7 May 1994
Norman McLeod
I am grateful to Roger Gane of RAJAR for his observations about Italian radio (letters, last week). But the point I was trying to get across by referring to Europe was about general viability rather than the content of any particular station or country.
If you have 4000 stations about, it's hardly surprising if there are more than a few bad eggs. If you have no regulation at all, you will get a shambles, and I have never advocated this position for a moment.
But at the same time, how is it that hundreds (if not thousands) of small stations exist in Europe, where the laws of physics and the realities of capitalism are no different from here, but a few hundred are not viable in the UK, according to a certain school of thought?
All I understand by the term 'viability' is the ability to live and (hopefully) thrive. My old University station predates commercial radio in this area by seven years and is viable in the sense that with all its ups and downs it is still there after eighteen years.
But it does not make any money for executives and shareholders. No- one drives a BMW or goes on ski- ing holidays in the winter on the proceeds from stations like Radio Falmer. And I'm afraid that unless a station is generating this sort of income, it is tacitly excluded from the 'viable' category in official circles. This is where the disingenuous behaviour really lies. It is not only small stations that can put out hateful, socially-destructive material - what follows is a case in point - but at least if they do, there's less potential harm than if remarks are radiated city wide.
On the night of the Commons debate on the age of consent for gays, Mr Littlejohn apparently voiced the following opinions - not as a phone-in caller but as the voice of the station - after watching TV coverage of a demonstration outside the House:
"...after seeing the plankton bouncing up and down outside the Commons last night, if I were an MP I'd probably have voted to raise the age to 65 and banned moustaches and earrings as a basis for negotiation.
"Anything which that lot outside the Commons are in favour of, I'm against in principle. The police should have turned the dogs on 'em - and, if that had failed, brought out the flame-throwers..."
Whatever they may have been doing in Italy, Roger, it can't be much worse than this.
Listening to the pirates, it's clear that there is a new set of terminology around for standard radio expressions. Roughly speaking, the basics go like this:
Straight radio: "Stay tuned... Pirate: "Keep it locked...
Straight radio: "Hello to... Pirate: "Big shout going out...
Straight radio: "Greetings... Pirate: "Big up... "Respect....
So it's big up and respect to all you dudes out there, keep it locked to the wicked tunes. Yo!
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