The subject of tonight's programme is Mike Read, whose bid to become London mayor attracted a bit of attention from giroscope a few months back. I have no idea how his campaign is going, but in the meantime he's set up a radio station called Big L which is broadcasting from above a building society in Frinton-on-Sea, Essex. It could almost be a remake of Twin Peaks, where the one-armed man famously said that:
We lived among the people... I think you say 'convenience store?' We lived above it... My name is Mike, his name is Bob.
So who's Bob gonna be? Bob Harris? Can't be, he's still got a proper job on Radio 2. No, let's make it "Diddy" David Hamilton. Pour some quick-drying cement in my ears quickly...
Big L is losing £50,000 a month according to the listings in Radio Times (having said that I don't believe that necessarily, as they didn't even manage to spell "Mike Read" right). It's gonna be an absolute classic. You only have to read the Big L website to know that these are people who make Smashey and Nicey sound like the late lamented John Peel:
This is Big L 1395, the Heart & Soul of Rock & Roll... no corporate playlists, no pre-programmed PCs picking the music, no frequent repetition... If Jerry Lee Lewis feels good next to Amy Winehouse, then we'll play it.
I'm sure Jerry Lee Lewis would love to feel good next to Amy... but she'd probably kick him in the balls. Which is what listeners should do (metaphorically) to these Big L DJs.
To be fair to these guys, modern commercial radio certainly is utter cack, but there's no way a bunch of old Radio 1 and 2 DJs can fix it. You can't fool me. I've read The Nation's Favourite. Snooker on the radio? That was people like you (DLT, to be precise).
Hey Benny Voller: could you do a review of Big L on your new blog? It might even rival Classic FM for sheer mediocrity.
8 comments:
The real questions are:
1) Will Big L relaunch "Pop of the Form" and
2) Any chance of anything by the Scorpions
(point 2 also applies to Bennyvoller's "Classic FM" write-up, but I wasn't allowed to leave a comment there...)
I think you're almost certain to find the Scorpions there... along with Elton John.
I don't think they have the budget for "Pop of The Form" but maybe they could get financial support from Tendring District Council.
Did you see the programme? It was a classic.
I was washing my hair.
Glad you weren't washing your hare... hare coursing is a bloody outrage. And it's not properly regulated or anything.
Sorry red two that you weren't alllowed to comment on my blog.
Perhaps there's some setting I need to change or something.
Benny - I think you've got comment moderation enabled on your settings, which means you need to personally approve any comments that get posted. Comment verification (where the poster has to type a random sequence of letters distorted so as to make them harder to auto-read) is useful as it cuts down on spam. But moderation is hassle unless you are checking the blog a lot.
Mike, Can you hear me?
Let's hope he stops soon!
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