While I was driving home one evening, and flicking through the radio channels trying to find something worth listening to, it struck me that there is no such thing as ILR anymore. ILR – Independent Local Radio – the ‘Magpie’ to the BBC’s ‘Blue Peter’ of local radio. A bit edgier, a bit more down wiv da kids, and with irritating commercials every few minutes. Independent of the BBC, in case you were wondering.

But now, it’s no longer ‘independent’, it’s ‘commercial’. It’s no longer ‘local’, it’s centralised and homogenous. There is no longer any local information – actually, the output is pretty much devoid of information of any sort – and you have no idea where the station is broadcasting from.

The stations used to have names that indicated where they were based such as “Clyde” (Glasgow”), “Chiltern” (Bucks/Berks), “Trent” (Nottingham”, “Orwell” (Ipswich”), “Ocean” (Portsmouth/Southampton). OK, that last one didn’t really works as neither city is near an ocean. Now it is “Heart”, “Smooth”, “Sam” and “Fab”, which could be from pretty much anywhere –and probably is. OK, that last one was made up by Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield.

Well 2

I watched a bit of “The Sound of The Eighties” a couple of weeks ago. Mainly because Toyah was being interviewed. “The sound of the eighties” is a radio programme, but sometimes it is on the television as well, (which is another example of media confusion). But not exactly the same programme – same presenter, same time, same songs* but – as far as I can tell – not exactly the same programme. I mean, they didn’t just film the radio programme. The links were all done to camera, and Sam Fox wasn’t wearing headphones or sitting at a radio console. It wasn’t Sam Fox, it was Sara Cox. I wasn’t paying that much attention. But it was definitely Toyah – I was paying attention to that bit.

* Except the TV version is 30 minutes shorter, and doesn’t include all the songs in the radio version.

Anyway, here are three of the videos that were played.

Did you notice what I noticed?

There was much more to these videos than just singing the song. They weren’t just a filmed stage performance, or the band (rather oddly) walking across the hills or along a beach. They were mini-films, telling their own story in addition to the song.

Was this because there was so little outlet for video in the 80s, so videos had to be extra-special to get any airtime? Or because more people in the music industry had been through art school and/or stage school and so had a better appreciation of the dramatic arts? Or is it just that there was more money around?

Well 3

One of my farcebook friends [sic] posted something about how her (young adult) son had gone to some far-flung corner of the world for the summer, and how there was limited internet access and so she would only have sporadic communication.

Is this a problem? Or is it just a 21st century perception of a problem? When I was that age (and slightly younger) I went to not-so-far-flung corners of the world, and it never crossed my mind that I should communicate with home – other than a couple of postcards (which generally arrived after I had returned).

On a cycle tour of The Netherlands my friend and I met up with another couple of lads at one hostel, which happened to be near the port so a popular destination for people starting or ending their holiday (we weren’t doing either, btw). Noticing that we were English, another lad who had just arrived in the country came over to ask for some advice.
“Excuse me, but have any of you tried to phone home since you have been here?”
In unison we all responded “phone home? What we want to do a stupid thing like that for?”