7 March 1994
Norman McLeod
Well, we're into the last week of Freedom FM, our local dance music RSL. And it does leave me wondering about the future of radio in the hands of the younger generation.
Essentially, Freedom's programming aims are very modest, - a far cry from the elaborate ambitions of the late-lamented Festival Radio. It is a dance music station, and no more. To describe it as a 'pirate with a licence' fairly sums it up.
DJ's fall mainly into two types: (a) commercial radio wannabes and (b) pirates. The wannabes appear during the day. They have heard what conventional ILR stations do, and aim to imitate it in every detail. Perhaps this is the only sort of radio outside the BBC that they have ever been exposed to, and so they imagine this is the only possible approach to the medium.
Anyway, the usual assumptions prevail. The audience is mentally deficient and for one DJ in particular, suffering from a complete absence of short-term memory capacity. "Don't forget thecompetition - don't forget the number to call - don't forget that so-and-so is coming up after the news - don't forget to take an umbrella when it rains etc. etc.
Of course a lot of his audience IS mentally deficient. They would have to be to put up with this tosh for any length of time, and it is, after all, axiomatic that half the population is of below average intelligence. But while the professional patter may from time to time serve some informational purpose, the amateur version lacks the external input that makes regular ILR an acceptably useful background noise.
The 'pirate' category of DJ has a different approach. Not for him the niceties of mike technique or received pronunciation. He will not remind you to remember things it wouldn't matter if you forgot: not for him the unctuous attempts at charm and cheery helpfulness.
No, the pirate just shouts at you. He is not aware that advances in microphone technology make it possible to pick up a whisper several feet away. He behaves as if the microphone had been plugged into a line input on the desk by mistake, and consequently needs a bit of heavy driving.
It is unfortunate that so many young DJ's learn their trade in noisy, crowded night clubs where no-one can hear themselves think. There they pick up all sorts of bad habits from the radio point of view. Perhaps there ought to be remedial classes for club DJ's, to impress upon them, above all, that radio is a one-to-one medium, so that they should not behave as if they were addressing a crowd, but treat listeners as individuals who are not hard of hearing.
All praise, though, to the DJ who puts together the ambient show on Sunday night. Ambient DJ's are sensitive to sound texture: they know that a valuable dimension to programme flow is light and shade or dynamic contrast, and it is very pleasant to be treated to music that is not peaking 6 all the time and isn't chopped up into four-minute segments....
Talking of light and shade or dynamic contrast, our cable company have recently put the Virgin satellite feed onto an FM carrier. Does Virgin sound good in FM stereo? No, sir, it doesn't. Once more the lunatics have taken over the Optimod. Do not waste a network on these morons. They don't know what quality sound IS.
Any readers wishing to comment on what I have said are welcome to call me on 01 273 684 172 or send e-mail to normac@fastnet.co.uk
Copyright NJ McLeod 1995