IS
So the local stations take Up All Night from 1am and then BBC London from 5 and are local from 6?
RW
That's correct, although apparently it's not called Up All Night any more. Weekend overnights are still a Radio London production.
Robert Williams
Founding member
So the local stations take Up All Night from 1am and then BBC London from 5 and are local from 6?
That's correct, although apparently it's not called Up All Night any more. Weekend overnights are still a Radio London production.
FC
Yes it’s on weekdays only but the 5 live simulcasts had dropped the Up All Night branding. On weekends there will still be a Radio London simulcast, using the Reelworld jingle with an ‘Across BBC Local Radio and BBC Radio 5 live’ announcement.
So the local stations take Up All Night from 1am and then BBC London from 5 and are local from 6?
Yes it’s on weekdays only but the 5 live simulcasts had dropped the Up All Night branding. On weekends there will still be a Radio London simulcast, using the Reelworld jingle with an ‘Across BBC Local Radio and BBC Radio 5 live’ announcement.
NT
Radio London is a weird station...
Weird London of all places is one of the hold-outs, especially considering that (to me at least) it feels like the new Reelworld jingles fit London a lot better than other places... "The Sound of Cov", really?
Radio London is a weird station...
LL
Radio London is a weird station...
Radio London is a reminder of how bad the BBC can be. It's been managed by David Robey since GLR became London Live in 2000, has seen the station shed listeners, seen talent such as Danny Baker leave and yet the station sound is for a select few.
London Lite
Founding member
Weird London of all places is one of the hold-outs, especially considering that (to me at least) it feels like the new Reelworld jingles fit London a lot better than other places... "The Sound of Cov", really?
Radio London is a weird station...
Radio London is a reminder of how bad the BBC can be. It's been managed by David Robey since GLR became London Live in 2000, has seen the station shed listeners, seen talent such as Danny Baker leave and yet the station sound is for a select few.
NT
Radio London is a weird station...
Radio London is a reminder of how bad the BBC can be. It's been managed by David Robey since GLR became London Live in 2000, has seen the station shed listeners, seen talent such as Danny Baker leave and yet the station sound is for a select few.
And the masterstroke of sticking Jon Gaunt on London Live (that really is a cursed name, isn't it) to alienate all the old GLR listeners. Crazy. Yet 20 years later and two more name changes later, he's still there, as is so many of the on-air line-up. Quite something.
I'd never advocate closing a service down, but if there was ever one that needed a question mark over it, it'd have to be Radio London. I mean, what's it there for?
Weird London of all places is one of the hold-outs, especially considering that (to me at least) it feels like the new Reelworld jingles fit London a lot better than other places... "The Sound of Cov", really?
Radio London is a weird station...
Radio London is a reminder of how bad the BBC can be. It's been managed by David Robey since GLR became London Live in 2000, has seen the station shed listeners, seen talent such as Danny Baker leave and yet the station sound is for a select few.
And the masterstroke of sticking Jon Gaunt on London Live (that really is a cursed name, isn't it) to alienate all the old GLR listeners. Crazy. Yet 20 years later and two more name changes later, he's still there, as is so many of the on-air line-up. Quite something.
I'd never advocate closing a service down, but if there was ever one that needed a question mark over it, it'd have to be Radio London. I mean, what's it there for?
IS
I'd never advocate closing a service down, but if there was ever one that needed a question mark over it, it'd have to be Radio London. I mean, what's it there for?
There definately is a place for a station for London, especially as it is now the only local station for London (in English at least) to get rid of it totally would leave a gap in the network and a gap in the market.
Radio London is a reminder of how bad the BBC can be. It's been managed by David Robey since GLR became London Live in 2000, has seen the station shed listeners, seen talent such as Danny Baker leave and yet the station sound is for a select few.
Worth remembering that Danny Baker joined the station under David Robey's management too (IIRC it was the week before 9/11 so a bit of an aborted start)
Yet 20 years later and two more name changes later, he's still there, as is so many of the on-air line-up. Quite something.
I don't think that's quite correct that a lot of the on air line-up is still there from 20 years ago. Robert Elms has been there forever and Vanessa Feltz, like Danny Baker is GLR alumni who rejoined. Think Eddie Nestor has been there a while.
It has struggled to find its audience, and always has, even as GLR which was probably the most coherant format its had it still had some oddities in the schedule and didn't do massive numbers.
It's main saving grace is Robert Elms whose show just ooozes 'London' - lots of localness, trivia and history. It's very much the core of the station and the only constant it has (although it has moved timeslots to lunch and back to mornings). I moved from London years ago but listen to him when I'm back, it is one of the few things left that wears it's Londoness on its sleeves and celebrates it
Yes that didn't go well and you could tell that the other presenters like Robert Elms and Danny Baker despised him (as did most people at the station).
However he did redeem himself somewhat on the morning of 7/7 his show that morning was excellent (and is online somewhere). He was presumably already in the way out though as I think he announced he was leaving a few days later
I'd never advocate closing a service down, but if there was ever one that needed a question mark over it, it'd have to be Radio London. I mean, what's it there for?
There definately is a place for a station for London, especially as it is now the only local station for London (in English at least) to get rid of it totally would leave a gap in the network and a gap in the market.
Radio London is a reminder of how bad the BBC can be. It's been managed by David Robey since GLR became London Live in 2000, has seen the station shed listeners, seen talent such as Danny Baker leave and yet the station sound is for a select few.
Worth remembering that Danny Baker joined the station under David Robey's management too (IIRC it was the week before 9/11 so a bit of an aborted start)
Yet 20 years later and two more name changes later, he's still there, as is so many of the on-air line-up. Quite something.
I don't think that's quite correct that a lot of the on air line-up is still there from 20 years ago. Robert Elms has been there forever and Vanessa Feltz, like Danny Baker is GLR alumni who rejoined. Think Eddie Nestor has been there a while.
It has struggled to find its audience, and always has, even as GLR which was probably the most coherant format its had it still had some oddities in the schedule and didn't do massive numbers.
It's main saving grace is Robert Elms whose show just ooozes 'London' - lots of localness, trivia and history. It's very much the core of the station and the only constant it has (although it has moved timeslots to lunch and back to mornings). I moved from London years ago but listen to him when I'm back, it is one of the few things left that wears it's Londoness on its sleeves and celebrates it
Quote:
And the masterstroke of sticking Jon Gaunt on London Live (that really is a cursed name, isn't it) to alienate all the old GLR listeners
Yes that didn't go well and you could tell that the other presenters like Robert Elms and Danny Baker despised him (as did most people at the station).
However he did redeem himself somewhat on the morning of 7/7 his show that morning was excellent (and is online somewhere). He was presumably already in the way out though as I think he announced he was leaving a few days later
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 29 July 2020 7:33am - 2 times in total
NT
It's main saving grace is Robert Elms whose show just ooozes 'London' - lots of localness, trivia and history. It's very much the core of the station and the only constant it has (although it has moved timeslots to lunch and back to mornings). I moved from London years ago but listen to him when I'm back, it is one of the few things left that wears it's Londoness on its sleeves and celebrates it
Elms must have been doing that slot for about 25 years now. I remember listening to him when I was doing a dull warehouse job in '96 and GLR saved my sanity! Was surprised he survived the change to London Live. I got a bit tired of his "oh, I don't know south of the river" schtick years ago but agree that he's the lynchpin of the station. Having a little listen now for old times' sake... damn, there's a stand-in presenter on.
Agree that there is a place for a BBC station in London, but I'm just not sure it's the current directionless one and as I'm sure has been said here before, it's a really difficult market. GLR was the best stab they had - they took a section of the audience (for two-thirds of the day), beefed up the news and went for it - but is maybe too close to 6 Music to get away with today.
And to tie this back to the thread, GLR jingles made it sound like a much bigger station than it actually was: http://www.aircheckdownloads.com/glr_SimonBarnett_1092.mp3
It's main saving grace is Robert Elms whose show just ooozes 'London' - lots of localness, trivia and history. It's very much the core of the station and the only constant it has (although it has moved timeslots to lunch and back to mornings). I moved from London years ago but listen to him when I'm back, it is one of the few things left that wears it's Londoness on its sleeves and celebrates it
Elms must have been doing that slot for about 25 years now. I remember listening to him when I was doing a dull warehouse job in '96 and GLR saved my sanity! Was surprised he survived the change to London Live. I got a bit tired of his "oh, I don't know south of the river" schtick years ago but agree that he's the lynchpin of the station. Having a little listen now for old times' sake... damn, there's a stand-in presenter on.
Agree that there is a place for a BBC station in London, but I'm just not sure it's the current directionless one and as I'm sure has been said here before, it's a really difficult market. GLR was the best stab they had - they took a section of the audience (for two-thirds of the day), beefed up the news and went for it - but is maybe too close to 6 Music to get away with today.
And to tie this back to the thread, GLR jingles made it sound like a much bigger station than it actually was: http://www.aircheckdownloads.com/glr_SimonBarnett_1092.mp3
BB
Yes that didn't go well and you could tell that the other presenters like Robert Elms and Danny Baker despised him (as did most people at the station).
However he did redeem himself somewhat on the morning of 7/7 his show that morning was excellent (and is online somewhere). He was presumably already in the way out though as I think he announced he was leaving a few days later
Quote:
And the masterstroke of sticking Jon Gaunt on London Live (that really is a cursed name, isn't it) to alienate all the old GLR listeners
Yes that didn't go well and you could tell that the other presenters like Robert Elms and Danny Baker despised him (as did most people at the station).
However he did redeem himself somewhat on the morning of 7/7 his show that morning was excellent (and is online somewhere). He was presumably already in the way out though as I think he announced he was leaving a few days later
CU
I don't think it's right that Radio London can opt out of playing the same jingle package as the rest of the network. Likewise it's wrong that they have been allowed to stay with the same programme schedule as before the lockdown whereas the rest of the local station network have changed to 3 shows during the day. It should be the same across the whole network or not at all.
VM
Yes that didn't go well and you could tell that the other presenters like Robert Elms and Danny Baker despised him (as did most people at the station).
However he did redeem himself somewhat on the morning of 7/7 his show that morning was excellent (and is online somewhere). He was presumably already in the way out though as I think he announced he was leaving a few days later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAtEd9ya7LI
Just gotten around to listening to some of this - I've got to about 50 minutes in. Some thoughts
-'Not much happening today [apart from Olympics]' - eerily similar line to what some of the American TV news programmes were saying on the morning of 9/11.
-This my first time listening to Jon Gaunt ever, after reading about him online negatively for years. He's not nearly as bad here as I imagined him to be (maybe he's gotten a lot worse). 'One thing we will not do at this station is speculate'. He even comforts an obviously shaken caller.
-I'd forgotten how long away 2012 seemed in 2005 - seven years away.
-Even though this is now 15 years ago, it still sounds like something that would have been broadcast recently - after all, the BBC News music hasn't changed dramatically in that time. I get the feeling that listening to a 1990 broadcast in 2005 would have felt a lot more ancient.
Quote:
And the masterstroke of sticking Jon Gaunt on London Live (that really is a cursed name, isn't it) to alienate all the old GLR listeners
Yes that didn't go well and you could tell that the other presenters like Robert Elms and Danny Baker despised him (as did most people at the station).
However he did redeem himself somewhat on the morning of 7/7 his show that morning was excellent (and is online somewhere). He was presumably already in the way out though as I think he announced he was leaving a few days later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAtEd9ya7LI
Just gotten around to listening to some of this - I've got to about 50 minutes in. Some thoughts
-'Not much happening today [apart from Olympics]' - eerily similar line to what some of the American TV news programmes were saying on the morning of 9/11.
-This my first time listening to Jon Gaunt ever, after reading about him online negatively for years. He's not nearly as bad here as I imagined him to be (maybe he's gotten a lot worse). 'One thing we will not do at this station is speculate'. He even comforts an obviously shaken caller.
-I'd forgotten how long away 2012 seemed in 2005 - seven years away.
-Even though this is now 15 years ago, it still sounds like something that would have been broadcast recently - after all, the BBC News music hasn't changed dramatically in that time. I get the feeling that listening to a 1990 broadcast in 2005 would have felt a lot more ancient.