The last day of the year will probably be a laid back one again, this year spent in front of Channel 4's Comedy Gala, and Jools' Hootenanny whilst devouring a spirali bol and a few red and blue drinks.
Doesn't get much better really.
So it's the final blog post of 2010, and I thought it would be best to have it based around photos on some of the more positive parts of the year.
Most of them taken in London.
Reunited with Sazzah at The Junction.
With Beth and Mark at Matt from Leeds 21st birthday pub crawl.
What I'll be drinking tonight.
Alongside Nana Charlie at The Roadhouse.
The CMP Reunion.
"Aunt Em"
Denis's Circle Line Crawl.
The winning team from CSR's Lounge broadcast.
Meeting Trevor Dann at the 2010 Radio Festival.
Alongside Bluey at the Hampton Court Beer and Jazz Festival.
Emma Kennedy and Phill Jupitus at Anifest.
Meeting Emma again, this time with Richard Herring at a recording of AIOTM.
Pip and Chris at Holly's 26th birthday.
I'm hoping for more of the same in 2011, and quite a lots planned including another performance of "Christ On A Bike" this time in Canterbury, and Holly's leaving party before she jets off to New York for a few months.
They may have been distanced, but there's been some superb excursions in 2010.
Normally at the end of the year the website Off The Telly have published their superb annual review of the best and worst as shown on the idiot box.
Seeing as the site has been abandoned, I thought I'd attempt to give my own take on both that and the noise box although it won't be as good.
So let's give it a go.
You'll probably be surprised to hear this, but I am actually fed up with comedy, due to the overdose of stand-ups on television.
Not that I don't like it altogether, but it's like when you've eaten too many sweets or chocolates during the holidays and you get fed up with both.
It's lead to negative perceptions for two reasons, one being the BBC who have watered down most of their output with Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow being a prime example.
Whilst Channel 4 and Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights has gone to show that too many offensive jokes, one-after-another, doesn't really have the shock value that the Scottish comedian was known for.
Even worse was The Morgana Show where compared to the above, not content with just telling jokes about people with disabilities, the performer goes ahead and does 75% of her characters with some sort of disorder, with Gilbert being the worst example.
To be honest, she does a fantastic Fearne Cotton take-off.
The overdose in stand-ups on screen has lead to many believing that they can handle presenting shows on television.
In some cases it's worked with Dara O'Briain sinking seamlessly into Adrian Chiles' shoes on The Apprentice - You're Fired, but less succesfully for Jason Manford who came and went from The One Show.
Andas for jokes on television altogether, they don't come any closer than Daybreak.
Sitcoms this year were rather hit and miss, with The Inbetweeners returning for one final series and proving hilarious, although Simon Amstell's Grandma's House was pretty much gag free, and had you questioning why he even left Buzzcocks in the first place.
Panel shows never seemed to be off our screens either, although Mock The Week seems to be managing OK without Boyle, mainly due to the one-liners and loud shirts of Milton Jones, and Have I Got News For You soldiered into it's 20th anniversary in style, despite a move back to Thursday evenings.
A rant about Philip Green from Jon Richardson was a high point.
Also worth mentioning is David Mitchell's The Bubble, but if one panel show should be put to bed, Never Mind The Buzzcocks would be first on my list, after another embarrassing set of guest presenters, and crap jokes from Noel Fielding.
And not forgetting the ridiculous decision by More4 of dropping The Daily Show from being show every night, apart from the Global Edition on Mondays.
It's a sad fact that more viewers would prefer repeats of Grand Designs, rather than one of the most cutting satire shows on the screen.
Drama's been pretty good this year with Steven Moffat proving successful with Sherlock, and the new Doctor Who. Although Matt Smith has taken a bit of getting used to, the fact that they'll be splitting the next series into two halves, which will probably make it less tiring.
As for the best drama of 2010, nothing comes closer than This Is England '86. And the good news is that Channel 4 more than immediately commissioned another follow-up set in 1990.
The X Factor pretty much became the only topic of conversation this year, with issues such as the Autotune scandal, Gamu being rejected, and Konnie Huq being an inferior presenter on The Xtra Factor.
Channel 5 attempted their own knock-offs with Must Be The Music and Don't Stop Believing, the latter of which prompted Ian Wright to make his departure from Live From Studio Five.
So I guess the show managed one achievement.
Entertainment has been pretty embarrassing and all, with the BBC doing the unthinkable and giving John Barrowman a second series of his illness-inducing Tonight's The Night.
Steve Jones continued his run of unsucessful shows outside of T4 with 101 Ways To Leave A Gameshow, and an award for the most traumatic, possibly psychotic programme of the year would have to go to Over The Rainbow, notable for the vomit inducing elimination regime involving a giant cardboard moon, hoisting up the departing Dorothy.
But that's not to say ITV escaped lightly as they came up with a show that could make Blind Date look watchable.
Paddy McGuinness took hold of the reigns of the dating show that Sean Lock rightly referred to as "Take Me Out And Fucking Shoot Me".
Children's programmes are still continuing their slow departure from terrestrial television, but the BBC are still coming up with the standouts.
Horrible Histories returned for a second series and the popularity has resulted in it being commissioned for prime-time next year with Stephen Fry as the presenter.
The Sarah Jane Adventures returned for a fourth series, but the unexpected drama highlight was Tracy Beaker Returns where the former occupant of the Dumping Ground, returned as a care-worker but still retained her gutsy demeanour and was never far from potential problems.
With a team of superb writers such as Ben Ward and Jonathan Evans, the series was never afraid of including lines relating to what children really found funny, as well as including disabled characters, but treating them equally and making them the jokers in places.
And the series overall is a lot more commendable than the ever-contrived Dani's House, where the lead actress attempts to be a British Hannah Montana and ends up being even more annoying.
But then again, every television genre needs its fair share of good and bad programmes.
BBC Switch made a very timely departure from our screens in December, although in all fairness, barely anyone within the target audience knew that the strand even existed.
Saturday mornings also continued their decline, with Live 'N' Deadly bringing nature to the timeslot in a one hour show travelling the country that would frankly be better off being shown in the summer rather than Autumn.
It also meant that TMi was moved to Friday evenings on the CBBC Channel only, and pretty much rang the death knell as the last show revealed it was to be the final series altogether.
The show's presenters Sam & Mark on the other hand did have another series to be proud of, as the gameshow Copycats returned for a second run with a new look and a sense of progression, as well as the superb addition of Alan Dedicoat (or "Mr. D") as the announcer and commentator during the physical rounds.
At least it gave him something to do, with his newsreading duties on Radio 2 now handed over to Moira Stuart who was just one element of Chris Evans becoming a successful replacement to Terry Wogan on the Breakfast Show.
As for Terry himself, well he ended up hosting an OAP's Radio 1 Roadshow on Sunday mornings with not so much success, with even the most devoted TOGs rejecting the programme.
Richard Bacon moved from late nights on 5 Live to mid-afternoons making a good job of it, although I've never really got the live web-cam part, which doesn't look too good when he's interviewing someone via ISDN.
As for commercial radio, is there anything positive that I can talk about in those regards?
Many of the major players were quick to react to the Digital Economy Act leading to many mergers and consolidations.
Smooth went national in October, and Bauer got the green light to do the same for Kiss in 2011.
Global on the other hand in their quest to provide a national rival to Radio 2, shut down a number of Heart stations to become regional, and in September announced that they would be bringing Capital FM to a national platform, leading to many a negative reaction on Twitter and Digital Spy.
An ill-judged comment by "company President" Ashley Tabor about dropping local presenters didn't help things either.
But then again, they're not bothered.
They just want to make as much money as possible so Ta-bore can pay off his daddy's debts.
So that's one perspective of broadcasting throughout 2010, and whilst it may not all be positive, no one can deny that it hasn't been interesting.
Around the same time I was writing endless anecdotes of independent local radio stations, a fella from Cornwall by the name of Frank Coleman had put together his own takes on the regional identities and histories of the much missed ITV regional franchises on Youtube.
I haven't gone through them all just yet, but partly as a reminder for me as for where to find them, here's all the stories on offer, in a series of reminisces known as "ITV In The Face". South West England (Westward, TSW, Westcountry) Ulster
The delivery of the narration, reminds me of that belonging to Tudor when he used to do the ever hilarious "Confessions Of A Student" podcasts in the early days of University.
Which can only be a good thing, and having spoken to him at length on occasions about the days of Thames Television, I'm sure he'd share similar sentiments to the above videos.
The fact that our Prime Minster used to be Director Of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Television, just goes to show how screwed up the country and it's broadcasting has ended up this way.
But the one thing David Cameron can't take away, are the memories of the many regional television companies who not just provided a homely service to the areas they covered, but also made fantastic contributions to the ITV network itself.
OK then, I normally upload a few audio concoctions at Christmas and with an almost visual one as well, here's what I've come up with.
Whenever I've made "mash-ups" before they've always been based around the one song, i.e. a load of acapellas laid down on Incognito's "Everyday".
This year I'd thought I'd try something a bit different blending together a few rare groove, disco, and even a bit of ska, as the backbone for the years most notable offerings, as well as a few old favourites near the end.
Getting the Blamires treatment this year are Lady Gaga, Kelis (you'll never guess which song of hers), Cheryl Cole, Timbaland, and Rihanna amongst others.
My second offering is something that's best listened to on a long train/tube journey, but not recommended for when driving.
It's another comedy compilation of some of the funniest bits from telly and radio over the last year, including bits from the usual suspects such as Mitchell, Brooker, Carr, Lock, and others including Jon Richardson, Sarah Millican, Jack Whitehall, and Frankie Boyle, you have been warned.
One thing that isn't included are my dreadful "Humidity Headlines" podcasts from earlier this year, proving that I'm not capable of comedy myself.
That said, there is a spoof news bulletin in this compilation at 56.40, only this time it's read by a professional, and none more so than Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
Also included in the last 30 seconds is a man who will be missed from More4's airwaves on a nightly basis from next year.
It was originally going to be jokes that I found funny one-after-the-other, but when putting it together
I realised it was better to do it in order of time, with most of the gags based around television, sport and politics.
And I make no apologies if this comes across as one-sided as there have been a load of idiots ruining, sorry, running the country this year.
It's basically a compilation of jokes about things that have made me bloody furious.
Nothing has been cut or bleeped (unless already done so in the original shows) so it's not for sensitive ears.
One of the subjects covered by Rufus Hound at around 2:30 is the subject of the third and final "present" which has taken up my whole life in the latter half of the year.
Now I'm afraid I can't take credit for the cover, especially as it's probably the only decent bit of the document.
But anyway it's a dissection of sorts of an area of television that has been more influential for me than any other area in broadcasting.
Although the title's a reference to Tiswas I should have called it TMi, as there's quite literally too much information.
But then again, I was never really a fan of TMi the show, especially as the BBC favoured it over Reggie Yates' Mighty Truck Of Stuff.
And I know for a fact that there were genuine fans of the above series.
The reason it came about was a result of realisation, of the decline of such programmes since during the years I was at University.
If you were to tell me ten years ago that Jo Brand could make me laugh so hard that I'd be in tears, and have to pause my DVD player, I would have given you a right earful.
Having just watched the third Mock The Week "Too Hot For TV" DVD, it resulted in just that, where without giving the gag away, it was a contribution to an unaired SWLTS round from series 3, where the topic was "What Not To Say To A Policeman".
Even the subject alone had me laughing, as anything that involves breaking the rules of something even the most stupid individual knows is wrong, is good in my books.
That, and hare brained politicians, and real life Wile E Coyotes who end up becoming the victims of their own plot.
Obviously, that must have been recorded before Jo Brand boycotted the show, over it's "lions den" nature.
Before that, I re-viewed Four Lions and I didn't realise Benedict Cumberbatch had a cameo as a police investigator when seeing it first time round.
To be fair, the film came out in cinemas quite a while before Sherlock commenced on television.
Tomorrow, the rest of the family are back from Norfolk although I doubt Kate will be with them.
I'm certain she's popping over to get a few things before the new year but she's been thrown in at the deep end with regards to her new job.
It's always when everyone else is away from home, that I can actually think for myself and realise that sometimes, maybe I go a bit too far.
Earlier this morning I wrote a Facebook note which was basically an extended moan about my frustrations this year, a lot of them involving radio.
Although it's something I've been meaning to do for most of this year, I was half asleep when writing it, partly because my bedroom on returning home was absolutely fucking freezing.
Sorry Mum and Dad if you're reading this, I know you told me not to, but there are times when I have to turn the thermostat up to it's highest.
Anyway, after finishing the note I had a lie down in bed, and after waking up at around midday I realised that maybe what I did write down was a load of bollocks.
Well not entirely, it did get a moderate response in agreement, but it was after watching the first part of BBC Three's list of 2010's Most Annoying People that I have been living under a rock this year.
There's far worse things happening in the world and to be honest, it's hilarious how such people stoop so low.
US air travel was one such target, twice in the rundown for letting children work as air traffic controllers, and refusing to let Kevin Smith onto a flight because of his weight.
It's not just on Stateside shores there's issues with air travel, as there was that stupid exhibition by John Travolta representing Quantas and being no fucking help at all for the Australian football team as their "unofficial mascot".
And it's not just radio that has it's fair share of profit monkeys.
Football was picked on quite a bit, with Liverpool fans campaigning for the departure of two yanks who owned the club, only for them to be replaced by another.
But unlike local radio, football fans will make themselves heard when money making ruins the great game, and sadly, I guess I've got to accept that the public are more loyal to their football teams then they are to local radio.
They attend the games for a purpose, not to have as background.
But if more people are less interested in the box of noise, investors won't go anywhere near community radio, which I should be thankful for and have become more so recently with regards to CSR.
The fact that I don't really get involved in the station's politics is an advantage of some sorts because let's face it, politics has fucked up radio to a huge degree.
It's nice to have the break however, I accept that there some individuals working many a stressful Christmas shift, but when I return on the second Sunday in January, I'll be fired up and ready to go.
On a more poignant note however, Teena Marie has died, and I'll definitely be playing one or two of her tunes on the first show, especially one of the amazing offerings from her 2009 release "Congo Square" proving she still had a lot more to offer.
No time like the present however, and I look forward to being in front of the telly downstairs watching the DVD of Four Lions that Mum and Dad gave me for Christmas, whilst enjoying a stock cube infested chicken stew with easy-cook rice.
It will be steady, but I'm certain it's the beginning of a road to recovery, now that I have unloaded a heavy amount of bollocks from inside my head.
I'm finally home from our annual jaunt to South Creake only this year was nowhere near as stressful as the last.
The only real incident I had was knocking over a jigsaw puzzle when rushing to get a WKD bottle, resulting in more than just a few hysterics.
Much of the time was spent in the bedroom I was sharing with Mum and Dad, engaged in tangent typing, melodic mashing, and gag-gathering, the results of which I'll post on here in the next couple of days.
That said, there were one or two good things on the telly including this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special where Michael Gambon reprised the role of playing an older and younger version of the same character, and Katherine Jenkins proving that she's capable of far more than caterwauling.
There was also Channel 4's Peep Show night where I was squealing with laughter at the episode where Jeremy arranged a mushroom party, and I reacted in a similar manner to The Royle Family which was actually quite an improvement on last year's special.
With regards to the wintry conditions, it had all seemed to have calmed down since our departure, and there was no trouble making my way back to London this afternoon, en route to the Leicester Square theatre and the much awaited performance of Richard Herring's Christ On A Bike: The Second Coming.
Whilst it was a rather modest, but not empty turn out, the performance itself was fantastic, including a few bits that I haven't seen before such as the dissection of the Ten Commandments, and Herring's letter applying for the job of The Pope, which I did see at the AIOTM recording in October, but it wasn't in the stage show first time round so I'm not too fussed.
And yes, I was in hysterics at the rant about the first page of The New Testament, which for me has to be the funniest rant in comedy bar none.
Right at the end of the performance I bought two DVDs of past stand ups from Richard Herring including Hitler Moustache, along with two signed programmes from the great man.
As for the next couple of days, there's quite a lot I want to get of my chest, the results of which will appear on Facebook if you're one of my friends on their who hasn't deleted me for hypocritical reasons.
I'm sure I'll feel even better once it's been written.
It's looking as if the snow is steadily disappearing in Canterbury but that doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't more to come.
In less than an hour we will be making our way to South Creake and when I arrive it will inevitably feel as if I've never been away, but at the same time it will be nice to get away from Canterbury, and be in a house without wireless internet, for just a few days of course.
I hope to be back late on Monday night after seeing Richard Herring's "Christ On A Bike" but if it turns out I can't get to the Monday performance, I'll see if I can go to one of the later performances in London because it's quite a lengthy residency into the New Year.
I'll also have a few special "presents" if you can call them that, to put on my blog towards the New Year and although the bigger picture may still be going wrong, I feel as if I'm in a more stable state than 12 months ago.
Aside from further audio arranging and tangent typing, I managed to get all my Christmas presents for the rest of the family bought, and wrapped up.
Not very neatly, but I've always been poor at neatly wrapping presents.
Tomorrow's the day I always seem to dread every year as we're making our way up to South Creake for the Christmas holidays. And with the weather more chaotic than ever, I'm dreading the worst but I'm sure it won't be too frustrating.
Especially as Laura is travelling with us from Canterbury.
The weird thing is that I'm actually within reaching distance of two fellow Uni alumni with Chris Chilvers in Lynn and Dani Farthing in Dereham and it's a shame we never really make the effort to have a night out in Norwich or wherever.
If I can get an enjoyable night boozing with Laura and her friends in Suffolk, then surely Norfolk's not all that different.
I'll try and write one more blog post tomorrow before leaving, and I may be less nervous about things.
It was my last visit this year to the job centre, and for quite a while too as my next appointment isn't until the 17th of January.
Of course wishful thinking would ideally have me within a job by that time which is doubtful, but never say never.
After Christmas I won't have anything to occupy me, so no better time to up the ante.
Today I commenced compiling the audio for my comedy compilation I plan to upload pretty soon and I'm trying to put some sort of narrative together, as if it's one long show of it's own.
The closest I'll get to that is by making sure that all news related gags are in chronological order at least and the way I've been working now has made me remember some of the political stories pre-coalition such as Tony Blair's part in the Chilcott enquiry, and the MP lobbying scandal uncovered by Channel 4's Dispatches in March.
It's quite a good night for comedy viewing tomorrow evening, as in addition to Tramdol Nights, there's also the Mock The Week Christmas special which like last year will probably be highlights from the last series along with a few specially recorded seasonal gags.
Either way, it will brighten me up ahead of what may be a treacherous journey to Norfolk on Wednesday.
Tonight saw Phil "The Power" Taylor only just missing out on winning the 2010 BBC Sports Personality Of The Year to jockey Tony McCoy and the first jockey to win the honour.
As I write this, I must be one of very few people who can't give a bollocks about tonight's Apprentice final, and my television highlight for this evening couldn't be any further from it, with yet another showing of the Father Ted 1996 Christmas special.
I know I've seen it loads of times, but it still makes me smile whenever I see it although surprisingly it's not the lingerie scene that has me laughing out the loudest.
Probably because on first seeing it 14 years ago, I was laughing more at Father Jack writing swearwords with the toy building blocks in the creche.
As for the race to the Christmas number 1, none of the "twatty chart campaigns" as one commentator refers to them, could stop Matt Cardle getting to the top spot, with arguably the better of the X Factor winners singles.
The act that I have been backing; "K*nt And The Gang" reached number 66 with "Use My Arsehole As A C*nt" which is commendable at least for the fact that it was a home made job.
But when it comes to seasonal songs, this has to be 2010's finest, a soulful offering from Cool Million with "Let The Christmas Spirit In" which is as far removed from what you'd expect as a Christmas tune, but not so far removed from a modern soul effort.
In fact, change the lyrics and it could work at any time of the year.
Tomorrow I brave the cold again, making my last visit this year to the job centre, and hopefully getting all the Christmas shopping finished.
My biggest worry is that the snow puts a stop to my visit back to London this time tomorrow, but if worse comes to the worst, I'll probably see if I can book tickets for "Christ On A Bike" in Canterbury the following spring.
It's looking pretty stable towards Christmas Day itself however so I'll see how things turn out.
As today's the last day that the stations set to turn to Capital FM in a couple of weeks broadcast under their heritage names (well, almost), I thought it would be an ideal time to remember such stations when they were at their prime.
Rather than go for the Heart Attack post presenting potted histories of such stations, here's a selection of memorable jingle packages from the various stations, set to lose their much treasured names.
Starting with Galaxy which started off in Bristol as a brand owned by Chiltern Radio with "The Hot FM" strapline, as the replacement for an ill-fated community station known as FTP (For The People).
In 1994, the station relaunched with a new additional frequency for the greater west of England, as Galaxy 101, broadcasting a mixture of current dance and classic soul blending Jamiroquai with Stevie Wonder, The Brand New Heavies with Earth Wind And Fire and so on.
A custom jingle package was produced by Alfasound with JAM vocals with an energetic pace and fitted in well with the lively presentation.
Under the eye of Paul Chantler it was a hit with listeners and went on to become the benchmark for what would become Vibe FM in the East of England three years later.
Which ironically was what Galaxy 101 transformed to before ending up in it's current guise as Kiss, although the days of the station itself seem numbered now that Kiss have got the green light from OFCOM to go national.
As for the original station, the Chiltern Group were taken over by GWR in 1995 and being Bristol based themselves, Galaxy was sold off to the Chrysalis group who ended up extending the brand to the North of England after the purchase of two stations who previously broadcast under the Kiss brand name.
The Manchester station Kiss 102 took to the air around the same time as Galaxy 101 in October 1994.
The frequency had previously been owned by Sunset Radio, but was taken off the air by the Radio Authority for breaches of license.
Under the eyes of programme controller Guy Hornsby, Kiss 102 launched with a superb custom jingle package by Alfasound, including an amazing top of hour news intro as heard at 2.30.
The success lead to a sister station in Yorkshire being inaugurated three years later with Kiss 105 but months after launching, Chrysalis bought out the stations and quickly relaunched as Galaxy.
Despite 105 gaining a breakfast show hosted by Simon Hirst that will continue under Capital, things were never the same post-rebranding.
Heading over to Wales, and Red Dragon FM.
The station launched as a service for South Wales in 1985 and previously broadcast to the area under CBC for Cardiff and Gwent Broadcasting.
One of the strongest jingle packages was the resing of TM's "Dallas Power" in 1991 which was also used on Galaxy Radio when it launched.
Many have speculated as to whether it's broadcasting base "The Red Dragon Centre" a shopping centre in Cardiff will rename itself to "The Capital Centre".
Which sort of makes sense as the Cardiff station is the only one that will actually reflect the station name geographically.
It wont be the only station in the network broadcasting on the 103.2 frequency as there's station more fondly remembered as Power FM in the South Coast.
Whilst the station had many exciting jingle packages during it's 20 year reign, the 1993 JAM package stands out mainly because of the amazing top of hour, blending in the Kiss '90 stager with a custom written news bed by comm/prod man Paul Witts, with an amazing climatic finish.
I dread to think how the listeners will take to the rebranding, considering that it changed to Galaxy two years earlier.
Perhaps the loss I'm most gutted about, has to be in Nottingham where the longest running station out of the lot, Trent FM makes it's bow.
Apparently former presenter David Lloyd now running Orion Media, hinted that he did everything he could to buy out Trent FM and would have retained the much treasured station name.
It's not all bad however as his company now own the East Midlands 106 license and plan to relaunch as GEM 106 on the same day as Capital commences.
It's impossible to decide which of Trent's jingle packages to include in this retrospective as there were so many, but one that stands out would be this one from 1991 containing resings from JAM's "Breakthrough", "Q Cuts", and "Omni-Tracks" packages, the latter being one of the then head of presentation Len Groat's favourite jingle packages.
And not forgetting the superb custom written station songs, topping and tailing the compilation allowing the Dallas singers to really hit the high notes.
Hopefully the above audio is a reminder of when commercial radio in the UK could be exciting and innovative, yet emotional at the same time.
And whilst I've no objection to Global Radio running a national hit music station, it's just a shame that it's at the cost many long established stations who have worked like mental to achieve their success and loyalty.
In all honesty, Capital in London whilst in a more stable state than two years ago, is a far cry from the all empowering station it once was.
I know it would go against Global's principals to use an honest branding exercise, but if they were to undergo such a thing, look no further than this melodic offering with lyrics penned by Paul McKenna and Anthony James.
Just change the last line from Bruce Springsteen to Rihanna and it will work perfectly.
What can be made of the new service from January the 3rd remains to be seen. But I doubt it will be anything worth preserving.
Thanks to Iain Johnston, David Harber, Dave Nightingale, Aston McNeil, Len Groat, Paul Chantler, and Martin Simm for the audio and other information.
It's been a weekend of television departures of sorts, although the one in this blog post isn't so much of a "farewell", but more of a "whatever...".
BBC Switch, the BBC's multi-platform teen strand departed from television this afternoon with little fanfare, mainly because the whole venture was doomed right from the offset.
The final programme transmitted was The 5.19 Show which was full proof of the number of teen oriented television programmes who's presenters are trying all they can to be Simon Amstell by acting in a knowing and sarky manner.
Take a hint, it doesn't work and you're not witty or clever.
Looking at Switch on reflection, there was just a complete lack of sincerity towards the whole thing, even less so towards the viewers, and the strand has been heavily criticised by those who have helped pioneer "youth television" successfully in the past, including Phil Redmond and Russell T Davies.
The final programme finished with a sequence involving the presenters and crew walking down Great Portland Street near where the Switch offices are based, to the tune of David Bowie's "Queen Bitch"
The strand itself ended in a very unprecedented manner, with a trail for tonight's Strictly grand final and a final sighting of the BBC Switch ident with no farewell announcement or whatever.
I bet CBBC wish they hadn't axed Byker Grove now...
This leaves Channel 4 as the sole terestrial provider of teen content but T4's in a worse state than ever itself, with very little home-grown shows, in favour of the Hollyoaks omnibus and endless repeats of Glee and One Tree Hill.
Although BBC Switch is now confined to the television graveyard, Amstell wannabe Tom Deacon continues his Sunday night Radio 1 show in the New Year, but I hope the BBC have learnt their lesson in fragmenting viewers when there was no need to do so in the first place.
Is it any surprise that I find myself listening to more radio than television at weekends? (Even with the absence of Danny Baker)
This may be an age thing, but it's not like I'm complaining about something that a younger generation actually appreciate.
More untimely moves in television have been taken, as More4 have dropped The Daily Show from being broadcast nightly, apart from the Global Edition compilation show broadcast on Mondays.
This is one of the most stupid decisions I've known of, and one I'm rather gutted about because post the axing of Big Brother, I thought that Channel 4 and it's counterparts were on the road to improvement.
The fact that they've recently brought in Jay Hunt in is quite possibly no coincidence with regards to the decision as I do not remember her doing anything spectacular for BBC 1 during her reign as controller.
Commissioning shows such as Hole In The Wall, Totally Saturday, and Over The Rainbow says it all.
Maybe Channel 4 are jealous because they've tried their best over the last 10 years to emulate the success of Jon Stewart etc with their own flops such as The 11 O'Clock Show, and Tonightly to name a few.
No wonder John Oliver crossed the Atlantic to be part of the bigger boys.
I know I shouldn't say this, but thank heavens for Isohunt, allowing me to download the episodes online.
I'm a bit mellow tonight, which is rather bizarre, as most of my viewing tonight and earlier this afternoon has been nothing but light hearted laughs.
First of all was the CBeebies Christmas Panto on said channel which goes to show that I've never grown up, and this year was Aladdin starring "Mister Maker" as Wishy Washy, BAFTA award winner Justin Fletcher/Mr Tumble as Widow Twankey, and the woman with one arm playing Princess Jasmine.
Sorry if that's not very PC, but at least they don't make a big deal about it on the station itself.
There was also presenter Sid Sloane as The Spirit Of The Ring who's appearing alongside John Thompson in the panto over here in Canterbury.
It was good to see in the credits that the panto was penned by Ian Lachlan, who goes back to the days of Play School but is probably better known for the second, lesser remembered (or in my case better remembered) operator of Fingermouse.
The sad thing is that I used to own the fact sheets on how to make a paper Fingermouse from the BBC many years ago.
Straight after that was the Christmas Horrible Histories, a series that has proved so successful, that it's now going to be broadcast in prime time, but hosted by Stephen Fry instead of the puppet rat who's voiced by the same fella who used to operate Mr Onion on Live & Kicking.
Which needs nicely onto what was to be the final edition of Sam & Mark's TMi Friday, and from what judging by this rather emotional video montage at the end, was probably the last TMi ever.
It couldn't have come at a more significant time considering the show got "CBBC" as a trending topic on Twitter, which mainly involved tweets asking why that was the case.
Or more to do with The Wanted being guests.
I must be honest that I was never really a fan of TMi, especially as I thought Reggie Yates' Mighty Truck Of Stuff should have been given the slot as Dick & Dom's permanent replacement, but it is quite emotional looking back at footage from series 1, when it was done in Leicester Square and looked really good fun for both the presenters and the viewers who took part in the various games.
Sadly, it was one of the shows caught in the BBC's phone scandal, and with CBBC's demographic narrowed, the shows were shortened from two and three quarter hours, to 90 minutes, moved half an hour to 8:30am in series 4, and for this series moved to Friday evenings where many assumed that it was intended to run into the ground.
You couldn't fault the fact that Sam and Mark, and Caroline to start with had enthusiasm for what they did, but it falls into that classic television conundrum;
Do the audience get the same buzz watching at home?
It's a conundrum that sadly seems to have infected a lot of television shows in the present day, and now that compliance is a big issue, the BBC are very scared of any trace of innovation, fearing that being innovative and being edgy are the same thing.
But then again, and to be very fair, whilst Going Live!, SM:tv etc managed to entertain children and adults, TMi was aimed solely at the younger end, and it now seems that they prefer seeing thesame Spongebob Squarepants episodes repeatedly as opposed to live entertainment.
For many, TMi was the last traditional Saturday morning magazine show to air on British television, and now it's finally made it's bow it's unlikely we'll see a show of that ilk again on television.
But by a strange twist of fate, Dick & Dom are returning to Saturday mornings on BBC 2 in the new year with a series called Funny Business which puts stand up comedy at the centre stage with guests such as Jason Byrne and Stephen K Amos lined up to assist with the pairs crazy antics.
But if you're expecting a reprieve for Da Bungalow prepare to be slightly disappointed, especially as the shows themselves are pre-recorded and are likely to last no longer than an hour.
I may be way past it's demographic profile, but I fear for the future of children's broadcasting because with regards to live television it's a training ground for future broadcasters where you can do exactly what you like and laugh about it if you make any mistakes.
It's also the most inventive television genre as I can't think of any other that would involve furry residents living in Wimbledon Common, a soap opera set in Scotland with brightly coloured houses, and historical documentaries explaining how flatulating was a form of entertainment in Tudor times.
Joe Godwin, the current head of CBBC has defended the scaling down on the BBC News website, by stating "We make programmes for children, not nostalgic old farts"
Russell T Davies on the other hand has countered that argument, stating that there's a difference between being nostalgic and remembering something that was really good and inventive such as The Broom Cupboard, and Going Live! etc and could still work today, if adapted to today's standards.
And he'd know a thing or two about resurrecting an old television favourite and making it successful again.
A late start, but certainly not an unproductive day as I got my sister's birthday present delivered, and started work on a couple of applications for broadcast related jobs.
It's always worth giving them a go.
The Royal Variety Performance wasn't too bad tonight, it had it's fair share of good and pony acts with a longer-than-it-should-have-been medley from Les Miserables and an inferior rendition of "Tiny Dancer" from Rumer and Jamie Cullum falling into the latter.
On the plus side, Kylie Minogue came up with the goods, and the comedy wasn't too bad with John Bishop being the highlight as expected.
Because of tonight's spectacle, if you can call it that, it means Have I Got News For You is back in it's traditional Friday timeslot tomorrow with what looks set to be a potentially strong show with Alexander Armstrong hosting.
No doubt the student riots will be top of the bill.
In the world of radio, it's been announced that Kiss have been given the green light to go national, meaning the closure of bases in Bristol, and East Anglia of which the latter was once known as Vibe FM.
Whilst it's not been to my taste for many years, it can't be denied that the East Anglia station has improved ratings since the name change and a move to a national platform seems like them logical move.
But then again, it does go against Bauer Media's constant emphasis on playing the local card as opposed to what Global are doing.
I'm pretty certain the radio will be switched off altogether during my stay in Norfolk, apart from the comedy on Radio 4 of course.
Another unmemorable day as always, although it maybe more to do with the fact I've been working on a few aural/visual things that I'd prefer to keep as a surprise until just after Christmas.
It's better working on such things in advance and taking it steady as last year I got myself too hyped up over what ended up as a rotten festive holiday, continuing long after that and all.
I don't know if I've even recovered now but I'll soon find out provided things continue improving.
One thing that I have uploaded is a short compilation of some of my links from my show on CSR over 2010, and the fact that it lasts under three minutes proves a few points, taking into account I've done around 40 2 hour shows this year.
Here's the audio, and if subtle humour isn't your bag, stay clear.
At least it's better than my Humidity Headlines podcasts from earlier in the year which are fucking shite and should never have happened.
No idea what's happening tomorrow, but I do need to get some wholemeal loaves, and maybe some apples as well as we're lacking on such delights.
Double standards continue to prevail in society, and there's no worse offender than The Daily Heil.
As pointed out earlier today by a tweeter, one week they're condemning Frankie Boyle making jokes about disabled people, and then they're letting Richard Littlejohn get away scot-free with comparing wheelchair-bound protestor Jody McIntyre at last Thursday's riots, to Andy off of Lou & Andy from Little Britain.
Which is a flawed comparison in itself, as Andy from Little Britain has the ability to walk.
Having said that, the Press Complaints Commission have received 500 complaints about the article so far, and if they launch an investigation here's hoping it doesn't go the same way as the Jan Moir article about Stephen Gately did, as the trout continues to pour out her bilge every week.
That aside, I've had a bit of a struggle today as Firefox crashed earlier and refused to restart without doing so again and again, resulting in me downloading the new version of AVG as my old copy of that application was on the blink and all.
The aim for tomorrow is to get Kate's birthday presents delivered, and then I can pretty much lay back until Christmas.
Until realising I've got to get everyone else's presents and all.
It's going to be a dull couple of weeks, prior to the journey to South Creake on the 22nd and I'm wishing that I had a dosage of sleeping pills to last until then.
Having said that, I need to buy my sister's birthday present as soon as, and I may as well do so tomorrow as she doesn't want anything too expensive.
I'm rather grateful for certain people wanting disposable presents such as shampoo and chocolate but they will go crazy for such things and that can only be a good thing.
Not a lot else to look forward to tomorrow, apart from episode 3 of Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights.
The man's been in big trouble over the last week, resulting amongst other things in a discussion about the issues regarding Katie Price on Jeremy Vine's show on Radio 2 earlier this afternoon.
It's sort of a tricky area to discuss, but the fact that Boyle plans to retire from stand-up after his current tour, shows a slightly coy demeanour to him.
At least it shows that Channel 4 aren't holding back and even worse using the whole incident as an excuse to water down all of their comedy programmes unlike some broadcasters...
Swearing on Radio 4, vandalism in London, and I've been shafted by someone who I thought I was a really good friend.
It's not all bad though as Kate has finally moved into her new home in West Hampstead and although I'm pleased that she's done so succesfully, I'm rather poignant about it as West Hampstead used to be one of the stops I would pass on a tube journey back to Northwick Park.
The final Blam Jam went fairly well, despite screwing up the opening link down to the fact that whoever was in the studio before me had switched off all the microphones via the desk.
And I had no idea that the mics could be activated via desk switches.
That aside it was a look back at 2010's soulful and jazzy stuff, as well as the odd seasonal tune, but from a radio anorak's point of view I really enjoyed backtiming towards the Sky/IRN bulletins.
Rather than using the normal CSR news intro, I used the 1988 Power FM news fanfare for 7pm and the early 90s Invicta FM top of hour for 8pm.
Appropriately enough, the newsreader on the IRN/Sky feed used to do just that for Invicta during the declining era under GCap.
Seguewayed along Steve Wright's old closing theme it felt good and as they're instrumentals, I think I got away with it.
I didn't have that many listeners, everyone else was watching the X Factor.
The last song I played before the end was the late Frank Sidebottom's "Christmas Is Really Fantastic" which has been re-released with 5p of every sale going to Macmillan Cancer Trust.
No better way to finish really.
So that's it for my radio exploits this year, and whilst I've felt like throwing in the towel at times, I feel more confident with the show now and built up more confidence thinking on my feet.
Light relief has come about from tonight as tomorrow lunchtime, we'll be going to Zizzi's as I was civilised about this afternoon's incident, and even better Cheryl Cole's mini-me has been booted from The X Factor.
Not too fussed if she does release a single, as there's no outlet on TV bar the show that made her famous for her to perform on, and my wireless tends to be permanently switched off most of the time.
But rather than analyse the performances and duets from tonight, how about deviating completely and indulging in the perfect duet;
Swing Out Sister and Level 42 performing live in 1989 with Corrine's vocals and Thunderthumbs bass playing blending together for this superb performance of "Breakout".
So tomorrow looks pretty good, a lovely afternoon at a rustic Italian eatery, followed by my final radio show of 2010.
It's been up and down but as far as CSR goes, the year is ending on a high.
Due to reasons I'd prefer not to refer to, we have abandoned our outing to Zizzi's which I am really gutted about.
I haven't done anything myself, but the way things seem to be going I really don't think I can speak to anyone below my room in my house.
It's really reached the time where I need to get out of living here and do whatever I can to find an earner.
And there is a advantage to being culled by certain people on social networking sites, because at least I won't have such pricks knocking me down from a great height.
They're really not worth the fucking time.
I'm certain I'll be more stable later tonight in front of the television with a bottle of the strong fruity stuff, and a meal which is made out of pasta and stock cubes amongst other things.
I'm absolutely dying for a drink, but having realised it's the X Factor Final part 1 tonight, I reckon I'll be covered with slightly stronger stuff later on.
More importantly, I hope I get my appetite back by lunchtime when we make our way over to Zizzis.
Frankie Boyle meanwhile has been getting it from all sides with regards to his jokes about Katie Price's son Harvey on Tramadol Nights recently. The thing I'm curious to find out is what would Dwight Yorke make of all this considering it was his child.
And if you think those gag's are offensive, just wait until you hear the gags about Baby P, provided Boyle includes them in the series.
To be fair, I burst out laughing when he said that Baby P looked like Russell Howard.
And on that subject, on the extended edition of Good News tonight the one and only Richard Herring makes a guest appearance, which is rather odd considering he was sacked as one of the writers in the first series due to other commitments.
I doubt he'll be performing material from Christ On A Bike, but then again that's more of a story than a stand-up.
I won't go into details, but I believe this song says it all when it comes to sounding the death knell for a four year friendship, over a misunderstood comment.
Whilst the rest of the country's recovering from yesterday's shambles on both parts, I've been continuing to search for any signs of motivation.
And as expected, I've failed.
Thankfully this weekend should see signs of improvement as both Kate and Olly are back tomorrow, and we're going to Zizzi's for Kate's birthday lunch. Well her Canterbury one anyway, she plans to have another in London later on nearer the day itself.
It's also the X Factor final tomorrow and Sunday, but more important than that is the last Blam Jam of 2010 on Canterbury's CSR 97.4 which will aim to prove that 2010 wasn't that bad a year for music.
And this time I won't be running over, partly because I get quite a buzz from backtiming up to the news at the top of each hour.
It may have had a shaky start, but I'm certain that Sunday's show looks set to finish the year looking forward.
The big city has turned into a riot ground following the announcement that Nick Clegg is a lying cunt.
Well that's what it revealed.
In the real world more MPs voted for the increase in tuition fees which to be fair we all saw coming.
Only that I doubt Cameron and Clegg realised the side effects of their move and although vandalising major landmarks of London and damaging the vehicle of Charles and Camilla were probably not the most called for ways for the protestors to react, the Prime Minister and his two faced deputy only have themselves to blame.
And as for the vandalism of the Oxford Street Top Shop, well then that's fully justified considering that the owner has been dodging taxes and is complaining about the immense amount of money he has to pay.
It's safe to say I've no idea who to vote for in the next election as it appears no one can be fucking trusted.
I was in bed by 11:30pm last night which is slightly earlier than normal and still woke up at about 10am this morning.
I obviously don't like mornings it has to be said.
Mum, Dad and Kate must have arrived in Nottingham by now although like my own graduation it must be a nightmare waiting in line to get a photo.
I still haven't put mine on Facebook, that's how bad it is.
My plan for later is to go into Morrisons to get the stuff I need for tonight, which may quite possibly include a vanilla cheesecake and definitely some fizzy stuff as there's hardly any drinks at home right now.
Both will be consumed in front of the live episode of Coronation Street although I plan to save the stronger stuff for Saturday and Sunday's X Factor final.
Apart from that and the usual searching, I don't know what I'll be doing. The playlist for Sunday's show is sorted, actually having thought about it, I could go and buy Kate's birthday present for next week as it's not too much of an expensive gift.
Thankfully, no one else in this house is in a similar position to mine as tomorrow, Mum, Dad and Kate are heading off early at 5am to Nottingham, as Kate's finally graduating after missing the initial ceremony due to her being at Camp America again.
That doesn't mean I'll make myself useful in any way, apart from making a rig-bol to enjoy in front of tomorrow evening's Have I Got News For You, which should be good with Marcus Brigstocke as one of the panellists.
Elsewhere in the bigger world, it's looking pretty glum as the Lib Dems look set to vote in favour of raising tuition fees.
Many Tory voters are afraid to voice their support in public of such moves with the one exception of a producer at a national speech radio station who on Twitter came out with the idea that Clegg is "standing up for what anyone with a brain can see is right".
I know one or two people who work for that particular station, and they definitely have to be commended for being able to tolerate such pricks on a daily basis.
Another of those days where I'm bloody tired and barely have any appetite.
In no way am I capable of eating like Henry VIII, but I'm feeling in a state similar to Henry V.
The majority of my mates from Uni seem to be going to their own respective staff Christmas parties tonight, which is sort of fair play as I reckon that considering how wasted I got on Saturday I reckon you could call Holly's do a Christmas party of sorts.
Without mentioning any names, someone posted on Twitter asking if any Global Radio employees were going to their do tonight and then rephrasing it to specify Global employees from London.
Which is fair enough, considering the company are doing everything they can to get rid of anyone who isn't broadcasting from the big city.
But in all fairness, it's not just Global who are continuing to consolidate as one of Joe Haddow's old haunts Sovereign Radio in Eastbourne are merging with three other stations in Sussex including Arrow FM in Hastings.
It sort of makes sense as they all share a breakfast show hosted by former Southern FM long-runner Chris Copsey, but it does leave you thinking why the Radio Authority handed out all these licenses for smaller stations in the first place.
Overall, I constantly question myself as to why I wanted to get into a broadcast medium that results in me being depressed.
It's extremely hard to comment on a piece of video footage that is extremely disturbing, and shows how despicable such individuals are. Dr Phil - Mommy Confessions
It's basically proof that those who believe in the teachings of otherwise non-existent beings can lead very screwed up lifestyles, and I really hope that the boy in the above footage is in a better state now, than from what can be seen in that video.
And to think someone would even go as far as videotaping such vile behaviour.
6 months ago on Channel 4's Alternative Election, Peter Serafinowicz joked about Gordon Brown's faux pas with Gillian Duffy and how funny it would be if he referred to her as the c-word, resulting in all the news bulletins on television referring to the incident as "c*nt gate".
Well there's finally a reason for such a headline to be used on screen, after James Naughtie on Radio 4's Today programme, accidentally referred to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt by his own rhyming slang.
It proved notable enough for Andrew Marr to repeat the obscenity again on this morning's Start The Week straight after the Today programme.
To be honest I can't see a repeat of late October 2008 coming out of this incident, apart from those getting a great laugh out of the whole thing, and the fact that Radio 4's listeners are a lot more intelligent and hopefully insensitive enough to deal with such a thing.
In the case of Radio 4 and 6Music, it's probably not been such a bad year for radio after all.
Stacey Solomon became the first princess (as opposed to queen) of the jungle last night, Ann Widdecombe was booted off Strictly this evening, and Cher Lloyd was put through into next week's X Factor final.
Well, not everything's perfect I guess.
Luckily I didn't have to watch the performing retards last night as I was in London, celebrating Holly's 26th birthday at a boozer in Angel which was rather packed, but we had a space to ourselves and there was a great jukebox in there which included plenty of contributions from your's truly, with the odd request from fellow punters thrown in.
Those who turned up included housemate Pippa, ex lodger "Panda", Stedders, Beccy, "Aunt Em", and even Chris Belson showed up which I was really pleased about.
We also saw a visit from "Beth with the bob", who I met in East London earlier this year on the night before the Greenwich Beer and Jazz festival and it was just as well that one of the songs on the jukebox was "Breakout" by Swing Out Sister, so I could make the appropriate jokes.
Here's a few selected photos of what happened;
Pip dressed as Mr Methane.
"Holly's mum"
Pip, me, Holly, Chris and Duncan.
Alongside Stedders.
What happens after 10 WKDs get downed. Stedders and Em.
An oriental Panda.
As I knew the public transport would be chaotic, Holly was nice enough to let me stop over, and despite missing the first N43 from Angel due to it being crowded, we managed to get another, halfway through walking back to Archway.
Most of us slept through until about 11:30am and just before I headed home, Holly drew my attention to yet another contender to knock the X Factor off number 1, and this turned out to be actually bloody funny.
"K**t And The Gang" are an act who seem to have picked up where Adam & Joe left off with their TV series, and added an alarming dosage of Tobasco sauce to it all, with their hopeful to take the top spot "Use My ******** As A ****"which on first view had me howling with cackles.
Not least because it says what we're all thinking but wouldn't have the guts to say so.
Overall it was a great way to end what's been an amazing year on various dos with Pippa and Holly, and I hope to see them again in February before Holly heads off to New York for six months.
Despite the trains still being all over the place, I managed to get one from Victoria to Canterbury with no problems and made my way up to the University to present my first anniversary edition of Blam Jam and I can safely say that I'm enjoying it a lot more than I was a year ago.
I recorded a video of inside the studios just before the show which will be uploaded onto Youtube within the next 24 hours, and as I said on the show earlier tonight, there's not a flat screen TV in sight.
The snow maybe starting to disappear, but that doesn't mean public transport isn't fucked up.
There's no clear information as to specific train times and diversions at Canterbury East station, and even the websites are shockingly vague at providing what stations are closed and what routes are affected.
Even Kaddy-Lee Preston on BBC South East Today was lamenting at the shoddy online operations, and it continues to prove that whenever there's the slightest drop of snow on British soil, British inhabitants have no idea how to deal with it.
At around 3pm, I'm going to risk making my way over to the West station and should the situation of actually getting a train to London actually occur, there's no guarantee I'll make it back within 24 hours.
Hopefully this should have no effect on what I hope will be an enjoyable night celebrating Holly's birthday in the Angel part of London.
I don't think I've been to one of her dos for the occasion, since the second year at University when I got more than a bit tipsy, and was woken by Mark Lamarr's Radio 2 show blasting out in the front room.
Such a shame he won't be able to provide a similar cure from 2011 onwards.
It doesn't look like it's going to get any better this weekend as far as weather goes, but bizarrely I'm currently in a state of P.M.A.
Especially as the plan for tomorrow is to head up to London to celebrate Holly's 26th birthday, knowing that I could end up stranded for longer than my planned stay.
As an aside, I stumbled on another "nostalgic topic" on Digital Spy reminiscing about MTV's Beavis And Butthead and their "critique" of Radiohead's "Creep" best known for them separating it from "the bits that rocked" and "the bits that sucked".
However it also sprang to mind their rightful ribbing of a tune called "Very Best Years" by The Grays, expecting similar results only to be very disapointed.
I've always found it hilarious, although even more so now as it represents everything I dislike about American "soft rock" in the present day such as Lifehouse, Matchbox 20, OneRepublic etc
Having said that, contrary to the comments in the video I quite like Billy Joel actually.
Soft rock was superb in the 70s.
Just a shame artists of that ilk in the present day have forgotten it can work without whining the lyrics as opposed to singing them.
Today saw another addition to a year of disappointments, with the inevitable news that England won't be hosting the 2018 World Cup.
To be honest I can understand that FIFA wouldn't have been impressed with a presentation making use of Elbow's "One Day Like This" considering it's been overused to an extent.
I'm not sure if it's crossed over abroad but I'm sure most of us are fed up with that, as much as "Girls" by the Sugababes being another lazy editors choice.
And our so called "three lions" were no hope either, as Cameron in the real world knows fuck all about football.
As for the heavy snow, for some reason I'm feeling nowhere as agitated as I was when there were showers earlier in the year, although to be honest it feels like an awful long time ago now, and I've almost gotten over missing University.
Mainly because so many people from their have disowned me for no good reason, but I carry on.
Actually that's not quite true, as Pippa ST has invited me over on Saturday as part of a big surprise of which I won't give too much away.
Both herself, Holly, and Stedders have been superb and supportive this year to an incredible extent, and I'm really hoping we still do things together into 2011.
