Local Joe - you're havin' a laugh

That's the view of a good many local residents & business people who've read a recent press revelation published by newspaper a group radio programme manager, particularly as he's a Johnny come lately!

Here's a contribution in reply

Thanks for the press clippings. The desire is to use 'resident' presenters then, but hey just 'cause they live locally 'now' doesn't mean they know didilly squat about the area

It's always been that presenters travel to where ever the jobs are, for however briefly. So how does this notion work, take the following example:

DJ (A) lives in London, where? North of the Thames. DJ (B) lives South. London's a big patch so who's local & who knows most about which bit! Counties are large too, well most are & densely populated especially in the South.

Dear Auntie BBC has pointed out that it's largely staffed by locals, but some can't be called DJ's or presenters, speech impediments rule the airwaves at the Beeb. There's an opinion that many shouldn't be anywhere near a radio studio. Some former Offshore Radio DJ's at the BBC locals are truly outspoken & grossly self opinionated, you'll have heard them in your own neck of the woods

But it's the Regional ILR & Sallies that are the ones under the spotlight here. It's known many senior DJ's who won't cross the road to fly the company flag, make an appearance or shake hands with the 'great unwashed', one's own term used openly to describe listeners!

There are instances of listeners trips & gigs when the presenters feel they are above even talking to the punters

Finally, there's the business community, make an effort bond with them they're the advertisers that pay your wages. Reaction, no way Hose'

Successful Local Radio must be local & staffed at least at senior level by true locals not imports. Such managers can drip feed their knowledge, provide established & useful contacts, & form the important commercial links to ensure healthy audience growth & revenue

Living on the patch don't make you Local Joe

Name supplied to editor

1/6/08 - I'm a listener, not a broadcaster. My question would be, is there any such thing as an ILR worth listening to? It is all very well focusing on local presenters with local knowledge but I think it is more important that the quality of the programmes & news should improve. A good station should try to recruit the best presenters it can afford, so it is looking for their experience & broadcasting skill, not their local knowledge. An outsider coming into an area to serve on its local radio station will experience the area through fresh eyes & ears to observe more because he or she is less familiar with the area. He or she can add significantly to the quality of the output of the station. He or she can also pass on their skills & experience to the other staff, raising their skill level & abilities.

Listeners know if they are being fed a diet of too repetitive programming, too basic information & will switch off, or go back to their iPod rather than listen to basic level radio, as audience figures prove. The news on most of the 1960s pirate radio stations was much better than the standard of news delivered now & they did not have the benefit of being on land or connected to everyone!

Commercial radio is having a hard time & has just entered a recession. The way to survive that is to be better than all the others, not the same as them. Cutting costs just cuts audiences & cuts income. Find the best you can. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.

Paul Bailey

1/6/08 - Paul might not realise that the Offshore Station 'Pirated' their News - Sharon Dillinger

1/6/08 - There has to be a local data base of knowledge which is priceless for backgound, contacts & history, a local station can't be local without locals onboard not imports - Grant St James

 

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