Thursday 9 May 2019

Radio Songs #64: Nemesis


They say he came from the north country* where he once made his living designing bus timetables, but now he was our new programme controller...

And as a programme controller, it has to be said: he was an excellent bus timetable designer.


He had the personality of a rolled-up newspaper.

His sense of humour was
                                            

He had NO INTEREST in popular music WHATSOEVER.

And his name... was Tim Allen.


OK, that last bit is a lie.

His name wasn't Tim Allen.

It was Tim Allen Spangler, but prior to arriving with us, he'd dropped his surname and taken his middle name in its place so that he now had the exact same name as a relatively famous comedy actor of that time.

(It wasn't Tim Allen. It was actually someone even more famous than that.)

Why had he done this?

Because, apparently, at some point in the past - and presumably for all of five minutes until listeners to the radio station in question took a hacksaw to their own ears - he had been a DJ.

(After designing the bus timetables, obviously.)

He was my nemesis.

And we would clash.



When I played Radiohead last week, I explained that my Nemesis would be horrified at the sound of Paranoid Android. This week's radio song is the complete opposite of that... yet I image his reaction would have been similar. Because this man... this inhuman robot thing who was now in charge of our airwaves... had NO INTEREST in popular music WHATSOEVER.

I play this without shame because variety is the spice of life.

Unless your name is Tim Allen and you have NO INTEREST in popular music WHATSOEVER.

Power from the needle to the plastic
AM FM I feel so ecstatic
Now it's music I've found
And I'm wired for sound


(*Newcastle.)

12 comments:

  1. Reading between the lines Rol I don't think you liked him!

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  2. I'm as confused as CC - was he a mate or what?

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    Replies
    1. I obviously need to be a bit clearer next week.

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  3. Jeez - even Tim Allen wouldn't change his name to Tim Allen!

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    Replies
    1. The name in question had a bit more cred.

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  4. I just looked up disdain in an online dictionary and it brought me to this post. Must have been an extremely frustrating time. Radio should have been fun.

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  5. I'm really curious about the real name now and have a few contenders, no that you'll tell us what it was. I'm guessing this doesn't end well.

    Wired for Sound was one of the answers this morning on Ken Bruce's Popmaster (is it uncool to listen to him) - It is my morning coffee-break challenge and I got the answer along with a fair few others. The mind would no doubt go blank if I ever played for real which is why that will never happen.

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    Replies
    1. Of course it could never beat Saturday Snapshots for entertainment value.

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