Scott Mills to replace Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2.

[nickdoofah]

I agree that Simon 'Salad Cream' Mayo's drivetime show was also great when stuck in traffic especially! Always funny at the right moments and the confessions spot too! Something was lost when Miss Cox and that dreadful O'Leary joined radio 2 - But the bandwagon was rolling at full pelt with every half/has been 'Celeb' climbing aboard, many filtering through to radio 2! A real travesty and the decline overtook the bandwagon in the early 2000's leaving things in a complete mess! and Vine for goodness sake is now on Channel 5 too hosting a dour dreary monotonous show, the only saving grace there is the stunning Storm (Made up name?) when viewing in HD! I transgressed to radio 2 as I aged like most of us I guess and surprised myself that I enjoyed the station - My early memories are of the overrated Jimmy Young who was relevant in the 1970's yet still could be heard into the 2000's! I found JY somewhat tiresome after so long! Ken Bruce (and the guys that do the impressions of him) is OK on R2, you know what you're getting etc! I did and always like SW though, as I said earlier many of the impressions and 'Phone Calls) were and still are on cassette tape, very amusing to my puerile mind! 56 but still a kid that likes silly things!

[G6Tanuki]

I used to enjoy Radio1 back in the days of Tommy Vance and the Friday Rock Show, or Annie Nightingale's sunday-evening show, and John Peel's 22:00-00:00 weekdays slot.

I never moved to Radio2; instead I moved to the commercial stations; Beacon Radio/BRMB in the West Midlands, Capital when I was in London. Piccadilly when I was in the North-West, the oddly-named '210 FM' around Reading, and GWR when I was in Wiltshire/its surroundings.

They at least had 24/7 FM transmissions, unlike Radio1.

Come the mid-1990s my company cars came with six-CD-stackers in the boot so I didn't need 'radio' on the move any more.

[andrewferguson]

Originally Posted by ben

This used to wind me up no end on local radio. You could spot them a mile off. In fact I have a few NAB reels of tape with a lot of interview responses with 80s pop acts, presumably to stations could do just the above caper.

On YouTube, Techmoan covered this a few years ago (with humorous results): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48G4qr37Bnc

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by David G4EBT

I think Jeremy Vine is just an 'ain't it awful?' wind-up merchant - audible 'click-bait'.

I enjoyed the Jeremy Vine impersonator on SW - he sounded more like Jeremy Vine than did Jeremy Vine.

Also, the Alan Bennett impersonator, who had him off to a tee.

As to likes and dislikes, I much preferred Simon Mayo's 'Drive Time' after Steve Wright to Sarah Cox.

Like Steve, (but unlike Sarah, to my mind), he sounded natural and normal - not 'putting on a performance'.

But there you go - BBC thought otherwise.

This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEksskddJjM

Or this?:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0018pdv

Errm?

Maybe it's just me.

Whether it's TV or radio, BBC are on the ropes chasing the ratings, aiming to be all things to all people, remembering of course that BBC radio is funded from the TV licence revenue, as well as funding TV. Ever more 'niche' stations often catering for particular genre on digital and internet are etching away at BBC's listenership. 'Titanic' and 'deck chairs' come to mind.

The 'RAJAR' (Radio Joint Audience Research) ratings make interesting reading.

It shows what 'slices of the cake' all stations, both BBC and Commercial, manage to attract:

https://radiotoday.co.uk/2021/10/fac...%20DAB%20radio.

RAJAR tables:

https://radiotoday.co.uk/rajar/

Long gone are the days when 'choice' meant BBC 'Home, Light & Third Programme', Radio Luxemburg or the 'Off' switch.

Like or not, according to the new data, listening via DAB is now the most popular means of all radio listening accounting for 43% of all listening (and 65% of digital listening), exceeding listening via AM/FM which now accounts for 34.2% of listening. Listening via online and apps accounts for 18.1% of all listening (and 27.5% of digital listening) and listening via DTV accounts for 4.7% of all listening (and 7.2% of digital listening).

The new data shows that 41 million adults, or 74% of the population aged 15+, now tune into digital radio every week, and 69% claim to own or have access to a DAB radio.

Interesting to note that the most popular digital-only BBC station is BBC 6 Music with 2.687 million listeners, and KISSTORY, the most popular commercial digital-only station, with 2.255 million listeners. BBC Radio 4 Extra is the third most popular with 2.036 million listeners, followed by BBC Radio 5 live sports extra with 1.697 million listeners. Other stations in the top 10 most popular digital-only station include Absolute 80s (1.690 million listeners); Virgin Radio (1.631 million listeners); and Heart 80s (1.493 million listeners).

Hope that's of interest, albeit a bit off the topic of Steve Wright.

I love listening to Jeremy Vine, in a world full of ills and wrong doings, it's great to escape and listen to people moan about trivial things. His consumer's rights hour is brilliant.

Gene from Hemel Hempstead will call in to complain about her hot water bottle that she bought in Trewins in the 70s has sprung a leak, then Malcolm from Biggleswade will call in about his coffee machine breaking down, which he bought from Woolworths in 1993......

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Sinewave

I love listening to Jeremy Vine, in a world full of ills and wrong doings, it's great to escape and listen to people moan about trivial things. His consumer's rights hour is brilliant.

Gene from Hemel Hempstead will call in to complain about her hot water bottle that she bought in Trewins in the 70s has sprung a leak, then Malcolm from Biggleswade will call in about his coffee machine breaking down, which he bought from Woolworths in 1993......

Agree totally. It's a mindset thing.

[G0HZU_JMR]

I'm not sure if I'm missing out on things but I couldn't pick out Jeremy Vine in an ID parade or from a set of voice samples taken from the radio. I recognise the name but that's about it.

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by G0HZU_JMR

I'm not sure if I'm missing out on things but I couldn't pick out Jeremy Vine in an ID parade or from a set of voice samples taken from the radio. I recognise the name but that's about it.

You'll know the voice, the distinctive whine, as he battles it out with John Lewis, as Margaret's clock radio which she bought in 2004 has stopped working.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by G0HZU_JMR

I'm not sure if I'm missing out on things but I couldn't pick out Jeremy Vine in an ID parade or from a set of voice samples taken from the radio. I recognise the name but that's about it.

Perhaps proving that he's more of radio man than a TV man, and secondly that you don't listen to his programme on the radio? I'm no different myself with dozens of celebrities, but that's generally because I kinds know what they're about and simply have no interest in following them in any way.

[Junk Box Nick]

I’d recognise Jeremy Vine’s voice anywhere (despite generally avoiding his programme) except that it might be the person who does the brilliant impression on Steve Wright in the Afternoon. The last time I heard JV I did wonder if he had deliberately started to exaggerate his sensational hype-it-up tone to emulate the impressionist.

I would struggle to pick JV out in the street but then I am predominantly a radio listener. As for many celebrities and stars: I would recognise very few of them. One lunch time, on site, I picked up a red top newspaper someone had brought in and, beyond the front cover and inside page which covered some current affairs, I recognised very few of the names and faces to which the rest of the publication seemed to be devoted.

I once did very well in a team quiz round because I knew the names of the actors in The Archers. (It did my street cred and ‘cool’ score no good at all.)

I have to be honest and say that I tend to wear my ignorance of popular culture as a badge of honour.

[Welsh Anorak]

For information, the excellent impersonator of Jerrrremy Vine etc on Steve Wright and Dead Ringers is Lewis McLeod.

[nickdoofah]

This thread is great! I love how the internet allows us all to discuss such subjects! I must dig out the Michael Winner impressions I have 2 of them & they are so funny along with the always drunk Keith Richards - I loved it when he came on! My old cassettes almost certainly contain more of SW's characters going way back.......I loved Ask Elvis too! Totally ridiculous & the public ringing in to ask silly questions that Elvis always knew the answer to! I was often amused when driving (My job before I had the stroke) by Ask Elvis! Those days are so long ago already!

[stevehertz]

I loved the one when someone rung in to ask Elvis how to fix their washing machine. Elvis duly obliged going into great detail about the workings of a washing machine!

[Junk Box Nick]

Should have asked him some of the questions we get on here!

[beery]

Well I'm not a fan of Steve Wright, but I do feel for those that are.

I remember being very upset when they ousted Simon Mayo. I loved his show and in a similar way to SW, it was very much like his show from his Radio 1 days.
I'm not sure who Radio 2 is aimed at really. I once said "kill me if I start liking Radio 2 or feel the need to retire to Eastbourne". However, I've grown to like Eastbourne and there was a time for a while when I really liked Radio2.
However, since SM went, for me it has gone down hill somewhat. I listen to Popmaster most days and I quite like Ken Bruce, but I tend not to listen to his whole show these days are there is too much "New to Two" music. Rather than play music from the 80s and 90s, they instead find all this new stuff that is not hip enough for Radio 1 and I feel is rather middle of the road.

Between 3 and 4pm I listen to Dave Adams's show "Songs from Grandpa Bill's Gramophone" on the UK1940's radio station online.

If I'm doing the washing up at some unearthly hour, then I tune my kitchen Bush VTR103 to Radio 2 to listen to O. J. Borg, I love his show.

I wish Steve Wright well for whatever he does next.

Cheers
Andy Beer

[Junk Box Nick]

Radio 2, rather than the general station for the rest of your life it once was, is one that will see many folk passing through. Those that are sad at the loss of Steve Wright or, indeed, Simon Mayo are only feeling the same loss that many before felt when Jimmy Young, John Dunn, Ed Stewart and Terry Wogan departed. I only ever experienced Simon Mayo on Scala Radio as I turned off the R2 evening show for good when Chris Evans replaced Johnnie Walker.

Radio stations have become far more narrow in their targetting and appeal than they once were. Radio One is very much a teen and twenties station whereas when it started it had a broader age range as demonstrated by the kind of programmes that Jimmy Young presented on Radio One with a spot using recipes sent in by housewives (if I dare use such a term these days). Radio 2 was for the older adults and, originally, I was selective about what I listened to on there and I didn’t listen to the programmes my parents did and vice versa. Later, as my tastes broadened this changed.

For a long time there was limited choice of stations so switching back and forth between Radio 2, Radio 1 and the local ILR was a normal listening. Today, station managers know they must strive to retain their target audience at all times, hence, a more homogeneous style of programming has arrived. In Radio 2’s case, where it still, in theory, is meant to serve a broad demographic and taste range, it has been necessary to move Sounds of the Sixties to dawn on a Saturday morning and remove all but a bare minimum of specialist programmes that might send the target listener scurrying elsewhere. In Radio 2’s case this means the commercial competitors who are free to play the target listener’s style of pop 24/7.

Despite the changes of the last ten years, Radio 2 had until relatively recently carried the ‘stigma’ of being for your elderly gran in Eastbourne and is why the BBC produced a TV advertising campaign showing a young mother with her toddler listening to Radio 2 – the kind of person who just a few years before would have been a Radio One listener: listening to Radio 2 could be ‘cool’. As with Radio One, the target age range of the typical Radio 2 listener would seem to have been compressed to broadly the 30-60 year old group.

Ideally, the BBC should be providing a service for those post Radio 2 and those who prefer an easier presentational sound (i.e. some pop but little prattle) but, it seems, they don’t wish to do this, and indeed are moving BBC Local Radio to Radio 2 type playlists; taking the view that Classic FM and the like provide something easier on the ear.

The BBC know they have to move aging Radio One presenters to Radio 2 to ensure continuity of listenership. Steve Wright’s links with Radio One are now long in the past and so his show will be alien to the more recent Radio One alumni. However, given his popularity, I would not be at all surprised to find Steve Wright popping up on a commercial station where his fans are able continue to enjoy his show. I hope this becomes so.

[stevehertz]

That's what's happened Nick. I too would like to see R2 with broader appeal to accommodate the likes of people past the age of 60, as at the moment there's too much crass modern pop, keep it to R1, no need for crossover - just my opinion. It's incongruous listening to Ken Bruce between up to the minute 'kid's' pop songs. But we have to accept that the BBC do not make these decisions lightly, there's a reason behind the madness, and some listeners will get hurt as collateral damage. As for Steve Wright he's far from done for, and it's anyone's guess as to where he'll 'pop' up next. Tony Blackburn was away for a long time and he came back..

[G6Tanuki]

Pragmatically, in these days of millions of 'radio' offerings available via your phone/laptop/tablet/smartspeaker/TV/computer, I really think fretting about legacy DeeJays is totally obsolete; none of my under-30s friends listen to 'linear radio' - they're all sharing self-assembled YouTube/Spotify playlists or Tweeting about their current J-Pop/K-Pop music [and the seriously-Instagrammably-cute band-members, just as we drooled over posters of pop-stars in the 70s/80s]

In times-past we sat by the radio with our cheap-and-nasty mono cassette-recorder to create top-40 'mixtapes' which we shared with friends; Then Apple came along with "Rip, Mix, Burn" and we shared homebrew CDs; these days I'm happy to have millions of tracks available to me online, and to share them with friends - all without any intrusive talk!!

Give me a pantry-transmitter relaying a friend's 12-hour Ibiza Trance playlist to my Roberts R707....

[Radio Wrangler]

I'm not quick to point the blame for the music played on the presenters. I'd want to see what playlists were imposed on them.

One (of quite a few) good thing about Simon Mayo was that he was prepared to have a small proportion of long tracks in his output, and we got greater variety as a result.

David

[agardiner]

He may have moved to Sunday's, but at least Tony Blackburn is sill going strong!

[Richard_FM]

About 20 years ago there seemed to be around quite a few artists who here highbrow enough to get played on Radio 2, while still being with it enough to appeal to Radio 1 listeners.