R2OK! Forum Index R2OK!
Contact R2OK! admin

Click here for R2OK! Website


 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Bit of a boring question

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    R2OK! Forum Index -> Radio 2 - what's happening?
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
littlepieces



Joined: 10 Jan 2010
Posts: 1098
Location: Lowestoft

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 4:26 pm    Post subject: Bit of a boring question Reply with quote

But when did traffic reports start on R2?
Have they always been there?
Do you find them useful?
_________________
I found out how you can hurt an insect.It's the bees knees
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
PJ in Kent



Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 1102
Location: Go on, guess!

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speaking as a driver who runs between Kent and Northamptonshire and back every day they're priceless!
_________________
He's not the Messiah- he's a very naughty boy!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Helen May



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 19372
Location: Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've no idea when they started on R2.

However I can remember Sally Traffic doing them on Drivetime when Johnnie Walker was doing it, pretty early on during his stint, which started in 98 I think. I'm sure others will be more specific!

I presume you mean actual bulletins rather than just mere mention if something bad had happened? I've still got a recording of JW's last R1 show and he mentions that one of the motorways was closed. That was July 1976.

As for finding them useful, they have helped us quite a few times when we've been able to come off the motorway earlier than planned and if you're stuck in a jam I suppose it helps to know what's causing it.

H
_________________
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
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ruddlescat



Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 18010
Location: Near Chester

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the traffic reports on Radio 2 are excellent with all the presenters making what can be sometimes a fairly boring subject sound interesting and exciting

I know Sally was on GWR Radio before she joined Radio 2 and I would guess that was before 1998

The only point I do find is that because Radio 2 is a national station sometimes owing to lack of time not every problem can be covered and sometimes local stations can be better from this aspect because they can concentrate on problems only in their own area

Having said that I don't think any other station can compete with Radio 2 in terms of the quality of the bulletins and long may they continue
_________________
Are you ready for a Ruddles?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
nod



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 3558

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just wish they would use the RDS TA flag for them to switch my radio to them
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lord Evan Elpuss



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 3417
Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think they have always been there in some form or other. I don't recall specific traffic reporters before Sally Boazman / Lynn Bowles, but there has always been travel news. Maybe the newscaster did it (like it used to be on Wake Up To Wogan) I know programmes used to be interrupted if there was a major accident / incident somewhere causing massive disruption. And it probably would still happen now.
_________________
Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
John W



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Warwickshire, UK

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I mostly drive locally so I normally rely on local BBC which comes up (on my car's TP radio facility) which covers M6/M42/M40/M5 and local roads.

But R2 is good if I'm off to Heathrow or elsewhere down south.

Mind you (on way to Heathrow) on the M40 on Tuesday there was no local TP alerts on my radio. I was planning to divert to M4 Slough (avoid M25) but saw just in time useful overhead alert on M40 that M4 was delay/very slow. When I got to M25 it was clear of roadworks so that might be my chosen route again.

Anyway not getting any TP on M40 (and not listening to Brucey) I meant to check R2 traffic alert but forgot Rolling Eyes
_________________
-
John W
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Ian Robinson
Site Admin


Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 3608
Location: Chorley, Lancashire

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Helen May wrote:
However I can remember Sally Traffic doing them on Drivetime when Johnnie Walker was doing it, pretty early on during his stint, which started in 98 I think. I'm sure others will be more specific!

Who could forget? I especially remember John Peel's comments in the Radio Times that he wished the two would put an end to the flirting, just get on with it and do it on the studio floor between records!

And, yes, Wikipedia says 1998.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
PJ in Kent



Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 1102
Location: Go on, guess!

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2011 8:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I seem to recall Steve Wrong mentioning once that he used to read out the travel reports prior to Sally Boazman joining R2- not sure what dates apply though, sorry.
_________________
He's not the Messiah- he's a very naughty boy!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
aviddiva



Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 1135
Location: Wakefield, West Yorkshire

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 8:48 am    Post subject: Bit of a boring question Reply with quote

My sister uses traffic reports - but mainly the ones on Smooth and Real Radio Yorkshire - whenever she takes my mum and me to see my elder sister in Bury.
_________________
We are loonies and we are proud!

- Campbell Bain in 'Takin' Over The Asylum'
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Andy W



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Posts: 140
Location: France

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As other posters have said 1998 appears to be a key date as this is when Johnnie Walker took over from John Dunn on Drivetime. In his autobiography Johnnie writes:

"One of the things I felt really needed changing was the travel news...we decided it would be a good idea to have a dedicated travel newsreader to collect and announce information twice an hour. Jude Howells, who had produced The AM Alternative with me on Radio Five, remembered how well I'd got along with Sally Boazman on GLR. We'd never actually met as Sally broadcast down the line from a studio in Scotland Yard. A meeting was set up and we hit it off straightaway"

It was probably from about the mid 90s that the newsreader on duty used to read the traffic bulletins at breakfast during Wake Up to Wogan. Prior to that I don't recall Radio 2 having fixed traffic report times.

The DJs on both Radio 1 and Radio 2 read traffic bulletins. Radio 2 got its first traffic jingles in 1972 and you can hear it on this webpage marked as "Series 1":
http://www.zen77094.zen.co.uk/vintagebroadcasting/bbcjingle.htm
The "Series 2" jingle on this page is the 1976 JAM cut, there was a longer version with a bed.

Traffic bulletins were certainly around in the late 60s, I have a recording of Breakfast Special from 1969 that confirms this but they were just read dry as part of the programme or after the news. For many years, of course, they relied on police and local authority reports so they consisted mainly of roadworks and major motorway incidents.

Radio 1 stopped reporting traffic news in the early to mid 90s.

I still find the reports useful and always make a point of listening out for them when we drive back across to the UK.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Andy W



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Posts: 140
Location: France

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 9:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

To answer the original post it seems that traffic news has been reported as long as Radio 2 has been on air, since September 1967 - at least at breakfast time.

The billing for Breakfast Special reads "with resident bands and singers of the week, discs, news, weather and traffic reports."

Of course you also got traffic news on the weekly Motoring and the Motorist presented by Bill Hartley over on Radio 4 (and previously on the Home Service) where the programme was followed by "the latest news of roads and traffic."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
nod



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 3558

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio2/radio2_history_page_60s.htm

this shows traffic reports in 1967
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Andy W



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Posts: 140
Location: France

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nod wrote:
http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio2/radio2_history_page_60s.htm

this shows traffic reports in 1967

That's right and it seems likely that the Light Programme had such reports in Breakfast Special, even though not shown in the Radio Times billing. Breakfast Special started in late 1965.

The then equivalent of Drivetime was Roundabout and that too had traffic reports. Writing in early 1967 the producer, Brain Willey, said "It's very much a family programme for all age groups and tastes - but we do have the motorist specially in mind. Hence those last-minute flashes on traffic jams and hazards. Again, we remember that drivers hear music more distinctly than speech, so we give a slight boost to voice volume". The presenter at the time was Tim Brinton - anyone remember him at all?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
iwarburton



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 2133
Location: Northumberland

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2011 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mention of Breakfast Special traffic reports inevitably makes me think of the much-missed Ray Moore and comments about Gatport Airwick.

Ian.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Andy W



Joined: 02 Dec 2010
Posts: 140
Location: France

PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 12:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

iwarburton wrote:
Mention of Breakfast Special traffic reports inevitably makes me think of the much-missed Ray Moore and comments about Gatport Airwick.

Ian - listen to the audio montage at the top of this blog post and about 6 minutes in you'll hear "Gatport Airwick".
http://andywalmsley.blogspot.com/2011/01/ray-moore-broadcasting-legend.html
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
mark occomore



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 9955
Location: UK

PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the Traffic should be read out from the News on the hour like at the weekends. If not I think Steve Wright should have the traffic at 2.20pm like they do when he's off.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Helen May



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 19372
Location: Cheshire

PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2011 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mark I think we've said before that the reason traffic follows the news at the weekends is because the programmes are recorded. Therefore they have to follow the news as they can't be at anyother time.

They don't follow the news on Graham Norton because show goes out live.

H
_________________
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
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
littlepieces



Joined: 10 Jan 2010
Posts: 1098
Location: Lowestoft

PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Driving back from London this evening i was listening to planet rock on the car dab and they mentioned the m25 so my ears prick up and they talk about a delay of 3hrs!!! between junction 7-13 now that is what i call a jam and thank whoever that i wasn't in it
_________________
I found out how you can hurt an insect.It's the bees knees
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    R2OK! Forum Index -> Radio 2 - what's happening? All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group. Hosted by phpBB.BizHat.com