Manx Radio

[P.K.]

39 minutes ago, Stu Peters said:

As to long farewell speeches, I expect mine will be short, pithy and not the kind of thing that will involve serving out a significant period of notice. Or maybe instead I'll have been shot in the head by my teenage lover's husband and you'll all have to say nice things about me for a bit (but not using the word 'delusional' please).

I trust you will be clambering out of the window at the time...?

Incidentally it sounds better with "shot in the head by my teenage lover's jealous husband...."

It's probably best not to get into how deep that jealously is......

[gettafa]

8 hours ago, Stu Peters said:

Alex Bell and Catherine Nicoll (my old producer) have left MR News and gone to the BBC, which may have an office at Broadcasting House but is completely self-contained and funded through the TV License fee rather than commercial activity and an IOMG subvention.

As to long farewell speeches, I expect mine will be short, pithy and not the kind of thing that will involve serving out a significant period of notice. Or maybe instead I'll have been shot in the head by my teenage lover's husband and you'll all have to say nice things about me for a bit (but not using the word 'delusional' please).

And Phil's youngfella is with BBC too.

What's the score here? They're still on Manx Radio air.

Is there a bigger picture?

[Stu Peters]

Not that I'm aware of, although I am but a small mushroom in the Great Scheme Of Things. I think Ewan's role is funded by the BBC and his work available to any medium, not just M.R. There may be the occasional crossover with BBC IOM, but rarely. At one stage I had Richard Butt on once a month and wrote a weekly column for him - it's a fairly small pot.

[woody2]

41 minutes ago, Stu Peters said:

Not that I'm aware of, although I am but a small mushroom in the Great Scheme Of Things. I think Ewan's role is funded by the BBC and his work available to any medium, not just M.R. There may be the occasional crossover with BBC IOM, but rarely. At one stage I had Richard Butt on once a month and wrote a weekly column for him - it's a fairly small pot.

so is yours.......

[dilligaf]

18 minutes ago, woody2 said:

so is yours.......

Rubbish

[gettafa]

1 hour ago, Stu Peters said:

 ...it's a fairly small pot.

Au contraire.

The pot you are all pissing in is sizeable enough. Well beyond what would normally be considered for an Island of 85,000 souls.

[piebaps]

Only in your opinion. Some of us enjoy the station and think it good value for money.

[Roger Mexico]

2 hours ago, Stu Peters said:

Not that I'm aware of, although I am but a small mushroom in the Great Scheme Of Things. I think Ewan's role is funded by the BBC and his work available to any medium, not just M.R. There may be the occasional crossover with BBC IOM, but rarely. At one stage I had Richard Butt on once a month and wrote a weekly column for him - it's a fairly small pot.

I presume he's the 'Local Democracy Reporter' for Manx Radio, funded by the BBC, but employed by Manx Radio.  It's a bit of an anomaly because the vast majority of these are assigned to local newspapers rather than broadcasters.  Technically his output is supposed to be available to other local media outlets as well, but in practice the assigned employer will be the one directing what gets done and produced.  With the other BBC Isle of Man employees[1] also working from Manx Radio offices, lines may be a bit fuzzier than elsewhere and he may have some direct input to the BBC as well.

The idea of these LDRs is that the BBC is supposed to be fulfilling its public service remit by providing extra coverage of local councils - and in this case Tynwald etc.  In practice it has become (as was forecast) a bit of a scam  The local or regional newspapers just got rid of the reporters who were doing the jobs anyway and used the BBC-funded one instead.  Sometimes the previous employee ended up doing the same job - but paid for by the BBC.  The whole thing has become a way of subsidising the profits of private media conglomerates[2] at the expense of the licence fee payer[3].   I don't know if Manx Radio has done something similar or whether this is a genuinely extra post.

 

[1]  There are usually two of them  I think, but it's difficult to know details as names, contact details, even job titles seem difficult to find.  Practically anywhere else in the world reporters are only to keen to have such details known but on the Island secrecy seems to rule - as it does with Manx Radio (and there fewer details are available than there were say five years ago).  I suppose the idea is to signal that only the 'right' people should be allowed to get their viewpoint across, though in Manx Radio's case it is also to disguise the imbalance between those actually doing the work and the number of people 'required' to manage them.

[2]  If you look at the list of employers in the link above, the big groups such as Trinity Mirror have got most of the contracts.  

[3]  There are other worries as well - Private Eye has reported cases where Councils effectively vetoed the appointment of those who they though might report the 'wrong' things. 

[Uhtred]

The term “Local Democracy Reporter” is bloody irritating anyway. Straight out of W1A.

[Albert Tatlock]

5 minutes ago, Uhtred said:

The term “Local Democracy Reporter” is bloody irritating anyway. Straight out of W1A.

First need to live in a democracy to have one of them?

[Roger Mexico]

42 minutes ago, Uhtred said:

The term “Local Democracy Reporter” is bloody irritating anyway. Straight out of W1A.

I don't know - by the standards of BBC jargon it's almost comprehensible.  Though it does rather give rise to the question why they weren't reporting on local democracy in the first place (and of course they're still not).

[P.K.]

49 minutes ago, Uhtred said:

The term “Local Democracy Reporter” is bloody irritating anyway. Straight out of W1A.

Reporter Of Tynwald has a nice ring to it....

[Uhtred]

34 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

I don't know - by the standards of BBC jargon it's almost comprehensible.  Though it does rather give rise to the question why they weren't reporting on local democracy in the first place (and of course they're still not).

Well exactly.

[woody2]

4 hours ago, dilligaf said:

Rubbish

nope.....

[La Colombe]

6 hours ago, Stu Peters said:

I am but a small mushroom in the Great Scheme Of Things.

The implication here is that the Great Scheme Of Things is in an advanced state of decay.