Be controversial but not bigoted

Matt "Matty in the Morning" Siegel has presented Boston’s Kiss 108 morning show for 4 decades. The show celebrated its 40th birthday in January.

Siegel, 71, caused controversy this week after appearing to quit live on-air because he was told he couldn’t joke about Demi Lovato’s non-binary status.

‘Matty, out’: Audio clip of Matt Siegel (Matty in the Morning) @Kiss108 apparently quitting live on the air this morning (via Kevin Doyle) pic.twitter.com/YToNubWkJr

— Mike Saccone (@mikesacconetv) May 19, 2021

Charming.

If he was a conservative talk show host, unfortunately, you might expect it - along with attacks on what they pathetically call "woke" culture. But it’s a CHR morning show FFS.

The station positions itself as Boston’s No.1 Hit Music Station targeting 18-34 year-olds, the generation most likely to be sensitive around this topic (of course, homophobia and transphobia is wrong wherever it’s found).

I’m glad management recognised this. Know your audience and understand their lives. And it’s nothing to do with age - just look at the ever brilliant Elvis Duran based in neighbouring New York state.

Anyway, the next morning, he was back. His co-host, Bex, was told by bosses not to upload the Matty in the Morning podcast the day before. How did he respond? Well… like this:

#redflag at work: when your boss says “you work for me” to manipulate you. This was preceded by lots of patronizing from Matty to Bex. It ends when he was caught in a lie (“you didn’t call me”) and demands she turn her mic off #mattyinthemorning #lethimquit pic.twitter.com/7HMBD6Ts3g

— Becca Canavan (@B_Canavan) May 20, 2021

Not only is it unprofessional, it’s a prime example of how not to treat your team or your listeners. It shouldn’t have happened at all, let alone on-air.

It’s why I get frustrated by the "not all men" brigade who line up to defend themselves against male treatment of women. Unless we take responsibility, call it out and educate one another, the problem persists.

I’d never suggest presenters should avoid (legal/compliant) topics their audience is discussing. Relevance is essential for success.

Radio is an incredibly intimate and powerful medium - you can build a deep and special connection with listeners and to do so is a privilege.

It might be more acceptable to be controversial (within reason) if you’re established, but you always need to be aware of who you’re talking to because it's their show as much as it's yours.

There's more to the BBC than one programme 25 years ago

Are the BBC ever not under attack from someone? More often than not, it’s because they’ve reported facts that don’t suit one’s agenda.

I may criticise the governance of and management within the corporation at times, but I believe it’s one of our proudest institutions as a nation.

It is highly respected around the world and its teams excel in educating, entertaining and informing.

This time, it’s under fire for "falling short of high standards of integrity and transparency" over Martin Bashir’s 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana. The BBC’s Amol Rajan summed up what this means for the BBC well on BBC News:

My bit for #BBCNewsTen on the where the Dyson Report leaves the @bbc: pic.twitter.com/Qd3rQcSTqk

— Amol Rajan (@amolrajan) May 21, 2021

I’ve always found it frustrating when critics of an individual or team within the BBC default to saying "the BBC". Martin Bashir’s actions were found to have breached the corporation’s own rules and others covered it up at the time - appalling, especially for a public body.

No large organisation gets everything right but how can you suggest such an event represents its entire workforce? And this all happened 25 years ago!

Be specific in your criticism.

Mind the Gap

Throughout my childhood, I had two primary interests: radio and trains.

I needn’t comment on the former, as you know where I am with that (it’s probably why you’re here after all!)

My once immense interest in the latter has since dwindled, but I still remember a lot and still find them impressive. I mean - who doesn’t love a train?!

The most obvious links between the two are tech and announcements.

To many, Phil Sayer and Celia Drummond were the voices of the railways.

Sadly both no longer with us, their automated platform announcements were first rolled out in the mid 90s and used at many stations around the country before being gradually replaced by new systems.

Unfortunately, most South Western Railway operated stations phased Phil & Celia’s voices out during 2019.

Phil started his career as a newsreader on BBC North West Tonight before presenting shows at Piccadilly Radio, Red Rose Radio, BBC GMR, Radio City, Jazz FM and Smooth FM.

Together with his wife, Elinor Hamilton, they founded Sayer Hamilton voiceovers in 2002 and both became familiar voices on the London Underground. They both featured in a Manchester Evening News report in 2010.

Celia, a professional voice actor, also voiced adverts, radio drama and cartoon characters. In the early 70s, she was the lead vocalist in Trees, a British folk rock band, and owned a wedding business. She was interviewed on Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 drivetime show four years ago.

Many years ago, when I was massively into trains as a child, the utterly sublime Phil Sayer recorded me a surprise message:

Many years ago I was massively into trains and the sublime Phil Sayer recorded me a surprise message. A familiar voice at stations around the country for over 20 years. Very sadly, both he and his co-announcer Celia Drummond are no longer with us and deeply missed. @sayerhamilton pic.twitter.com/Keh1pjfSGN

— Harrison RB (@HarrisonRBRadio) May 20, 2021

Two stations I regularly visited were Micheldever and Newbury hence them being picked as calling points! No question, his impeccable delivery was always a huge inspiration.

The Heart of Canada

Just over 5 years after iHeartRadio was licensed in Canada to Bell Media, the media conglomerate has rolled out a new Adult Hits brand, Bounce Radio, to 25 stations across the country, each retaining a local morning show.

Bounce plays familiar 80s, 90s and 00s hits, positioning as The Music You Just Can’t Quit.

Looking at Bell Media’s (@iHeartRadioCA) latest national brand rollout - Bounce Radio, an Adult Hits network consisting of 25 stations which have retained local morning shows. They appear to have flipped the Absolute logo. pic.twitter.com/R1DhBqn1ID

— Harrison RB (@HarrisonRBRadio) May 19, 2021

It means the end of Winnipeg's 99.9 Bob FM among 3 other Bobs and animal-themed names such as The Bear, The Fox and Big Dog.

Happy Retirement BOB!! pic.twitter.com/t2aNJdGiiz

— Winnipeg's Bounce 99.9 (@BounceRadio999) May 18, 2021

EZ Rock is no more too - a name first created in 1995 based on the call sign of Telemedia’s Toronto flagship CJEZ-FM (now CHBM-FM, owned by Stingray Group and branded as Boom 973). As of 2021, British Columbia was the last Canadian province to use the branding.

Just as we’ve seen in the UK and elsewhere in the world, Bell Media is building polished national brands to compete with digital media on a bigger scale. Bounce will sit alongside its Virgin (CHR), Pure Country and Move (AC) networks.

Elvis Duran - 25 years at breakfast

 

The legendary Elvis Duran is celebrating 25 years on Z100′s morning show.

Formerly The Z Morning Zoo, now Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, it all began following Tom Poleman’s appointment as PD in April 1996. Z100's alt rock phase came to an end, and Duran was moved to breakfast.

In 2004, the show expanded to Max 106.3 in Sussex County (NJ) and Y100 in Miami two years later before signing a national syndication deal with Premiere Networks in 2009. It can now be heard in almost 80 markets.

Newsreaders are storytellers

Earlier in the year, Jeremy Paxman claimed "any fool" could be a newsreader because (the role lacks) "any grandeur or skill" - and I couldn’t disagree more with this outdated view.

Firstly, "reader" isn’t entirely reflective of what’s involved - the best newsreaders don’t just read the words, they tell the stories. Perfecting the art of storytelling isn’t easy. Tone and delivery are crucial.

Furthermore, almost every broadcast journalist today is multi-skilled. Particularly in radio, you don’t just present, you also write copy, edit audio, drive the desk etc.

During the pre-election period (purdah), it also involves carefully crafting news related to the poll to ensure all candidates get their fair share of airtime.

There’s a lot more to it than you might think. Paxman’s view is a common misconception but particularly disappointing to hear from someone of his calibre.

Subscription radio

Amid the Apple vs Spotify subscription podcasting battle, Twitter’s announcement of ticketed Spaces and with Reuters & CNN International both set to hide behind a paywall, Bauer Media has today announced premium subscription services for four of its national radio brands - Scala, Jazz FM, Kerrang! and Planet Rock.

Subscribers will enjoy an ad-free listening experience offering greater control and flexibility and be able to skip up to 6 tracks per hour.

The £3.99 per month package also includes access to 20 exclusive online radio stations across genres and music moods as well as more than 30 on-demand shows, documentaries, artist interview content and special programming.

LBC had a podcast subscription service where you could catch up on every show minus the ads and news (this was scrapped in 2018 when the Global Player app began hosting these free of charge).

The rock/metal station Primordial Radio uses this model, as does SiriusXM state-side.

When it comes to skipping tracks, the Capital XTRA app first introduced the function some five years ago with Capital following suit before being rolled out to all music stations on Global Player. Despite opting out of the live stream, you still get presenter links and ads.

Will this be a significant revenue stream? It’ll certainly raise expectations and test the water. A key benefit to Bauer is harvesting consumer data and using it for research as well as to personalise the user experience.

We’re already used to paying a premium for ad-free experiences and/or exclusive content elsewhere - and the four stations selected are particularly niche with passionate audiences which undoubtedly helps.

For the last 10 years Bauer’s Absolute Radio has given free account holders access to higher-quality audio with in-stream technology allowing users to hear fewer, but more targeted, ads (tailored to their age, gender and location) with "bonus songs".