Category: radio

Be like Donovan – keep the thrill alive

Earlier this week, I was listening to an episode of Blood On The Tracks, the Colin Murray-fronted show, where guests bring their record collections and debate their favourite tracks in certain chosen categories.

In one particular round, the guests were asked to name their favourite act to come out of Scotland.

Fashion queen and former guitarist in The Fall Brix Smith chose Donovan.

If you don’t recognise the name or the above picture of Donovan, don’t worry.

In the 60s, he had a string of hits, such as Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman and Hurdy Gurdy Man, but his star waned in the 70s.

It transpired that Brix Smith knows Donovan and has his number, so Colin Murray challenged her to call him live during the recording. Continue reading “Be like Donovan – keep the thrill alive”

When is a radio show not a radio show?

Sara Cox

If you’re like me, when you picture a radio presenter in your mind, you see them wearing a big pair of headphones, sitting (or standing) at a desk, speaking into a microphone and occasionally pressing buttons.

Although the age of DJs actually ‘spinning discs’ is long gone, most of the rest still holds true… or so I thought.

Last week, however, while idly browsing iPlayer, I came across Sara Cox’s Sounds of the 80s.

Not such an 80s classic
This goes out on BBC Radio 2 on a Friday night from 10pm – midnight and it seems fairly popular.

Ostensibly, it’s just Sara Cox playing lots of a-Ha, Wham!, Billy Ocean and Madonna to dance around to, or so I thought.

You see, this radio show is also available to watch. Now we’re not talking a webcam in the corner here – I mean Sara Cox standing in a proper TV studio facing a camera delivering her script. Continue reading “When is a radio show not a radio show?”

How Enid Blyton helped shape an early CRM system

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Customer Relations Management feels like a very modern element of how to run a successful organisation, but it’s not a new invention.

When the legendary Biddy Baxter started at Blue Peter in 1962, she set up what she called a ‘Correspondence Unit’.

Enid Blyton
As she explained to Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs, this unit came about as a result of an experience she had with Enid Blyton.
Continue reading “How Enid Blyton helped shape an early CRM system”