From A To Zurich

Granny is stopping over tonight, as both her and Mum will be jetting
off to Zurich early tomorrow morning where they will be staying for a week.

In fact Mum won't be back until after next weekend as on the weekend
itself, it's her annual class reunion.

Goodness knows how I'm going to manage, but it may be an idea
to actually share some of my cooking concoctions with Dad,
seeing as he normally forces me into his strong-tasting dishes.

In what was sort of a warm up to tomorrow's Anifest, Phill Jupitus
was one of the guests this week on Radio 4's The News Quiz
where one of the stories featured was ITV mistaking a Youtube
video of a computer game as IRA footage.

This lead to a tangent from the host about her days as Ethel
on Number 73 which Jupitus mentioned he once visited in his days
as a manager, and had a thing for the rollerskating Dawn Lodge.

It was good however that they acknowledged that Andrea Arnold
who played the vegetarian lodger is now an Oscar winning director.

It seems that the Jupes won't be far from TV screens any time
soon as Monday sees the unwelcome return of Never Mind The Buzzcocks
now on it's 25th series, and still without a permanent host.

First to take the hotseat will be the ever one-dimensional
David Hasselhoff, who has such a big ego, yet no personality.

Constantly referring to himself as "The Hoff", my advice
to him would be to F Hoff.

"1960 What?"

I took advantage of the continuing Indian summer by making a visit
to Ramsgate earlier this afternoon.
As a result I am covered in sand over certain places, and may need
more than just one bath to rinse everything out.

Tomorrow I'm probably going to be bored stiff in the run up to Anifest
on Saturday, so to kill time I may put together the playlist for
Sunday's Blam Jam show.

As a matter of fact I've already got a few tracks sorted including
this week's "Kickback Track" which unusually is one from 2010 which
has made quite a mark this year on many a soulboy.

That being Gregory Porter and the sublime "1960 What?"

I've also got the album profile sorted for October, and I think I've
picked a good one, Kenny Thomas and "Breathe" which features
collaborations with top musicians and producers such as the Drizabone
Soul Family, Sir Piers, and Richard Earnshaw.

No time like the present mind, and the highlight of tonight as ever,
is Mock The Week starting 10 minutes later due to the Shirley Bassey
drama on before.

With Milton Jones guesting, it looks set to be amusing.

"Nothing In This Game For Two In A Bed"

A rather significant day for television nostalgia, as it's 30 years to the
day since two of ITV's well-regarded programmes of the past made their debut.

Them being the Thames/Cosgrove Hall gem Dangermouse, and the
popular darts quiz Bullseye which at the time was produced by ATV.

With regards to the latter, there were a few differences in the early
days, with the show being transmitted on a Monday evening at 7pm,
as opposed to the well-remembered Sunday teatime slot and Tony Green
had no presence as commentator, with then ATV Today presenter
Nick Owen acting as the announcer.

Credit of course to fellow anoraks Louis Barfe, Ben Baker and Justin Lewis
for pointing out the date on Twitter.

It's very odd having both my windows wide open in late September
with a great possibility of spending tomorrow lying down on one
of Thanet's delightful sunspots.

Apparently it's set to get even warmer, reaching a high of 29c.

I will certainly enjoy it while it lasts.

Sober In Soho

The drinking volume regarding my outing to London was the same as
that of Brighton, only that I don't feel anywhere near as rotten
as I did afterwards.

Although the main reason is because I haven't gone on any bumpy
rides after consuming said drinks.
Not even the train back to Canters had any effect.

It was good to see Joey again after quite a while where I found
out more on the documentary he did a couple of weeks ago
and some of the acts he wasn't so successful at getting hold of.

I'm hoping that there's more to come in the future, but if one
thing's for certain, that man is never short of ideas.

We started off at a pub in Berwick Street, before moving
to another familiar water hole, that being The Champion
in Wells Street where us Jinglemadders visited two days ago.

Although considering the large number of things I've been up to,
it felt more like two months and it was slightly more crowded than
it was on Sunday.

Plan for tomorrow is to get my tickets for Anifest this Saturday,
entirely on the basis that it will kill a lot of time to walk up to
the University grounds.

I really am getting bored stiff of being static.

Another London Outing Via Medway

Wasn't up to much today apart from catching up with last night's
X Factor which I failed in doing last night as I was so bloody tired.

If only I felt like that every night, although tomorrow maybe a
possibility as I'm travelling to Rochester tomorrow morning, en-route
to London where I'm meeting up with Joey in Soho.

It will be good to see how he's getting on, especially after his
documentary that went out on Radio 2 a couple of weeks ago.

I'll need to find ways of occupying myself for the rest of the week,
although before Saturday I do need to collect my Anifest tickets
from the Gulbenkian.

Nothing's really planned for the rest of October so far, so it
will be good to save a bit of money.

"Mmm, Here We Are Again"

Jingle Day 2011 went fairly well at the George with quite a good attendance
although it didn't feel as busy as our previous outings to London.

It was good to see a few old faces such as Dave from Jersey,
The Hodgey Brothers from up in Doncaster, Sean from Switzerland,
and not forgetting the one and only Aston from Peterborough.

Nicky Schiller popped over briefly at one point although he had
to leave shortly after, en route to TVC to produce tonight's 60 Seconds
on BBC Three with Tina Daheley.

It felt rather different without Big Dave from Sheffield in attendance
and the fact that I was only drinking lemonade, but it was
enjoyable afternoon spent chatting about radio and jingle
related stuff.

I managed to get a photo of us altogether and it's worth noting
Aston's GWR t-shirt from 1989, complementing my ever-predicatable
choice of clothing.



At the suggestion of Graham (pictured at the back) we attempted
to make our way to a fancy bar called "The Adam & Eve" just off
Oxford Street only to find that they were shutting up shop.

Undeterred we went to a nearby pub called "The Champion"
on Wells Street, near where the old ITN studios used to be,
prior to the move to Grays Inn Road in the early 90s.

Myself, Aston, and Jon from Portsmouth chatted about all sorts
of related nonsense such as Fred Dinenage calling then Saints
manager Lawrie McMenemy a "pillock" after failing to pronounce his
name right.

That, and how some ILRs had more success with news staff
going onto better careers than presenters.

I headed back to St Pancras Station just before 7pm whilst
everyone else headed south to Waterloo.

Whilst it was good to see everyone again, the day itself
felt more downbeat than it has before.
Not that I'm complaining, but with day-to-day life in general being
uncertain, we all felt the same.

However I'm back in London again on Tuesday to see Joe,
and for now I'd best carry on with getting everything gradually back
on track.

Especially with catching up with tonight's X Factor.

My First Booze-Free JingleDay?

I'm not feeling too good at all.

I only had two alcoholic drinks yesterday (and a Red Bull) and
I'm still feeling comedown after yesterday's outing, to the point
I've woken up at bloody 3 in the morning.

This could be a first, with regards to the fact that I may not
be having any drinks at the JingleDay event this afternoon.

On a more serious note, one of the regular attendees will
be absent as Big Dave from Sheffield has been advised not
to travel having only just come out of hospital, and I'm absolutely
gutted as he's made arrangement to meet up with a long-term friend
from Jersey who's also attending.

Not to mention forking out a large amount of money
for travelling and the hotel that's non-refundable, which sort
of mirrors my non-appearance in Newcastle four years earlier,
when I booked the tickets in my daze.

It's disappointing, but getting better is more important and I'm fully
certain that those attending will be boozing in his honour.

A good evening's telly viewing was spent last night, first
with Doctor Who and another impressive turn from James Corden
as Craig Owens who without giving two much away has welcomed
a new arrival into his household.

Love him or hate him, both Corden and Matt Smith work brilliantly
together, and I reckon too many people overlook James Corden
as a straight actor, which has been for such a long time back to
the days as "Tonka" in Shane Meadows 24/7.

Although I'll always remember him for the Tango advert,
promoting the orange megaphones which got banned after it
encouraged bullying.

Last night's X Factor was also entertaining, partly because the
opening struck a chord when a large number of contestants
got sent home before even getting to sing a note at Boot Camp.

It was near reminiscent of what happened to me at the CSR DJ night
at Christ Church on Friday, only that I didn't get to mess about
in jacuzzis beforehand.

Joking aside, I did get an e-mail apologising for what happened
as it was more a fault of the Christ Church SU, thinking that we
were going to compere their events as opposed to actually
spinning the disks, which it turns out they wanted to do themselves.

I won't be lending them a hand again.

I'll be sticking to the confines of the radio studio for the
time being, especially with the new one on the Christ Church
campus soon to be in use.

That said I won't even be on the air tonight, but I'm more
confident in taking the show further and improving it
in terms of on-air production.

I doubt I'll fully succeed mind...

Bliss In Brighton

Today was amazing.

I met up with Danielle at Brighton station and our first stop off
was the Mash Tun, a rather nice pub right in the centre of the main town.

We chatted about Dani's recent gig outings including an up close encounter
with Robbie Williams at a recent Take That gig, and her proudest
University moment when along with Sirin, she persuaded then
Smoke Head Of Music Chris Chilvers to put "Wearing My Rolex"
on the playlist which he was so reluctant to do before giving in.

And yet he takes the whole credit for it but it was a bit of a laugh really.

Shortly after we made our way to the pier where we gave in and
went on a waltzer style ride, of which I chose to capture on video,
the embarrassing results can be seen here.

We then headed over to the nearby pub on the pier and it's
over there where I got a couple of photos.



Dani.



Some weighty bumpkin.

Before getting the train back to Canters we went into a
junk shop or nostalgia boutique where amongst the items
on sale wher a Beano themed lampshade, a selection of Marillion LPs,
and a used copy of Fantastic Dizzy, which I've only just managed
to re-live via my DOS emulator.

Overall today was superb, and for the first time in a long while
I'm feeling a comedown as a result.

It's not too bad as I'm heading out again tomorrow for the 2011 JingleDay
back in it's rightful home of London, or to be more specific
The George on Great Portland Street.

Back on original subject, and myself and Danielle agreed just
before parting that we must have a reunion in Brighton some time
for all of us who took the radio module and graduated in '09.

If I could have as much fun as I did today it would be a fantastic
opportunity to put the shit to one side, and have an enjoyable
catch-up in gorgeous seaside surroundings.

Brighton Beckons

I'm still rather uncertain about today and worried that
I may not be as positive as I really should be feeling
about my visit to Brighton.

What happened last night was a kick in a very delicate place
and hasn't really left me feeling bitter as opposed to crestfallen.

I should be a lot happier as not only am I planning to see Danielle
but fellow radio alumni Rachelle happens to be visiting Brighton
as well and I'm hoping that all three of us can bump into each
other at some point.

I haven't really planned what I'm doing in the town itself
although I need to leave Canterbury by 10am at the latest.

I'll try to be more lively on arrival, and it would be nice to hear
how Danielle's been getting on over the last couple of years
aside from her rather impressive wireless ventures in Norwich
at Future Radio.

With the time not getting any longer, I'd best get myself
sorted out.

The Non-Existent Warm-Up Gig

Absolutely disappointing and appalling organising.

I have just got back from what I thought was a DJ set at the
Christ Church student union bar, only to be told by the station
manager of CSR that I wouldn't be playing tonight on the basis
that "they forgot" I was due to be present, and they'd got two
of their other presenters to do it instead.

I decided it wasn't worth spending the rest of the night there
and went back, not wanting any trouble.

It's a good thing I'm not presenting this Sunday as there's a chance
that I could have walked out had that been the case.
I may have mellowed out in two weeks, but I'm sticking to my word
for the time being.

They could have sorted the issue out by dividing the length of time
to fit all three of us in rather than have two people per-night.

However it's best just to let it go, especially as tomorrow
I'm heading to Brighton to see Danielle, where I'm hoping
the weather will remain as nice as it's been for most of this week.

Hopefully I will have calmed down by then, but unfortunately
the station has let me down at a time when I thought things
were getting better.

Far Away From My Fathers

I ended up falling asleep in front of my laptop again, this time
when watching the first episode of the new Armstrong and Bain
penned series Fresh Meat.

It may be a case of "first episode syndrome" but I found the plotline
rather depressing, and the characters to be either annoying or unmemorable.

I'll give it one more episode, although it appears to have it's
fair share of fans.

But then again, I was the only one who seemed to like Friday Night Dinner
and that's been given a second series.

Elsewhere the rest of the country have now caught up on the American
X Factor and the big talking point appears to be the supposed loss
of presenter Steve Jones' Welsh accent.

I didn't notice anything too major, but it may be a case of him
being give Ant & Dec esque elocution.

Which had Cheryl Cole being given the same sort of seeing too,
she may have still been on the show.

A fair few other users are criticising the host's lack of presence in
the opening episode, although part of the reason is because
it was originally intended for Steve Jones to co-host the show
with Nicole Scherzinger and I imagine the producers have had
a field day trying to edit out any cut-aways with them both together
in shot.

I'll have a gander at the second episode tomorrow, although I hope
I don't become too hooked.

Also taking place tomorrow is the last of my DJ stints for CSR
where I'm warming up for Danny off of McFly who is coming to the
Canterbury Christ Church SU.

Last night wasn't too bad, but being back at CCU does have me
worrying after the guys their last time tried to work out the politest
way of saying that the CSR DJs were rubbish compared to them.

Best to get on with the job in hand.

The Yanks Face The Music

Me being of the impatient sort had a gander at the first episode of the
US X Factor this afternoon due to be shown on British shores on ITV2
this evening.

If I'm being honest I almost fell asleep halfway through until the
auditions moved to Seattle and the introduction of Nicole Scherzinger
as a judge in place of Cheryl Cole.

This meant the programme could flow a lot better as we got to
see more of presenter Steve Jones chatting with the contestants,
and whether it was coincidental or not, the auditions themselves
got more interesting.

One such example being a guy in a silver suit who proceeded to
expose himself in front of the thousand strong audience in the arena,
and the judges.

One of whom, that being Paula Abdul, left in disgust
feeling a bit queasy at that.

I'm certain the series will progress as it goes along, especially with
Nicole Scherzinger being far more stronger a judge than Cheryl Cole.

As for Simon Cowell, the Americans can keep him, the British series
has moved onwards which the man himself seems to agree on.

The Attic And The Jingle-Filled Living Room

I've just returned from CSR's Live and Unsigned night at The Attic
on the UKC campus and it was a rather nice place, based on the top
floor of the "Venue" nightclub.

This time round a fair number of station members were present including
media co-ordinator Mel, Daryl, Shona, Jeremy, and Ryan the station manager.

I was first to spin the disks where I played a selection of indie records
which I felt weary about at first due to none of the ones in my
possession being any later than 2008.

Luckily they fitted in well warming up for the first live band,
The Great Gatsbys who in addition to their own material included
a few covers by The Strokes, Kings Of Leon and The Killers.

I headed back home after their set but it appeared that the night
was still young if the long queues outside the venue were anything
to go by.

If I'm being honest, they're the sort of queues Area 51 could only
dream of.

On another radio related note, following the rather indulgent blog
post a couple of weeks back, I finally managed to get hold of
one of my jingle holy grails, that being the complete 1990 Invicta FM
package from Century 21, dubbed from the masters and including
the ever-elusive jock cuts.

As they're that special, I'm keeping them "um-bongoed" until Christmas
as they will make a perfect present alongside a fair few radio
and production related purchases I plan to save up for.

Which will become easier after I've cleared my credit card bill.

Special thanks to Tracy Carman for providing me with the package dubs
although I happened to be listening to his contribution to the "Collectors Tale"
series from earlier this year and came near to crying.

Tracy owns the Media Preservation Society in Dallas which is a great big
archive of jingle related material, and the warehouse which stored
a fair number of reel-to-reels was destroyed by a tornado in May
this year.

As the audio was recorded two months before, it did have an emotional
effect on me while listening, but the most important thing of all was
that Tracy and his family were safe.

And the good news is that that DATs with the Century 21 material
weren't affected, as they're all in the Carman family's front room,
and I look forward to purchasing more of what I'd consider to be
the best jingles ever produced.

No time like the present mind, and tomorrow I'm making my way
back up to the CSR studios to return the CDs I borrowed
for my set tonight.

And there's another one at Christ Church coming up on Friday
where I'm essentially the "support-act" for special guest Danny
from McFly.

Exciting times for certain.

Forever Hanging

It has been incredibly dull for most of today.

Was up at 11am, spent the worst part of the day on the phone
trying to chase up a possible job interview, and later on-hold
for a BT operator because the bleeding broadband went down
yet again.

Taking a suggestion from Dad, I have put a post-it note on the wall
of my bedroom and from today noting the exact times of an outage.

I'm hoping the list doesn't get longer.

Looking slightly better for tomorrow as I'm heading over to
UKC to help out with the live O/B from the Attic club for CSR.

I must be honest though, I'm rather certain I'm starting to lose
the drive for spinning the disks at a student night and am fully
certain that after Friday at CCU, I'll be hanging up the cans.

Well, unless I get asked to do a spot at Caister which at least
would be to an appreciative audience.

To cut a long story short, I'm "getting older".

Putting The Pest Down

Not two, but three individuals who have occupied our house made
their departure today, and one of them won't be returning.

To explain things in a less vague manner, Kate went back to London,
Olly went back to Leeds, and Dad took our cat to the vets where
it ended up being put down.

I know I shouldn't really say this, but it's a relief of sorts as
whenever I've been in the kitchen cooking it constantly pestered
me to be fed, literally one pouch after another.

It turned out that it hasn't been in good health as of recent,
and was shockingly slim for it's age, so it seemed only the natural
thing to do.

Not sure about tomorrow although Wednesday will be pretty
busy as I will be helping out at CSR's live broadcast from The Attic
which is a club just above UKC's "The Venue".

Here's hoping it goes better than last Friday.

Soulful Sitar

Another Sunday, another radio show and with Freshers arriving
fast on campus it was pretty busy.

The stand out track this week had to be a "bhangra" cover of
"Take Five" as performed by the Sachal Studio Orchestra
off an LP that contains similarly styled interpretations of
classic jazz tracks including "The Girl From Ipanema"
and a unique arrangement of the old fusion favourite "Mountain Dance"
originally by Dave Grusin.

I'll be playing more from that when the show returns from
a two week break as next Sunday will be Jingle Day 7,
making it's far too long awaited return to London.

If anything I'm hoping it can give the Jinglemad website a kick up the
bum as it's become a rather nasty place with comments of which
some have said are "scaring away" visitors.

That's a strong adjective, but many figures from the jingle companies
themselves have felt the same and in some cases have been pretty
angry as well, which they have every right to be.

Thankfully that sort of attitude is nowhere to be seen at a jingle meet
up, mainly because such progtagonists who cause trouble are too scared
themselves to make their presence.

It will be good fun and nice to meet some new attendees too.

The day before I'm heading over to Brighton to meet up with
Danielle who is studying for a diploma in multimedia journalism.

I haven't seen her since graduation so it will be good to find out
how she has been getting on.

And to visit Brighton again is a treat within itself, so the weekend
coming will definitely be one worth anticipating.

Easier To Just Let It Go

I'm a bit calmer now.

For some reason it's easier to get over really stupid arguments
and outbursts at home, than I have done elsewhere, mainly
with certain individuals from university.

I.E being able to forget about them, rather than let them
stay stuck in my thoughts for years to come.

To make things a bit clearer, the sort of things I get worked
up about at home are just stupid meaningless issues or
misunderstandings, whereas those in the latter category
are of things I genuinely care about and sometimes broadcast related.

Actually that may not have made things that clear at all.

It's best just to move forward, and with my last radio show for
a couple of weeks taking place tomorrow, it's looking rather
positive.

Blunt And Straight To The Point

Something to take note of in future.

If I ever lash out at someone for no good reason, don't take
it personally.

It may quite possibly be that I'm just "tired".

Same Show, New Name

The younger viewer inside me still lives on as just before my outing
into Canters this evening, I had a gander at Sam and Mark's
new CBBC entertainment series "The Big Friday Wind Up".

Essentially it's still TMi but with a studio audience and pre-recorded,
but despite the move of the children's department to Manchester
the show is recorded at TVC in West London with the same production
team as the last series of TMi.

There's not much in terms of a theme tune with the opening
being a 10 second animated sequence accompanied by an extract
from the Caesars "Jerk It Out".

A tune that many years ago was associated with Iain Lee's LBC
show before he got his own version of the IQ Beats station identity.

Anyway, the show itself consists of members of the audience being
surprised unexpectedly, revealing their parents doing embarassing
things such as wearing Hawaian outfits or performing a dance routine
badly.

Two of them progress to the show's finale "Win A Presenter"
where they battle it out to win either Sam or Mark (who take it in
turns each week) to live with them and get to do less than pleasant
household chores.

One of the round struck a chord as it shared a name with an item
I once did on my show at Smoke, that being "Presenter Under Pressure".

Only that I'm not bitter at them using the name, as it was part
of my worst ever show back on the 24 Hour Broadcast 2008 which
certain station alumni still feel resentful towards me about.

However whereas my item was a rip off of the Gunge Tank Game
from The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow, Sam and Mark's
version is more reminiscent of the "fondly remembered" game
"Watt Hertz" from the early days of Ministry of Mayhem.

The premise involving Sam or Mark having to answer 10 general
knowledge questions, and getting an electric shock for every wrong answer.

Overall whilst the show itself is perfect for the Friday night timeslot,
it's worrying that CBBC still rely on Sam & Mark, and Dick & Dom for
that matter rather than letting any new talent into the spotlight.

But then again, if you look at the likes of Iain Stirling and Hacker
who host the links in between the shows, you can probably
understand why.

The future of drama looks worrying too with Tracy Beaker Returns
finishing next year, and the untimely conclusion of The Sarah Jane
Adventures.

It shouldn't really be a big deal for someone at my age,
but in the words of Simon Hickson "the viewers of today
are the programme makers of tomorrow".

First Night Struggles

Well, my first go at DJing to the Christ Church SU bar was let's say,
a learning curve.

I opted to go first which was the most sensible option as I started
by spinning some of my own rare groove stuff shortly before
moving onto the more contemporary stuff such as Rihanna, Black Eyed Peas
and so on.

And not forgetting One Direction where everytime it was played
the SU staff all gathered together to perform a special choreographed
dance, along the lines of Whigfield's "Saturday Night".

At around 9:30 I handed over disc spinning duties to Sam, one of
the daytime presenters at CSR although there was a bit of
an issue when one of the SU reps came up to the DJ booth and
asked us to let one of their guys take over deck duties for 10 minutes.

The main issue was that none of us had been properly trained
on the equipment and made a few mistakes with the "perfect pitch"
function.

None of us had any idea why this was the case and although nothing
nasty was exchanged, it was a bit un-called for when CSR had been
asked to DJ at the event only to be shoved to one side.

Sam was back on the decks before I left, and I decided to call it
a night as I didn't really know anyone there and station managers
Mel and Ryan were absent.

Hopefully things should be better by Wedensday as I'll be DJing
at the Attic on the UKC campus for their unsigned night, and
on Friday I'll be back at Christ Church where Danny from McFly
will be making a special guest appearance.

Hopefully I'll be more upbeat but it could be more a sign
of me getting older, and not really being in touch with those
over 5 years younger than me.

Not that it's a big deal.

The Wallet Of Sound

With the Fresher's do taking place tonight, it was a bizarre chance of luck
that I stumbled across a wallet in the loft earlier today, containing
a fair few CD-Rs that I had originally put together for "Glasto In The Garden"
at the much missed "Big Gay House" back in the summer of '08.

Thankfully they're not all soul and rare groove compilations as
there's a disc containing cheese, and recurring tracks such as "99 Problems"
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Superstition" are also on there
so I'll hopefully be covered for tonight.

I'll bring along some current stuff as well although I understand
that I'll also be playing One Direction's cover of "Summer Nights"
at least once this evening.

Well, the song itself definitely sounds similar.

Mashed Up Michael

Kate's arrived back from London for a couple of days, with an outing
to Zizzi's on Saturday being the high point as Olly's going back
to Leeds the day after.

I've managed to get a fair number of tunes for tomorrow and
quite a few remixes and mash-ups.
It's just a bit of a struggle whether to go for the Duck Sauce mash up
with Michael Jackson, or an even more impressive one in tribute to
Gerry Rafferty.

One things for certain, I won't be spinning any of my self-made
mash ups.

I want to make an impression, not an egotistical twat of myself.

That's what the blog's for.

And with three other spots still to take place other the next
week, I'll take things easy and view tomorrow as a dummy run.

Hopefully there will be a few drinks deals on offer.

Leg Stretching And Disc Spinning

With today being bright outside, it was the perfect excuse to make two
outings to Canterbury.

One being to Morrisons, and the other was a long-awaited return to
Des's social group which I haven't attended for months since when
Academy FM started.

That seems like a long time ago now, mainly because so
much has happened since.

Not a lot's going on tomorrow, but Friday sees me doing my
first DJ spot for CSR at the Christ Church Freshers Ball.

It's going to be quite a challenge as I appear to have little knowledge
of anything that's currently in the charts, or filling the floors which to
be honest, I'm genuinely proud of.

I'm hoping they'll have the gear to let me plug in my Virtual DJ Software
but in perspective, that's starting to become commonplace within
many clubs now.

Covering Conundrums

More writing of covering letters took place today and I'm starting
to question whether I really am capable of even finding a money earner.

I could be categorised as workshy, but as the Folkestone episode
proved, if I'm in a position that I'm not happy with and can
lead to worrying circumstances, then it would get even worse.

Having said that, if I actually lived in Folkestone, or whatever
town or city my job was in (and was actually paid), then it probably
wouldn't be such an issue.

Luckily, one of the jobs I applied for was in Canterbury, so here's hoping.

I've no idea what I'm doing tomorrow, but at 10pm tonight, there's
the much anticipated documentary about Reprise Records on BBC Radio 2
produced by some fella named Joe Haddow.

No, I've never heard of him...

But it looks set to be a good listen and a programme that will prove
that there's more to the label than just Sinatra.

"Ride The Pannini!"

In the bigger world of radio, this month's OFCOM complaints report
has caused quite a stir with an upheld complaint regarding community
station Brick FM, and the station's stupid excuses.

Rather than posting a link to the PDF itself, here's radio futurologist
James Cridland's take on the issue, which to me suggests the
station is being run by some childish schoolboys.

Elsewhere I watched the second part of last night's Appropriate Adult
looking into the dark relationship between Janet Leach and
Fred West, and the aftermath of his hanging.

I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for the murderer, but the
actress playing Rose was perhaps the unsung star of the drama
for the opposite reasons, as it made you realise what a nasty and stubborn woman she was during the ordeal.

Understandably it's been a tough area to cover with the drama
being in production for four years but it was definitely worth
the wait and covered the story in a very sensible and not too
sensationalist manner.

Karaoke Convertion

Today's been slightly less adventurous than what I've been up to
in the last couple of blog posts, catching up on this weekend's
X Factor watching Saturday's episode on the ITV Player, and
tonight's on +1 due to walking back from CSR during the live
transmission.

And I'll be perfectly honest, this is probably the first time
I am genuinely enjoying the series as there's some really talented
contestants, and a judging panel that's actually likeable.

Likeable in the sense that they are genuine, and are far
more straight talking than Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole could ever be.

It's odd to think that when Pop Idol started about a decade ago
viewers hated Simon Cowell because of his harsh judging manner
which was quite a novelty to television at the time.

By the second series and along with American fans, the viewers
started to agree with Cowell's comments, especially towards those
with a desperate need of a reality check.

However with the dark lord now handing out millions to wife beaters,
The X Factor has been given a much needed kick up the bum,
and with the auditions ending next week, it will be interesting to
see how Gary, Tulisa, and Kelly Rowland go through the motions
of boot camp and the live shows.

Tomorrow doesn't look too exciting in comparison.

A visit to the job centre, and further searching for money earners.

Or to be more frank, procrastinating.

AVCE Reunited

Actually that's a bit misleading a title seeing as there were only
three of us from the AVCE Media Course at Canterbury College
in attendance on our drinking escapades through Canterbury.

Josh had returned to the city for a visit from Manchester and I
met up with him and his mate Anthony at the Parrot Pub.

We were then joined by fellow student Jon and his wife Claire
and quite a few others arrived soon after.

As far as drinking went, I only had three Red Bulls and was
in a bit of a daze as a result.

It was good to catch up however and have a reminisce not
just about college, but about random television nostalgia
relating to the Why Bird and the Magic Pencil from Words and Pictures.

I got one or two photos as well...



Myself and Josh.



Claire and Jon.

We then made our way to somewhere I'd never been before,
that being the Odd Fellows bar in Orange Street.

It was notable for the wallpaper in the men's toilet
being made up entirely of comic strips from The Beano, The Dandy
and even the Funday Times.

Not having single drink lead to a few moments where I was
hassled to do things against my will such as posing
in a forced drunken manner for a photo.

We did have a few civilised conversations over issues such as
sorting out housing, and my current concerns on over-obsessing
with stupid things that are either radio or jingle related
to the point where it's stopping me from sleeping at night.

This is genuinely worrying, but I'm hoping the Jingleday event
in two weeks will put me back on a straight line.

But overall it was a really enjoyable night and I do hope
to visit Josh in Manchester sometime when the opportunity arises.

"Paske Out"

Tonight was an enjoyable one at the Walkabout bar near Temple
to celebrate Stewart Paske's upcoming birthday.

En route from Charing Cross station I bumped into Sazzah
who I haven't seen for a long time. She's now living in High Wycombe
and working as a sports instructor having learnt the ropes on her
stay in Canada earlier in the year.

Next to arrive was Tudor who's still doing well for himself
followed by the birthday boy himself and Eric who it was good
to see again.

There was also a surprise visit from Jim Chapman who's now
living not too far from where Kate is in Queen's Park.

It was an enjoyable night, although sadly I wasn't that consistent
on the booze side of things due to the very dear drink prices.

£4.25 a VK?

Oh bloody well do one.

I did get a few snaps mind.



Sazzah and Tudor



Jim and Eric.



The birthday boy himself.




Aligning Sazzah and Tudor.

I left at around 9:30pm and got the train home in time,
although I could have stayed longer as there was a high speed to
Canters at 22:40.

It was a pity as I left not long after Sam Taylor arrived and it
would have been nice to chat to him for longer.

He's still going out with Alice although she's at Bestival
this weekend.

The nights out don't end here however, as tomorrow I'm
heading to the Parrot in Canterbury to see a few old faces
from college where it's almost 10 years to the day since starting
the AVCE course.

This coming Tuesday in fact, as we started two days after
the World Trade Centre attacks.

Without meaning to be disrespectful, I won't be dwelling too much
on Sunday's radio show, although having thought about it,
I may give an airing Alicia Keys cover of "Someday We'll All Be Free"
originally performed at a memorial concert in 2001.

Out of all the versions including Donny Hathaway, nothing can
beat the New York songstress's interpretation.

First Sight Of Stardom

An episode of Noel's House Party popped up on my Youtube subscription
page last night dating back from November 1996.

This would be the series when it began showing signs
of age where the theme tune had changed into one that didn't
really suit the show at all, and features that seemed to come and go.

One being "One Minute Of Prime Time" which appeared to show
off more of the "hi-tech" O/B equipment than that of the talent
being showcased, in this case one Ross Lee from Calverley in Leeds.

Ross later went on to become a comedian in his own right
making guest appearances on Bo'Selecta and more recently
in BBC Three's Pranker.

However Ross Lee was partly responsible for helping me to recover
four years ago as the host of CBBC's comedy clipshow Chute! produced
by the same team behind Dick & Dom In Da Bungalow.

It was one of the only TV programmes I could watch, and remain
still throughout during my illness.

No time like the present though, as I'm London bound this evening
for Stewart Paske's 25th birthday.

I'm not sure who else is guaranteed to be attending, although one
fella will be one who I've not seen for ages, that being Eric who
Stewart is stopping over with tonight.

The last time I saw him was on the rotten night that was the 2009
Student Radio Awards.

Well it wasn't that rotten as Smoke won it's record number
of Gold gongs, but as a whole I was really shit and getting over
the comedown of graduation.

Not that anything's changed.

The Final Drive Outing Of '11

Rather grey outside in Canterbury, although I'm hoping it doesn't
get any worse.

The reason being is that I'm making the uphill journey for my last
Thursday drivetime show this afternoon at CSR and as I type
there's still a few things I need to sort out but haven't yet.

Tonight should be better though as Mock The Week makes a return
after its Edinburgh break with Chris Addison now appearing as
a regular panellist.

I'm in dire need of hilarity, so hopefully it will have me covered.

Tomorrow's visit to London can't come any sooner.

"The Sound Of Kent, On Your Radio!"

As if my nostalgia trawl through Kentish broadcasting couldn't get any
better, I've managed to find a scan of the first ever schedule for
Invicta Sound as it was then, all the way back in October 1984.

Invicta Schedule

A heavy amount of the output was split between East and West,
whilst the overall direction of the station was sort of in the same
way TV-AM were going in it's struggling early days, i.e. a bit too
high-cultured.

It's interesting to note that the station in-line with Southern Sound
and Mercury did not take the recently launched Network Chart
with Kid Jensen, instead opting for their own countdown on Sundays.

Unsurpisingly it proved disastrous, and the following year the
station transformed into Invicta Radio, where under the helm of
Roger Day it became more pop-focused and introduced computers
to select the music.

Glenn Thompsett was promoted to breakfast with Neil Taylor
hosting evenings and Rod Lucas became popular in the evenings
assisted by one Caesar.

My memory of station schedules for Invicta FM is pretty vague (Coast AM,
and Invicta Supergold less so) but as it's been bugging me all night,
and I'm struggling to get any shut eye, I'll have a go with how far
my memory can stretch, starting off from around 1993;

6:30-9am: Simon West (East And West Kent)
Geoff Fitch (Thanet)
9:00-1pm: Glenn Thompsett
1:00-5:00: Neil Francis
5:00-9:00: Tim Stewart
9:00-1:am: Ian Collins
1:00-6:00: Nigel Harris

My memory of weekends is sketchy, although Neil Francis
hosted a dance show on Saturday's called "The Beat", trailed
with Ripple's "The Beat Goes On And On".

And of course there was Michael Fanstone's "Openline" on Sunday nights.

1997

5am-6:30: Steve Ladner
6:30-10:00: The Morning Zoo (Neil Francis And Sam Hughes)
10:00-1pm: Simon West (Including the Top 10 at 10)
1:00-4:00: Tim Stewart
4:00-8:00: James Heming
8:00-10:00: Ian Skye
10:00-12:00: The Wind Down Zone
12:00-05:00: Scott Hughes

I'm not sure if Scott Hughes was weeknight or weekend overnights
although the presenters of both were known for sending up fellow
presenters on the station.

1999

6:00-10:00: The Morning Zoo with Neil, Sam and Steve
10:00-1:00: Tony Fisher
1:00-4:00: Chris Finn
4:00-8:00: James Heming
8:00-10:00: John Osborne
10:00-12:00: The Wind Down Zone with John Osborne
12:00-06:00: Gary Ziepe

Fridays between 7 and 10 was "Just 80s" with John Osborne, usually
voicetracked as he would be DJing at either Strawberry Moons in Maidstone
or Escape in Margate.

Simon West was on weekend breakfast, and Paul Deacon presented
a topical sketch show on Sundays after the Pepsi Chart.

January 2000

6:00-10:00: The Morning Zoo with James and Sam
10:00-1:00: Tony Fisher
1:00-4:00: Steve Ladner
4:00-8:00: Chris Finn with The Big Drive Home
8:00-10:00: John Osborne (Featuring Online 2000)
10:00-1:00: The Wind Down Zone with John Osborne
12:00-06:00: Gary Ziepe

Neil Francis departed the station after 10 years to move
to Capital FM, and at the same time The Wind Down Zone
was extended by an extra hour.

Between May and December 2000, Rick Adams (ex 2CR, The Big Breakfast)
hosted a Sunday evening show containing comedy skits in between
records.

March 2001

6:00-10:00: The 7 Day Morning Zoo with James and Beccy
10:00-1:00: Steve Ladner
1:00-4:00: John Osborne
4:00-8:00: Chris Finn with The Big Drive Home
8:00-10:00: The Fridge with Stephen Sullivan and Taz (Also on Sundays)
10:00-1:00: The Wind Down Zone with Doc Atherton (Sam Hughes
from September)
12:00-06:00: Dan Marsh

Weekends had Russ and Sam hosting the Morning Zoo between 8am and 12
with Simon West hosting early breakfast from 5am-8.

Also worth mentioning are The Kent Chart with Stephen Sullivan from
6-8pm on a Saturday and Club Invicta with John Osborne on Fridays
and John Leech on Saturdays from 8-midnight both days.

James Heming began hosting an Album Chart rundown on Sunday lunchtimes
from September 2001.

Syndicated shows around this time included "Takeover Invicta" broadcast
after The Pepsi Chart for an hour, and "Hit Music Sunday" with Cat Deeley and
Edith Bowman from January 2002.

October 2002

6:00-10:00: James Heming and The Morning Zoo
10:00-1:00: Simon West
1:00-4:00: Sam Hughes
4:00-7:00: Chris Finn with The Big Drive Home
7:00-10:00: The Fridge with Stephen Sullivan and Taz (Also on Sundays)
10:00-1:00: Steve Penk (Capital FM Network)
12:00-06:00: Dan Marsh

At this stage the 7 day tag had been dropped from the Morning Zoo
with James now co-hosting with Nico Bassan.
With John Osborne now at Virgin, Club Invicta fell into the hands
of Andy Walker who carried on with the show until 2008.

June 2003

6:00-10:00: James Heming and The Morning Zoo
10:00-1:00: Neil Farraday
1:00-4:00: Sam Hughes
4:00-7:00: Simon West and Nico at Drivetime
7:00-10:00: The Fridge with Stephen Sullivan
10:00-1:00: Late Night Grooves with Jonathan Miles
12:00-06:00: Ross Gilbert

New arrival Neil Faraday also held the reigns on "The Retro Show"
on Sunday mornings.

May 2004

6:00-10:00: James Heming and The Morning Zoo (With Ant Payne and
Producer Craig)
10:00-1:00: Neil Farraday
1:00-4:00: Luisse Shaw
4:00-7:00: Simon West and Claire Lawson at Drivetime
7:00-10:00: The Fridge with Stephen Sullivan
10:00-1:00: Late Night Grooves with Jonathan Miles
12:00-06:00: Ross Gilbert

Claire Lawson also hosted Saturday breakfast, whilst weekend afternoons
saw the arrival of Myma Seldon (now at KMFM).
In October Ant Payne left the breakfast show and was eventually
replaced by Ali Wheeler in March 2005.

November 2005

6:00-10:00: James Heming and The Morning Zoo
10:00-2:00: Claire Lawson
2:00-7:00: Dave Bethell
7:00-10:00: The Fridge with Stephen Sullivan
10:00-1:00: Late Night Love with Graham Torrington
12:00-06:00: Ross Gilbert

Following the GCap merger the station had transformed
into a clone of a GWR formatted mix station.

In spite of that Late Night Love was the only networked
show taken, remaining that way until 2008.

May 2006

6:00-10:00: James Heming and The Morning Zoo
10:00-1:00: Claire Lawson
1:00-4:00: Andy Walker
4:00-7:00: Kent's Home Run with Neil Kefford
7:00-10:00: The Fridge with Stephen Sullivan
10:00-1:00: Late Night Love with Graham Torrington

July 2008

6:00-10:00: James Heming In The Morning
10:00-1:00: Phillippa Collins (One Network)
1:00-4:00: Andy Walker
4:00-7:00: Neil Kefford
7:00-10:00: Music Control with Kevin Hughes
10:00-12:00: The Wind Down with Cat James

Following Ali Wheeler's departure to have a baby in May
James hosted solo until Gemma Shepherd arrived in November.

Networked output increased on weekday mornings and weekends after
midday, with Claire Lawson hosting weekend mornings.
The Fridge also departed to make way for Music Control.

So there we go, if anyone even duller than me can remember
further back or has additional information, then it would be much
appreciated.

Sadly for me, writing this blog hasn't made me any
more drowsier.

"Tune In And Rip Yer Knob Off"

I managed to stumble across an interesting piece of audio on Soundcloud,
that being the Invicta Radio 1985 jingle package from Alfasound.


The audio quality's not great, but I happen to know that one of my
fellow jingle buddies has a copy of the master reel,
as purchased from Steve England himself so I may have a few words.

I know said individual happened to really enjoy my JAM resings
from a few years ago...

Anyway,

I guess the most amusing cuts from the package are the jock acapellas
with the examples below proving rather surprising.



I never knew Tony "Laters!" Dortie graced the county's airwaves
for instance, prior to his short-lived stint on Top Of The Pops.

Whilst the audio quality may be not so good, it was a pleasant surprise
to find some off air bits from Invicta dating back as far as 1989 but mainly
from around 93-94.

First up, an extract from the Sunday night phone in "Openline" as
presented by the Reverend Michael Fanstone from around 1989.



The Century 21 package can be heard alongside the slow promo
bed from the preceding Alfasound custom still identifying the station
as "Invicta Radio" in spite of Fanstone announcing it as "Invicta FM".

I imagine the Alfasound stuff continued to be used until the "Steamroller"
package was introduced the following year.

Now at Premier Christian Radio in London, Fanstone used to present
a religious programme at Classic FM alongside fellow Invicta staff
John Brunning and the late Michael Bukht.

And Openline did resurface on the KMFM Medway stations around
10 years ago when they had another alias.

Next up, 1993 and the fondly remembered TOH with Doc Morgan on V/O duties
followed by Stuart Thomas who later became the inaugaral newsreader
when the Morning Zoo launched a couple of years later.



And from December of that year an overall station trail featuring
Glenn Thompsett, Neil Francis, the late Tim Stewart, and
ex Talksport presenter Ian Collins.



This more or less pinpoints the period when I started listening to the station,
although following the sacking of Caesar, and the Southern Radio takeover
many listeners thought the station was past it's best.

It was only going to get worse...

Digressing again, a trail for the breakfast show with the voices
of Simon West, Geoff Fitch, Kirsty Long, and a certain Simon Beale.

No idea where the latter disappeared to...



Also included near the end is a news promo featuring the library
track "Bold Is Beautiful" as penned by Alan Hawkshaw, and
used for 30 second news updates on the half-hour.

I once suggested to Ross Tilley that we should use the track
for trailing the news on Smoke but he frowned on it, despite
myself and Tudor seeing the funny side.

The best bit of audio within the selection however, is Glenn Thompsett
reading the weather over the Supa Glazing bed, immediately followed
by his very nifty Steamroller Cut 17 presenter ID.



The very set of jock cuts that weren't included on the collector CDs
that were sold from Station Road East, but I understand that
a few fellow jingle collectors now have copies of the master dubs
with the jock cuts intact.

I'll get my mits on those sometime, I'm sure I have more than
a right having lived in the Garden for 20 years...

Planning Predictions

I must be honest, I've barely lifted a finger for most of today.

Tomorrow should see a fair bit of improvement, as I'm presenting
what will be my final drivetime (or should that be 'home time')
show at CSR and for once I've actually put some planning into it.

The first hour has been rather lacking when it comes to
content, so I thought about doing a mock-horoscope section
with a fair few witty pun based predictions.

Well, I hope they come across that way.

Despite it being the last show, it certainly won't put an end
to my increased involvement as there's a fair few DJ nights
taking place on both campuses up to early October, and having
offered my assistance, here's hoping I get asked to spin the disks
for at least one of them.

Because if I'm being really frank, I'm going to be bored witless
for the rest of this month.

No Reprise For Roulette (Hopefully)

Two visits were made into Canterbury this morning, one to Chaucer
Homecare and the other to Laurel House to check up on how
well I have been mentally.

Other than that, it hasn't been too exciting save for the possibilities
of spinning the discs for CSR during Freshers Fortnight, and finding
out more about Stewart's birthday outing on Friday.

Even more exciting was spotting Joe Haddow's name in the Radio Times,
as he's made a documentary about Frank Sinatra and Reprise Records
going out Tuesday week on BBC Radio 2, and narrated by Paul Gambacinni.

The only radio listening I really made time for today was
the weekly TV review on Richard Bacon's show where Boyd Hilton
et al gave Red Or Black a fair old slating as expected.

It was good that they acknowledged that Ant & Dec were in the
completely wrong show regarding their abilities, and to this day
nearly 10 years after leaving, many viewers will still regard SM:tv
as their finest show.

It's just a shame they've strayed from comedy sketches as
although it didn't work in the best-forgotten series Slap Bang
the pre-titles sketches on Saturday Night Takeaway had their
moments.

At the moment, it appears their acting like Phillip Schofield
by names of "ITV's bitches".

In the same way I could be one of Folded Wing's bitches,
and I was only on a two week work placement...

Canterbury's Chemistry

On noticing a tweet from fellow Student Radio stalwart Emma Corsham,
I headed over to The Penny Theatre pub in Canterbury where her
and her mates turned up, on the perception it was Pound A Pint night.

We couldn't have been more wrong in that sense with all drinks
seemingly costing more than twice that amount.

Emma's from Portsmouth and has been managing the University
station Pure FM for quite a while, and is currently staying in Canterbury
as part of a job that involves going round door-to-door in nearby areas
of East Kent in hope of collecting vast amounts of money for charity.

Quite a few of her mates/colleagues from the job turned up and were
really good guys too.

We decided not to stay at the Penny for too long however and with
one of the guys managing to get hold of special passes to Club Chemistry
we bundled (quite literally because there were 6 of us) into their car
and sped our way over to Station Road East.

It was my first time inside the club under the Chemistry name and
it looked rather different with the white walls and bizarre addition of a
bouncy castle.

The music playing consisted of the usual sort of stuff such as Rihanna,
Example, and Katy Perry although the dancefloor itself was rather
packed and I wasn't really boozed up enough to throw any
shapes, or make drowning gestures like Mark King in Level 42's
video for "Lessons In Love".

I headed back at around 12:20am to be on the safe side of things
and luckily there were no suspicious looking people in the alleyway near
the railway bridge on the way back home.

Overall it was good to meet Emma after quite a while and should
I feel fit to attend next year's SRA Conference, I'm certain we'll
once again cross paths.

September Struggles

Nothing seems to be fair at all at this time.

There's a lot going on this month and not enough money
in my bank account, ahem, overdraft.

This weekend there's a soul event in Faversham called
Moare Music with what looks like an impressive line-up
headlined on Sunday by Incognito, fresh from their second
residency at Ronnie's.

Tempting as it may seem, I'll give this one a miss
as it's on a Sunday, and I'm already absent for one radio show
this month on the 25th due to Jingle Day the 7th taking place
at The George in Central London.

And yes, even the more professional presenters
such as Jamie Cullum and Gilles Peterson pre-rec their shows when
they're unable to do their's live, but the fact is that I'm not a professional.

On a radio related note, another event that I'm rather gutted about
missing is NextRadio.io taking place a week on Thursday featuring
talks from Trevor Dann, Steve Ackerman, Matt Deegan and Paul Chantler
amongst other established radio figures from both on and off-mic.

£99 isn't a heavy amount to pay for the event but as the money
from my next Job Centre visit comes in on the day itself, it will
be too late and I'm already prioritising on my monthly credit card
payment.

That's not to say that such an event won't happen again as
many similar ones seem to be popping up as the year
continues.

On the plus side it's Stewart Paske's birthday do this coming Friday
in Central where according to the Facebook invite it looks like
there's an interesting set of people attending, some of whom
I haven't seen for almost two years.

I do hope Stoobs posts details of what's going to be happening
in the next couple of days however, as I wouldn't want to be
left in the dark about it all.

Technical Disruption

My radio show went fairly well, although not without the studio constantly
being invaded by technical staff checking webcams, switching off
the internet and so on.

It was rather intimidating to an extent, but I hope I didn't
show it on mic.

I really hope it was just for this week.

Not to worry, as I plan to spend the rest of the night enjoying
the television premiere of Four Lions on Channel 4, arguably the
funniest film of the last two years.

I only found out today that Nigel Lindsay who plays Barry
the converted Muslim is now starring in the lead role as Shrek
in the West End musical.

I'd imagine Chris Morris would be thinking he'd missed a trick
in using it as one of the mascot outfits for the Marathon scenes
but the Honey Monster outfit would produce more "lols" anyday
over Shrek.

Early start tomorrow as I have a job interview at 9:45am.

Best to be relaxed, and confident where apt.

Roulette Balls

Opting to watch Doctor Who over the opening episode of Red Or Black
turned out to be the right idea, with the plot loosely based on
an old game on Noel's House Party.

I won't give it away for those who've yet to see it, but it was proof
that Mark Gatiss delivers as always.

As for Red Or Black it's doubtful that after tonight's outing,
millions of viewers will be making the effort on a nightly basis
to see Simon Cowell half-inching as many gameshows into one big
bore-fest.

The most irritating part was the 10 minute introduction
to the final 10 contestants halfway through the show,
which is completely unnecessary.

Cowell needs to get it into his head that these are people
are only going to be on screen for 10 minutes and not 10 weeks
so why would the viewer want to endure a sob story.

Ant & Dec are more than competent as hosts but are wasted
on this new offering. But then again, for ITV I guess it was either
them or Philip Schofield.

If there was one show that Ant & Dec hosted that should have
lasted longer, it was Pokerface, which like Red Or Black started
as a nightly offering in Summer 2006 before going weekly for #
a second series in early 2007.

It was certainly more innovative and faster-moving than their
new offering, partly as the format of Pokerface was thought up
by the duo themselves.

But enough living in the past.
It's probably best not to waste the future in front of strung out telly.

Sun And Sans Ska

I've been having second thought about taking "gardening leave"
from Folkestone, as it appears that Academy FM are broadcasting
from Skabour, a ska festival taking place in Folkestone this weekend,
with a line up including The Beat and The Selector.

I'm a tiny bit jealous about not being there, but having thought
about it further I've had a pretty good summer in terms of music
events in England's Garden including the Margate Soul Weekender
and a just as exhaustive radio related event with Lounge.

And also, tomorrow's meant to be rubbish in terms of weather.

That's not to say I haven't been making good use of the
warm temps outside, as I went up to the CSR studios to
stick the music for tomorrow's show onto Myriad.

Quite a few good ones too, including a broken beat cover of
Dusty's "Just A Little Lovin", new stuff from Jazzy Jeff, and
four back to back tracks from Ashford and Simpson.

So maybe things aren't that bad at all.

Static And Uncertain

Mum and Dad are away in Yorkshire this weekend to see Dad's
mother so that leaves an empty house apart form myself and Olly.

Once again I have been bored stupid despite the warm weather
and a visit to Morrisons, and in the state I'm currently in,
it's only going to get worse.

It's partly to do with waiting for e-mail responses over issues
that no one else would give a bollocks about, but when there's
little else going on at one time, it's a nightmare trying to think
about other things, especially when they're not going to take
place for a long time.

I had a brief lapse of escapism tonight with what was a superb
start to the new series of Outnumbered although I ended up
feeling sleepy during Channel 4's new comedy pilot Chickens
starring half of the main Inbetweeners cast.

The response on Twitter that I've read so far seems positive
however, but then again I enjoyed the series Friday Night Dinner
earlier in the year which everyone else seemed to hate with a passion.

Luckily it's back for a second series next year although I
don't really see it leading onto a third.

Unless issues are resolved tomorrow, I'll probably continue
being a no-hoping anxious so and so.

The Broom Cupboard Bows Out

Rather poignant day telly-wise as with the Manchester move
imminent, today is the last day CBBC are broadcasting live from TVC
in London.

On presenting duties are the rather amusing Dodge T. Dog, and
a presenter who shares a lot more in common with Toby Anstis
than Phillip Schofield, that being London Hughes or as I refer to her
"Lisping London".

Thankfully it's her last day too.

London happened to be the subject of a viewers letter of complaint
to Points Of View about the apparent "patronising" state of the links
and if this clip is anything to go by, it's hard not to see the inanity.

I've mentioned this before, but it reflects a trend in presenting
for younger viewers where rather than make jokes off the cuff,
there's an air of "we're funny so laugh at us" within the links,
with a dollop of forced irony to boot.

The current trend of presenting was pretty much started by
Ed Petrie four years ago, but the difference was that he was
naturally funny and had experience of presenting children's programmes
prior to getting the CBBC gig.

And with in-vision links (bar one at the end before Pointless)
more or less absent from BBC 1, it's hard to see whether they'll
last the course on digital following the move to Manchester
as my suspicion is that the children's department will be left to rot.

But then again, we all get older.

I'm certain that an equivalent of me twenty years ago would
be bemoaning shows such as Going Live!, although having thought
about it, many mums and dads thought that Going Live! was
better than what they had when they were little.

In this heavilly fragmented age of demographics and market
lead broadcasting, it's doubtful that such shows or presenters
will ever have the influence they once did on broadcasting.

And there's no finer example than CBBC escapee Ortis Deley's
recent shambles "presenting" Channel 4's athletics coverage.

September Shining

Well it appears summer has finally arrived albeit a couple of months
too late.

It certainly put me in a good mood for my CSR drivetime show
where this week I think was the strongest yet.

Just a shame that there's only too more shows before the Freshers
arrive, but I can't carry on forever.

Shortly after arriving back home, I headed into Canterbury
again for another gig by Ted Dibiase's Punk Band, this time
at the Beercart Arms.

They were part of a live punk night and were on first where
I reckon it was their strongest yet, partly because the venue
itself wasn't as cramped.

I even got to help out taking some of the instruments and amps
back to the van after the set.

Even though the night was relatively young, that's not to say
they're not getting darker so I headed back to base shortly
after, partly so I don't miss tonight's Sounds Of The 20th Century
on BBC Radio 2, which has probably already established itself
as the best radio series of the year.

You really can't deny the amount of archive research that's
gone into it, and if I'm being honest, it's a more than enviable
job from my perspective.