Wrong! I have had almost 100 emails from old friends who noticed my contribution on Harvey Goldsmith’s “Get your act together”. I was in the programme about the ailing radio station Big L. Big L, called thus because the founder Ray Anderson is a pirate radio anorak and used to listen to ”Big L - Radio London” as it bounced around on a boat off the coast of Frinton in the 1960s, is broadcast to bits of the UK from an AM transmitter in Holland. It’s also available on-line and on Sky Digital. Harvey’s job in the programme was to go in and help them stop losing £50k a month. Harvey enlisted my help in listening to and evaluating the station and getting some other radio cognescenti to stick their tuppence in as well. Gillian Reynolds, radio critc of The Daily Telegraph and John Walker, Head of Radio at media agency OMD helped out along with Paddy Whitnall and Steve Parkinson.

Ian Thomas, MD at top agency Tequila, emailed to say that he thought the whole show was a spoof until he saw me! Thanks Ian. But it was an incredible story in the true sense of the word. Gill Kingston, marketing boss at Mamas & Papas emailed that she hadn’t laughed so much in ages. Four or five old geezers sharing a house in Frinton-on-Sea including former Radio 1 DJs Mike Read and David Hamilton, going on the radio and just playing their favourite tunes all day, you couldn’t make it up. According to Chris Vezey, the programme controller, “it’s as good as Radio Two but cheaper”. Well, that’s debatable in every way. Harvey thought the new owners (Ray had run out of money) had some kind of tax dodge and were using the losses on the radio station in some clever tax efficient way.  I am doubtful about this. I think they had just been seduced by the magic of radio. Do what? Yes, there is still a magic about radio and the fact that I received so many emails about the programme demonstrates that lots of people were entranced enough to watch a tv programme about a radio station. 

Harvey’s well intentioned and informed advice was rebuffed by the owners and practitioners of Big L and in the end he wisely walked away. What was never shown in the programme was my offer to the owners to pick up all their programming costs and replace all their output with a targetted and brand funded format. This would have taken away about 75% of their costs and left them simply to pay for the transmitter and their admin costs. They would have been able to concentrate on selling the advertising and their monthly P&L would very quickly have turned from red to black. The fact that they turned down this offer confirms to me that they are starry eyed and more interested in making radio than making money.

There is a fundamental premise behind Big L’s “mission” and that is that not enough radio stations are making great radio. You can’t argue with that. Is Big L filling that void? Debatable, but to their credit they are trying. It was their arrogance which left you with little sympathy.

Is radio lacking? What is needed?  Your comments please…….  I know you’re interested - you watched the TV show!

If we’re talking music there is a must listen place for me. It’s PANDORA.COM where you can create your own radio station to listen to. Just put in one of your favourite tracks and the software will start to play you a radio station that mirrors that selection. The really great thing about PANDORA.COM is that I don’t know all the tracks it plays. That is what I miss most about regular radio today. I started listening to the radio because it was the place to hear all the new stuff. Now there are very few radio stations where I don’t know almost all of the tracks some of which I have become thoroughly fed up of hearing because of the extremely tight rotations and high repetitions. Listening to Pandora as I write this I have never heard JD Blackfoot and “One time Women Don’t Bother Me” and I probably don’t want to hear it again for a while but hearing it once was a joy.

What are you listening to?

ROB JONES