There are big schedule changes afoot at my favourite radio
station, BBC Radio Scotland. For years now, I’ve been listening to late night
shows from that station (and a couple from BBC Radio Ulster) to help me get to
sleep, and to keep my mind from racing when I wake up in the wee small hours.
Radio has always been a big part of my sleep routine, even as a child I slept
with the radio on and if I woke up in the night, it was reassuring to have a
friendly voice there playing interesting music to keep the night at bay.
These days I don’t listen to live radio, but through the
wonder of BBC Sounds, I always have a bank of shows to go to in the night.
Mickey Bradley and Ralph McLean on the Irish station; Iain Anderson, Natasha
Raskin-Sharp, Roddy Hart and Ricky Ross from Scotland. There’s nothing on Radio
2 or 6Music for me anymore. 2 is too mainstream, far too much chance of hearing
U2, Celine Dion and Simply Red. 6Music is too in love with dance music, or more
likely to play something too loud which will wake me up with a hammering heart.
And I can’t listen to commercial radio (what’s left of it) because of the ads
(irony, I know, because I spent a large part of my life writing those bloody
things).
Lucy
Spraggan – Don’t Play This On The Radio
Anyway, Radio Scotland has a new programme controller, and I
lived through enough of those in my time in radio to know that it’s rarely good
news. Most new programme controllers arrive in the job with a mantra of “If it
ain’t broke – fix it”, and so it is at Radio Scotland. Two of my favourite
shows are ending while a third is being shuffled to the weekend in order to
create a new regular late show that will appeal to the 45+ demographic… i.e.
it’ll sound just like Radio 2. I may be prejudging, but I expect we’ll hear a
lot more U2, Celine Dion and Simply Red.
Farewell then to veteran broadcaster Iain Anderson, who's been on Scottish radio since the days of the Ark, but has always been a
reliable place to go to hear the best singer-songerwritery material of the last
60 years. And an even sadder farewell to the wonderful Natasha Raskin-Sharp, a
presenter with a Peel-like commitment to shining light on artists that never
get played anywhere else on the radio. I’ve listened to both their shows for
over a decade now, I’ve welcomed them into my home, they’ve become warm,
stalwart, dependable friends, and I’ve valued the comfort they’ve given me in
the long dark nights of the soul… I fooled myself into thinking they’d always
be there.
There’s a
campaign running to save these shows, to get BBC Radio Scotland to reverse
it’s schedule changes (slated for the New Year), a campaign backed by a lot of
the independent Scottish musicians who have come to rely upon the shows for
airplay. I’ve signed the petition (currently at 15,000 signatures), but I don’t
hold out much hope. Because I’ve worked in radio, and I’ve seen too many good
presenters forced out over the years because the market testing showed audiences
didn’t want individual choice or musical eclecticism.
Public
Enemy - How To Kill A Radio Consultant
A week or so before the announcement, Iain Anderson played
my favourite song by Mark Germino, and took a moment to dwell upon its message.
I didn’t understand the significance at the time. I do now.
