http://www.mediauk.com/ Radio news feed en-gb This compilation copyright 1994-2010 Media UK; individual stories with contributors Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:40:40 +0000 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:40:40 +0000 http://www.mediauk.com/article/4733 Media UK wizardry admin@mediauk.com (Not At All Bad Ltd) 10 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98721?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:37:13 +0000 BBC Radio has apologised for a technical problem which replaced the output of Radio 4 with that of 6 Music.It comes just days after the wrong shipping forecast was broadcast, and a repeat of the Now show was aired instead of a new show. http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98721 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98722?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:15:37 +0000 Antonia Quirke is caught in the middle of a cross-Channel face-off. http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98722 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98715?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:29:51 +0000 Staff told switch has been put back for 'technical reasons' and will now not be completed until November next year at earliestBBC Radio 5 Live's move to Salford has been hit by a three-month delay and will now not be completed until November next year at the earliest.Staff on the station, which is due to move from London to the BBC's new north-west base at Salford Quays next year, were told that the delay was down to "technical reasons".A 5 Live spokesman denied that the move had been delayed and said the station had "always aimed to be broadcasting from Salford by the end of the 2011 and we still expect to do that".However, 5 Live controller Adrian van Klaveren said in an update on the move at the end of last year that he hoped it would be completed by "mid-2011"."We were told that it was being delayed for three months due to technical reasons and it will not now happen until November," said a source."It's unfortunate because no one is going to want to move in November when the children are still in school. The whole point of moving in the summer was because that is when the children are on holiday."Radio 5 Live is making the move to the new MediaCityUK development in Salford – along with BBC sport, children's, learning and parts of future media and technology – as part of the corporation's commitment to expand its presence in the nations and regions. It is expected the Salford Quays development will cost the BBC £877m.The 5 Live switch will be a phased move, with Tony Livesey's weeknight show already broadcast from the BBC's studios in Oxford Road, Manchester.Daytime strands such as Victoria Derbyshire's morning phone-in are expected to be among the first flagship programmes to make the move, with the breakfast and drivetime slots likely to be among the last.All of the station's daytime lineup will present from its new Salford base, but none have committed to living in the area full time.A 5 Live spokesman said: "It is not true to say that our plans have been put back by three months. The station always aimed to be broadcasting from Salford by the end of 2011 and we still expect to do that. BBC Radio 5 Live's late night strand from 10.30pm is already broadcasting from Manchester."• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".BBC Salford moveRadio 5 LiveRadio industryJohn Plunkettguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98715 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98719?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:00:03 +0000 The Christian Brothers knew they could get away with itThere are two distinct aspects to the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church. First, there is the abuse itself, inflicted by priests, monks and nuns on children in their care; and second, there are the cover-ups of which church authorities have subsequently been accused. It may well be true, as Andrew Brown has argued in his Guardian blog, that there is more child abuse outside the Catholic church than within it. But given the trust that the Catholic faithful traditionally place in their pastors, and the church's insistence on the need to protect the innocence of children, it seems particularly shocking when priests are involved in it.For that reason, one might expect a bishop to act decisively against the evil of child abuse when it is discovered among the priests in his diocese; and while the occurrence of the abuse itself is obviously the greater abomination, the failure of many bishops to do this may be even more damaging in the long run to the authority of the church. To cover up what Pope John Paul II called "a grave sin", and to ignore his assertion that "there is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would harm the young", seems a serious dereliction of episcopal duty.It also makes the church look more interested in its own reputation than in the welfare of its flock. And that, indeed, was what the Murphy commission, set up by the Irish government to investigate abuse in the Dublin archdiocese, concluded last year when it said that the church authorities had engaged in "the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church, and the preservations of its assets". This was a terrible verdict, but the reluctance of the church to admit fault or to hang out its dirty washing in public is, however reprehensible, not difficult to understand. A hierarchical institution claiming to have the sole right to interpret the Word of God does not lightly jeopardise its authority in such ways.By comparison with Tony Blair, who could not even bring himself to express regret for the vast human tragedy he helped to bring about in Iraq, the church has done better. The pope, who today will publish his promised "pastoral letter" to the people of Ireland, has already given a dressing-down to the Irish bishops and said he has been "severely shaken" and "deeply concerned" by the abuse cases. And Cardinal Sean Brady, the besieged leader of the church in Ireland, has said he is "ashamed" of his role 35 years ago in failing to expose child abuse by a priest who went on to assault scores more children before ending up in jail. He has also apologised "with all my heart" to anyone who has been hurt by his failure. Although belatedly, the church has admitted its faults and repented its ways. It has also taken steps to make it far more difficult for paedophile priests to escape exposure in future.All this is good, but it cannot wipe out the horror of the abuse that has already taken place in some parts of the world, especially among the clergy and religious of the United States and Ireland. The children sent to Australia from British institutions with the promise of a new and better life suffered terribly there at the hands of Ireland's Christian Brothers. The 1998 report of a House of Commons select committee contains this unbearable passage: "Those of us who heard the account of a man who as a boy was a particular favourite of some Christian Brothers at Tardun [Western Australia] who competed as to who could rape him 100 times first, his account of being in terrible pain, bleeding and bewildered, trying to beat his own eyes so they would cease to be blue as the Brothers liked his blue eyes, or being forced to masturbate animals, or being held upside down over a well and threatened in case he ever told, will never forget it."What is so terrifying is that there was nothing furtive or guilty about the Brothers' behaviour. They would seem not only to have turned against their original Christian vocation but to have collectively embraced depravity of the most unspeakable kind and without even any sense of shame. This was obviously an exceptional episode, but it is nevertheless incredible that it could have happened at all. And doubtless it would not have happened if the Brothers had not known that they would get away with it. In Britain, at least, we have been spared such scandals. The church here has a much better record than many in its treatment of children, which is fortunate in the light of the pope's forthcoming state visit to this country.Radio 4 is right to keep the national anthemListeners to Radio 4 have been asking it to stop playing the national anthem at the end of its nightly programmes because it is "jingoistic" and stops them drifting off to sleep. Radio 4's manager, Dennis Nolan, refuses to oblige. He says the national anthem is "a big cultural symbol" that many listeners find "comforting and encouraging and redolent of community". He is quite right. To call it "jingoistic" is simply to misunderstand the meaning of the word. There is nothing jingoistic about trying to foster a sense of national unity. This must be the only country in the world in which the gentlest kind of patriotism is mistaken for aggressive nationalism. Furthermore, the national anthem, being a slow waltz, is completely without martial associations. It may not be very stirring, but it almost invites sleep.ReligionCatholicismRadio 4Alexander Chancellorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98719 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98717?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:45:02 +0000 Britain's oldest, poshest weekly has a bruising new editor – and her hatchet is outPG Wodehouse got a lot of fun out of a fictional magazine called Milady's Boudoir, which continually teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. If a millstone can be said to teeter on the brink of anything. The editor was Bertie Wooster's florid Aunt Dahlia, a jolly good sort whose view-halloo could awaken the dead. She was ruthless on behalf of Milady's Boudoir, demanding unpaid contributions from Bertie (who called it a weekly for the half-witted woman) and life-giving injections of cash from her husband (who referred to it sourly as Madame's Nightshirt).When I say fictional . . .You couldn't fail to smell the potpourri whiff of Milady's Boudoir in The Lady, a 125-year-old weekly. Or to see Aunt Dahlia in the new editor, Rachel Johnson, who, in The Lady and the Revamp (Channel 4), arrived full of beans ("It's going to be bags of fun!"), took it by the scruff of its neck and shook it till its dentures dislodged. Rachel is the younger sister of the sublimely Woosterish Boris.And, at first, it was the most tremendous fun. Who wouldn't enjoy Rachel's breezy description of her new offices ("A cross between an undertakers and a lunatic asylum") or her collision with the almost hereditary staff ("His father was here and his father's father before him")? Her management style owes something to Boudica: "Ben's a dear boy, but he hasn't wielded the hatchet enough." The dear boy was the proprietor, and loathe to massacre long-standing staff in case they sued his socks off.The literary editor was slaughtered on the spot. The assistant editor was not sacked (see above, under socks off) but moved out of sight to a room with rat poison on the floor and a leaking roof weeping into wastepaper baskets. The previous editor, game girl, took some shifting: "I feel as if I'm prising each finger off and she's clinging to the ledge." But in the end, they'd all gone.And still the circulation hesitated around 30,000. The Lady needed 35,000 to break even. Joan Collins drifted through to do, as Rachel said vaguely, "something". Julie Andrews stared icily out of their Christmas cover ("It looks like an open casket"). In a flash of inspiration Debo, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, was approached as an agony aunt ("What would you do if children persisted in eating with their mouths open?" "Bash 'em!"). Rachel was launched on a media charm offensive ("Get Rach on to sofas!"). A Sunday Times profile described her as putting dancing shoes on a corpse, and sometimes she sees the force of that. "In the real world this is a piddling little magazine that nobody cares about. Or buys." Pause. "I don't mean that."She has started writing a diary about being an editor. I expect it to sell well.Storyville: Kings of Pastry (BBC4) was about three chefs, Jacquy, Philippe and Regis, competing to become Meilleur Ouvrier de France, or MOF. These are the creme de la creme of pastry chefs, and entitled to wear a coveted red, white and blue collar, the sure sign that nobody does it better. To win it they must, over three intense days, do things with sugar you would not believe. The pièce de résistance (it seems impossible to discuss pastries in English) is the wedding cake. Having spun champagne showers of glittering sugar, pleasure domes with caves of ice, Saturn rings of chocolate, they must carry this treacherous concoction, apparently held together by breath alone, to the judging area. Phillippe's sculpture reached the ceiling but, as he put it down, it shattered with a sound like a breaking heart.He was a tall, thin young man and, like his sugar sculpture, he collapsed. The judges showed no stern impartiality. They wept. They embraced him. One laid his own MOF badge beside him as inspiration. Another said: "You can blow sugar. Blow! It will give your piece volume." "So," said Phillippe, "I made a flower . . . a ribbon . . . some kind of a bird." And, of the three, only he became a MOF. He had high marks in other categories and, of course, he had shown guts. The president of the jury could hardly speak for emotion.I never saw so many strong men sobbing at once and – a little tip here – humidity is the enemy of sugar. I bet you didn't know that.TelevisionNancy Banks-Smithguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98717 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98718?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:45:00 +0000 The Larry Sanders Show was the original meta-sitcom – a wish-fulfilling peek behind the chat show curtain into a hilarious world of egos, backstabbing and paranoiaThis is where it all began. The whole postmodernist, self-reflexive fact-fiction sitcom thing – loudly claimed by the likes of Alan Partridge, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm and 30 Rock – traces its lineage back to 1992, and this fantastically funny back-stage-at-a-talk-show comedy dreamed up by pudgy-faced comic Garry Shandling.Shandling had been the regular substitute for Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, so he knew whereof he spoke. And the show's gallery of writers and performers was extraordinary: Rip Torn as the show-within-the-show's foul-mouthed producer, Jeffrey Tambor, Jeremy Piven, Janeane Garofalo, and a gag-writing team that included The Simpsons' Jon Vitti and current comedy king Judd Apatow.It aired on pay channel HBO; so with no need to placate advertisers, the scripts could be as vicious as the audience would put up with. This is where HBO's reputation as a provider of quality TV really began: Sex and the City, The Sopranos, The Wire and Deadwood all owe Shandling a huge debt.But its most extraordinary invention is in having US celebrities basically playing themselves. We see Sanders' paranoia that Dana Carvey will replace him as host, and his wife's jealousy that Mimi Rogers is flirting with him on air. Six years later, Sanders will chase Warren Beatty's car to try to persuade him to appear on the show's finale. It doesn't work, but it doesn't matter. It's just so great to see someone doing it .However, the show is badly served in box sets: only the first series is available in entirety, and you have to order that from the US. But it's worth it, with its bittersweet flavour apparent from frame one: self-serving frontman Larry, haplessly ambitious sidekick Hank, hard-assed producer Artie. The network struggles, Larry's unravelling personal life, the clashing egos . . . it's what we all want to think is going on behind the talk show curtain. Whether it is or not hardly seems to matter – this is a gore-free blood sport of the highest order.TelevisionComedyAndrew Pulverguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98718 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98692?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:39:58 +0000 The ashes of Norman Painting OBE were scattered in a private ceremony in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on Wednesday.Norman, the actor who played Phil Archer in BBC Radio 4's The Archers for 60 years, died on 29 October 2009. http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98692 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98693?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:29:06 +0000 Over 400 participants from 35 countries are attending the new international conference Radiodays Europe in Copenhagen, which continues until close of play Friday.In the opening keynote on Thursday, Tim Davie, Director of BBC Audio and Music, delivered his views on the future of radio. http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98693 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98675?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:07:28 +0000 Tributes have been paid to BBC Radio 3 and World Service presenter Charlie Gillett who has died aged 68.And Radio 3's World On 3 programme on Friday night will mark his passing, whilst a special tribute programme to him is planned for a future date. http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98675 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98630?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:37:49 +0000 Radio 4 has said it will not part with its tradition of playing the national anthem "God save the Queen" everyday at 1am before ending its broadcast day. http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98630 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98694?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:42:49 +0000 Media consultant Justin Kings has a sneak preview of radio’s election coverage, with an emphasis on putting listeners at the centre of it.So, how would your station cover the election of Prime Minister Cameron? http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98694 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98597?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:07:15 +0000 The Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) has announced the establishment of a secretariat in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to spearheard specific advocacy and lobby activities aimed at establishing community radios stations in the country. It noted with concern that Zimbabwe is the only country with no community radio stations functioning and believes that this has [...] http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98597 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98578?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:09:52 +0000 A group established by the world’s broadcasting unions has been honoured for its work to reduce the problem of interference to broadcasters’ satellite signals. The World Broadcasting Unions International Satellite Operations Group (WBU-ISOG) received an industry innovators award this week from the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). WBU-ISOG was jointly honoured with the Satellite Users [...] http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98578 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98583?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:55:16 +0000 EastEnders was the most popular programme in Februray, according to figures the BBC released todayIn February the BBC iPlayer set a new record for on-demand viewing, with 68.7m requests for TV programmes, a year-on-year increase of 81% from February 2009, according to figures the BBC released today. People watched on average 64 minutes of TV programmes via the iPlayer in a week, with an average 163 minutes of radio. The BBC iPlayer also continues to expand over new platforms, and reached more than 1m installations on the game console Nintendo Wii in February, the BBC says. The BBC iStats list the total requests for February 2010, (including iPlayer programmes viewed via Virgin Media for the first time), with 116.4m across all platforms. This shows a slight decrease from January, when there were 120.3m, as there were fewer days in Feburary. The BBC iPlayer received a record 3.5m requests a day on average – TV had 2.5 million on average and radio 1.1m. EastEnders Live and the birthday edition of The Chris Moyles Show were the most popular TV and radio programmes on BBC iPlayer. Comedy and entertainment also continues to feature prominently and BBC3 programmes were particularly strong this month, the BBC says. The top 10 TV episodes February 20101 EastEnders Live 19/02/ --1,131,000 2 Mock the Week Series 8 Ep.3 -- 698,000 3 Mock the Week Series 8 Ep.4 -- 651,000 4 Mock the Week Series 8 Ep.5 -- 644,000 5 EastEnders 18/02/10 -- 564,000 6 Hotter Than My Daughter Ep.1 -- 531,000 7 EastEnders 15/02/10 -- 524,000 8 EastEnders Live: The Aftermath 19/02/10 -- 486,000 9 Film: Legally Blonde 16/09/09 -- 478,000 10 EastEnders 12/02/10 -- 473,000 The most requested episode per seriesThis Top 10 reveals a slight shift:1 EastEnders Live 19/02/2010 -- 1,131,000 2 Mock the Week Series 8 Ep.3 -- 698,000 3 Hotter Than My Daughter Ep.1 -- 531,000 4 Film: Legally Blonde 16/09/09 -- 478,000 5 Hustle Series 6 Ep.5 -- 431,000 6 Snog Marry Avoid? Series 3 Ep.2 -- 404,000 7 The Bubble Ep.1 -- 372,000 8 Top Gear Series 13 Ep.6 -- 371,000 9 Live at the Apollo Series 5 Ep.6 -- 343,000 In general, the demographic profile measured monthly shows that the iPlayer has stabilised for gender over the past year. While in the the first quarter of 2009 the breakdown was 70% male and 30% female, it has now nearly equalled with 57% men and 43% women. iPlayerDigital mediaBBCMercedes Bunzguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98583 http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98564?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=rss_newsfeeds&utm_campaign=XML Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:02:11 +0000 The Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) is now back on-air after the Solomon Islands Energy Authority restored power supply following a long power blackout at the SIBC’s Henderson transmitter. The SIBC General Manager, Cornelius Rathamana, said he was pleased that the people of Solomon Islands were again able to hear broadcasts from both 1035 AM [...] http://www.mediauk.com/radio/news/go/98564