The BBC has dominated the Sony radio awards which makes a mockery of its claim that Murdoch monopolizes everything.
It does show that the BBC, funded by the license fee, smashes the opposition….pretty easy when you don’t have to worry where the next penny is coming from.
The Today programme gets ‘Best Breakfast Show’ (Over 10 million listeners)……Humphry’s gets Best Journalist…5Live gets best UK station….
There is essentially no competition for the Today programme in the area that it covers…that of serious news and current affairs.
Humphrys had a sitting duck with Entwistle and so he could hardly fail to have a ‘good interview’….Would be more impressed if he dragged in Gordon Brown and gave him the same treatment….many of his other interviews are pretty dire, seeming more about point scoring than informing the listener.
5Live isn’t bad covering a wide range of subjects and sport naturally….but it does often pick the low hanging fruit…Derbyshire in particular going for the easy tearjerkers whilst Campbell picks subjects for his phone-ins that seem entirley to miss the major talking points of the day…major newsworthy talking points that is….going for ones that interest the BBC chattering classes whilst often avoiding the ones making headlines in the papers or giving them a lightweight shallow coverage.
This morning Campbell had on the Tory Europe Minister, David Lidington…didn’t ask him any difficult questions about Europe, but just wanted to point out that it was all rather embarrassing for Cameron…Campbell let the Minister ramble on about how vital Europe was to us without any challenge to his assertions about our ‘influence’ or jobs reliant on us being joined at the hip with the EU….just how much influence do we have?….ask the banks who are going to be subject to the financial transaction tax….on which we had no influence at all it seems.
Looking at the judges (they all come from the industry)…. they are dominated by BBC employees or people who have been BBC employees…out of the first 35 judges 24 are ‘BBC’ with one Guardianista….there are around 100 judge in all…covering different categories.
Only natural you might say, the BBC being the ‘breeding ground’ for other stations….maybe the rest of the Judges were all commercial through and through. I doubt it.
Sure, and around the same time this morning on Radio 4, the fiasco of the regional fire centres. I don’t think we had a single mention of a Labour govermnment and certainly none of the involvement of 2 Jags. They might have mentioned it again after 08:00, but I had given up listening by then.
After 8, it was Mumsnests Sarah Monty asking Willaim Hague about the E.U…and the damage this will do to the Tories.
None of that British interest stuff… if we can roll out Lamont, Tony Marlow and the Bast`Ards of 1995…job done.
A Tory tragedy…but let`s not worry the voters about the Eurozone eh?…pity to spoil a good gossip by talking about money…and certainly not after a lifetime of sucking up whatever Brussels sends down the pipes.
Alan – my thoughts were exactly the same as yours – these Awards for the BBC are because there is no opposition. Of course Sony gets lots of mentions on the BBC as it reports the amazing number of prizes it has won so Sony gets lots of free advertising; the Trust is able to point to the Awards to say what a brilliant job the BBC is doing; the beeboids get a free night out. It is only us the listeners who get cheated.
Precisely my thought too, on hearing the list of winners announced on the Today programme this morning. Did no-one stop to wonder why there were no other serious competitors?
I’m surprised, though, that potential competitors don’t bring this up. Perhaps, like the NHS, it is felt that it is too much of a sacred cow to criticise; that to criticise would harm business.
I’m sure a vegetable will be along shortly to tell me it simply reflects the BBC’s excellence.
No I won`t have that.
Devon Hospital radio had an item on a dead hedgehog clogging up the air filter!
Lean, mean and fighting fit…that`s the BBC.
Free tracksuits and bling available c/o Sir James of Jimmys up in Leeds!
Radio5 Rusting Iron Lung gets ‘Best UK Radio Station’.
I think that tells you all you need to know about the awards and the judges.
I suppose there is a parallel universe where Radio 5 RIL is the ‘Best UK Radio Station’ and Drearyshire is anything other than a shrieking harridan, and Chuckling Nikki’s anything other than a waste of a microphone – but not in this one.
Any chance of an assisted dying/suicide Bill to kill off the BBCs foreskin shows?
Bloody Libby Purvis please…and Thinking Allowed(sure isn`t when the corduroy quacks of York Uni get half an hour of sociologists halitosis c/o Lorry Lorra Taylor!).
Blimey, that is a lot of categories.
And, if one may ask, is there a cost for entering?
And if so, who stumps up to make a market rate, rate that little bit higher as a consequence of winning?
Given the choice, which luckily for those garnering the gongs no one is, uniquely funding folk patting each other on the back and bumping the negotiating chips when next being handed a wadge upgrade by executives who need measures to respond to, seems counter intuitive.
I used to enter industry awards when I was an employee, but as the boss I ceased to see any value in them.
And the sheer number proliferating, and costs of entry, made them expensive ways to have a party and ‘free’ drinks.
Plus it soon became apparent that any in the know knew what was worth anything and what was totally rigged, either by old boy judge networks or organisers and sponsors having ‘understandings’ on what and who needed to win.
Just came across this quote by Albert Einstein:
‘The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.’
Guessing Newsnight/BIJ (one presumes their ‘investigations’ did get shared via radio too) were not in the running this year?
The commercial radio industry have the Arqiva Awards , which is aimed in the real world, to make it fairer for non Axis of Evil, (bbbc) stations & shows get a look in !I think that makes a more balanced view ,of what commercial radio can do , without the vast resources it does not get , & the bbc should partly fund, like S4C , with about 6 sheep farmers & 2 sheep dogs as viewers !
It isn’t surprising as as already been mentioned, there is no competition. The only alternative to BBC radio are bland boring pop stations like Kiss FM,Real Radio etc or talk sport with its annoying content and all too regular grating adverts. There are no current affairs talk radio stations with a more right wing outlook and as for music there is only Planet Rock as an alternative and that is only available on digital. No wonder the BBC clean up.
Get yourself an internet radio and open your news sources – there’s a world of opinion out there. The more we tune out of the BBC monopoly the less valid becomes the BBC poll tax.
I was sad to hear that Ken Bruce failed to win his category, he is the one BBC DJ who I find entertaining and apolitical.
‘the one BBC DJ… entertaining and apolitical’
Maybe an explanation right there?
Ken Bruce a great isn`t he?…a worthy successor to Wogan/Ray Moore…if only we could curb those 80s tendencies!
Bruce didn’t win because it wasn’t his time this year – these awards are dished out between the Beeboids on a rota basis – The people at Sony must start to ask themselves what merit the awards have and what damage this Soviet style backslapping will eventually do to their brand.
One award that wasn’t presented though, need to go to ‘The Phone-in Contributor of the Year’. And this years it goes to, Gameshow’s daily troll – ‘Jeff from Oldham’ (on again this morning)… who, it seems has been on pretty-well every ‘Your Call’ I have listened to in the past twelve months.
Obviously on speed dial, this poor man’s Owen Jones is often up first. His Pavlovian contribution consists of, ‘Hellu Nick-eh’ Thatcher, Tories, Thatcher, Thatcher. Nick-eh it’s the Tories…Capitalism, Nick-eh…’
Gives Oldham a bad name…
Well…ok, a few more things give Oldham a bad name…me included 😉
Since I put my Golf through the carwash ,(aerial was taken down) , I have been unable to receive 5 dead , FM only now , spooky I guess ,but maybe its an app that could catch on ! From other posts on this site , I have only missed Dame Campbell & other socialist scum ,with the usual left agenda , & I won`t be listening again !
Another week-another party bag and another plastic gong for the BBC.
All those e numbers must be making them a bit hyper-no wonder there`s no continual assurance that they can hold a line open for an interviewee or one of their chums in Cairo etc.
Perpetual party time at the BBC…I see Salford was another open ended cheque that they`re cashing at the bar.
“If you`re buying I`ll have a rum” as Albert Tatlock used to say from somewhere near Salford.
Well done BBC…and can we have an hour-long tribute for the Archers bloke who died…we`re needing to know, we really are!
Oh for the happy days when the BBC had competition from Pravda, Isvestia and Tass…they too were awful fond of their paste medals, and regular puff jobs about how great they were.
And Humphrys managed to get an interview with a BBC D/G too-what?…from down the corridor?…oh, well done John!
Wankers!…self flogging onanists, who`re always on the premium line to get us excited about how great they are!
Congrats to the Beeb:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22520061
Evidence if any were needed that we have some of the best radio in the world, and we should recognise how lucky we are in that regard.
The Humphrys/DG interview is a great argument for an impartial BBC.
And how much does it cost to be lucky?
…….and I don’t just mean in financial terms either!
Why don’t you take 2 minutes to find out:
http://www.radioacademyawards.org/how-to-enter/how-much-does-it-cost/
How much?
The entry fee is £108.00 (£90.00 plus VAT) per entry for Radio Academy members.
For non Radio Academy members the fee is £186.00 (£155.00 plus VAT) per entry.
‘Why don’t you take 2 minutes to find out’
A question perhaps asked more fruitfully of, say, paid Newsnight senior editors rather than fellow posters?
But with an on-station live team of ‘questions will be answered (for once, if it suits)’ folk here, the archive resource if and when deployed can be quite the time saver.
A bit more…
http://tradingaswdr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/radio-night.html?
‘Spare a thought tonight for the efforts of all those who spent tiring hours putting the entries, successful and unsuccessful, together.’
Indeed. All on their own time, no doubt?
Should the BBC be allowed to compete in such awards?
Surely a level playing field would make it more real/relevant/right.
Monk, thank you for the insight into the fact that you (the BBC) pay to enter. I wonder just how much the BBC paid for all their entries? You seem up to speed in such matters, can you enlighten us? It looks like a nice little earner for somebody.
30 Awards; so by my reckoning maximum of £2700 excl. VAT.
Do I get a prize/award?
No, there were 31 awards, not 30. Sorry.
‘Do I get a prize/award?’
Of course, and a pay rise too. It’s the upward spiral of life at the BBC.
±£3k seems a bargain, well, for those benefitting.
And even for those not its a mere drop in the corporate jolly punch bowl from the non-broadcast content side of the unique funding.
Thing is, was that all the costs to do with this event dropped on the non-attending public?
If all the entry preparations were out of hours, bravo. More so if all the tickets and getting there and all else was on the personal tabs.
Were they?
I’d suggest an FOI, but there may be a ‘purposes of journalism, commercial secrecy and simply don’t want to’ exclusion, so maybe you and Mr. Monk can oblige?
Not me, I have a thing about abusing FOI, but you go right ahead.
I agree with you though, seems a bargain.
‘I have a thing about abusing FOI’
Actually thinking of you just answering the question to spare the FOI, as you were all guns blazin’ on the details before.
As to FOI questions, one sulky FOI Director’s abuse may well be 20 million licence fee payers’ right to get answers.
But I can see how that may be a ‘thing’ to some, especially those who like keeping ‘things’ their little secret; even, or especially, ‘abuse’.
“Of course, and a pay rise too. It’s the upward spiral of life at the BBC.” ***** Why would an organisation I do not work for pay me never mind give me a pay rise?
Like BBC rewards for failure at all levels, one can only presume it would be another one of too many ‘uniques’.
The option for choosing cash is ideal as, it is low time-consuming and rapid.
Nevertheless, it seems like a similar stories are appearing which could be described as the myths with the cash
loan industry.