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Radio Festival/Techcon 2012
I’m writing this as we go, and will tidy up the text later. But these are my notes “live”… As David Lloyd, MCing Techcon at the Radio Festival again this year mentions, it’s been a quiet weekend in the media. The first session was about studio design, and Tim Lowther from Global talked us through…
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Radio Books
In the back flap of Danny Baker’s new autobiography, Going to Sea in a Sieve, the simple text beneath Baker’s photo says: Danny Baker is a comedy writer, journalist and radio DJ. He currently presents six shows a week for the BBC and is a regular face on TV. He still lives in south-east London.…
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A Radio Future
On Monday, the great and the good of the UK radio industry, and visitors from beyond, will gather in Salford for the annual Radio Festival. If you’re going, say hi to me! But there are potentially some dark clouds on the horizon. It might be a somewhat distant horizon, but the radio industry – as…
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Bellowhead at the Roundhouse
I think Bellowhead is probably my favourite live band. They’ve just started a new tour, and last night it reached the wonderful Roundhouse in Camden. Cue lots of dancing, jigging, and a bit of polka on the floor of the Roundhouse. Watching Bellowhead makes you think that them going on tour is probably like throwing…
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Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Master
Beasts of the Southern Wild is a truly remarkable piece of cinema. We get a mix of magical realism alongside an almost conceivable life in the southern tip of Louisiana – “the Bathtub.” The young Hushpuppy (a truly amazing performance from a five or six year old Quvenzhané Wallis) lives with her dad (Dwight Henry)…
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Skyfall
So four years later, we finally get a new Bond film. And what a cracker to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the series. I think it’s worth saying that I think you’re best off if you don’t know the plot in advance. So I’d recommend not reading a great deal further until you’ve seen it…
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RAJAR Q3 2012
As the long nights begin to draw in, it’s time for RAJAR again. There has been a not insignificant amount of uncertainty as to what this quarter would bring, as it covers the Olympics and Paralympics (the Euros mostly fell in the previous quarter). The big question was what impact – if any – they…
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Advertising Sometimes Eats Itself
Watching the football this evening, some of the advertising on the pitchside hoarding really made me wonder what on earth the advertising industry is sometimes up to. Let’s be clear. I essentially work in the advertising industry. I work at a commercial radio station, and it’s through advertising – in various forms – that I…
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Orford Ness
Orford Ness is not the easiest place to get to – particularly without a car. For me it was three trains, a ten mile cycle ride and a ferry crossing. But it’s well worth it for the fantastic nature reserve and some essential military history surrounding the development of RADAR and the atomic bomb. A…
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Thames Festival Parade
It was the annual Mayor’s Thames Festival parade last night in Central London. I got snap happy…
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Sound on TV
In this week’s Media Talk Media Guardian podcast, there was a brief discussion a tthe end about the sound issues with some of our recent big TV dramas. In particular Parade’s End and Birdsong were mentioned with viewers complaining that they couldn’t hear the sound properly. Now I must admit that I’ve not suffered this…
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The Imposter
I went to see the new documentary, The Imposter at the weekend. All I’ll say here is that it’s very good, and tells the story of a child who goes missing in Texas in the 90s, but who then seemingly shows up in Spain a few years later. It’s not worth me saying much more…
Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night
Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…
Hadrian’s Wall
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