R2OK!

Angela W · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 7202 Location: North Yorkshire

Just found this on the BBC website, apologies if I have posted it in the wrong place.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-47000591

I hope all goes well and JW comes back soon.
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Pirate Johnnie Walker played my request on 11 April 2009

Ian Robinson · Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 1:34 am Post subject:

Yes, get well soon Johnnie.

Interesting choice of rock show stand-in

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19335 Location: Cheshire

Hope all goes well for him.

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

becky sharp · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 6815

Very best wishes to him.

Red Baron · Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 119

Just read that Johnnie has had a triple heart bypass. Shocked

At least it's a common procedure these days, but 6 weeks doesn't seem a long recovery time.

oldraver · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 1175 Location: London

Hopefully all has gone well, at Southanpton General. Tiggy was quite emotional on her weekly programme, as you would imagine. Some nice music and a cameo from Sally in the show.

http://abbey104.com/play-it-again/
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life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

oldraver · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 1175 Location: London

Great to hear JW again. Nobody to touch him, in my ever so humble.

Even better on a Tuesday morning...
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life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

Angela W · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 7202 Location: North Yorkshire

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19335 Location: Cheshire

oldraver · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 1175 Location: London

Hope you're having a jolly old time, H. I'm sure the show will still be on catch-up, once you return to this septic isle.

I thought Tom was a very good stand in as well, Angela. I particularly liked his interview with Mike Batt. But great to have Johnnie back, fit and well. Even the cake banter with Sally was touchingly amusing. This is what used to be a major part of the appeal of Radio 2. The genuine warmth that permeates through the airwaves. I very rarely hear that nowadays. More's the pity.

At the risk of being accused of harping on about the good old days, once Chris Evans held R2 to ransom, by threatening to throw his toys out of the pram if he didn't get the Drivetime slot, then that was the beginning of a downward spiral. Again, in my ever so humble opinion. Now Simon Mayo has departed - and I've tried to like Scala, but can't have it on for too long - it's the lowest it's ever been. The official policy is to phase out all the 60's stuff, as they're aiming for the over 40's audience.

Or in the words of the 'Head of Music' Jeff Smith (no, me neither), R2 are 'In terms of gold, we've slightly dialled down the 60's and 70's era and dialled up (what a ridiculous phrase) the '80s, '90s noughties and today, because we're looking at that 35-54 years old audience and trying to connect with them a little bit more.'

http://www.musicweek.com/media/read/radio-2-reimagined-head-of-music-jeff-smith-on-the-new-music-policy-at-britain-s-no-1-station/075135
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life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3415 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Sadly it sounds like the start of a slippery slope downhill. So where are my generation supposed to go now for our radio entertainment? Back in the 1970s, my generation listened to Radio 1. It wasn't just the top 20 records that were played. You regularly heard tracks below the top 20 as well as tracks from the 1950s & 60s, oh, and yes, album tracks as well. So you had a kind of history lesson in how the music of 'our' era evolved, and who from previous generations influenced the artists we liked and bought music from. In the same way that The Beatles influenced Oasis in more recent times. Please, if someone with any real clout reads this, put a stop to any such plans. Or create a station where my generation can still enjoy the music that we grew up with and bought, and not just the top 30 singles.
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Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack.