Radio Redux

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Further to this post earlier in the year, here's another bulletin about the wacky world of Radio 2's evening programming.

Since that earlier post, matters have taken a turn for the worse, with the decision to schedule 2 hours of Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie between 8 and 10pm four nights a week: the show is basically Q mag in radio form and clearly belongs on 6Music rather than R2. The culture clash with Desmond Carrington and "The Organist Entertains", which bookend Rad-conie on a Tuesday, for example, is a hoot. Worse, many of the documentaries and the more eclectic shows that one used to be able to hear around this time of night have been shunted to graveyard slots to make way for the duo (echoes of the ghetto-isation of the more interesting Radio 1 DJs a few months back).

But it's not all bad news. For what I gather is a limited time only, you can listen to the utterly mad Charles Hazlewood show on a Wednesday from 10-11pm. In a last rearguard action to preserve the Reithian tradition of public service broadcasting, Charles records his show in a barn in Somerset and sets out to bring high culture to the masses by wilfully mixing together classical and pop music and pointing out Really. Obvious. Connections. between them: "Ooh look, Bach's done a remix of Corelli there. And now, here's some Coldcut. DO YOU SEE?"

This week, Charles dragged in Him Out of Guillemots in to his barn to perform a couple of Guillemots songs on Charles' wheezy harmonium, while Charles accompanies on a drum ("it's sort of like a cover version, isn't it? DO YOU SEE? And now, here's Seu Jorge playing a David Bowie song"). And THEN Charles orders Guillemots man to the piano and says make something up on the spot: "here's a drone in D to get you started"! OK, Derek Bailey wouldn't have thought much of the (overly pretty and tonal) end result but ... free improv on Radio 2?

To be honest, the show's playlist is hardly poptimists-friendly, and Hazlewood seems rather obsessed with notions of "cool". But I'm glad he's on the air, even if it's only for a few weeks.

Comments

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

i was going to take some time at some point to listen to the maconie/radcliffe thing in case it was 'any good at all'. sounds like you are saying no tick there?

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

oh, it's inoffensive, you know? Here's last night's playlist (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/radcliffemaconie/playlist_wed.shtml). And they're quite good at "the History of Indie" - they played a few tracks from Morgan Fisher's Miniatures on Monday. But I'd rather have Mark Lamarr's reggae show back, is what I'm saying. If I wanted indie, I'd listen to 6Music.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Jeff I hope you are not implying that this "reggae", whatever it may be, is more important than the new music that is taking over the country.

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

wow, the headshots on the webpage are weird, maconie is so much smaller than radcliffe...

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

still not heard candi paine

[miss-newham.livejournal.com]

Charles Hazlewood is awfully enthusiastic about everything; I wish he had an evening show instead of Radcliffe and Maconie, who just seem to be trying to impress one another at the moment. The other week they played 'Jump' by Van Halen and made SUCH a big deal out of the fact that they liked it unironically. They should know better.