Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Breakfast bars

Bam Bam, who got canned from Kiss FM's breakfast show after pushing Ofcom a little bit too far, is returning to daily radio for anyone who's prepared to pay £1.50 a week for him. The shows are going to be full of swearing and so on, and Bam Bam can't wait:

"Radio and television are struggling to engage a young audience against the appeal of pirate stations, the internet and computer games. There are 12-year-olds all over London using the c-word yet Kiss are fined £8,000 because I said 'muff' on the radio - what a joke.

"I truly feel sorry for traditional youth broadcasters who are trying to create programmes for the next generation with their hands strapped behind their backs. That's why podcasting is such a breath of fresh air for young people."


We tend to take out our opera glasses to look carefully at anyone who uses the phrase 'young people', especially when they're suggesting that these young people are a target market and need to hear people saying "cunt" before they'll be engaged.

Meanwhile, as one DJ completely misunderstands why UK radio is regulated and loses his job as a result, another seems to have a better understanding of the rules than his management and... ends up losing his job as a result.

Terry Garoghan had been presenting breakfasts on Brighton's Juice FM, but he's not had his contract renewed:

"As a born-and-bred Brightonian it has been an extra special privilege to wake up my home town. It is with sadness that I am leaving.

"In radio it is very hard to establish an awareness of any show, especially a breakfast show, in such a short time. I am not happy at leaving a job half done and I am disappointed that Juice have given me no good reason as to why they do not want me to continue.

"My Last Bus To Whitehawk show on Southern FM was late at night and carried an X certificate. The Juice management clearly wanted me to carry on from where I left off as they have suggested to me my breakfast show has not been as in-your-face as they had expected.

"As a father of a five-year-old I am absolutely sure that parents do not want their kids exposed to anything over breakfast that walks the line of bad taste. Nor, I would assume, would Juice's advertisers and sponsors.

"Juice is Brighton's local station. It should be broadcasting to the whole of Brighton and not just the trendy centre of the city - this means families in Patcham, Woodingdean, Moulsecoomb - the suburbs.

"Brighton should have a local radio station that reflects its different faces and is not just geared towards clubbers and students. Local radio has a vital part to play in the community and I hope that it won't be too long before the city has the radio station it deserves."


With EMAP still trying to sort out its radio wing, smarting from massive fines, you'd think a wise radio manager would welcome a dj who understands how to work within the regulatory framework. Apparently not, though.


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