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SWEARING AND UNCARING
There's a bit of a bumper broadcasting complaints report published by Ofcome today [pdf document], which is getting most attention for the use of "wankers" by Elton John at teatime.
The word wankers, obviously. He said it during the Paul O'Grady Show, and people got upset. But Ofcome weren't especially bothered, as everyone had said sorry at the time and, besides, it's virtually expected these days.
Meanwhile, Kiss FM in London were given a once-over after they accidently played the Theme From S'Express during a Friday afternoon show. The version with "suck me off, fuck me off" in it. Kiss explained it was mix-up, and Ofcom agreed to say no more about it. Amusingly, Kiss has now promised to listen to the records it plays before it plays them as a result.
More oddly, Kerrang's Birmingham station had been running a competition called Dole or no Dole, in which "the presenter ring[s]
unsuspecting members of the public, who may or may not have been claiming state
benefits, so that competitors could guess how many benefits they were claiming."
Some people suggested this might be a little uncaring.
The item was introduced by a voiceover stating “currently there are over 890,000 people on the dole in the entire UK…” this was followed by statistics relating to unemployment statistics from different UK regions. The voiceover resumed “In other words you are doing the work for 2.4 million people for free…that’s right, you are paying for 2.4 million people around the UK to live...so what the hell are these freeloaders doing? It’s time to play ‘Dole or No Dole’.”
The presenter then announced the competition by saying that it involved competitors guessing, by the sound of somebody’s voice, whether they were on benefits – “what
we gotta do is...make a few calls…I’m going to put them on hold…you’ve got to guess…whether or not they’re on the dole or not”. He then went on to list a number of social security benefits including incapacity benefit, job seeker’s allowance and motability. Pretending to be from an income consolidation company, he called two people, apparently waking them, to ask about the benefits that they were on.
The station, it turns out, wasn't calling real people but never let on the people they were ringing were stooges; and when they started to get complaints they dropped the feature. Which was good enough for Ofcom, although we're not sure it answers the deeper question about the feature - surely the suggestion that those in reciept of benefits are "freeloaders" rather than people receiving the entitlements to which they're due? You might also ask how it fits with the Kerrang brand to be stigmatising the weakest members of society by implying they're deadweights and drains on society.
If David Cameron said something like that, there'd be a small firestorm at the very least. What the hell is a radio station supposedly at the heart of youth culture doing promoting something so Tebbitian?
4 comments:
It fits perfectly with the "Kerrang" "brand". It is merely a sign of how right-wing "rock" (and even more so when it's called "rock'n'roll" by British people in 2006) is, and has been for a long time now. Most of Kerrang's listeners would love nothing better than to be Americans; why should we be surprised that the station tried to do such a thing?
It was Tebbit and the other working-class Tories "made good", against opposition from both the pre-Blair Labour Party and the old public school guard in their own party, who created the commercial radio market we have today. Why is anyone surprised when stations play along with the agenda of those who allowed them to come into being?
is this the only way Birmingham radio stations can see a way of getting press ahead of those 'in the big smoke' or have their focus groups revealed that Midlands listeners prefer a bit undiluted stupidity with their heavily lobbied playlists? 'Jezza' Kyle was marrying off strangers (then marrying the wife himself) a few years ago, other whacky DJs were breaking into their boss's house, and other 'stunts' which thankfully I'm having trouble fully recalling. What is it with Brum wireless stations? - Elvis
Elvis... I would imagine you're thinking of the glorious "sit on a block of dry ice" competition, aren't you?
Robin... possibly true that K! listeners wish they were American, but I'd also suggest that many of them would be living on benefits - surely they don't want to be self-hating as well?
Oh I don't know, self-hating seems to be a defining characteristic of such people. Especially if they come from West Coast Main Line cities, always the most Americophile places in the UK (and, appropriately, the places of their size to suffer most from one of the most dangerous aftereffects of our national Americophilia, the chronic underfunding of the railways).
The dry ice competition was indeed a BRMB stunt.
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