadcasting licence in the UK unless you are one of those few Borg groups that Ofcom wouldn't say 'boo' to. Surely there the problem rests. We are back in the 1960s when there's actually no real alternatives allowing somebody new with ideas to get on air.
Mainstream music
radio sucks, it's dull, boring and pointless- I prefer my Ipod, I choose
the chunes without some dickhead trying to entertain me. We are so far
up our backsides trying not to offend anyone, we have lost our greatest
quality , the ability to dish it out and take it back with good grace.
I think it was my favourite read of the moment
(the http://breakfastdj.blogspot.com blog)
that pointed out that whilst they could play a song like Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Relax' at 8 in the morning, we are so walking on eggshells with all this political correctness that Ofcom would probably fine a station were co-presenters to actually speak the words of the song to each other, even in a monotone style. What complete madness is that?
When was the last time radio was irreverent totally pointless yet laugh
out loud fun?You got me on that one. All I can think of is Kenny Everett or Wolfman
Jack. Both dead of course. Then again, Tommy Boyd.(who is not deceased I
think)
Nick Abbot? Although he's a weak shadow of his former guns-blazing self.
P.S. Drum & Bass is a criminal offence.
But it's all you'd get if the Beatles reformed.
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* Christopher England just said that *
Ok, so there's this 'showbiz' show on the talking station LBC in London, presented by 'Cristo' in the weekend early evenings. Despite his constant menuing and barkering, nobody calls in.
Now then. The mainstay feature of the programme is that he and his guests actually watch whatever current Simon Cowell-esque talent show (you know the one: the judges comment, the public votes, one 'act' goes each week) that's live on TV and they talk about it as its broadcast and debate it. They even play just captured short clips from it.
WTF?
Hello? Mr LBC Programme Controller? Surely, anybody remotely interested in who's going to be in Oliver, skate well, ballroom dance well, or has got laugh out loud fun fun fun talent, is going to be, erm, watching it on TV! Those that are not watching it, but have turned to the radio for entertainment are not watching it for a reason. They hate it. They want something else.
I mean, who in their right mind says to themselves, "Ooh I mustn't miss lovely Ant and Dec talking to fun fun fun people who can whistle using their armpit. I know what I'll do I'll turn my telly off and listen to the radio for some people jibber-jabbering away like old people in an old people's home about the show I've just deliberately switched off."
No, it just doesn't happen. The reason you're getting no calls Mr Cristo is because the people who are likely to be listening are not likely to be watching or slightly interested in your commentary about a live TV show. Those that might be interested are busy watching it, ffs!
Somebody sack the producer and put something sensible on instead. Stuff aimed at people who have chosen not to watch the current TV 'talent' finding programme!
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* Christopher England just said that *
From: "Christopher England" <...>
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 12:00 AM
To: <...>
Subject: [Anorak Nation] LBC – Cristo, noooooooooooooooooooo!
Ok, so there's this 'showbiz' show on the talking station LBC in London,
presented by 'Cristo' in the weekend early evenings. Despite his
constant menuing and barkering, nobody calls in.Now then. The mainstay feature of the programme is that he and his
guests actually watch whatever current Simon Cowell-esque talent show
(you know the one: the judges comment, the public votes, one 'act' goes
each week) that's live on TV and they talk about it as its broadcast and
debate it. They even play just captured short clips from it.WTF?
Hello? Mr LBC Programme Controller? Surely, anybody remotely interested
in who's going to be in Oliver, skate well, ballroom dance well, or has
got laugh out loud fun fun fun talent, is going to be, erm, watching it
on TV! Those that are not watching it, but have turned to the radio for
entertainment are not watching it for a reason. They hate it. They want
something else.I mean, who in their right mind says to themselves, "Ooh I mustn't miss
lovely Ant and Dec talking to fun fun fun people who can whistle using
their armpit. I know what I'll do I'll turn my telly off and listen to
the radio for some people jibber-jabbering away like old people in an
old people's home about the show I've just deliberately switched off."No, it just doesn't happen. The reason you're getting no calls Mr Cristo
is because the people who are likely to be listening are not likely to
be watching or slightly interested in your commentary about a live TV
show. Those that might be interested are busy watching it, ffs!Somebody sack the producer and put something sensible on instead. Stuff
aimed at people who have chosen not to watch the current TV 'talent'
finding programme!
Hahaha!
Loved reading this, but I have to admit that your analysis is 100% correct.
The fact that LBC think otherwise is slightly worrying, in fact worrying to the point where I think do these people actually have brains??????
The people that ARE listening are the ones that will not watch it on TV cos it is shite, so they turn to the radio for something different, only to get the same old shite!
Even Pete Price isn't that stupid :-)
Quoting a previous Steve Martin contribution:-
The fact that LBC think otherwise is slightly worrying, in fact worrying
to the point where I think do these people actually have brains??????
Actually, I also just twigged a secondary problem: If you're listening to the radio and the presenter and guests are 'talking up' a programme that's on TV right now, making it sound exciting and interesting, what are you going to do? That's right, switch the radio off and go and watch the TV! Even more reasons why nobody's calling in. Pathetic.
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* Christopher England just said that *
http://www.my-online-iphone.co.uk/
Pretty neat. The number's 07778565269 that you have to type in, then you can poke around inside the iPhone itself without the owner's permission!!
(This is a sub-plot from www.hollysinbox.com which is another thing I'm addicted to reading, damn it.)
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* Christopher England just said that *
Christopher England <...> said:
Just had a nose around t'other places, and I notice my name is coming up
a lot on the Garry Stevens message board. Brilliant. It's when they're
not talking about you that you need to worry! I see me ol' mate Peter
Moore had to mention me a number of times, and Will the gardener is
doing his bit of trying to reveal my real name, etc., etc. Same old
same old. I'm used to them crossing the line and getting personal about
me.Of course, the real victim of their collective bullying is Neil Gates.
Cor blimey, do they get quite cruel about the fellow or what? It
doesn't rest. There's poems about him, there's constant gripes and
slagging, rude words, the lot. It just doesn't seem to stop, which is a
real shame, because the Garry Stevens board promised so much when it
first started. It had a good philosophy, seemed to fill a niche market,
and looked like it was going places. It's all very disappointing.So why is the Garry Stevens board yet another board to degenerate into
being a place to just openly bully others? Is that all that old geezas
can do? They never seem to know the difference between constructive
criticism and cruel bullying.Neil has put himself forward as the founder of a new offshore radio
project. So, if you think he's not got a chance in hell, or his figures
are wrong, then for goodness sake just deconstruct them by debate and
discussion, don't just get rude and personal about the guy and writing
poems about him!It's sad to see Garry Stevens appear to accept and sanction all this.
Come on Garry, tell them to stop it, before you're just another radio
board that bites the dust 'cos it scares away the more timid ordinary
radio fan posters!
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* Christopher England just said that *
It's called desperation Chris. I find it funny and quite sad at the same time they can continue doing it as long as they like it gives me a big laugh.
Peter Moore is spending his whole time running around crying to anyone who is gullable or stupid enough to listen to him becasuse he knows that the return of real free radio will show his sham "Caroline" up for what it really is and will stop his donation gravy train dead in it's tracks.
I see that they are now turning their attention to you...I'm shure that it does not bother you in the least infact I'm shure that it gives you as big a laugh as it gives me....BRING IT ON!!!!
