A Change Is Coming by Brian Murphy

07Nov

It’s been a momentous week for the World. History has been made and a monumental barrier has been crossed. All around the globe, people have been chanting together in unison ‘A change is coming‘.

Indeed the change has come. Jo Russell has become the first female Breakfast Presenter on Absolute Radio. Admirably assisted by her Vice Presi-enter (see what I did there) Ben Jones, she took the air on Monday like a seal launching itself off an ice flow. Graceful, purposeful and slick. No quiet slots for her at 2am to let her get quietly settled in. She was thrown right into the deep end doing the full Breakfast Show.

I’d like to be the first person to congratulate her. Whether it be strongarming her 10 year old niece to appear on the show for a lyrics based, cheesy competition or purposely inviting the wrath of the listeners for declaring that cats are stupid, she has put a hell of a lot of effort in and has done a brilliant job. She has, might I add been a joy to work with. Mind you, I work with Christian usually, so barring Absolute Radio signing up Robert Mugabe for holiday cover, anyone’s going to seem nice.

There have been some bumps though. For instance when I suggested a Q&A session with the listeners on Wednesday’s show I thought it would be a good way for all of the Absolute Radio extended family to get to know our newest DJ. It was going well until we opened it up to phones and texts. I must say a big thank to all those budding Oscar Wilde’s out there who all got in touch with the hilarious ‘How big are your Knockers?’ lines or variations on the theme. Still though, she managed what numerous people have tried and failed at. Getting Ben Jones to take his hat off. I don’t know how she did it. It was with a mixture of charm, flattery and outright bullying that she managed to get him to unveil his bonce on Tuesday. I would like to go on record as saying ‘Ben… it suits you’. There’ll be more to come from her as she’ll be warming the crowd up for us on early Breakfast from Wednesday to Friday and more importantly will be doing Breakfast at the weekends.

Enjoy the fireworks this weekend everybody and remember when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament 408 years ago he was trying to kill King James to bring about a Catholic monarchy NOT fighting for the right to give you freedom to muck about with cheap imported fireworks from Shanghai.

So kids be careful and remember, fireworks were designed to be used in conjunction with milk bottles not milky botties…

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KgMTmXcMS1E (NSFW).

Brian

Categories: People 3

Posted by adam on November 7, 2008

G’mornin’ mi darlin’ by Guy Jogoo

06Nov

It was back in January in studio A when David Lloyd first introduced myself and Tony Moorey to JK and Joel.

“This is Tony and Guy” he announced. (The new presenters were amused that their show was being produced by hairdressers).

After moving to The Midas for a swift half – which became a few pints in Joel’s case – we decided between the four of us that we had enough celebrity contacts to get some interviews booked.

So the likes of Timmy Mallett, Carol Vorderman, Ryan Giggs, Anne Robinson, Katie Price, David Seaman, an Irish comedian with an unpronouncable name, and that bird off Holby City all graced the JK & Joel Show. Not what you might call mega A listers, but nonetheless fantastic show guests.

Memories ? Dozens. Too many to write in one blog, but they include JK having his teeth brace fitted a couple of weeks before the show started and not being able to speak properly (or ’shpeek’ as he would say)… our made up celebrity ‘Spotted’ feature… Joel spitting coffee all over me at the IOW festival (don’t ask, you had to be there)… almost jepordising JK’s relationship after playing Mr & Mrs live on air with Suzanne Shaw and her Dancing On Ice partner… and most of the time Joel seemed to spend taking his clothes off. Remember our 15th birthday party ? Then there was Richard Huntingford’s leaving video. Enough said about that the better I think…

And poor Andrew Bailey. Will he ever get over his Isle of Wight 2008 experience of ‘Naked Joel’. Maybe not. I for one will have that mental image of Joel in his birthday suit – except for a pair of green wellies – permanently etched in my brain. To make matters worse, they are my green wellies. I can never wear them again.

JK and Joel are indeed a rare breed. They compliment each other. JK with his family home, love of cars and ‘24′ and Joel with his fantasy women, knowledge of C2 buses and love of Prisoner Cell Block H. They say opposites attract, and this is the proof.

Having been in this industry for 25 years, I can honestly say it’s been a real pleasure to work with two of the nicest guys around. They do their last shows this weekend, and I’d like to wish them all the best for the future.

Finally I’d like to end on a serious note.

To their next producer: don’t tangle up JK’s headphone lead, and Joel: you owe me a pair of green wellies.

Categories: Uncategorized 20

Posted by adam on November 6, 2008

Obama’s Feeling Good… and so are we!

05Nov

It’s an historic day for America and here at Absolute Radio we marked the occasion by making Jo and Ben get up incredibly early to host the breakfast show from 4am (they’ve actually done a full day for once).

How do you celebrate such an occasion?

With a very special audio and visual Kettle Classic (of course!).

Enjoy…

Categories: Uncategorized 1

Posted by carrie on November 5, 2008

Playlist – 4 November 2008

04Nov

Our new playlist is available to view here.

Categories: playlist 0

Posted by adam on November 4, 2008

A Big Lottery Win For Radio by Paul Sylvester

04Nov

If you haven’t already heard, Dianne Thompson’s taking over as non-executive chairman at the RadioCentre.

Who is she, what’s she going to be doing and why’s she so important for us?

Dianne runs the National Lottery operator, Camelot – she is actually inside every machine deciding on the lucky dips. More importantly, she is one of the most respected executives in the UK, a huge fan of commercial radio and one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet.

In the current financial climate, the RadioCentre’s role has never been more important. It’s there to work with advertisers, Ofcom, the Government and unite all of the different commercial radio stations. There’s no better person to do this than Dianne. Since Di took over at Camelot they got their new license and saw growth in ticket sales. Camelot has also been one of the biggest spenders in radio (in the top 20 spenders each year between ‘97-’06) because of the flexibility in booking ads and the power of being able to talk to millions of people across the country. If we can harness her skills, the future’s bright.

Dianne’s also had a go behind the mic. Last year, I produced a special show she hosted on LBC about the lottery. We talked to winners, good causes, ‘the voice of the balls’ and we also took questions from listeners. The aim was to dispell some of the myths about the lottery and the way it’s run. Dianne was a fab speech radio host – a first class communicator, great at putting people at ease and most importantly very open and honest. The other thing I love about Di is that she’s not averse to the odd glass of bubbles and a good old chinwag (you can take the people out of the north…).

She never gave me the winning numbers though… but if we lock her in Studio A with Russ, who knows?

Paul

Categories: Uncategorized 0

Posted by adam on November 4, 2008