Tag: Radio Culture

The power of international radio. You won’t miss it ’til it’s gone.

Or to use the accurate quote by Joni Mitchell from 1970, “Don't it always seem to go / That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone”. Well, now something’s gone. And it hurts. The late winter and early spring of 2025 have seen some seismic changes to international radio from the USA. My … Continue reading The power of international radio. You won’t miss it ’til it’s gone. →

Radio time | The art of subtracting-base-60 to keep the live show on the road…

Time is a key element to radio. Live radio that is. You will have noticed how podcasts – because they’re “listen on demand” – just seem to go on and on. On the other hand, live radio has to conform to the hour. I’ve worked for the BBC World Service and know first hand the … Continue reading Radio time | The art of subtracting-base-60 to keep the live show on the road… →

Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 5 of 5

This is the last in a series of pieces about four decades of metro-media life in Britain: in which I come to some conclusions about Ian McEwan and Richard Eyre’s film The Ploughman’s Lunch – set in 1982 but cringingly relevant to the 2020s. Do take a look at pages around this site, and consider … Continue reading Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 5 of 5 →

Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 4 of 5

So far in this series of articles we've met a TV researcher who's arrogant and self-obsessed, there's the tabloid hack who fancies himself as a champagne-swilling lothario, and the network radio news journalist who is a compulsive liar - at work, at home and to his friends. It's all rather ugly. You can read previous … Continue reading Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 4 of 5 →

Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 3 of 5

So far. We’re halfway through a series of pieces looking at the trade and craft of a radio journalist in the early 1980s. Life then is still relevant today. That’s because I’m considering the rough terrain of morals, ethics, the BBC, Thatcher, and Yuppies – amongst other things. You can read parts one and two … Continue reading Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 3 of 5 →

Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 2 of 5

This piece explores life in 1980s Britain. It’s the latest in a series of articles which offers an analysis of Ian McEwan and Richard Eyre’s film The Ploughman’s Lunch (1983). You can read part 1 by clicking on this preview: https://prefadelisten.com/2024/08/14/lies-radio-news-and-a-pub-lunch-1-of-5/ Subscribe to make sure you get future episodes - around the 14th of each … Continue reading Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 2 of 5 →

Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 1 of 5

On the one hand journalism and broadcasting have long been connected to drink and drugs. For historical evidence of this, and my own lived experience, see my recent pieces here and here. In this article I now want to widen the discussion to include considerations of ethics and radio journalism. In particular about lying, dissembling, … Continue reading Lies, radio news, and a pub lunch | part 1 of 5 →

Oh, alright then. Just one more before I do the two o’clock…

My last piece about the consumption of alcohol by media professionals provoked a host of reactions – largely on social media outlets. And the distinctions are interesting. Social media’s algorithms have given the responses a degree of bias. Perhaps they’re influenced by my past activity on each of the socials. Computers never forget. And here’s … Continue reading Oh, alright then. Just one more before I do the two o’clock… →

Booze and journalists. They’ve been together for decades…

And radio producers have been prone to the vice of alcohol too. I speak from experience. During my bachelor days of the early 1980s I recall spending a lot of evenings with colleagues in a bar. One of my first shifts was at a radio newsroom in an English provincial city during the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. … Continue reading Booze and journalists. They’ve been together for decades… →