Paul O'Grady Quits BBC Radio 2 permanently.

[Trackman]

Yes, I used to listen to Radio 1 in the days of Mark and Lard, but have long since left its sphere.

Didn't everyone?
R1 seemed to have a bit of a renaissance with Mark and Lard.

 

[yorksrob]

Didn't everyone?
R1 seemed to have a bit of a renaissance with Mark and Lard.

Yes, they really hit the zeitgeist with those two

Made it all the more inexplicable that Radcliffe and Maconie were bumped off of R2.

Shows that the BEEB are a bunch of half-wits who don't know a good thing when they have it.

 

[Trackman]

Yes, they really hit the zeitgeist with those two

Made it all the more inexplicable that Radcliffe and Maconie were bumped off of R2.

Shows that the BEEB are a bunch of half-wits who don't know a good thing when they have it.

Thing is, they said they had reached their peak and they thought anything afterwards it would be on decline so called it day at the right time .... unless something else happened. Which I think probably did.
TBH, it was close to the knuckle if not over- this was 20 years ago, but no-one made an official complaint (as I am lead to believe) about 'Fat Harry White' or 'Lard's Classic Cuts' spots.

 

[yorksrob]

Thing is, they said they had reached their peak and they thought anything afterwards it would be on decline so called it day at the right time .... unless something else happened. Which I think probably did.
TBH, it was close to the knuckle if not over- this was 20 years ago, but no-one made an official complaint (as I am lead to believe) about 'Fat Harry White' or 'Lard's Classic Cuts' spots.

I had no idea that those characters would cause a complaint anyway.

Needless to say, such complaints should have been ignored.

 

[the sniper]

However I’m finding myself listening less to Radio 2 and more to Radio 6 Music. I’m a bit disappointed I’ve only discovered this station now. The first radio station I’ve listened to where I like the vast majority of music. The presenters are much more calm, and talk more about geeky aspects of the music rather than unbearable and painful inane chatter you hear on mainstream radio stations.

Enjoy 6 Music while it lasts, it's a shame you're late to it as it recently feels like it's been going the wrong way.

I never understood how one week a presenter can rave about a particular track as the best thing ever released yet a week later it is wiped from existence. Makes it difficult to have respect/regard for the presenter when I know they don't believe what they are saying.

Mary Anne Hobbs is by far the worst offender on this front, as well as various other fronts. She seems to be the model for new DJs on 6 Music though, purveyors of the most "amazing" new generic electronic music, from the often equally "amazing" female producers, which you wouldn't have known if you weren't told.

I like Craig Charles as a person, but his show just doesn't do it for me. There's little charm to it, which is in stark contrast to Radcliffe & Maconie and Keaveny's shows in that slot.

Steve Lamacq is formulaic, but he does seem to have more freedom to deviate from the current playlist to play stuff you'd have heard more on 6 Music in the past.

I do like Giddy Old Co (Gideon Coe) of an evening and I liked Shaun Keaveny's show and style until they moved his slot and surrounded his speaking parts with dire music. Not sure who chooses the music, obviously it has to meet the target demographic. Creeping Urbanisation was how one person put it I think, relating to Radcliffe and Maconie who were moved at the same time.

Basically I like shows where the presenter is clearly knowledgeable about their specialist music, or life generally if presenting a generic show, rather than being a hired mouthpiece to spout a script with someone else choosing the music. That takes years of living and breathing your subject matter, which many of the Radio 6 presenters have of course, rather than it just being your job of the moment.

Hopefully Mark Riley and Gideon Coe are left alone, they're the best weekday shows now. They play a lot of great stuff you'd never hear otherwise and have perfect temperaments for their slots.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Listening to his last show now, it seems appropriate to do so.

 

[Jimini]

I miss the halcyon days (in my opinion) of local radio in the UK. Growing up in town in the '90s, I used to love Chris Tarrant on Capital FM and the whole model they used. Remember the days of the 'Flying Eye'? It was a sad, sad day when CT hung up his microphone and we got stuck with Johnny Vaughan on the breakfast show instead.

Also, a special mention to the Kiss 100 DJs when the station went legit I think in the late 1990s -- the 20 year old version of me used to love Bam Bam and Streetboy on the breakfast show.

Somewhat surpringly, I thought, when I moved over to a U.S based company around 10 years ago, it turned out that Elvis Duran and the morning crew on WHTZ (Z100 New York) still used a very similar broadcasting model. I still listen to it regularly now (although if I'm not over there it's a bit odd listening to a breakfast show at lunchtime!).

 

[Jamiescott1]

I miss the halcyon days (in my opinion) of local radio in the UK. Growing up in town in the '90s, I used to love Chris Tarrant on Capital FM and the whole model they used. Remember the days of the 'Flying Eye'? It was a sad, sad day when CT hung up his microphone and we got stuck with Johnny Vaughan on the breakfast show instead.

Also, a special mention to the Kiss 100 DJs when the station went legit I think in the late 1990s -- the 20 year old version of me used to love Bam Bam and Streetboy on the breakfast show.

Somewhat surpringly, I thought, when I moved over to a U.S based company around 10 years ago, it turned out that Elvis Duran and the morning crew on WHTZ (Z100 New York) still used a very similar broadcasting model. I still listen to it regularly now (although if I'm not over there it's a bit odd listening to a breakfast show at lunchtime!).

Was a big fan of kiss 100 and bam bam and streetboy.
Kiss went legal in 1990.
Bam bam now does the evening show on virgin radio UK.

 

[Jimini]

Was a big fan of kiss 100 and bam bam and streetboy.
Kiss went legal in 1990.
Bam bam now does the evening show on virgin radio UK.

G'wan, have a ding!

I'll have to check him out on Virgin, ta for that.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

BBC are trying to woo the young generation who are abandoning radio in general and alienating the olduns who want to stick with radio. Seems an odd business strategy. If 40 is taken as the dividing line, although it may be younger, it will be at least another 40+ years before we are extinct. So, that is 40 years of loyalty they are trying to discourage. Radio 2 should remember that. Presenters on BBC radio and TV are leaving for reasons not necessarily stated publicly. The main ingredient missing nowadays, is humour. Wogan had it, C.Evans and Z. Ball don't, replacing humorous interaction with listeners with fast talking and interviews with celebs, to fill the gaps. I don't recall Wogan interviewing anyone. He didn't need filler, he had his team, like Deadly and the Togs ie, the listeners to create content. Brilliant radio. Only Ken Bruce and Claudia Winkleman retain humour but even Claudia interviews celebs. Also Liza Tarbuck, who has a unique style. Leading into the news with, 'on FM, online and on your smart trousers, this is Radio 2'. Individuality is disappearing.

Isn't this the natural evolution of radio stations? Do your stint on Radio 1 and then move across - happened with the first group from the 60s such as David Jacobs, Ed Steward, Kenny Everett and David Hamilton, all moving across in due course. Eventually, some of the Smashie and Nicey ones had to be physically removed and that left people like Simon Mayo and Mark n Lard etc, and they then were replaced in R1 (by Jo Whiley, Zoe Ball, Scott Mills etc) and moved to R2. It was ever thus.

As it is, I didn't really like POG but I can understand why he didn't like the 13 wks on, 13 off arrangement that R2 wanted to pursue. R2 have shot themselves in the foot a few times - the Simon Mayo/Jo Whiley joint show was appalling, whilst they still have Zoe Ball in the morning with her annoying overexcited wiffle. As for Fearne Cotton with the 90s - she was born in 1986; they could have had a better choice for that - Colin Murray, Vernon Kay?

I have no issue with Steve Wright being moved out. It's the same show as it has been for 30 years and needs freshening up though I'd sooner have seen Scott Mills replace Jeremy Vine (who annoys the hell out of me). I'd have Gary Davies with something more than sounds of the 80s (a polished DJ); he's good when he stands in so perhaps have him for the lunchtime show and fewer "let's have a heated debate" type irritation.

I'm not the greatest fan of Jo Whiley but I like the music she plays. Some revelations have been Rylan on a Saturday (who I thought I'd hate but he's a very good presenter) and Claudia has got better over time. Liza Tarbuck is mad yet excellent.

Sarah Kennedy was another one who was, to all intents and purposes, sacked by the BBC.

The rot set in then, and has continued ever since.

Sarah Kennedy wasn't sacked to all intents and purposes. Her show was moved back to it's old timeslot and she didn't want to do it. There were rumours (that she denies) that she had issues.

 

[Runningaround]

If he'd stayed as Lily Savage he wouldn't be as dull. And Tony Blackburn! Harry Enfield was taking the mick out of this has been at the start of the 90's, 30 years ago.
What was on Radio 1 moves to Radio 2 twenty years later with it's audience demographic. I'd have thought those who moan about the BBC had moved onto Talk Radio with Nigel Farage.