Here's five ways to laugh - both with the Beeb and at the Beeb. All, incidentally, have been broadcast on the Beeb. The Corporation has always been self-assured enough to see the joke, and not to take life - and indeed the whole business of broadcasting - too seriously. (1) Perhaps the most recent example … Continue reading It’s good to laugh (at yourself…)
Tag: Radio History
100 years of technology: and a special mention to the Grahams…
Recently these pages have mentioned Arthur Burrows, the first voice on the BBC in 1922 when it employed just four people. In this article Burrow's connection to Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Joe Bonamassa (see below for a radio-related song) and Spinal Tap is explored. Yes, seriously. This is the link between a journalist from Oxford at … Continue reading 100 years of technology: and a special mention to the Grahams…
This one’s for the Arthurs, the Nellies, and the newspaper photographers sent to snap crazy set-up stories…
That’s two old-fashioned names and a craft profession rapidly becoming extinct as we all upgrade our 'phones to have the best top quality on-board cameras included. Except, that is, for one of those names. Arthur was, apparently, the fourth most popular boy’s name in 2020. In fact, the British Government’s Office for National Statistics said … Continue reading This one’s for the Arthurs, the Nellies, and the newspaper photographers sent to snap crazy set-up stories…
A lesson from radio history…
Yorkshire in January 2021 - A field I was reading a PhD thesis last night. Don't ask, but I was enjoying it. And was struck by how the BBC had been thinking about the apocalypse that is this current widespread health crisis as long ago as 1960. That's exactly sixty years ago. It's also long … Continue reading A lesson from radio history…
Radio jingles redux (All Along the Watchtower), life imitates art, and how much energy does it take to listen to the radio?
Radio jingles are a popular subject on this website. You can read more about them here, and that article includes clips of some early BBC Radio 1 jingles, a look behind the scenes of the recording of the station sound for the Lincs FM group, and bits and bobs about Radio York’s various jingle packages. … Continue reading Radio jingles redux (All Along the Watchtower), life imitates art, and how much energy does it take to listen to the radio?
Movies and radio memories…
There is a connection. Honestly. Do please bear with me. This article was written on Wednesday 29th April 2020, in the sixth week of the Covid-19 confinement for Britain. Easter had come and gone. The dry warm-ish spring weather had continued and by and large the nation had heeded the Governments instructions to “stay home, … Continue reading Movies and radio memories…
These are extraordinary times…
This article was originally written on Monday 30th March 2020, seven days after the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told the country to stay at home. https://youtu.be/Ml-1hUISPj8 We live in exceptional times. A fact noted by many journalists in recent days. In The Times of London, in the Daily Telegraph, and on Channel 4's Dispatches … Continue reading These are extraordinary times…
The trouble is…
In 1946 the writer and novelist George Orwell complained that, In very many English homes the radio is literally never turned off. [...] This is done with a definite purpose. The music prevents the conversation from becoming serious or even coherent. (Tribune, 11 January 1946) Which coming from someone who once worked for the BBC … Continue reading The trouble is…
Radio jingles…
The jingles are the bits between the news, weather, sport, DJ and music. And this is an example of how they are made. https://youtu.be/O1Bb_DI77SE One of the great all-time jingle production houses was PAMS in Dallas, Texas. Read more about jingles, including one made by Jimi Hendrix for BBC Radio 1 here. In its time … Continue reading Radio jingles…
Know any good jokes about radio…?
One of my favourites is a really old one that I first heard over thirty years ago: "I've got a friend who's a newsreader on a medium wave radio station. When we go for a drive he keeps fading out under bridges." ...which probably doesn't work too well in these days of DAB, FM and … Continue reading Know any good jokes about radio…?
