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Schedule Changes!

 
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Ian Robinson
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:53 am    Post subject: Schedule Changes! Reply with quote

In brief:

BBC Radio 2 Saturday schedule - from 4 March

6-8am - Tony Blackburn to host Sounds of the Sixties
8-10am - Dermot O’Leary to front new Saturday Breakfast show
10am-1pm - Graham Norton
1-3pm - Pick of the Pops with Paul Gambaccini
3-6pm - Zoe Ball
6-8pm - Liza Tarbuck
8-10pm - Trevor Nelson
10pm-12midnight - Craig Charles’ House Party

BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning schedule - from Friday 31 March into Saturday 1 April

12midnight-2am - The Happening with Anneka Rice
5-6am - Huey Morgan

BBC Radio 2 Sunday morning schedule - from Saturday 1 April into Sunday 2 April

12midnight-2am - Ana Matronic
5-6am - Huey Morgan
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Ian Robinson
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Full announcement

(I personally think the opening line from Lewis Carnie is one of the dumbest things I've ever read, but I present the rest without comment):

Quote:
BBC Radio 2 has announced changes to its weekend programming schedule, which launch on Saturday 4 March and Saturday 1 April.
Lewis Carnie, Head of Radio 2 says: “The new Saturday Radio 2 schedule will give listeners a day of music entertainment from some of this country’s most popular and best loved presenters. Brian Matthew is irreplaceable at 8am on a Saturday morning with Sounds of the 60s so we’re moving to a new time of 6am, and I’m confident that Tony will delight listeners with his memories and favourite tunes from the decade.

"Dermot’s brand new Breakfast show from 8am will wake up the nation in style, and I’m delighted to welcome Zoe and Ana to regular shows on the network. I’d like to thank Anneka for hosting the Breakfast show and we’re looking forward to her new show The Happening with Anneka Rice.”

As recently announced, broadcasting legend Brian Matthew has stepped down from presenting the weekly edition of Sounds of the 60s due to ill health. Brian, 88, who has presented the show since April 1990, presented his last show on November 19, but will return on Saturday 25 February for his final show. Radio 2 will launch an occasional series of programmes to begin on Easter Sunday called The Brian Matthew Years. Brian will reflect on his life and times in the world of music, to be will be scheduled around Bank Holidays.

From Saturday 4 March, Tony Blackburn will present Sounds of the 60s, taking over from Brian, at a new time of 6-8am. The live and interactive programme will continue to be made by Unique Broadcasting and will feature music rarities and the biggest hits of the decade, as well as throwing in some of Tony's favourite soul tunes from the era. Tony will continue to present Tony Blackburn’s Golden Hour on Friday nights from 7-8pm.

Tony says: "It is an absolute honour to be following in Brian's footsteps; he is a broadcasting legend and Sounds of the 60s is an iconic show. I started my radio career in '64 and have amazing memories of playing so many of the great hits first time around. To take over this show, 50 years after joining the BBC, is a real privilege and I can't wait to get started."

Dermot O’Leary’s show will move from Saturday afternoons (3-6pm) to an earlier slot of 8-10am from Saturday 4 March, presenting a brand new music entertainment breakfast show to entertain the nation as they wake up to their weekend. Broadcasting live each week, he’ll have motivational pep talks for the nation’s children from sporting icons as well as experts (explorers, astronauts, spies) telling listeners what movies they should really be watching. He’ll also have some of the biggest names in music performing live in his Saturday Sessions. At 9.15am, each Saturday morning, Dermot will Pause for Thought, featuring different contributors from a variety of faiths. Pause For Thought will be produced by TBI Media. Dermot’s show will continue to be produced by Ora et Labora.

Dermot says: “It's a huge honour to be asked to host the Saturday Breakfast show on Radio 2. I'm really looking forward to waking our loyal listeners up, after Tony and the iconic Sounds of the Sixties, on which Brian Matthew did such an incredible job for so many years.

"We'll be having sessions from some brilliant artists, plus special guests, listeners on air and hand-picked music. It’s a real privilege to be on Radio 2. I can’t wait.”

Zoe Ball will host a live Saturday afternoon show from 3-6pm, jam-packed with hits of today, great feel-good tunes from the past and some selections from Zoe’s own record collection. Listeners will be able to test their knowledge of TV and movies in a weekly quiz and Zoe’s dad, TV legend Johnny Ball, will be posing a weekly brainteaser. Plus there’ll be the chance for listeners to get their freak on when Zoe opens the 5 O’Clock Freak Out Kitchen Disco. The show will be produced by Ora et Labora.

Zoe says: “I'm absolutely cockahoop to start my own show on Saturdays on Radio 2. I've dusted off my vast record collection - chosen some classic hits from across the decades and have come up with some exciting and equally daft features for the listeners to get involved with.

"I've been listening to Radio 2 since I was a lass, growing up with legends… Terry Wogan, Desmond Carrington and Stewpot to name but three of so many. To follow such broadcasting gods and join the Radio 2 family regularly is an absolute privilege and joy and I can't wait to get started.”

In other changes on the network, presenter Bob Harris has decided to finish broadcasting his weekly show Bob Harris Sunday to allow him to concentrate on other projects. His weekly show Bob Harris Country (Thursday, 7-8pm) – which showcases the very best in Country music to the Radio 2 audience - will continue.

Bob Harris says: “I’ve put my heart and soul into the programme and have been given the freedom by Radio 2 to express my musical passions. I feel incredibly proud to have championed new music with BBC Introducing to bring breakthrough artists on to the show. I’d especially like to thank my listeners who have supported the programme for the past 20 years. But I have some very exciting new projects coming up and making this decision will allow me to dedicate a little more time to them. And I’m really looking forward to still bringing the Radio 2 audience more of the very best in all things country in my weekly show - Bob Harris Country.”

Anneka Rice, who has presented the 6-8am show each Saturday morning since February 2012, takes up the reins of a brand new flagship show for Radio 2 called The Happening with Anneka Rice. She will bring her unique brand of wit and style to a programme that reflects the week that was, interviewing the movers and shakers from the world of arts and entertainment, as well as showcasing the best bits of Radio 2 over the previous seven days.

Anneka says: “I've loved presenting the Breakfast Show and especially the interaction with my listeners, sharing the arc of their lives and mine for five years. It has been fun, funny and often touching. But I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into this exciting new format and I hope my audience will join me on my new show on April 1.”

Starting on April 2, between midnight and 2am into Sunday morning, Scissor Sister Ana Matronic will broadcast two hours of the biggest disco music around in Ana Matronic’s Disco Devotion. The programme will be produced by BBC Radio Production.

Ana says: “Music has always been my life’s great joy. To be able to share and talk about my favourite music on Radio 2 is a dream come true. Disco is a genre with no end to its delights, and I am over the moon to be the new resident disco DJ at Radio 2. My show Disco Devotion joins the legendary Trevor Nelson’s Rhythm Nation and The Craig Charles House Party to make every Saturday night the soundtrack to your good time. Put your devotion in motion, and I'll see you in April!”

From April 1, Huey Morgan moves from his current 12midnight-3am Saturday slot to present two new shows – Huey on Saturday and Huey on Sunday. Both shows will air between 5-6am.
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Schizoidman



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 3:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, that second sentence 'Brian is irreplaceable....so we're moving SOTS to 6am' is utterly crass, even by Mr Carnage's standards.

Whilst I am pleased Tony Blackburn is the new host, I feel that SOTS is being kicked into the long grass, which is offensive to the show, to Brian, and to the listeners.

I probably won't be listening to that fast talking chav Dermot O'Leary, who is completely lacking in any talent whatsoever (though on second thoughts, he might be preferable to the ghastly Graham Norton).
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Nickbucks



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A shame that the opportunity was not taken to wave goodbye to Clare Balding , Claudia Winkleman Elaine Paige and Paul O'Grady to bring in some new presenters who could eventually move to fill the weekday slots. A comprehensive review of Monday- Friday early , daytime and evening schedules must now be on the cards so that Lewis Carnie can justify his position.
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becky sharp



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Schizoidman wrote:
Yes, that second sentence 'Brian is irreplaceable....so we're moving SOTS to 6am' is utterly crass, even by Mr Carnage's standards..


Rolling Eyes That just doesn't make any sense no matter how many times you read it..dear me

Schizoidman wrote:
Whilst I am pleased Tony Blackburn is the new host, I feel that SOTS is being kicked into the long grass, which is offensive to the show, to Brian, and to the listeners..

Could not agree more Schiz ..it's nothing short of a disgrace.
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Tom Dors



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds of the Sixties 'live and interactive'....my heart sinks.
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graham b



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

6 while 8 is far too early for me for Sounds of the Sixties. I presume his Friday show is pre-recorded or have they put a bed in the studio
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ruddlescat



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm probably one of the few people on here who is actually up and leaving the house at 6am on Saturdays so for me the time slot is no problem but I do have to agree that it's a backward step for the show as it will inevitably lose a fair number of listeners - presumably many will listen on catch up

There's no reason in my view to change the time slot or format but I am pleased that TB is taking over but being stuck with Mr O'dreary after 8am will definitely cause me to turn off until POTP Sad
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oldraver



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 10:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This just about sums it up for me...taken from the RT online...

==========================================

I’ve been listening to Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 on Saturday mornings throughout the 26-plus years that the peerless Brian Matthew has been presenting it. The programme is a fixture in my life like no other on TV or radio. I am sure I am not alone.

It’s so much more than a nostalgia-fest. With Phil “The Collector” Swern compiling and producing it, and Matthew behind the microphone, Sounds of the Sixties is an education and a delight — an architectural dig of a programme that unearths fascinating lost items in among familiar treasures.

There’s a story behind every track played and Matthew takes you there in his wonderfully companionable style. He’s now 88 and to me he sounds no different from when I first heard his voice coming out of the family wireless in the early 1960s – one of the first non-establishment voices the BBC offered up.

No doubt it helps that I am of that generation – that I can remember childhood visits to Boots to buy some of these records when they first came out. But I still discover a huge amount of “new” music thanks to the show, and I’m convinced that it’s a treat for younger listeners too — a gateway to a magic land of astonishing richness and variety.

Too often we’re fed a simplified idea of the Sixties, comprising the Beatles and the Stones, Carnaby Street and Woodstock, and very little inbetween. Sounds of the Sixties shows how much more there was to the decade. Nowhere else would you hear, say, Doris Day followed straight after by Captain Beefheart. The 1960s were both far more old-fashioned and far more modern than a lot of people realise.

So the changes to Radio 2’s Saturday morning schedule, just announced, fill me with sadness. Regular listeners like me will have been bracing themselves because Matthew has been off sick since last November, his place taken by Tim Rice. A few weeks ago the story broke that he was being stood down, with Matthew quoted as saying how unhappy he was about the decision — that he was recovering from illness and was ready to come back and carry on.

But that, we now know, is not going to happen. Matthew will be back for his last ever show on Saturday 25th February – what a bitter-sweet couple of hours that will be – and then the big change kicks in on 4th March.

OK, so the show “carries on”. And new presenter Tony Blackburn’s 60s credentials are impeccable. But Blackburn — after his uncomfortable months-long absence from the airwaves when he stopped presenting Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops — only recently returned in a Friday evening slot on Radio 2 on which 60s-era music is very present. And now we’re told that the Sounds of the Sixties that passes into his hands will be “throwing in some of Tony's favourite soul tunes from the era”, all of which I’ve no doubt will be great but the beauty of the show is its even-handedness. No genre predominates. Every genre you can think of and some you can’t has its moment in the spotlight. And the truth is that there are genres – prog rock springs to mind – that you just don’t feel Blackburn is very comfortable with.

The brilliance of Brian Matthew was that he succeeded in making the show unimaginable without him — it was so clearly the perfect fit for a man who back in the 60s had fronted the pop-filled Saturday Club on the old Light Programme — and yet it was never “The Brian Matthew Show”. It was always Sounds of the Sixties. Matthew had a tremendous feeling for the music he played but he never imposed himself on it.

I loved Blackburn presenting Pick of the Pops, but with its singles-only panoply of hit after hit — a format that lent itself to his not unobtrusive delivery — that is a very different sort of programme to Sounds of the 60s. My plea to Radio 2 is to not let the latter become The Tony Blackburn Show.

I actually wouldn’t have minded if Tim Rice had carried on as presenter. His is a nice easy presence. The music of the era is clearly in his blood, and his tastes seem wide-ranging.

Losing Brian Matthew is one thing, but moving Sounds of the Sixties’ start time is quite another. Yes yes yes we can all listen on catch-up but schedules still matter and they matter a lot. And now instead of 8am till 10am, Sounds of the Sixties moves to 6am to 8am. 6am! On a Saturday morning! That is not a time to be awake. Nor is it a time to put out a show that actually deserves to be listened to and not just have on as background.

And while it will continue to be made by the Unique production company, I am wary of “live and interactive”. I think I would rather have a show delivered with the judgment and expertise that are the Matthew/Swern hallmark – warm and relaxed but also crafted. And if that means pre-recorded, I don’t mind.

Live isn’t everything. Is Desert Island Discs live? I don’t think so. And it’s not as if Sounds of the 60s hasn’t been giving listeners a look-in. Listener requests have always been one of the show’s most charming elements.

Another has been the Matthew sign-off, the best in all radio, in my opinion. “This is your old mate Brian Matthew saying that’s your lot for this week, see ya next week.” I can’t bear to think how he is going to have to adapt this when his final show goes out.

The Matthew era had to end eventually. But did it have to end like this?

=======================================


I mean, 6 until 8 on a Saturday ? Total contempt. What about older people who don't have the means to Listen Again? And the thought of having records interspersed with what "Dick Head from Surbiton" says on Twitter, is enough to make me want to run for the nearest Dignitas. The social media thing is a curse and a blight on all radio, these days. It's a lazy and convenient way of filling time and not having to think of anything original. In my 60's orientated opinion, of course.

I see they've also put Whispering Bob and his Saturday 3am (!) slot, out to pasture, too....leaving him with his yee haws for an hour every week. He likes too much of the twangy country for my tastes. But the Saturday show has been a gem in the schedules for

I believe that if they could, R2 would be giving us a diet of Kylie, Robbie, Gary, Adele, Olly, Ginger Ed, and all those other interchangeable people who inhabit all the other stations. We are the dinosaurs that aren't yet extinct. Well, I'd rather hear T Rex, than that lot. Or Tyrannasaurus Rex, as they were, when John Peel brought them to our attention. I wonder what would have become of him, had he lived? Reading out tweets on Anneka Rice's new show, perhaps? Total joke.

The one bright note, for me, is that Zoe Ball is on at 3 on Saturday afternoons. I always listen to football at that time. With any luck, it might just boost Five Live's ratings.

It's enough to make Fat Boy Slim, turn in his groove.
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 11:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They couldn't have said it any better Raver.

The schedule changes are just ridiculous, I bet the ratings fall with it going out at 6 am. I won't hear it that is for sure and these days I don't listen half as much via 'listen again' either, too much hassle.

H
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tony will be live on Fridays and Ssturdsys and won't need a bed in the studio.

Also BBC Radio Berkshire Fridays 10am.

BBC Radio 2 Saturdays 6-8am ( Live 🎶)

Thames / Dragon Radio pre recorded Saturday evening

BBC London Sundays Midday ( live )

KFM Sunday 4pm ( Pre record) Greatest hits 4pm ( Live)
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nod



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Blackburn and O'Leary, nghtmare Rolling Eyes
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becky sharp



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

oldraver wrote:
This just about sums it up for me...taken from the RT online...

==========================================

I’ve been listening to Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 on Saturday mornings throughout the 26-plus years that the peerless Brian Matthew has been presenting it. The programme is a fixture in my life like no other on TV or radio. I am sure I am not alone.

It’s so much more than a nostalgia-fest. With Phil “The Collector” Swern compiling and producing it, and Matthew behind the microphone, Sounds of the Sixties is an education and a delight — an architectural dig of a programme that unearths fascinating lost items in among familiar treasures.

There’s a story behind every track played and Matthew takes you there in his wonderfully companionable style. He’s now 88 and to me he sounds no different from when I first heard his voice coming out of the family wireless in the early 1960s – one of the first non-establishment voices the BBC offered up.

No doubt it helps that I am of that generation – that I can remember childhood visits to Boots to buy some of these records when they first came out. But I still discover a huge amount of “new” music thanks to the show, and I’m convinced that it’s a treat for younger listeners too — a gateway to a magic land of astonishing richness and variety.

Too often we’re fed a simplified idea of the Sixties, comprising the Beatles and the Stones, Carnaby Street and Woodstock, and very little inbetween. Sounds of the Sixties shows how much more there was to the decade. Nowhere else would you hear, say, Doris Day followed straight after by Captain Beefheart. The 1960s were both far more old-fashioned and far more modern than a lot of people realise.

So the changes to Radio 2’s Saturday morning schedule, just announced, fill me with sadness. Regular listeners like me will have been bracing themselves because Matthew has been off sick since last November, his place taken by Tim Rice. A few weeks ago the story broke that he was being stood down, with Matthew quoted as saying how unhappy he was about the decision — that he was recovering from illness and was ready to come back and carry on.

But that, we now know, is not going to happen. Matthew will be back for his last ever show on Saturday 25th February – what a bitter-sweet couple of hours that will be – and then the big change kicks in on 4th March.

OK, so the show “carries on”. And new presenter Tony Blackburn’s 60s credentials are impeccable. But Blackburn — after his uncomfortable months-long absence from the airwaves when he stopped presenting Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops — only recently returned in a Friday evening slot on Radio 2 on which 60s-era music is very present. And now we’re told that the Sounds of the Sixties that passes into his hands will be “throwing in some of Tony's favourite soul tunes from the era”, all of which I’ve no doubt will be great but the beauty of the show is its even-handedness. No genre predominates. Every genre you can think of and some you can’t has its moment in the spotlight. And the truth is that there are genres – prog rock springs to mind – that you just don’t feel Blackburn is very comfortable with.

The brilliance of Brian Matthew was that he succeeded in making the show unimaginable without him — it was so clearly the perfect fit for a man who back in the 60s had fronted the pop-filled Saturday Club on the old Light Programme — and yet it was never “The Brian Matthew Show”. It was always Sounds of the Sixties. Matthew had a tremendous feeling for the music he played but he never imposed himself on it.

I loved Blackburn presenting Pick of the Pops, but with its singles-only panoply of hit after hit — a format that lent itself to his not unobtrusive delivery — that is a very different sort of programme to Sounds of the 60s. My plea to Radio 2 is to not let the latter become The Tony Blackburn Show.

I actually wouldn’t have minded if Tim Rice had carried on as presenter. His is a nice easy presence. The music of the era is clearly in his blood, and his tastes seem wide-ranging.

Losing Brian Matthew is one thing, but moving Sounds of the Sixties’ start time is quite another. Yes yes yes we can all listen on catch-up but schedules still matter and they matter a lot. And now instead of 8am till 10am, Sounds of the Sixties moves to 6am to 8am. 6am! On a Saturday morning! That is not a time to be awake. Nor is it a time to put out a show that actually deserves to be listened to and not just have on as background.

And while it will continue to be made by the Unique production company, I am wary of “live and interactive”. I think I would rather have a show delivered with the judgment and expertise that are the Matthew/Swern hallmark – warm and relaxed but also crafted. And if that means pre-recorded, I don’t mind.

Live isn’t everything. Is Desert Island Discs live? I don’t think so. And it’s not as if Sounds of the 60s hasn’t been giving listeners a look-in. Listener requests have always been one of the show’s most charming elements.

Another has been the Matthew sign-off, the best in all radio, in my opinion. “This is your old mate Brian Matthew saying that’s your lot for this week, see ya next week.” I can’t bear to think how he is going to have to adapt this when his final show goes out.

The Matthew era had to end eventually. But did it have to end like this?

=======================================


I mean, 6 until 8 on a Saturday ? Total contempt. What about older people who don't have the means to Listen Again? And the thought of having records interspersed with what "Dick Head from Surbiton" says on Twitter, is enough to make me want to run for the nearest Dignitas. The social media thing is a curse and a blight on all radio, these days. It's a lazy and convenient way of filling time and not having to think of anything original. In my 60's orientated opinion, of course.

I see they've also put Whispering Bob and his Saturday 3am (!) slot, out to pasture, too....leaving him with his yee haws for an hour every week. He likes too much of the twangy country for my tastes. But the Saturday show has been a gem in the schedules for

I believe that if they could, R2 would be giving us a diet of Kylie, Robbie, Gary, Adele, Olly, Ginger Ed, and all those other interchangeable people who inhabit all the other stations. We are the dinosaurs that aren't yet extinct. Well, I'd rather hear T Rex, than that lot. Or Tyrannasaurus Rex, as they were, when John Peel brought them to our attention. I wonder what would have become of him, had he lived? Reading out tweets on Anneka Rice's new show, perhaps? Total joke.

The one bright note, for me, is that Zoe Ball is on at 3 on Saturday afternoons. I always listen to football at that time. With any luck, it might just boost Five Live's ratings.

It's enough to make Fat Boy Slim, turn in his groove.



That summation from the Radio Times is an excellent one ...wonder who wrote it?

And yours is an excellent one too,Raver..total contempt is spot on.

The more I think about it the more annoyed I am.Evil or Very Mad

You sense 'they' were just waiting for any excuse to get rid of Brian. Evil or Very Mad
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Ian Robinson
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can't wait to hear all these new special shows from Brian Matthew, Janice Long, Bob Harris, etc. Just like I'm still waiting for the new special shows from Jimmy Young, David Jacobs, Richard Allinson etc when they were dropped from their regular slots.
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Number Six



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 6:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another step in Radio 2's headlong dash to mediocrity. I swear they are deliberately trying to get rid of me. The only shows I listen to live are Ken Bruce and SOTS. I listen to POTP, JW and FNIMN on listen again so I'll give TB a chance on that. I used to listen to nothing else but R2, now I listen to very little of it

Is Alan Titchmarsh still on Classic on Saturday mornings
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Number Six Smile

Alan Titchmarsh is still on Classic FM 7am -10am. It's ages since I listened but spookily I was just looking through a pile of old mini discs and the first one I came to was on of Alan's shows. He's much missed in our house.

I hardly listen to R2 these days either and it will be even less after these changes come about.

H
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Angela W



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't believe this news. I have no objection to TB in principle, if SOTS stays in the current format, but 6am to 8am. No thanks! I can't keep catching things up on the i-player, life is too short.
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Helen May



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree Angela, for me I prefer to listen on the radio there and then unless it's a one off that I've missed.

H
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Lord Evan Elpuss



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 9:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It saddens me greatly what has happened to the station that I used to love and what is about to happen. It really does seem like Matthew Bannister on Radio 1 all over again. How prophetic was Tom Petty when he wrote the title track of his album The Last DJ. Sir Terry Wogan used to regularly play it on Wake Up to Wogan. In that track is the line 'As we celebrate mediocrity', exactly what Number six said a few messages back. Another track in a similar vein which sums things up is 'Rex Bob Lowenstein' by Mark Germino. All about a radio station that sold it's soul and was ruined by money men.
I agree with Angela W, you can't hear everything you like on I-player or you'd never get anything else done, in any case you couldn't interact with what in effect is a recording you're now listening to, like you can with a live show.
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Number Six



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Helen May wrote:
Hi Number Six Smile

Alan Titchmarsh is still on Classic FM 7am -10am. It's ages since I listened but spookily I was just looking through a pile of old mini discs and the first one I came to was on of Alan's shows. He's much missed in our house.

I hardly listen to R2 these days either and it will be even less after these changes come about.

H


Thanks Helen Very Happy

I used to switch to Alan after SOTS until they brought in Bland Bill Turnbull. Still preferred Alan on his old Sunday night R2 show.

I have the radio on in my office (helps me concentrate) so listen again is useful for that. I'll give TB a try but to be honest I think the show lost a bit of sparkle when Swern took over. I much preferred it when "The Vocalist" was producing. Now Swern is just showing off his large collection and I for one have zero interest in how much singles sell for. Added to which if it is going to get cluttered with texts and emails, together with TB's forced attempts at humour I can't see it, or me, lasting
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graham b



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PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think the powers at the BBC have totally lost it. Apart from ruining R2 they are getting rid of online travel news this week. What is going on?
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oldraver



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

becky sharp wrote:
oldraver wrote:
This just about sums it up for me...taken from the RT online...

==========================================

I’ve been listening to Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 on Saturday mornings throughout the 26-plus years that the peerless Brian Matthew has been presenting it. The programme is a fixture in my life like no other on TV or radio. I am sure I am not alone.

It’s so much more than a nostalgia-fest. With Phil “The Collector” Swern compiling and producing it, and Matthew behind the microphone, Sounds of the Sixties is an education and a delight — an architectural dig of a programme that unearths fascinating lost items in among familiar treasures.

There’s a story behind every track played and Matthew takes you there in his wonderfully companionable style. He’s now 88 and to me he sounds no different from when I first heard his voice coming out of the family wireless in the early 1960s – one of the first non-establishment voices the BBC offered up.

No doubt it helps that I am of that generation – that I can remember childhood visits to Boots to buy some of these records when they first came out. But I still discover a huge amount of “new” music thanks to the show, and I’m convinced that it’s a treat for younger listeners too — a gateway to a magic land of astonishing richness and variety.

Too often we’re fed a simplified idea of the Sixties, comprising the Beatles and the Stones, Carnaby Street and Woodstock, and very little inbetween. Sounds of the Sixties shows how much more there was to the decade. Nowhere else would you hear, say, Doris Day followed straight after by Captain Beefheart. The 1960s were both far more old-fashioned and far more modern than a lot of people realise.

So the changes to Radio 2’s Saturday morning schedule, just announced, fill me with sadness. Regular listeners like me will have been bracing themselves because Matthew has been off sick since last November, his place taken by Tim Rice. A few weeks ago the story broke that he was being stood down, with Matthew quoted as saying how unhappy he was about the decision — that he was recovering from illness and was ready to come back and carry on.

But that, we now know, is not going to happen. Matthew will be back for his last ever show on Saturday 25th February – what a bitter-sweet couple of hours that will be – and then the big change kicks in on 4th March.

OK, so the show “carries on”. And new presenter Tony Blackburn’s 60s credentials are impeccable. But Blackburn — after his uncomfortable months-long absence from the airwaves when he stopped presenting Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops — only recently returned in a Friday evening slot on Radio 2 on which 60s-era music is very present. And now we’re told that the Sounds of the Sixties that passes into his hands will be “throwing in some of Tony's favourite soul tunes from the era”, all of which I’ve no doubt will be great but the beauty of the show is its even-handedness. No genre predominates. Every genre you can think of and some you can’t has its moment in the spotlight. And the truth is that there are genres – prog rock springs to mind – that you just don’t feel Blackburn is very comfortable with.

The brilliance of Brian Matthew was that he succeeded in making the show unimaginable without him — it was so clearly the perfect fit for a man who back in the 60s had fronted the pop-filled Saturday Club on the old Light Programme — and yet it was never “The Brian Matthew Show”. It was always Sounds of the Sixties. Matthew had a tremendous feeling for the music he played but he never imposed himself on it.

I loved Blackburn presenting Pick of the Pops, but with its singles-only panoply of hit after hit — a format that lent itself to his not unobtrusive delivery — that is a very different sort of programme to Sounds of the 60s. My plea to Radio 2 is to not let the latter become The Tony Blackburn Show.

I actually wouldn’t have minded if Tim Rice had carried on as presenter. His is a nice easy presence. The music of the era is clearly in his blood, and his tastes seem wide-ranging.

Losing Brian Matthew is one thing, but moving Sounds of the Sixties’ start time is quite another. Yes yes yes we can all listen on catch-up but schedules still matter and they matter a lot. And now instead of 8am till 10am, Sounds of the Sixties moves to 6am to 8am. 6am! On a Saturday morning! That is not a time to be awake. Nor is it a time to put out a show that actually deserves to be listened to and not just have on as background.

And while it will continue to be made by the Unique production company, I am wary of “live and interactive”. I think I would rather have a show delivered with the judgment and expertise that are the Matthew/Swern hallmark – warm and relaxed but also crafted. And if that means pre-recorded, I don’t mind.

Live isn’t everything. Is Desert Island Discs live? I don’t think so. And it’s not as if Sounds of the 60s hasn’t been giving listeners a look-in. Listener requests have always been one of the show’s most charming elements.

Another has been the Matthew sign-off, the best in all radio, in my opinion. “This is your old mate Brian Matthew saying that’s your lot for this week, see ya next week.” I can’t bear to think how he is going to have to adapt this when his final show goes out.

The Matthew era had to end eventually. But did it have to end like this?

=======================================


I mean, 6 until 8 on a Saturday ? Total contempt. What about older people who don't have the means to Listen Again? And the thought of having records interspersed with what "Dick Head from Surbiton" says on Twitter, is enough to make me want to run for the nearest Dignitas. The social media thing is a curse and a blight on all radio, these days. It's a lazy and convenient way of filling time and not having to think of anything original. In my 60's orientated opinion, of course.

I see they've also put Whispering Bob and his Saturday 3am (!) slot, out to pasture, too....leaving him with his yee haws for an hour every week. He likes too much of the twangy country for my tastes. But the Saturday show has been a gem in the schedules for

I believe that if they could, R2 would be giving us a diet of Kylie, Robbie, Gary, Adele, Olly, Ginger Ed, and all those other interchangeable people who inhabit all the other stations. We are the dinosaurs that aren't yet extinct. Well, I'd rather hear T Rex, than that lot. Or Tyrannasaurus Rex, as they were, when John Peel brought them to our attention. I wonder what would have become of him, had he lived? Reading out tweets on Anneka Rice's new show, perhaps? Total joke.

The one bright note, for me, is that Zoe Ball is on at 3 on Saturday afternoons. I always listen to football at that time. With any luck, it might just boost Five Live's ratings.

It's enough to make Fat Boy Slim, turn in his groove.



That summation from the Radio Times is an excellent one ...wonder who wrote it?

And yours is an excellent one too,Raver..total contempt is spot on.

The more I think about it the more annoyed I am.Evil or Very Mad

You sense 'they' were just waiting for any excuse to get rid of Brian. Evil or Very Mad
The fella who wrote that piece, Becky, is the same one who penned this tribute to Brian...

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-04-10/remembering-brian-matthew-a-broadcasting-pioneer-every-bit-as-influential-as-sir-terry-wogan
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becky sharp



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PostPosted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

oldraver wrote:
becky sharp wrote:
oldraver wrote:
This just about sums it up for me...taken from the RT online...

==========================================

I’ve been listening to Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 on Saturday mornings throughout the 26-plus years that the peerless Brian Matthew has been presenting it. The programme is a fixture in my life like no other on TV or radio. I am sure I am not alone.

It’s so much more than a nostalgia-fest. With Phil “The Collector” Swern compiling and producing it, and Matthew behind the microphone, Sounds of the Sixties is an education and a delight — an architectural dig of a programme that unearths fascinating lost items in among familiar treasures.

There’s a story behind every track played and Matthew takes you there in his wonderfully companionable style. He’s now 88 and to me he sounds no different from when I first heard his voice coming out of the family wireless in the early 1960s – one of the first non-establishment voices the BBC offered up.

No doubt it helps that I am of that generation – that I can remember childhood visits to Boots to buy some of these records when they first came out. But I still discover a huge amount of “new” music thanks to the show, and I’m convinced that it’s a treat for younger listeners too — a gateway to a magic land of astonishing richness and variety.

Too often we’re fed a simplified idea of the Sixties, comprising the Beatles and the Stones, Carnaby Street and Woodstock, and very little inbetween. Sounds of the Sixties shows how much more there was to the decade. Nowhere else would you hear, say, Doris Day followed straight after by Captain Beefheart. The 1960s were both far more old-fashioned and far more modern than a lot of people realise.

So the changes to Radio 2’s Saturday morning schedule, just announced, fill me with sadness. Regular listeners like me will have been bracing themselves because Matthew has been off sick since last November, his place taken by Tim Rice. A few weeks ago the story broke that he was being stood down, with Matthew quoted as saying how unhappy he was about the decision — that he was recovering from illness and was ready to come back and carry on.

But that, we now know, is not going to happen. Matthew will be back for his last ever show on Saturday 25th February – what a bitter-sweet couple of hours that will be – and then the big change kicks in on 4th March.

OK, so the show “carries on”. And new presenter Tony Blackburn’s 60s credentials are impeccable. But Blackburn — after his uncomfortable months-long absence from the airwaves when he stopped presenting Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops — only recently returned in a Friday evening slot on Radio 2 on which 60s-era music is very present. And now we’re told that the Sounds of the Sixties that passes into his hands will be “throwing in some of Tony's favourite soul tunes from the era”, all of which I’ve no doubt will be great but the beauty of the show is its even-handedness. No genre predominates. Every genre you can think of and some you can’t has its moment in the spotlight. And the truth is that there are genres – prog rock springs to mind – that you just don’t feel Blackburn is very comfortable with.

The brilliance of Brian Matthew was that he succeeded in making the show unimaginable without him — it was so clearly the perfect fit for a man who back in the 60s had fronted the pop-filled Saturday Club on the old Light Programme — and yet it was never “The Brian Matthew Show”. It was always Sounds of the Sixties. Matthew had a tremendous feeling for the music he played but he never imposed himself on it.

I loved Blackburn presenting Pick of the Pops, but with its singles-only panoply of hit after hit — a format that lent itself to his not unobtrusive delivery — that is a very different sort of programme to Sounds of the 60s. My plea to Radio 2 is to not let the latter become The Tony Blackburn Show.

I actually wouldn’t have minded if Tim Rice had carried on as presenter. His is a nice easy presence. The music of the era is clearly in his blood, and his tastes seem wide-ranging.

Losing Brian Matthew is one thing, but moving Sounds of the Sixties’ start time is quite another. Yes yes yes we can all listen on catch-up but schedules still matter and they matter a lot. And now instead of 8am till 10am, Sounds of the Sixties moves to 6am to 8am. 6am! On a Saturday morning! That is not a time to be awake. Nor is it a time to put out a show that actually deserves to be listened to and not just have on as background.

And while it will continue to be made by the Unique production company, I am wary of “live and interactive”. I think I would rather have a show delivered with the judgment and expertise that are the Matthew/Swern hallmark – warm and relaxed but also crafted. And if that means pre-recorded, I don’t mind.

Live isn’t everything. Is Desert Island Discs live? I don’t think so. And it’s not as if Sounds of the 60s hasn’t been giving listeners a look-in. Listener requests have always been one of the show’s most charming elements.

Another has been the Matthew sign-off, the best in all radio, in my opinion. “This is your old mate Brian Matthew saying that’s your lot for this week, see ya next week.” I can’t bear to think how he is going to have to adapt this when his final show goes out.

The Matthew era had to end eventually. But did it have to end like this?

=======================================


I mean, 6 until 8 on a Saturday ? Total contempt. What about older people who don't have the means to Listen Again? And the thought of having records interspersed with what "Dick Head from Surbiton" says on Twitter, is enough to make me want to run for the nearest Dignitas. The social media thing is a curse and a blight on all radio, these days. It's a lazy and convenient way of filling time and not having to think of anything original. In my 60's orientated opinion, of course.

I see they've also put Whispering Bob and his Saturday 3am (!) slot, out to pasture, too....leaving him with his yee haws for an hour every week. He likes too much of the twangy country for my tastes. But the Saturday show has been a gem in the schedules for

I believe that if they could, R2 would be giving us a diet of Kylie, Robbie, Gary, Adele, Olly, Ginger Ed, and all those other interchangeable people who inhabit all the other stations. We are the dinosaurs that aren't yet extinct. Well, I'd rather hear T Rex, than that lot. Or Tyrannasaurus Rex, as they were, when John Peel brought them to our attention. I wonder what would have become of him, had he lived? Reading out tweets on Anneka Rice's new show, perhaps? Total joke.

The one bright note, for me, is that Zoe Ball is on at 3 on Saturday afternoons. I always listen to football at that time. With any luck, it might just boost Five Live's ratings.

It's enough to make Fat Boy Slim, turn in his groove.



That summation from the Radio Times is an excellent one ...wonder who wrote it?

And yours is an excellent one too,Raver..total contempt is spot on.

The more I think about it the more annoyed I am.Evil or Very Mad

You sense 'they' were just waiting for any excuse to get rid of Brian. Evil or Very Mad
The fella who wrote that piece, Becky, is the same one who penned this tribute to Brian...

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-04-10/remembering-brian-matthew-a-broadcasting-pioneer-every-bit-as-influential-as-sir-terry-wogan


Another great article,Raver...thanks.

"Terry Wogan was such a giant of radio that the BBC have re-named one of their buildings after him, now called Wogan House. The case for a Brian Matthew House is also very strong. He mattered that much, and he was loved that much."

Agreed.

=======================================

"Matthew was never what you would call hip."

Very true, but hip very often goes out of fashion ...he was genuine, much like Terry Wogan ...they were cut from the same cloth...and genuine stays the course.

===========================================

"The muddle that occasioned his standing down from the programme in February this year (or being stood down, it was never clear) presaged the far worse muddle that occurred when his death was prematurely announced."

And it was a muddle..an unholy one.

I'm going to be following Mr O'Hagan from now on,on Twitter. Very Happy
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oldraver



Joined: 18 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Matthew was never what you would call hip."

Very true, but hip very often goes out of fashion ...he was genuine, much like Terry Wogan ...they were cut from the same cloth...and genuine stays the course.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Beautifully put, Becky.
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becky sharp



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PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Raver. Smile
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