Mark Lammar's God's Jukebox to end!

[Con Murphy]

What with Danny Baker having limped into port recently as well, this news has really put the tin lid on by far the shittiest year for radio in my lifetime. We do still need these communicators, even if (or perhaps because?) they don't take up as much of the media landscape as in the past.

[howard male]

Mark wrote –

Radio is still one of those sources and I'd lay money that one of the reasons it's slipped down the scale is that a generation has been so sorely abused by it.

Exactly.

Radio can be genuinely repellent if you happen to switch on and there’s some frighteningly over-compressed contemporary pop tinnily blaring out - and given that that’s generally the case, I should imagine youngsters can become quite euphoric if they happen across something that doesn’t fit this description.

Jamie wrote –

Yes they go on YouTube but it tends to be to watch videos of songs they've already discovered via radio or TV.

That's what I wanted and hoped to hear; the young still need to be led to the purest, freshest water before they will then drink copiously from it.

[Ian M]

While I understand Nigel's argument, I think it severely underestimates what great dj's like Charlie, Mark and co bring to the table. Of course there a myriad of online resources, downloads and spotify. But the random, fragmented nature of those sources is not remotely a substitute for the depth of knowledge and enthusiastic engagement these people bring to music. It was only latterly apparent to me how much work and thought Charlie put in during the week to give us the benefit of all that effort distilled into two hours. If you think that hosting a great radio show is like putting your iPod on shuffle then you are greatly mistaken. How many people here, even with their extensive knowledge of music, could fill three hours a week, as Mark did, keeping it fresh every week, talking with expertise about all manner of neglected artists and genres, finding themes and connections, segueing seamlessly from country to reggae r'n'b and so on?
The shows are the product of years of listening, thinking, collecting, evaluating - and that is why they are infinitely more valuable than the hyperlinking of tagged artists, or the stumble upon culture of websites. Saying that a show is an antique version of spotify playlists is rather like saying a monkey pressing links will eventually end up with a great radio show by chance. Not that he'd recognise it when he had. (Mmm. unless it was God's monkey?)
I just think that the wealth of accumulated knowledge these people bring to us, their willingness to wade through hours of material which I would never have the time or inclination to do, is even more necessary and valuable when we are surrounded by an endless supply of random, devalued music.
Radio controllers completely undervalue this relationship between presenters who have this kind of commitment and knowledge and listeners who, conversely, value it above most everything else, instinctively recognising it and bonding with it to the extent that they remember some shows years after they heard them - as I do with some of Charlie's, and many Peel's.
Of course what makes them great, and inspires listeners and musicians in way which enriches the music scene in this country immeasurably, is what controllers hate. They are independently minded, they don't do 'formats' (the be-all and end-all of many managerial conferences), and they want to play their own choice of music (heaven forfend!). In other words they can't be conformed to the 'brand' (another great managerial shibboleth). Or in short, they are uncontrollable - and that's not a good situation for a controller. Everything the audience loves and makes them long term listeners and fans is everything the controller hates and can't see the point of, especially when there are any amount of bland minor celebrities who will happily be scripted and use playlists (and who won't have any real commitment to music or artists).
And by the way, I don't think this an age thing at all. In my experience young people love having their ears opened and the connections made between what they like and what they don't know. Most of you were young when you found Alexis and Peel an essential experience.

Sorry if I've gone on, I was just going to make a couple of points and it seems to have got out of hand..

[DavidM]

Thanks Ian. That's well said.

[Chris P]

Great post Ian, thanks for that coherent eloquence from the heart & head

[Nigel w]

While I understand Nigel's argument...

I don't really have an argument as such, Ian. Just an overwhelming sense of loss that music radio no longer holds the same vital place in our culture that it once did!

[howard male]

And you've just done it again here too, Ian (see Cee Lo topic.) What are you on today, man?

[Ian M]

Ha ha, just two things I feel strongly about, and a wish to say it.Or maybe it was the Benylin.

[Jonathan E.]

[ . . . ]
Of course what makes them great, and inspires listeners and musicians in way which enriches the music scene in this country immeasurably, is what controllers hate. They are independently minded, they don't do 'formats' (the be-all and end-all of many managerial conferences), and they want to play their own choice of music (heaven forfend!). In other words they can't be conformed to the 'brand' (another great managerial shibboleth). Or in short, they are uncontrollable - and that's not a good situation for a controller. Everything the audience loves and makes them long term listeners and fans is everything the controller hates and can't see the point of, especially when there are any amount of bland minor celebrities who will happily be scripted and use playlists (and who won't have any real commitment to music or artists).[ . . . ]

This is the underlying great issue of our times, applying to far more than just what music we get to listen to and how we hear about it. Control, as William Burroughs saw, is everything. We're entering a time when that struggle over control is becoming naked and raw. There are new tools and weapons on both sides; and as Nigel points out, those tools and weapons change the terrain. I think it very unfortunate, although not entirely surprising, that the BBC and its controllers appear to have made a shift from the more enlightened side of the information and culture providing business to the clamp-down position. For those mourning the changes at the BBC, I can offer a shred of optimism — remember the situation in the mid-sixties when the BBC was totally and utterly uncool, we didn't suck at her teat after we were done with "Listen With Mother," we had Radio London, Radio Caroline and I forget how many other pirate stations. Turn off your radio, don't pay your license fee — sooner or later a change will come.

[garth cartwright]

A good presenter is like a friend - you really look forward to hearing them every time they're on. Listening becomes a conversation of sorts, you engage and feel both the familiarity and the surprise (and even dislike) that comes with friendships. Mark plays so much music that I love - but he also plays Nick Cave and Grahme Coxson, both of whom I can't stand. But it's his show and the entertainment value is really high. On Saturday's show he had a pleasant if unengaging singer-songwriter as guest and when the guy chose a Gram Parsons tune Mark went off on one about how overrated Gram is and how we should be listening to Merle Haggard instead. Thank you!

Radio without presenters with passion will be incredibly bland. And the older I get the more of a radio junkie I become - I barely watch TV these days but everyday I swing thru the World Service, BBC London (Robert Elms' show is still OK but it's been dumbed down - he has to repeat things like a nursery school teacher. Very annoying), 6 Music (Huey Morgan and Cerys Mathews both play some lovely blues and soul - Cerys also played Mexican and zydeco tunes yesterday), Radio 2 at night, the occasional Radio 4 doc'. Which is to say the BBC is still full of great radio but the removal of Ritu - who has come into her own in the last year - and Mark's decision to quit show the Beeb being increasingly run by soulless bureaucrats. A real goddam shame.

[Jonathan E.]

But, today, given new tech etc., there is nothing to stop Mark or anyone else so inclined from presenting a show without the Auntie Beeb's say-so. He could launch an internet presence without any restrictions on what he plays and with considerably more contact with the audience. I'm not saying it's easy; obviously, the finances are a bit more challenging than just getting a cheque from Auntie. But to think that the Beeb is the be all and end all these days is backwards looking. It doesn't even recognize the reality of today's mediascape.

Given Mark's general high profile and varied experience, I'd have thought he's in a good position to launch an independent show. Or to hook up with some entrepreneurial backers.

To put this in a slightly different perspective, there is nothing like the BBC in the US, but there are thousands and thousands and thousands of excellent radio programs on stations around the country covering an astonishing range of music, far more than you get on any BBC show — almost all done by amateurs, many of whom are quite expert and knowledgeable. So, on the one hand, you're incredibly lucky that you've had the BBC approach over the years, and on the other, it's not the only working model of how to present music on the radio.

[Ian A.]

But, today, given new tech etc., there is nothing to stop Mark or anyone else so inclined from presenting a show without the Auntie Beeb's say-so. He could launch an internet presence without any restrictions on what he plays and with considerably more contact with the audience. I'm not saying it's easy; obviously, the finances are a bit more challenging than just getting a cheque from Auntie.

Well of course it's easy, I do it myself. But the finances are somewhat more than "challenging". You don't get paid. So how are talented presenters like Mark to make a living? People have been suggesting that if Ritu gets the BBC axe, she could continue on Resonance FM. Mighty fine institution though it is, you don't get paid for broadcasting on Resonance either: it may be considerably hipper, but in that aspect it's no different from doing hospital radio as a hobby.

And putting together a radio show well takes rather more time than, as somebody I think mentioned earlier, sticking your iPod on shuffle. The only reason I can afford the time to do it for free is because I can do it entirely in the comfort of my own bunker and it's only once a month. And then, when it has sped off onto t'interweb, it's just another needle in an exponentially expanding digital haystack.

We pay our licence fee for the BBC to do a professional job of public service broadcasting and take it to the world in a reasonably high profile manner. That's why we have to take them to task, not throw in the towel and go thirteen floors underground.

[Rob Hall]

Can someone clarify for me please: how are performing rights, etc., handled with small community stations such as Resonance FM. How are they handled on fRoots radio? I imagine that the situation is somewhat different in other parts of the world. How does that work when stuff is (effectively) broadcast via the internet?

This is a genuine enquiry - I'm not trying to upset anyone's apple cart; but musicians have to eat, don't they?

[Ian A.]

Can someone clarify for me please: how are performing rights, etc., handled with small community stations such as Resonance FM. How are they handled on fRoots radio? I imagine that the situation is somewhat different in other parts of the world. How does that work when stuff is (effectively) broadcast via the internet?

No idea about the likes of Resonance, but in the case of our podcast I believe the host sites pay some sort of blanket fees. I imagine these are not specifically allocated but go into a mass pot (this would be in France in the case of Mondomix). But hopefully the artists sell a few albums as a result: unlike Spotify, you only get the track I pick as a teaser: we put web links on our site to help people find the source CDs and I always mention that in the programme. It's not perfect, but the majority of what I play isn't getting on UK radio at all, so I hope it helps.

[Miguel1961]

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