Losing your virginity at 59

Your gig virginity, that is - this is a clip from this week's You And Yours:

Qua diddly qua qua

Alan Ant is on On The Ropes on Radio 4 this morning, at 9am. You can hear it again at 9.30pm.

And, yes, there is an awkward photo of Adam Ant and John Humphrys, since you ask:

Mrs Blunt goes down the school to stick up for her son

Today have done a piece on the 'pop's gone posh' story this morning.

In return, they got a moaning email from James Blunt's mum, complaining that "most critics" take a harsh line on her little James "because of his background".

Up to a point, Mrs. B - given that James probably wouldn't have got past a record company door without the benefits of his privileged start in life, he wouldn't have been in the line of criticism without his poshness.

But the criticism itself is down to his droning, dull music. I don't know whether we'll ever find out if insipid balladry is down to nature or nurture, but be assured that he is being judged on his record. Literally.

Everything she does is supported by a motion from the NEC

Thanks to Simon T for pointing out that this week's episode of Alan Johnson's Failed Rock Star series on BBC Radio 4 is this:

Ex Home Secretary Alan Johnson goes in search of the life he thought he nearly had: as a rock star. In the 1960s Alan Johnson was in a band ("The Area") that cut a single but couldn't get it released. He gave music up for a career that took him from Postman to Union Leader to The Cabinet. So what has he missed out on? Does the fame of being a senior government minister compare in any way with that of being in a successful band.

In this series he meets five people who tasted the fame he craved. Each of the warm and engaging interviews reveal something different about life in music and the truth behind the myths.

In Episode three Alan meets Amelia Fletcher - singer with a number of successful indie bands in the eighties and nineties. She's still in a band today, whilst simultaneously holding down a serious office job - as chief economist with the Office of Fair Trading. Amelia and Alan talk about the joys and perils of combining the rock life with a demanding job. Did Alan make a mistake by thinking the two don't mix?

Amelia Fletcher on Radio 4. With or without a former Home Secretary, that's got to be a treat, surely?

Sony Awards honour 6Music, shames self with nominations

First, the encouraging news: 6Music has received seven nominations in this year's Sony Radio Awards. Amongst the shortlisted names are Jarvis Cocker, Lauren Laverne, Adam & Joe, Huey Morgan and Steve Lamacq.

It's a nice acknowledgment of the high regard in which the station is held. And only slightly undermined by Nick Ferrari getting five nominations for his rotten show. And - oh, sweet jesus - even nominated that toe-curling Bono poem about Elvis for something.

The recently downsized Radcliffe and Maconie show has been nominated for best music programme.

Here are the nominations in full - deep breath:

Breakfast Show of the Year (10 million plus)

5live Breakfast
BBC Radio 5live News for BBC Radio 5live

Kiss Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin & Charlie
Kiss 100

Nick Ferrari at Breakfast
LBC 97.3

The 1Xtra Breakfast Show with Trevor Nelson & Gemma
BBC Radio 1Xtra

Today
BBC Radio News for BBC Radio 4

========


Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million)

Breakfast with John & Jules
BBC Radio Kent

Dixie & Gayle, The Real Breakfast Show
Real Radio Yorkshire

Heart Breakfast With Tom, Lynsey & Jack
Heart Sussex

Steve & Karen at Breakfast
Galaxy Network Imaging for Galaxy North East

The Andrew Peach Show
BBC Radio Berkshire

========

Best Music Programme

Dermot O'Leary Show
Ora Et Labora for BBC Radio 2

In Tune
BBC Radio 3

Lauren Laverne
BBC 6 Music/BBC Audio & Music for BBC 6 Music

The A-Z of Classic FM Music
Classic FM

The Radcliffe and Maconie Show
Smooth Operations (Productions) for BBC Radio 2

=========

Best Specialist Music Programme

Huw Stephens
BBC Radio 1

Jools Holland
BBC Radio 2 Live Music for BBC Radio 2

Sounds Of The Sixties
BBC Radio 2

World Routes
BBC Radio 3

Zane Lowe
BBC Radio 1

=======

Best Entertainment Programme

Frank Skinner on Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio

Heart Breakfast with Jamie & Harriet
Heart 106.2

Steve & Karen at Breakfast
Galaxy Network Imaging for Galaxy North East

The Capital Breakfast Show
95.8 Capital FM

The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show
Absolute Radio

=======

Best Speech Programme

Behind Bars
Prison Radio Association for Electric Radio Brixton

Nick Ferrari at Breakfast
LBC 97.3

Nihal on BBC Asian Network
BBC News for BBC Asian Network

Witness
BBC News & Current Affairs for BBC World Service

Woman's Hour
BBC General Factual for BBC Radio 4

=======

Best Sports Programme

Blue Remembered Thrills - Everton at Wembley
BBC Radio Merseyside

Sportsound
BBC Radio Scotland Sports for BBC Radio Scotland

Sportsweek
Front Page Media for BBC Radio 5live

The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast
talkSPORT

World Football
BBC World Service Sport for BBC World Service

========

Best News & Current Affairs Programme

Newshour
BBC World Service News & Current Affairs for BBC World Service

PM
BBC Radio 4

The Andrew Peach Show
BBC Radio Berkshire

Today
BBC Radio News for BBC Radio 4

Victoria Derbyshire
BBC Radio 5live News for BBC Radio 5live


===========

Best Breaking News Coverage

Alzheimers' Tragedy
BBC Radio Current Affairs for BBC Radio Ulster

Corus Teesside Mothballing
BBC Tees

Cumbria Floods
BBC Radio Cumbria

The Peckham Fire
BBC London 94.9

The Release of the Lockerbie Bomber
BBC Radio Scotland News & Current Affairs for BBC Radio Scotland

=========

Best Live Event Coverage

Absolute Blur
TBI Media with Absolute Radio for Absolute Radio

Comic Relief: The Kilimanjaro Climb
BBC Radio 1

London Jazz Festival
BBC Radio 3, BBC Scotland, BBC Wales, Unique Production Co & Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 3

Test Match Special: The Ashes
BBC Radio Sport for BBC Radio 5live Sports Extra, BBC Radio 5live & BBC Radio 4

The Funeral of Harry Patch
BBC Somerset & BBC Radio Bristol

======

Best Community Programming

Ali Booker's Cancer Diaries
Oxfordshire's 106 JACK fm

BBC Academy Great Ormond Street Hospital Audio Podcasts
BBC Connect & Create for Children First for Health

Behind Bars
Prison Radio Association for Electric Radio Brixton

The New Ballads of Reading Gaol
BBC Radio Berkshire

Yvette's Early Christmas
Beacon Radio for Beacon Radio (Black Country)

=========

Best Internet Programme

Answer Me This!
answermethispodcast.com

Hackney Podcast: Water
Hackney Podcast.co.uk

Media Talk
Guardian News & Media for guardian.co.uk

Remembering Hillsborough
Real Radio North West for Real Radio.co.uk

Richard Herring: As It Occurs To Me
Sky Potato, Avalon & Ben Walker for The British Comedy Guide Podcast

=======

Music Radio Personality of the Year

Chris Moyles
BBC Radio 1

Christian O'Connell
Absolute Radio for Absolute Radio & Absolute Classic Rock

Lauren Laverne
BBC 6 Music/BBC Audio & Music for BBC 6 Music

Mike Toolan & Chelsea Norris (Mike & Chelsea in the Morning)
Key 103 Manchester for Key 103

Scott Mills
BBC Radio 1


=======

Music Broadcaster of the Year

Huey Morgan
Wise Buddah Creative for BBC 6 Music & BBC Radio 2

Loz Guest
Kerrang! Radio

Mark Lamarr
BBC Radio 2

Steve Lamacq
BBC 6 Music/BBC Audio & Music for BBC 6 Music

Zane Lowe
BBC Radio 1

========

Speech Radio Personality of the Year

Adrian Durham
talkSPORT

Eddie Mair
BBC Radio 4

Frances Finn
BBC Radio Nottingham

Jon Gaunt
SunTalk

Nick Ferrari
LBC 97.3

=========

Speech Broadcaster of the Year

Andrew Peach
BBC Radio Berkshire

Melvyn Bragg
BBC General Factual for BBC Radio 4

Nick Ferrari
LBC 97.3

Sir David Attenborough
BBC Natural History Unit Radio for BBC Radio 4

Victoria Derbyshire
BBC Radio 5live

========

News Journalist of the Year

Andover Sound News Team
Andover Sound

Ian Pannell
BBC Newsgathering for BBC Radio 4

Lyse Doucet
BBC World Service News & Current Affairs for BBC World Service

Nick Ferrari
LBC 97.3

Real Radio North West News Team
Real Radio North West for Real Radio

========

Best Specialist Contributor

Alan Dedicoat
BBC Radio 2

Chris Skinner
BBC Radio Norfolk

Mark Kermode
BBC Radio 5live

Maxwell Hutchinson
BBC London 94.9

Steve Levine
Magnum Opus Broadcasting Ltd for BBC Radio 2 & BBC 6 Music

=======

Best Interview

Eddie Mair interviews John Hutton
PM Programme for BBC Radio 4

James O'Brien speaks to Frank Lampard
LBC 97.3

Jenni Murray interviews Sharon Shoesmith
Woman's Hour, BBC General Factual for BBC Radio 4

Toby Foster interviews the Mayor of Doncaster
BBC Radio Sheffield

Victoria Derbyshire interviews Peter Bacon
BBC Radio 5live News for BBC Radio 5live

======

Station Programmer of the Year

Ed Baxter
Resonance FM

Euan McMorrow
Radio City 96.7

Paul Jackson
95.8 Capital FM

========

Best Use of Branded Content

Coca Cola - The Gift of Giving
95.8 Capital FM

NME Radio for Skins Radio
NME Radio

NME Radio Topman Takeover Show
Carat Sponsorship for NME Radio

One Last Dream with Guitar Hero
Absolute Radio for Absolute Radio & Absolute Classic Rock

The Southern Comfort 'Big Easy'
Jazz FM Productions for Jazz FM

=========

Best Single Promo/Commercial

Bristol's Big Give
Heart Bristol

Capital's Summer Time Ball - Boris Johnson
95.8 Capital FM

Dear Stan
talkSPORT Creative for talkSPORT

James Neale (for The Stop Smoking Service)
Maximum Productions for Pirate FM

Tourism Ireland: Apology for Apology for Jedward
750mph for Heart 106.2 fm, Magic 105.4 fm and Capital 95.8 fm

=========

Best Promotional/Advertising Campaign

BBC Radio 3: Composers of the Year
BBC Radio Cross Trails and Pure Tonic Media for BBC Radio 2 & BBC Radio 4

Capital's Jingle Bell Ball - I can't get tickets
95.8 Capital FM

MI6: A Century in the Shadows
BBC World Service Promotions for BBC World Service

Save JACK
Oxfordshire's 106 JACK fm

Vote Joe
Real Radio Programmes for Real Radio North East

=========

Best Competition

Battle Of The Boroughs
Heart 106.2

Beacon Radio's Midnight Drop
Beacon Radio for Beacon Radio (Black Country)

Chain Gang: Paper, Scissors, Stone.
BBC Radio 7

Sunday Sinners on Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio

Who's Calling Christian?
Absolute Radio

==========

Best Station Imaging

Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio

BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music

Gold Network
Gold Network

Kiss 100
Kiss 100

Oxfordshire's 106 JACK fm
Oxfordshire's 106 JACK fm

=======

Best Music Special

Angel of Harlem: The Billie Holiday Story
Document Productions for BBC Radio 2

Elvis By Bono
White Pebble Media / Ten Alps for BBC Radio 4

Liquid Assets: Tracing Handel's Thousands
BBC Radio 3

The Elbow Story
TBI Media with Absolute Radio for Absolute Radio

The Woodstock 40th Anniversary
Ten Alps Radio for BBC Radio 2

=========

Best News Special

Crossing Continents: Chechnya
BBC Radio Current Affairs for BBC Radio 4

Hacked To Pieces
BBC Bristol for BBC Radio 4

Passport To Murder
BBC Birmingham for BBC Asian Network

The Afghan Diaries - On The Front Line
Radio City 96.7

The Return to Hillsborough
Real Radio North West News Team for Real Radio North West

==========

Best Feature

Archive on 4: Working for Margaret
Brook Lapping Productions for BBC Radio 4

Child of the State
Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4

Kegworth 20 Years on
Trent FM Programming for Trent FM

Now Wash Your Hands
Loftus Audio for BBC Radio 4

Six Minutes Past Three: Hillsborough Remembered
BBC Radio Merseyside

=========

Best Comedy

Adam and Joe
BBC 6 Music/BBC Audio & Music for BBC 6 Music

Bleak Expectations
BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4

Down The Line - Credit Crunch Special
Down The Line Productions for BBC Radio 4

Mark Steel's In Town
BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4

News Quiz
BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4

========

Best Drama

Daniel and Mary
BBC Radio Scotland Drama for BBC Radio Scotland

People Snogging in Public Places
BBC Radio Drama for BBC Radio 3

Restless
BBC Radio Drama for BBC Radio 4

The Day that Lehman Died
BBC World Service Drama & Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC World Service

The Loop
BBC Radio Drama for BBC Radio 4

===========

Station of the Year (up to 300,000)

Andover Sound
Andover Sound

BBC Guernsey
BBC Guernsey

Moray Firth Radio
Moray Firth Radio


=========

Station of the Year (300,000 - 1 million)

BBC Hereford & Worcester
BBC Hereford & Worcester

BBC Radio Derby
BBC Radio Derby

Oxfordshire's 106 JACKfm
Oxfordshire's 106 JACKfm

=========

Station of the Year (1 Million plus)

BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio Wales

Kiss 100
Kiss 100

Real Radio Scotland
Real Radio Scotland

========

Digital Station of the Year

Absolute Classic Rock
Absolute Classic Rock

BBC Radio 5live Sports Extra
BBC Radio 5live Sports Extra

Planet Rock
Planet Rock

========

UK Station of the Year

Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio

BBC Radio 5live
BBC Radio 5live

talkSPORT
talkSPORT

6Music protests

Lots of coverage this morning of the 6Music protests in London.

It's probably the first time there's been a popular protest to save a BBC service since the march on Broadcasting House to keep Radio 4 on Long Wave. That march - mainly representing the voice of expats alarmed at a Radio 4 only on FM, and thus beyond the reach of their North European transistors - was a success. The upshot was that the planned rolling news and current affairs station was scrapped, and the original Radio Five was dumped to create a hybrid news and sports service instead.

The last march, then, killed the original Radio 6, and wiped out a bunch of interesting late-night music shows. Let's hope this march sort-of-reverses the effect.

Gen in on Derbyshire

Something to somehow bookmark on iPlayer, next week's Archive On 4 is being given over to the life and work of Delia Derbyshire.

How-do.co.uk has more:

Producer Phil Collinge commented: "Delia’s realisation of the Doctor Who theme is just one small example of her genius and we’ll demonstrate how the music was originally created as well as hearing individual tracks from Delia’s aborted 70’s version.

“We’ll also feature the make-up tapes for her celebrated piece ‘Blue Veils and Golden Sands’, and hear Delia being interviewed on a previously ‘lost’ BBC recording from the 1960s.”

The programme seems to be saying 'there's a lot more to her than Doctor Who', although most of the pre-publicity seems to be focused on Doctor Who.

6Music didn't deliberately crash Radio 4

To be honest, the bemused reaction of Stephin Merritt while being told that a snatch of 6Music had blasted out on Radio 4 probably sums up the event - it's one of those things that happens from time to time. Like the time the newsreader had a "migraine" and abandoned the 7pm bulletin a couple of sentences in between A Bit Of Fry And Laurie and The Archers.

Still, the official explanation of what happened is worth a closer look:

Diana Speed, the Radio 4 announcer on duty at the time of the takeover, apologised on-air for the interruption and has passed me this official account from her log of events:

R4 Network lost for 2'23" when 6MUSIC was transmitted on our six platforms on the Network Switcher. This was due to a mistake in monitoring when the Control Room did the switch for 6MUSIC from Western House to Manchester at 1900 and instead placed 6MUSIC on our output.I was unaware of loss of network because we monitor desk output in Con and that was going out as normal. Apology was made at the end of the programme.

Except... 6Music didn't crash Radio 4 at 7pm - which would have seen the pips and start of the news replaced with the 6Music running order and Marc Riley pretending to be somebody else. But the recording of the crash shows that both programmes were under way. Curious.

Radiohead on Radio 4

In, ooh, just under an hour - at 8.50 - Today on BBC Radio 4 will be premiering a new Radiohead song, Harry Patch (In Memory Of).

Something to listen to: Cambodia

On iPlayer for a few more days: Khmer Rock and The Killing Fields, which tells the story of what happened to Cambodia's rock scene under Pol Pot. Given that he didn't tolerate glasses, you can probably conclude that it's not a pretty story.

Mini Liveblog: Ellen and Gellar on Today on Michael Jackson

Today has, so far, not gone too bonkers about the death of someone who last made a decent record two decades ago - surprisingly, even the Thought For The Day contributor stuck to their prepared piece on the burkha rather than trying to work up some god-themed observation.

But the 8.10 slot is still going to be about him.

Mark Ellen is there, which makes sense. Uri Gellar, though, is also popping up, using the "close friend" card which he's been dining out well on since the last time he saw the man - sometime back round 2003, apparently.

James Naughtie is working through an obituary package - at least this is one place where you won't expect "King of Pop" to be used as if it was a genuine title rather than a self-awarded marketing slogan.

Naughtie has a bit of 2001 when Jackson tried to blame the lack of sales of Invincible on some sort of racially-inspired under-performance by Sony Records marketing department.

David Hepworth is Tweeting that Today called Thriller a comeback album - "no it wasn't", he says. Although this seems to be a new theme being developed today, that it was a "comeback" from the tailspin induced by puberty, Mr Hepworth is right on this one.

Gellar seems to be leaving a pause before every answer. Perhaps we're meant to imagine he's calling on a satellite phone from 2003.

"I have to face the reality" says Uri, for the first time in his life. "He was here a few times in my house... this very room... He said to me 'Uri Gellar, I'm a very lonely man'."

For a man who supposedly was a close friend, his viewpoint seems strangely like a man who read about him in People magazine.

"He didn't understand" is Gellar's take on the children in bedroom stories - it's funny, everyone keeps saying how clever and shrewd Jacko was, how knowing, and how his public image of being a child and eccentric was just a front for the media. Until they get to the child abuse stories, when all of a sudden they decide he wasn't.

It was, it turns out, the anxiety of having to play 50 dates that did for him, in Uri's opinion.

"I'm not a doctor" concludes Gellar.

Mark Ellen on now, so we'll get a bit more sense. Naughtie lining up one of his overlong questions.

"It's a shame that even today we can't look back through this mire of soap opera and remember his artistic achievements" says Mark, going on to list them. An old-fashioned pop star is his conclusion.

"But he was also Wacko Jacko" says James, helpfully.

"He had no emotional hold on the world at all" says Mark Ellen, but it's hard to see how you could manipulate emotions (which is what marketing is, effectively) if you didn't have any themselves.

I could have done with hearing a bit more Mark, a bit less Uri.

Mark Thompson, amusingly, has been waiting in the wings for his organisation's flagship news show to interview him while the former editor of Smash Hits and a bloke who bends spoons on variety shows takes the plum 8.10 slot.

The Mail attacks Bono

The appearance of Bono's poetry on Radio 4 delights the Daily Mail's Christopher Hart. Because not only does it give a chance to have a go at Bono - which, fair enough, he roundly deserves - but also to indulge in the Mail's in-house sport of kicking the BBC:

Yet Bono still has one little group of ardent fans who think the sun shines out of his well-upholstered behind. Our dear old BBC, which perhaps should henceforth be called the Bono Broadcasting Corporation.

It makes a change, I suppose, from the Bolshevik Broadcasting Company - although this was a joke the Mail was making back during the U2 at the BBC overkill, when it might have been more appropriate.

But just imagine, eh: the Mail - whose online edition is now little more than those celebrity shots that aren't exclusive to OK or Hello - getting all annoyed at a famous person being treated as something special. To be fair, Hart does realise this:

Unfortunately the BBC has long since ceased to inhabit the normal world, and is all too eager to confirm Bono's self-importance at every opportunity. It's true that the Beeb isn't the only section of the media to show a slavish devotion to celebrity culture. But surely the point about the Beeb is that it's supposed to know better.

... so, then, as we scroll past the Mail's teasers for pieces by Ulrika on bras, Julia Roberts in a bikini and so on, are we to assume that the Mail doesn't know better?

[Thanks to @alanconnor]

Bono: I had no idea you wrote such bloody awful poetry. Actually, I had an inkling, but even so...

Bono's 1994 poem about Elvis is going to get an outing on Radio 4:

Elvis, with god on his knees
Elvis, on three TVs
Elvis, here come the killer bees, head full of honey, potato chips and cheese

1994, this was. He was in his mid-30s.

And apparently there's some 14 minutes worth of this. But it manages to be ill-advised in ways beyond just literary:

Elvis the bumper stickers
Elvis the white knickers
Elvis the white nigger ate at Burger King and just kept getting bigger.

To be fair to the BBC, they're not actually making this programme. In fact... who is? Where would you find anyone fawning enough to think Bono's every utterance is worth fifteen minutes of hard-won time?

Des Shaw, director of Ten Alps, said:

Ten Alps, you say? You mean the company co-founded by Bob Geldof?

Anyway, tell us about it, Des:

“We’ve been tossing ideas around for two years, keeping on going back to it and trying to work out how we’d use it. It took a while to work out how to produce it in a very effective but bonkers way. It’s a difficult one for Radio 4.”

There's just something about the word "bonkers" which causes your anal cavity to expand to three or four times its normal size as it seeks to suck in all known life, isn't there? They might as well just title the press release 'You don't have to be mad to suggest Elvis is a pair of white knickers, but it helps!!!!!!'

Kershaw canned by the BBC - again

Today's On The Ropes was to have seen John Humphrys talking to Andy Kershaw. It never happened though, despite there even being a PIP page set up and the programme being trailed.

That summary is interesting, actually:

Andy has enjoyed a highly successful broadcasting career, winning a brace of Sony Radio awards and receiving critical acclaim for his reports from Rwanda, Angola, Haiti and Iraq. However, his outspoken opinions led to him being dropped by Radio One; he openly attacked Bob Geldof over his stance on Africa and in 2007 his personal life began to suffer.

Outspoke opinions led to him being dropped by Radio One? Really? At the time, he might not have gone quietly and had tussled with the network, but it seemed to be more about kicking him out the schedules to make way for more dance DJs. Although I guess that wouldn't really have fitted with the narrative of the programme.

It's a moot point now, anyway, as the programme isn't going to go out. Indeed, the interview was hoiked at the last moment. Mark Damazer appeared at the Radio 4 window to blog an explanation:

It is not often that we remove a programme from the schedule at short notice.

The 'On The Ropes' we had hoped to broadcast this morning in the end did not work. We were mindful of the background and, in particular, the strained domestic circumstances surrounding the break-up of Andy Kershaw's long-term relationship and the legal order, the result of which makes it very difficult for him to have significant access to his children.

We had hoped that we could explore the events leading to his personal and professional crisis and his subsequent efforts to recover while bearing in mind the interests of other parties and providing them with the appropriate degree of privacy. In the end that was not possible. The programme was recorded and edited close to the day of transmission - hence the lateness of the decision.

You have to wonder a little about what went on behind the scenes - was it really impossible to edit the programme leaving out the privacy questions? And if the sheer weight of potentially legally dubious material would have made the interview unsalvageable, any decent production team would have known that long before it got to trailing stage, no matter how late the final cut is delivered.

A lot of people are choosing to call conspiracy, suggesting this is another example of the BBC kicking Andy - although offering a platform to put his side of the story in the first place seems a curious way of going about that.

Commenters have been out in force, complaining...

I can only compare and contrast the way he has been discarded with the BBC's perpetual indulgence of the likes of Jonathan Ross, Chris Moyles et al, whose broadcasting talents are minimal compared to Kershaw's.

This seems to be hugely unfair to Radio 3, in particular, which left the door open for Kershaw's return - unless the complainants think that Kershaw should have been able to continue to broadcast while he was inside, or while he was too ill to do so, or while he was on the run from the police? And, however bad Chris Moyles behaviour might be, it's unlikely the BBC would allow his show to go out if it was going to raise privacy issues for a former partner or children. It's spectacular misfire to compare someone who oversteps the bounds of taste and deceny with a person whose life has fallen apart rendering them incapable, temporarily, of holding down any regular job.

Something to listen to: Bootlegs

Coming up on Radio 4 tomorrow night (8pm; repeated Monday afternoon, and on the iPlayer for seven days): David Hepworth doing the Archive On 4 strand with a programme about Bootlegs.

Mini Liveblog: McNicholas and Mulligan on copyright

Today are doing the Pirate Bay case with Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research and Conor McNicholas, still editor of the NME. Interestingly, nobody from a record company, or the BPI, or PRS, then.

Mulligan cautions that there's a danger in mixing lawyers and copyright - "results are unpredictable and inconvenient", effectively suggesting the best the RIAA can hope for is a useless Pyrrhic victory.

Conor keeps insisting the Pirate Bay case is like "putting your finger in a dam" - it was always a dyke when I was a kid, but I think, on balance, Conor's imagery of trying to hold back a mighty river rather than plug a gentle polder might be more apt in this case.

He suggests that internally, record companies are accepting they need new ways of handling copyright - and then runs out a brief, polished run through of why recorded music copyright is a twentieth century anomaly and doomed to vanish. Interestingly, this hasn't actually made an NME cover story, has it? I wonder if that's because it might be hard persuading record companies to take advertising around an obituary.

Mulligan then suggests that Spotify is the opposite of the Pirate Bay case, although that would imply that it's also an initiative taken by the record companies rather than just something they responded to differently.

Conor didn't have very much to do.

Straight after this feature, the business news did a piece on Record Store Day.

Miniliveblog: Tony James on Today

Tony James is on the Today programme talking about Carbon Silicon's "steal this record" campaign for the new album.

They've played a snatch - it sounds like they've stolen the music themselves, from Cockey Reject.

Sarah Montague addresses her first question to "Mick Jones" - whoops.

Is this marketing? "We've always started off giving our records away for free."

Adrian Crooks from the Performing Rights Society isn't thrilled - "royalties are a vital income source for musicians..."

Tony: "Me as well."

Adrian says what's interesting is that "someone has paid, somewhere along the line... there has to be a money flow." But is that true? Won't people put stuff online without the thought of reward?

Where does the money come from, Tony? Tony suggests that the costs of making music are a lot lower now - what you're putting in is "your time and commitment." How do you get paid? "We're still able to sell CDs, if we get played on the radio, we'll get paid."

Does Crooks accept that the records will be stolen anyway? It's up to the artists, he concludes.

It still doesn't make the record any good, though.

Chris Martin: The arts show is killing me

We were a little surprised that Radio 4 felt that Coldplay's new album was worth a show of its own - half an hour to fill on a band whose sales might be wide but whose presence is somewhat slight seemed a bit of a risk.

It didn't help that Chris Martin flounced off nine minutes in, leaving - oh, yes - the drummer in charge:

Martin appeared uncomfortable with the interview from the outset.

When asked about a speech he made at a music awards ceremony in 2005 where he said the band would be away "for a very long time", Martin said: "I always say stupid things and I think Radio 4 is the place that will most remind me of that."

It got worse:

Presenter Wilson questioned whether the new album - full title, Viva La Vida Or Death To All His Friends - was a morbid reflection of the band's lyrical obsession with death.

"I wouldn't agree with you there at all, no," said Martin.

"I'd say you're journalistically twisting me into saying something I don't really mean."

Oh, for god's sake, man, you're the singer in a mildly diverting pop group making songs for driving Honda Civics to, and you're being asked if your music is sometimes a little glum. It's not like you're the minister for defence and are being set up for a question about weapons of mass destruction. If you'd just answered 'yes' or 'no', it's not like John Wilson was about to then hit you with allegations that your morbidity had led to the death of those dolphins in Cornwall or anything. He was trying to find something interesting about your band, and you reacted like it was a trap.

Martin only stayed a few minutes after that, although he did return at the end to add this:

"Um....yes...yes, yes....exactly..."

Which, naturally, John Wilson twisted journalistically into making Martin claim responsibility for the death of John Lennon.

Given that Martin is clearly incapable of polite conversation, why on earth did he agree to do the show in the first place?

Perhaps he just got hacked off it wasn't Mark Lawson.

No sauce for Lamb: Sony Radio Awards

Last night the Sony Radio Awards - the radio industry's chance to claim "they're a bit like the Oscars" - were handed out at a glittering occasion that was only nearly entirely overshadowed by the Sex And The City premiere.

The good news - having somehow got onto the shortlist (why, yes, controller of 6Music Lesley Douglas did help choose the names), George Lamb didn't win anything.

Chris Moyles won the best breakfast show prize, a recognition he accepted with his trademark good grace:

Moyles was presented with his prize by his parents, Vera and Chris, who said: "Eight million listeners know he deserves it."

Despite winning, the DJ dismissed the Sony awards as "rubbish" and "boring".

Accepting his prize, he said: "Radio 1 won nothing until now. I should get a pay rise.

"Before all of us got together the Radio 1 breakfast show... oh, it was dreadful."

Was it? Was Sara Cox's programme really so much worse? Or is it just that when the competition is now Johnny Vaughan and Dr Fox, it's a bit easier to get the audience in, even with a honking narcissist in charge.

Station of the year went to Radio 4; in what we're choosing to interpret as a bitchslap, GCap Global's threatened Planet Rock was handed the Digital Station title. That won't save it; only someone with money can do that.

The winners in a list which doesn't look quite full:

Breakfast show Chris Moyles, Radio 1
Music programme Dermot O'Leary, Radio 2
Specialist music programme Friday Night Floorfillers with Krystle, 97.3 Forth One
News & current affairs Newshour, BBC World Service
Speech Saturday Live, Radio 4
Entertainment Russell Brand, Radio 2
Music broadcaster Andi Durrant, Galaxy
Music radio personality Jonathan Ross, Radio 2
Speech broadcaster Simon Mayo, Radio 5 Live
Comedy Down the Line, Radio 4
Digital station Planet Rock
Station of the year Radio 4

Update: Thanks to Simon T for pointing out that, actually, Lamb did win - it's just neither the Guardian nor the BBC reports mentioned his "rising star" award.

Robbie Williams is not on the shortlist for presenting Today

This should be interesting: Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson have teamed up to make a programme about UFOs for Radio 4. Robbie Williams is known for a long-standing interest in extra-terrestrial life; Jon Ronson has carved a niche of making programmes about eccentric obsessives, gently unpicking their fascinations. There's a preview in this week's Guardian Weekend - because Ronson knows how to use his material to best effect. Or maximum earning potential, anyway.