I witnessed a horrible event earlier tonight. Do not read if you are easily upset.
Lost for words
January 13, 2011
Words about #CapitalFM
January 10, 2011
The Situation:
On Monday 3rd January 2011, the stations known as Galaxy 101-106, Trent FM, Ram FM, Leicester Sound and Red Dragon FM, relaunched as 95-106 Capital FM, in line with the already-existing 95.8 Capital FM in London.
They share programming 17 hours a day during the week, having only the Breakfast and Drive-time Shows live from the area the station broadcasts to, with another four hours at breakfast on weekend days also local. The rest is networked from a state-of-the-art Studio in London.
My local station – 103.2 Capital FM South Coast – saw the reduction of one on-air job and a 3-hour (x 5 days) locally produced show. Although the person in question moved abroad, so it is unclear whether he was pushed or jumped, so to speak.
Other stations weren’t so lucky.
The biggest Galaxy – now 105-106 Capital FM Yorkshire – used to be the central hub for the Galaxy network. It was the home of all the networked shows, outside of Breakfast and Drive. It was, to the people of Yorkshire, a local station for them 24 hours a day (even if 17hrs a day was made of those elsewhere, too). Now they hear no more locally produced content than we do.
Another tragedy is that of Trent FM, RAM FM and Leicester Sound in the East Midlands. They were all separate stations. Until last week, when they merged to form one big station (96-105 Capital FM East Midlands). A lot of jobs both on and off air were lost here. Trent FM listeners kept only their breakfast show, only RAM FM’s Breakfast team were retained, but moved to Drive-time, and no one from LS made it on to the new station. On top of this presenter jiggling, they also had to deal with a new station name (The first major change in their entire history – aside from ‘Radio Trent’ becoming Trent FM) and a whole load of new presenters already broadcasting in London.
Red Dragon FM in Wales, also went from a 24/7 local station (Albeit automated 10pm-6am weekdays) down to only a local Breakfast and Drive.
What is my point, you are probably asking.
Complaints:
There has been a lot of outrage on Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and the Digital Spy Forums, about the change. In their eyes, Global Radio – Capital FM’s owners – have made a very big mistake in taking away the old stations and replacing them with Capital.
The Capital FM Facebook page (Currently having around 313,000 fans) has been hit with hundreds of complaints, mainly posts demanding they “Bring Back <Old Station Name>!” but the odd more explained post such as… actually I’ve just been on there and had a flick through, I can’t find anyone with any real valid argument, it’s mainly just “It’s Crap” and “Bring back <presenter>!”.
What stands out more than them though, are those who simply ask “Where has <Station> gone?”
How they missed the endless amount of “Capital Is Coming” promo trails, I don’t know. Except, no one really explained what Capital was or when it was actually coming! And that, I think, was Global Radio’s only mistake. Everyone knew “Capital” was coming. But just what or when, was any ones guess!
Sympathy:
I can understand people’s anger. I too was in their position a little more than two years ago, when Power FM was destroyed and replaced with Galaxy. Admittedly the outrage from the Power FM fans was on a much smaller scale, but it was still evident.
And it is this information which explains why and where the complaints are coming from:
Power FM became Galaxy just two years ago, people were not long used to Galaxy, so the change in name and presenters was still fairly fresh in people’s memory, it was something we had already experienced and got over, so few complaint’s were made.
Complaint percentage: 4%~
XFM in Scotland became Galaxy around the same time as Power FM, so you would think Scottish complaints would be minimal too, especially as the station known as Capital FM is broadcasting to a Capital City: Edinburgh. But no. The people of Scotland live in Scotland for a reason. They don’t like England, or London, and as the ‘Capital’ name has such strong links with London, it’s instant dislike, before they’ve even given it a chance.
Complaint percentage: 15%~
Red Dragon FM, was much in the same boat as Galaxy Scotland. Capital FM is broadcasting to the Capital of Wales – Cardiff. But the London-heavy, Welsh-lacking content was seen as a bad thing.
Complaint percentage: 15%~
The same for Galaxy stations in Yorkshire, Birmingham, Manchester and the North East… London name, London content.. DISLIKE! Listeners of Galaxy, did so because it was the King of Dance and R&B back in the day, so the loss of their well-known station to one playing “Hit Music” was not something they took to lightly, even though the playlist had been adapted carefully over a good few months until it was in line with the other stations.
Complaint perentage: 30%~
The final stations – Trent FM, Ram FM and Leicester Sound – were merged. The three places these stations used to broadcast to are what you might call rivals. They now have to share a radio station, they have a new station name to get used to, as well as a lot of new presenters. They really did have the biggest change out of all the stations. And people are quite-rightly annoyed.
Complaint percentage: 36%~
Conclusion:
Capital in London has over 1 million listeners. In the last RAJAR (Radio Audience Research) a combined 5.6million listeners listened to Galaxy/Trent/Ram/RedDrgn/LstrSnd. Even if ALL but ONE listener retunes to another station, Capital will be seen as success, because Capital’s listening figures have increased. Everyone will argue that Galaxy et all have had a massive drop in listeners (5,599,999 to be exact) – But Global won’t care, because those brands don’t exist in their portfolio any more. Obviously, it won’t be nearly as bad as that situation, because despite the audience outrage, a few hundred complaining fans on Facebook IS nowhere near representative of the 5 million + listeners.
With Power FM hindsight, the uproar will calm down. It may take a longer than Global expect, but ultimately Capital FM will be successful. Global Radio may not have foreseen just how big the Facebook backlash would be, but they know what they’re doing, and will achieve their goal: National Radio, delivered Locally.
People also need to realise that although it makes them feel better about the situation, posting abuse on the official Capital FM Facebook page, starting endless amounts of Anti-Capital Facebook Pages and petitions isn’t going to make Global change their mind. Global will have done their research (Even if it doesn’t seem so) and spent an awful lot of money in planning and execution, and isn’t something they will choose to reverse over the minority revolting.
I’m not sure why
January 9, 2011
(P.s.: Happy New Year!)
It count’s right?
December 30, 2010
BLOG
Wankend
October 18, 2010
[Edit: Well that's annoying! This was meant to post about 24 hours ago, but hasn't! I have edited to read like it's not two days old]
Hello, how’s your hand this morning?
- Well, I’m still waiting to hear if I got the Team Leader job! Got work on Monday [tonight] so I will hopefully find out then! Although, I have a theory. The other two who interviewed from other stores are already in the role, so they already have the advantage of knowing what they’re doing, better than I do anyway. Also, knowing Emma (My Manager) I won’t get it, because she doesn’t like to do anything unless it’s to her advantage – Why would she promote me, then have to find a replacement for my current hours, when she can easily bring someone in from somewhere else, with no worry on her pretty little brain? We’ll see anyway..
- I bought a cheap version of Windows XP the other day. It was delivered on Saturday! “WTF?” You may be thinking “You own a Mac!” Well, my friends, this here Mac can run a Windows Operating System, too! It’s got a nifty little feature called Boot Camp. Meaning I can split my hard-drives/memory/all-that-technical-shit in half and run two systems on one computer! Apart from wanting to do it for a while (as a lot of games are PC only) it means I can participate in my next point…
- I might be back on the [metaphorical] airwaves shortly! ReachOnAir.com is a internet radio station, whereby the presenters can broadcast from all over the country, not just in one studio! I have signed up to it, for free (there is a paid membership option, which I may upgrade to eventually). I am allowed to broadcast 2 hours per month (upto 3hrs p/w, if I paid) They are also launching have launched a feature where they pay you £1 per every hour you broadcast. Okay, it’s not going to make you a millionaire overnight, but if you do the maximum 3hrs p/w you’re allowed, you pay off your membership fees and have a few quid spare in your pocket!
- It appears as though I’m spending a lot lately, but I’m not. Well, I’m living within my means anyway. Although, I did buy Sabrina, the teenage witch Season 7! I am yet to watch it. Part of me doesn’t want to, because it’s the last one, so once I’ve watched it, that’s it, no more Sabriny!
lol Also, I just haven’t got round to putting it in my DVD player. Much like Season 2-5 of Two and a Half Men, which are still in the plastic wrapper. Oops.
- Diet update next. Going well. Sort of had the weekend off. Only because I went to Dads, and didn’t take any of my special food with me. But I was good. I only had my one main meal each day, and ate minimal during the day. Cereal and 3 biscuits on Saturday. And a biscuit and a slice of cold grilled bacon and my cereal on Sunday. I weighed myself last night, and it was hovering on 5lb less than 8 days before (the first day) I will weigh myself again today, in the morning, because you’re always lighter in the morning lol.
- Last point now. I went out with Sophie, Emily and Sarah and some of her [now-ex]work friends for a “Sarah leaves Wetherspoons” drink on Wednesday. There, I informed the members of the table of a new word I had learnt, and in turn learnt a second word too. My word was “Profiterofls” – A mix of the tasty chocolate (shit on a plate) desert and Rofl – a acronym for Rolling On the Floor Laughing. And the word I learnt was “Lmaonaise” – A mix between LMAO (an acronym for Laughing My Ass Off) and mayonaise – that white stuff you have with chips. I profiterofl’d and Lmaonaised a lot when I learnt them, so thought I would share them with you.
Well I’m off for a cold shower… X
Wank Bank Weekend
October 10, 2010
Remember this?
Well, I thought I’d bring it back! Give me a woop woop! Slight revision on the original concept. It will now be posted at the weekend, most likely Sunday, rather than Wednesday. And instead of how I used to post things that got me excited and things that annoyed me, I will now just summarise anything and everything I wanted to blog about, without separating them.
So, what’s being occupying my mind over the last seven days? (or, for this week only, 7 months, cos I ‘ardly blogged much)
- Well I have my Team Leader interview tomorrow afternoon, and I’m totally unprepared. It’s been a year since I last interviewed for the post. And I failed. Only just, but a fail nonetheless. How can I prove that I’ve grown and a capable candidate for the job! Any help will be much appreciated
- Neighbours 6000th episode! Next Friday! Paul Robinson gets pushed off the mezzanine at Lassiters Hotel! But whodunit? Rebecca? Declan? Toadie? Diana? or Andrew? Can’t wait!
- Emmerdale! Proper big gay storyline last week. The ever-so-fit Danny Miller aka Aaron Livesy and Mark Silcock aka Jackson Walsh getting together, or not, then Jackson crashing his van into a train! I hope he lives!
- Coming Soon.. 103.2 Capital FM.. Yep, Global Radio, have scrapped the Galaxy brand, just three years after they brought it to the South Coast, and have instead favoured to roll out the currently London-based radio station across the UK instead, from January 2011, re-branding the 6 current Galaxy’s, Red Dragon in Cardiff and by bringing together 3 based in the Midlands as one, to form the new 9 station network. Some see this as exciting, others are a bit weary of it’s success, as Capital currently screams LONDON. How will it work out? Well, we’ll see!
- I’m not sure you’re aware, but I entered myself into the Student Radio Awards this year, in the Best Male presenter category. The nominations party is on Wednesday (not going, sadly) I think we find out the shortlist there, so fingers crossed. It would be amazing just to make the top 5, let alone win, but it’s anyones guess if I’m good enough! The actual awards are in late November.
- I have an iPhone4 now. Got it in late June, actually. I decided I needed to cheer myself up with a little present since my world as I knew it had ended and I was in a bit of a miserable state of mind (Uni over, moved back home, need to get a real job etc)
- I started the SlimFast 321 diet plan yesterday. Basically you’re allowed 3 snacks (slimfast bars/snacks or fruit) 2 milkshakes, and 1 balanced meal. So far so good. I under ate by about 1000 calories yesterday. And by about 500 today (due to the roast dinner being my meal – Although I did have more carrots, peas and cauliflower than meat!) Tomorrow will be the real test, as I have work. I think I shall have my main meal at lunch, then the snacky bits on my break. I cleaned the bathroom, hoovered all the carpeted floors, cut the grass and walked the dog today, so definitely passed my 1/2 hour of exercise per day your meant to do. In fact, I’ve walked the dog everyday for the last three weeks (minus last weekend, cos I was at me dads) So I’m definitely doing the minimum recommended daily exercise. More progress to be reported as it happens.
Well, there’s a little nugget to sink your teeth into, for now. I’m sure there is SO much more I need to update you with, but that will do for now. I know I’ve said it so many times before, but I promise I’ll try and blog more. Or at least once a week, now I’ve reintroduced Wank Bank Weekend.
Ta-ra for now, pet!
random
October 6, 2010
Taken from: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/the-x-factor/news/a280552/x-factor-gamu-told-to-leave-uk.html
Nokutula Ngazana, 38, is said to have claimed child tax credit and working tax credit during her eight-year stay in the UK, even though her visa conditions prohibited her from having access to state handouts.
Normally, I despise anyone who would rather sponge off the government than actually get off their ars and work their way through life, like you should. But if they weren’t so stupid and had checked this kind of thing, they would have seen they couldn’t process her Benefits applications!
So, it’s their fault!
That is all.
Bergerac
September 14, 2010
So you’re talking to some guy online. As far as you know his name is Jack, any pictures he sent you were of ‘him’ and anything he said was his personal experience…
Then
You find out, his name isn’t really Jack and those pics he sent? They’re his best mate, who unknowingly agreed to pretend to be him, cos he thinks he’s ugly?
Rightly, I’d imagine you would be annoyed. You’d probably start to doubt that anything you’d talked about really was real, just how far had he gone to trick you into believing he was someone else?
And who had you fallen in love with? The guy in the pictures? Or the guy you’ve been talking to?
My guess is you fell in love with the guy in the pictures telling the stories. But he doesn’t exist.
And the chances you prefer the actual real him? Not likely.
So why do I do it? Knowing that our friendship/relationship could never go more than an Instant Messaging one, because otherwise I’d be revealed to be not who I said I was.
There’d certainly be a lot less friendship/relationship in the first place because you’d take one look at my pic and say no thanks.
Have you ever faked or modified yourself online in order to get further than you would had you shown your real self?
———-
(P.s.: Apologies for not posting for over a month, no doubt I’ll update you soon x)
Billy
August 8, 2010
People always ask me what it’s like now I’ve moved back home with my parents.
Until now, I’ve always said, it hasn’t been a problem, because I used to come back on a fairly regularly basis when I lived out, to go to work, dog sit, or go out in Eastleigh at the weekend.
I still stand by that, because it’s true. However, the main reason I moved home was to save money, which I now am, and I knew I wouldn’t find it difficult fitting back in because of how regularly I came home.
The problem I’m having, which I didn’t bank on, is being lonely.
I’ve gone from pretty much having Sarah and Sophie on tap, 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. I don’t mean that in an ‘look-at-me-I’ve-got-girls-coming-out-of-my-ears’ way.
They were my family for 2 and a half years, and Emily too, was part of that family for a bit. But I had my actual family too, at times when I needed them. But it was Sarah and Sophie and I, all in, and I wouldn’t have changed anything (apart from maybe the house we lived in!)
But now I’ve moved back to Eastleigh, they’re still in Southampton, with Emily.. And Paul (who’s recently come back into our lives properly, after spending 3 years in Falmouth) and brought his boyfriend, Sam.
Kirsty is still in Swansea. And will be for another year, mostly.
In the last few months, Holly has dropped off the planet, and no one could care less, right now.
Matt is closest, in terms of how far away they live, but sadly, I’m probably least closest to him, in the Power 8.
Closer than that, there’s Sam, Lee and Adam. But Sam has his own house, Lee lives in Reading with his mum, and Adam’s home is with Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, most of the time. And even then, when they are here, they don’t understand me the same way they understand each other.
That leaves the people from work.
I’d forgotten how hard it is to fit in and make new, or strengthen existing, friendships. I’ve been lucky enough over the last seven years to have gained friends, sort 0f by accident, a bit forced in a way (not a bad one), and they kind of stuck, and we found that we liked each other (I think, I hope) and here we are today.
But at work, most of them had connections with each other from before I had connections with them, either through work or school/college. So, in a big assed role reversal, I’m the one who’s gotta get in with the crowd, as it were, rather than just coming together, in a forced situation like a school classroom.
Sometimes I don’t feel so welcome, or liked more than just a work colleague. I don’t know whether that’s me being over-sensitive or over analysing the situation I’m in.
Actually “welcome” and “liked” are the wrong words, but I can’t think of the words I mean.
I feel more like an afterthought. Like, you know when someone says “list as many whatever as you can”, and they’d list however many whatevers off the top of their head non-stop in top speed, then they ummm and the person who asked the question says “What about George?” and they say “Oh yeah! I was just about to say him”
And this is usually takes place half way through the party, I was so nearly invited to.
Then I have to the hours on end of them talking about the night before, whilst I sit and listen in silence, pretending like I knew what was going on.
I now know how Paul and Matt might have felt, in the early stages of the (then) Power 6. Except they seemed to slip in to our crazy ways quite seamlessly.
Oh.
Depressing self-pity moan over.
dreams can come true, bo be ba bebada bo.
August 3, 2010
Had a weirdly nice dream last night.
I started off stood near a bus stop in Southampton, outside the office of the lettings agency we were with last year. There were two Polish people trying to get on a bus, but they didn’t speak a word of English. The other people in the queue were getting annoyed.
Then I turned around and got in my old Mini. Reversed a little. Bumped into the car parked a decent amount of space behind me – Oops – and drove off in the opposite direction. I got quite close to Thomas Lewis Way when my car disappeared and I started running (Running!?) back to Eastleigh. I caught up with a man and his dog, also running towards Eastleigh (Dunno where all the cars had gone!) I over took him, but he later over took me.
Thomas Lewis Way suddenly became the Eastleigh Town Centre end of Southampton Road, where I caught up with the earlier-talked-about man, who was looking significantly younger than before and was now with two friends and no dog. He was hot.
Anyway, they were taking up most of the pavement, so I had trouble overtaking them (apparently I had somewhere to be) but somehow eventually became the 4th member of the group. They had decided they wanted to go swimming. So we did.
It wasn’t Fleming park, but it looked familiar. Amazingly, I already had my swimming trunks on underneath my jeans, so took my top and jeans off, and was ready to go. The guy, now my age, striped and jumped in the shower to get wet, then came up behind me and bear-hugged me. I went weak at the knees. And I knew he enjoyed it too. The weird bit now though – you know the clear screen protectors you get on your new phone? – He had stuck two of them (human-sized and shaped) on me!
So I walked a rigidly to the pool – which was packed (School holidays, innit) – took the screen protectors off, and got in. Where we just stood around (It was only a little more than waist deep) making small talk.
No one was actually swimming. There were two pools, the second was a lot smaller. I had a wander around the site. The second pool turned into my bedroom, where two people were staying, they managed to explain it away that it was alright and off I walked.
In the next room was all the food – it was definitely a party – I returned to the swimming pool and found the new friend I came with. With a click of your fingers, all the water disappeared, the two pools, my bedroom and the other food room was now one big area, and we were all wearing suits/tuxedo’s. Music started and the real party got underway.
Me and the guy were just lent up against the swimming pool wall watching the crowd, sexual tension was rising. I liked him. And I think he liked me too!
At one point, he put his arm around me, and a bit later put his hand in my pocket, pulled my hand out, where we held hands for a while, kind of lent proping each other up. I’ll be honest, I think I wanted to kiss him. But apparently we’d turned into embarrassed school children. It was cute.
Then, bugger me, JEREMY turned up! That made things awkward. Because in this life apparently, me and Jeremy had history. I’m have no idea what the history was, but you could feel the tension between the ex and potential. Anyway, some random Asian chav I recognise from around Eastleigh got his walk-on extra part by dancing to Olly Murs new single (Which I know figure was actually being played on Galaxy at the time – I must have been subconsciously listening) and all was right with the world.
That’s where it ended.
I hope my new friend comes back in future dreams. Or I figure who he is in real life – They say you never forget a face, even in dreams the faces you see aren’t made up, so he is out there somewhere, I just gotta find him and invite him to a pool party.
Written by idlebacon
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