← Feed

Posts

• Post #3168729

  I grew up in the 60s when Pirate Radio stations operated in the U.K. They were great. They were free (though ad-funded) and played a tremendous variety of music. Their DJs were music fans, there was also the romance of knowing they were broadcasting from small boats in sometimes stormy seas. The Labour Government and the BBC conspired to make them illegal, the BBC hired a lot of the pirate DJs and started Radio 1. To be fair, for a long time it wasn’t bad. (Cont)

• Post #3168728

  Thatcher’s government was deeply into privatisation. They couldn’t privatise the BBC so, because they also thought competition was a good thing, they offered licences to commercial organisations to run local radio stations. Again , this wasn’t bad to start with. Some stations were excellent, with first-class talent, wide ranging playlists and genuine local supporting content. Fast forward. Local stations bought up by conglomerates and merged. Global Radio and Bauer the leaders of the pack.(Cont)

• Post #3168727

  Result: bland, homogeneous, limited content, “name” presenters. Boredom. Tedium. Just a medium for adverts. A sad story. Typical of the UK over the last 60 years. Magic turned to dust.