simon Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Station announcer: Welcome to Radio Simon. On today's programme, our very expensive investigative journalist will ask hard-hitting questions of the Minister: Jeremy: So Minister - is it true you're a Mason? Minister: No comment Jeremy: But that simply won't DO! Are you or are you not a Mason? Minister: No comment Jeremy: You were seen with your trouser leg rolled up on Woodbourne Road! Minister: No comment Jeremy: So you ARE a Mason aren't you? Minister: No comment Jeremy: I refuse to allow you off the hook Minister. Are you saying you're NOT involved in the Freemason's movement? Minister: No comment Jeremy: What about the backhanders allegation? Minister: No comment Jeremy: Or that you got your cousin a job within Government? Minister: No comment Jeremy: Thank you for nothing... Minister: No comment. But here's a timetable for the Steam Packet! Station Announcer: Well, that's it for today's broadcast. We don't have any advertisers, so we can't afford to do much else. We would have reported on more local issues, but Jeremy took all our budget. Which comes in the form of a Government grant. Which was strangely slashed this year to pay the electricity bill... However, Simon himself will be here later with Hard News - mainly because he's the one who told us all that there are plenty of radio people who would be prepared to work for nothing to make their names. Silly Simon - he was the only volunteer! Trouble is, nobody in Government will talk to him any more. So it'll be a short show, and with no music of course... Can't wait to hear Radio Simon - boy will HE show them how it should be done! Grumble - Your post doesn't really answer or address any of the points which I've made. You can take the p155 but you're struggling to make any good sense IMO. Since I'm not, particularly, in the conspiracy camp. I'm fairly conservative. But I happen to think that Manx Radio is currently a poor waste of govt money. I've really no idea why you continue to be so tough about putting me down (always about Manx Radio) but so vague about any of the specifics of any point I make. It's almost as if you have some interest in supporting the Manx Radio status quo. Regardless of any critiscism. You aren't some sock puppet, I hope? What drives your tough support for Manx Radio? Your version of my version of Manx Radio is very wide of ther mark and I really can't think of any sensible reason why you would attempt to ridicule what I've suggested whilst so obviously refusing to address any of the issues. Your stuff about the masons is for you and the little birds IMO. It has nothing to do with anything which I've posted. And what about the wider points I made? Like the pointless local reporting of international business news which nobody uses? Or the failure to treat not answering a question as news? Which is how any good news journalist would treat the refusal to answer a question. (Make a story out of it). Or the failure to set goals and conditions for the station in terms of reporting local news/ culture / arts? Especially given that it is funded by taxation. What would you ask Manx Radio to provide? I thought that my points were rather positive and suggestive. I don't expect any answers from you because you never actually answer any points I raise in response to your posts. You do sometimes seem almost like a sock puppet. Given that you always slate me only after I've slagged off Manx Radio (or cigarettes where people are eating). Radio - especially local radio - should be more than someone's personal jukebox surely? I really don't give a horse's ass what the DJ had for breakfast, or what he thinks about anything...I'd rather just have the music OR quality news/current affairs speech. I honestly believe that Manx Radio, with the govt funding, should only be about news, current (local) affairs and Manx language, the arts, and culture. I believe that it should provide nothing else. But it should be brilliant, clever and hard at doing what it does. It should be looking to employ people who are really good at doing radio and can ask tough questions over and over. And if they can't get an answer then they will be making a story out of not being able to ever get a straight answer. And shaming, in repeated repeats, the people who refuse to answer diffiicult questions. That might mean it not being 24 hours - or repeating the output to maintain 24 hours. I don't see any good reason for govt funded radio (and the poor website) to compete with the entirely commercial stations. I don't see any reason for govt funding of a station which plays Spandau Ballet lp tracks or conducts soft interviews etc using tax money. The stations which play MOR music should not have to compete with a govt funded station. If Manx Radio continues to compete for a (not Manx - ) music audience - then I think that the govt funding should be up for tender. I don't see any reason for the govt money to go to Manx Radio automatically. I don't ever listen to Energy or 3FM. I'm not interested in that sort of local radio. Mark and Lard always called it 'Tin Pot' local radio. But others are, I know, willing to listen to that.. Other people like the 2 other Manx stations which aren't tax funded. If those stations can make their output pay commerciallly, then good luck to them. They shouldn't have to compete with a tax sponsored b - side radio station. Manx Radio (if funded by the govt) should be about the IOM. Nothing else. Not dodgy music from the 80s/ 70s / 60s. The govt money should only be spent on output which isn't commercial but which is important for the Manx culture. Not 80's b sides. That means, only news, news, news, news, hard - news, arts and culture. I'd be happy with a Manx Radio which had far fewer staff and less hours but harder output. I think that the website should be much better. Lots of stuff about the website could be improved at no extra cost. Like, say, the date stamping of articles. So that 'today' makes sense 2 days later. And checking the spelling and grammar. Checking the quality of the writing.. And repeating stuff in full transcripts with analysis and related links. Rather than relying on dodgy audio links. As if the audio links explained themselves without analysis. Because it isn't just about actual radio anymore. It's about providing a good news and current affairs service for people who have given up listening to Manx Radio (for now) because they can't stand the 'Smashie and Nicey' style of presenting. Or the sort of inept mid morning presenter who struggles to make a sensible point and twists and turns over his words (like some sub Simon Bates character). Given that there are no independent newspapers or other media outlets on the IOM. I also believe that people would actually listen to a station which actually provided much tougher news reporting. And a station which was prepared to be controversial and difficult about local news. Such that no local politican could risk not talking sense on Manx Radio. Most Manx people are quite cynical about government. As winessed by this forum. Lets have a radio station which reflects this. PS - and there is zero point in maintaining a, so called, business correspondent (/ former 80s deejay but not a scatch on anyone at the BBC) who provides international business news since nobody who cares about movements of the FTSE 100 or the markets is using Manx Radio as a source of reliable business news. Especially when said correspondent so frequently gets his words wrong or is, so often, mis - naming companies and cannot write or read a script. There is zero point in reporting share prices on Manx Radio since anyone who cares about share prices or currencies etc will already be using other sources for that information. Nobody gets their international business news from Manx Radio. So why do they even bother to report that? What, even, is their thinking behind reporting shares and currencies news? Nobody serious gets their financial news from Manx Radio. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 I'd go along with some of your suggestions, but only to a limited degree. Yes, there ought to be a good deal more attention paid to local arts and culture ( a job that Roy McMillan was really getting to grips with. I also accept your point about the financial reports - unless they are used to provide revenue from the companies that provide them - by advertising their services - they don't seem to serve any useful purpose. As for 'hard' local news, whilst I appreciate that too many local politicians etc are given too easy a time of it - and agree that ought to be pressed much harder to provide answers at times - there is then the situation of 'not available for comment' which, unfortunately, can't be blown up into an item of refusing to comment. In other words, if the politician under pressure didn't want to undergo the kind of interregation you suggest, it wouldn't be difficult to arrange to be elsewhere and unavailable while the story was 'hot.' Also, although there may be a plaethora of news items/scandals/cock ups at the moment, this is certainly not always in a small community such as this. On a slow news day there would be little for the kind of station you propose to get its teeth into. A final point is, of course, that even a 'serious comment' station such as Radio 4 has its share of entertainment programmes in order to appeal to a wider audience and, perhaps, capture the attention of those who wouldn't normally tune in to an all talk and culture station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 On a slow news day there would be little for the kind of station you propose to get its teeth into. Since I've been back on the island (most of the time over the past 10 years) we've had more than enough issues for anyone in the local news to get their teeth into. And some tough issues to address. Now, for example: Like how people in Ramsey will still vote for Mr Bell and Anne Craine. Because there won't be much other serious choice. And nobody else likely to win who will stand against any sort of status quo - or who is actually intelligent and straight with an eductated and serious world view. Or take somehere near Douglas where the popular candidate (but better than many, in many ways) won't be the brightest fish in the pool and may make up his words. And all, partly, because the tin - pot local radio has never treated, say, Mr Bell, in public, in the same way as, say, the BBC treated, say, Mr Archer or Mr Aitken when they were on the ropes. Or, to a lesser extent, challenged Mrs Craine for her strange behaviour at public meetings. It isn't just Ramsey and somewhere near Douglas. There isn't a single MHK who could take 2 minutes in front of serious reporting of the many issues. And this stuff actually matters. The real question is who do we all vote for given that nobody even vaguely serious or reliable will be standing for election in any seat with any chance of winning? And who can you trust? Even the oppositions are lousy. Like the sort of people represented by the, self appointed, 'Tynwald Watch' - with their ludicrous powder - puff and flouncy internal debates about leadership and constitutions? These being the kind of issue which Manx Radio should have been reporting. As we head towards another Manx election in which very few, if any, decent and serious candidates will actually be standing on any chance of winning. Or with an achievable strategy for proper and workable reform. And none of them standing on fundamental reform or the system of government which has given us the MEA debt scandal and the dodgy Barclays loans which bring into question our important system of financial regulation. Brushed under the carpet. I'm more than willing to accept a Manx Radio which plays the best of Spandau Ballet - after the IOM is sorted out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumble Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 Simon. If you look at my post on the Euromanx thread you'll see that I've come up with some facts (Google Is My Friend) that destroy one of the main planks of your argument there too. Not because I'm trying to take a pop at you, but because you make such sweeping statements. Is there no grey in your head - is everything so black and white? Do you really think that you have the answers where better men have failed to even identify the problem? Like a politician standing for election, you appear to have all the solutions and purport to know what's wrong. But I suggest that once 'elected' you would find that the reality is much more complex from the inside - and that your 'quick fixes' would cause more problems than they solve. I'm interested in any number of things - the local media is just one of them, and unfortunately it's one area that seems to draw your most virulent posts. I bought the Manx Radio book when it came out, which explains just how important the station is to the people of the Isle of Man - yet you'd throw out 40 years of history to replace it with YOUR vision of what it should be. Shame on you. I've written in the past to the management expressing my concerns, rather than indulge in anonymously smartarse and probably offensive jibes on here. I've had perfectly reasonable replies too...which maybe points to the fact that if you ask somebody why they do something a certain way, you often get an explanation. Telling them they're idiots because they don't do it YOUR way usually gets you nowhere. In my opinion (for that's all it is) the job of our national broadcaster is NOT - as you assert - to bring down governments, go through wheely bins for salacious gossip or influence opinion in democratic elections. It is to entertain and inform, and do what it does best - i.e. continue to be an old and trusted friend to the people of the Island. As far as I can see, it does that rather well, and is also working within the parameters of the report funded and endorsed by Tynwald a couple of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon Posted July 12, 2005 Share Posted July 12, 2005 In my opinion (for that's all it is) the job of our national broadcaster is NOT - as you assert - to bring down governments, go through wheely bins for salacious gossip or influence opinion in democratic elections. It is to entertain and inform, and do what it does best - i.e. continue to be an old and trusted friend to the people of the Island. It's not my old friend and I don't particularly trust it. That seems a rather quaint idea. Perhaps how some people at Manx Radio would like to imagine the station. For me it's a world of mystery voice competitions, silly jingles and Alan Partridge - like characters. It isn't about influencing opinion. It's about informing opinion. But I can see that we aren't going to agree about this. EDIT: and I haven't "asserted", or even suggested, that Manx Radio should be bringing down governments or going through wheely bins for salacious gossip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxmedia Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 Did anyone hear the Manx Radio News story saying their Breakfast Show is the most listened to on the planet?? If so please post it. I can't find it on their website. Only heard this 2nd hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 They might be correct if they've phrased it as being the breakfast show with the highest percentage of the listening audience tuned in. Seems a wild claim nonetheless but I would guess it's made a bit tongue in cheek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam_iom Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 It surprised me If you look at the offical figures Bridley is down on what he took over with from Chris Williams. Its likey that his audience are tuning in for the Manx news rather than for his wit/ego Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 Can someone explain where they get the figures from - and how up to date they are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 According to the RAJAR system http://www.rajar.co.uk/QuarterlySummary/QS...129/q3_2004.htm Period ending September 2004 Survey Period = Year Adult (15+) Population = 63,000 Weekly Reach = 44,000 % = 71 Average Hours Per Head = 10.2 Average Hours Per Listener = 14.4 Total Hours = 638 Share Of Listening % = 39.9 This public data obviously doesn't give a break down of the number of listeners for particular programmes. That data may be included in the subscriber reports. I don't know. The RAJAR site includes information about how these figures are estimated. According to http://www.geocities.com/thehotw/aircheck_UKIsleOfMan.htm According to BRC Research/NOP Media Summer 2003 RAJAR research, Manx Radio has the highest audience of any British radio station - and this statistic is regularly achieved by the station. The station regularly researches the listening habits of the islanders, for audience feedback and to aid the sale of airtime. Figures showed that 85% of the adults over 15 listen each week, this peak of around 7-8am, with a further peak of around 20% around 5pm. Over 80% has been achieved constantly since 1981. The nearest station to them in terms of percentage of listeners according to 2003 research is BBC Radio 1 (35%), BBC Radio 2 & Energy FM (33%). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Lee Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 Excuse me if I am mistaken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANXJOCK Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 As I have stated before on this forum, I am more than happy to discuss any issues raised in any of the threads concerning Manx Radio with anyone who would like to know the facts. Chris Williams Programming Director Manx Radio TEL: 682600 after 12.30 pm. E-MAIL: chriswilliams@manxradio.com FAX: 682607 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addie Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 As I have stated before on this forum, I am more than happy to discuss any issues raised in any of the threads concerning Manx Radio with anyone who would like to know the facts. Chris Williams ... Are we allowed to use the 'F' word? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam_iom Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 Had a chat with a radio chum and he said the following: Manx Radio is almost certainly doing some double counting as they are running two services between 7.30 & 8.30. It is likely that FM, Mandate, is the big winner when put against AM. Full figures for all IoM based radio station will only be available next year. That is when the data from 3FM & Energy who will have been surveyed for a full year before the data goes public. I understand this is to make sure the figures are correct. The good money is on Manx Radio holding the lead, but only when you count AM & FM as one set of figures. 3FM will come a close second then BBC & Energy. This might change as Energy has been changing its output over the last few months and is trying to be more main stream. Outside the breakfast show period the independent stations could will be the market leader. Overall it looks like the current MR breakfast show presenter has lost listeners since taking over from Chris. From this listener I can give you my feedback, get rid of thoses terrible features such as "Manx at the Movies" which has me dialing something else to listen to, anything! ...Oh and remember "keep a smile on your face" - whoever is the winner!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD4ELI Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Despite my best efforts I just had to switch off this morning at 06:30 - due to the hopeless presenter. Dreadfull - suited for those still at the bottom of the pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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