🚨Fabulous to be working with
@6thVisionLtd
again.
After a few years of working in Westminster, politics and public affairs, I’m returning to the media world in October.
Podcasting, punditry, a bit of writing and some broadcasting.
Bring it on!
A LBC institution and one of the few broadcasters in this country who can monologue for three hours and has been since 1979. Radio has just got a bit duller. A pleasure working with you Steve. Much love xx
Some news from me,firstly thanks for all your questions. My contract with LBC is up shortly and following discussions , I’m stepping down from LBC today I’d like to thank you all for listening over the last 44 years it’s been an honour and a privilege.
Hard to see how in any other world you’d keep your job, let alone one that sets laws and helped introduce the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act...
Really not sure the government line on not withdrawing the whip from Chris Pincher will hold.
Senior Conservatives already examining Tamworth’s Wikipedia page. 20,000-vote Tory majority but Labour 1997-2010
Well said
@IainDale
👏 - pretty much what I’d be saying tonight if I was still cracking the mic. I’m glad someone has the balls to articulate this view.
'I've never bought into the idea that the establishment can stitch things up, but boy have they stitched things up here!'
Iain Dale's furious attack on the media's 'disgusting' coverage of the Tory leadership campaign.
@IainDale
| Read more:
Always use a London black cab. And thanks to the fab driver of this one who got out to make sure I could get out due to my buggered hip.
#iconsoflondon
Looking forward to hearing
@middleagedminx
at 10pm tonight on BBC Radio London. If there’s one person who can build a nighttime audience in the capital it’s Jo as she’s done it before! Be fabulous Minx x
As someone who has worked in/around pro radio for nearly 30 years, I know schedules change. But there are few v distinctive voices left.
@robert_elms
is one of them. A character that is London. I was chuffed to join the same station as him. His rareness should not underestimated.
James Whale has been awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year Honours list for his outstanding contribution to broadcasting.
To celebrate his life and career, join Mike Graham on Saturday at 10pm for 'A Lifetime Of Night-Time: The James Whale Story'.
@THEJamesWhale
@Iromg
Been reading a lot about a shortage of HGV drivers. It was happening before ‘Brexit’. Drivers are treated appallingly compared to European counterparts. Facilities for truckers here are awful. It’s considered a ‘manual’ job but it’s a vital job. Pay more & treat with respect.
Much reaction to the Radio London changes. Bosses of course have the right to update a schedule. I did when I ran stations. But the BBC’s obsession with attracting ‘younger & underserved’ audiences lacks any nuance. It goes to extremes & just ends up hacking off the loyalists. 🤷♂️
Losing a radio gig because of stuff you can’t control is tough. I went from late weeknights to weekends at Radio London because the management wanted a ‘younger and under-served audience’.
Clearly it didn’t work as it’s changing again! 🙄
Impossible to avoid the idea that this winter is going to be properly grim and challenging for many folk. If I was still running radio stations, I’d be putting a late night talk/phone-in show on my schedules to provide company and a sense of community after dark. 📻
Today we have received the sad news that
@where2mate
Rosh Varma, a founder of the fundraising group
@cabbiesdokili1
has died. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.
‘Educated’ by a chap who appears to have zero respect for his elders. Bit fed up of these bleating millennials expecting others to pay for everything for them 😉
‘You're not paying the tax, you're dead!’
@Lewis_Goodall
educates caller Sharon on the inner workings of inheritance tax as she vehemently argues it should be abolished.
Dunno who runs Radio 2 these days but they’ve really ballsed up letting Ken Bruce go. Though I suspect he’s felt he’s not fitted in for a while being one of the few on air who doesn’t sound like a hyperactive hyena on coke most of the time.
I see LBC need another weeknight 10pm presenter as another one departs. The hours can be a challenge.
When I was presenting it, I single-handedly kept the M&S food shop on the A3 north of Guildford in business at 1.50am most mornings heading home.
I once worked for a BBC local radio station in London and we had almost a million listeners in the capital. Then they made significant changes to the schedule and I left. Now the station has just over half a million listeners. I wonder what went wrong…?!
Concluding that things
📞"I am disgusted that Meghan Bloody Markle is going to the Coronation!"
🎙️"She's not going, Colin!"
📞"SHE'S SAID NO? WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS!?"
Colin from Portsmouth is furious that Meghan Markle is both going and not going to The Coronation.
Happy Birthday
@LBC
- such a privilege to play a small part in your massive radio history. Loved the late night/overnight shows I did on the station and being part of the first national DAB schedule.
Thing I love about listening to
@CrowleyOnAir
is that he still has the same enthusiasm for the music he is playing that he had around 30 years ago. Epic.
@SadiqKhan
Why do you insist on financially penalising individuals, families and businesses by extending the ULEZ zone based on selected consultation responses?
Just a little note to say Merry Christmas to all my chums, acquaintances, contacts, old & new radio listeners and anyone else I’ve forgotten. 🎄🧑🎄🍻🍸🍽
Here’s a non-festive pic where you can play ‘spot the donkey’! Ho ho ho!
Great to be working with
@moresussex
and joining
@JenniCostello
on More Radio Retro. Sussex deserves its own late show, plus I get to play tons of Luther Vandross, Anita Baker and Will Downing. Solid.
I think we need an after dark radio stream for those of us who have insomnia. It’d have to be online for cost purposes, but from what I feel and hear, there’d be a welcome voice at 3.40am just chatting and responding to the odd email. Would it work?
Happy Birthday BBC Radio London, started this day in 1970. A pleasure to have graced your airwaves and to take the 10pm slot to its highest ever audience when I was there.
We made some ace radio and even broadcast our phone-in from the back of a black cab - ta
@mickthebrit
!
Another piece of BBC local radio dies. Well done all involved in this whole tortuous, damaging and unnecessary process.
You could’ve made a real difference by handling it all decently. I hope you can sleep well at night. Though I suspect the arrogance and pension helps...
The pressure on
@PennyMordaunt
during the earlier ceremony must have been immense. You just can’t imagine it. What a thoroughly class act and embodies what our nation is all about.
I know this place is better suited for bile, bitterness and spreading division, but look at the first batch of my homemade cooked pork and watercress sausages. Bloody proper and immense.
I live in a place surrounded by fields. Tractors use the ring road pulling their trailers of freshly dug potatoes. People complain. It’s called living v near the countryside. Bugger off to Peckham if you can’t deal with tractors.
July 1995 saw me get paid for my first ever pro radio gig at Southern FM (cheers
@stevepowerdj
) since then it’s been one hell of a ride inc South Coast Radio, Spirit FM, talkSPORT, City Talk 105.9, LBC, Radio London, Five Live & V2 Radio. Still loving radio!
#WorldRadioDay
Thanks all the kind messages about the new radio show. Much appreciated. We’ll go for a gentle canter from 10pm tonight.
The plan is to build a late night radio community. For now, if you’re on Facebook, please find me at Retro Duncan and follow and like and say hi!
I just want to be sitting in an old school pub on a cold October night, drinking pints of Burton Ale, working my way through a pack of Marlboro and listening to Prefab Sprout on the jukebox.
🚨BBC folk on my timeline posting about their last ever local radio shows.
I left in 2021 to pursue a career in politics/public affairs when it was increasingly clear I’d have no major future role.
#tooold
Whatever you do next, you will be successful. Trust me! 😊
Eating cold roast potatoes dipped in English Mustard whilst watching the original Van der Valk on
@TalkingPicsTV
- don’t tell me I’m not winning at life.
All the best chums for a new year. Let’s not forget those working in the emergency services, NHS, carers, essential services, volunteer sector and many others who keep this country moving, often with poor pay and conditions. They’re the ones that deserve the real honours. 👍👊😘
'Why is it wrong for Geoffrey Cox to take on outside legal work when it isn't wrong for Keir Starmer to do?'
Iain Dale puts Labour Shadow Education Secretary
@KateGreenSU
on the spot.
#CrossQuestion
|
@IainDale
The format of talk radio (the genre, not station) in this country seems to be going backwards. In most cases, deliberately polarising, often ignorant and usually outraged. I hope it returns to a form that’s more entertaining, conversational and less angry.
I’ve worked for both BBC & commercial radio. The BBC does need reform to be fit for the future. But any MP calling for it to be defunded or marginalised should have to tell their constituents what they’d cut and be answerable for the consequences. Face up to reality..
This time next week I’ll be concocting a fine soundtrack of jazz, soul and blues on
@RegencyRadio
for
#Brighton
#Hove
and beyond. Sunday from 7pm. Time for a different kind of music radio and some cool coastal vibes 🎙️🎷⚓️
Teenage lad I know started work this weekend waiting tables at the local Chinese restaurant for £10 a hour.
New P&O Ferries crew get paid half that and they are in charge of maritime safety, not noodles. I shan’t be sailing with them.
This is not my fight anymore but I genuinely don’t get what this ‘strategy’ with BBC local radio is about. But I know one thing. This is exactly the kind of show that should be saved and promoted to ensure the network offers a distinctive difference. 👇
Genuinely gutted by some of the stories I’m hearing from past BBC colleagues who have been told they no longer have a role to play in local radio. They way this has been handled is inhumane.
Those involved or those who stood by and did bugger all should be ashamed.
Good work, Ray. It amazes me how the BBC can run and support numerous campaigns about mental health (rightly so), yet when it comes to practicing what they preach, don’t care a jot about people who work for them. Sickening.
Another reason why BBC local radio has a place, especially at night. That sense of intimacy and community cannot be achieved with an England-wide show.
If you’ve been a listener to phone-in radio on LBC or Radio London over the many years you may recall regular caller ‘Alex from Watford’. I’m sad to hear he died a week or so ago. I always enjoyed his calls as I know many late night listeners did.
Bunch of muppets on The Apprentice saying maps are before their time. Gen Z all over. When 4G/5G and wifi goes down you’re going to be helpless. Pathetic.
Final batch of my homemade pork & sage with mace sausages. Before & after. Mace is a lovely spice. Gives things a little zing. Mace is the seed covering of nutmeg.
Best get making some more bangers! 🍽😋
About to blast out tons of soft rock across Sussex on DAB digital radio and online on the eve of the first birthday of
@V2RadioSussex
- happy birthday to all who helped launch this proper local radio station during a pandemic. Be proud. 👍🎉📻
What a funny old world...
LBC’s Steve Allen getting hammered about doing his act on the radio making comments about a Strictly star whose own Dad made a successful TV career out of shouting, bullying & intimidating people..
If you’ve ever listened to me on the radio over the years and been tickled by my love of jazz, then I’ll hope you’ll enjoy the first of a few shows I’m doing for Diamond Jazz. Can’t wait to play Miles Davis very loudly! Pls help spread the word. Full info below 👇
This Sunday 20th February 1pm -
@DuncanBarkes
debuts on Diamond jazz - its online only at the mo. Coming to DAB soon. Listen online via - click on Diamond Jazz or enable Alexa skill for diamond jazz & via radio apps. Questions email info
@diamondradiouk
.com
Final radio thoughts for now. I’m not retiring as some suggest. Just wanted to share some experiences from the magical world of wireless.
#talksport
#HatfieldsSE1