According to Facebook, the BBC is their top web-publisher in March, when

bbc.co.uk
and
bbc.com

"Engagements" are combined.







Here is their chart.





(BBC "Engagements" 60,004,271)



H/T to Jem Stone and "@NewsWhip"

After all the complaints over the many years it seems that the BBC is in complete denial about audio mixing and balance challenges and of course the idea of someone technical actually monitoring the output is financially laughable to the accountants running the show. Also the atmosphere and social acceptability surrounding production make me feel that anyone over the age of thirty with or without hearing problems is out of the equation. I tried to watch the Boat Race coverage and from the outset, two hours before the off, I was audibly assailed with a continuous cacophony of disco music, yelled commentaries and 'experts' at such a fever pitch I just had to switch off and wait for the actual start of the race at 3.15. But of course, it doesn't matter if we oldies or afflicted switch off it's what the 'yoof' population thinks that counts isn't it!

I would like to know... who actually listens to the programme.. pre transmission.. and where are they located?

Do they have the 'engineering' clout to say "This programme is NOT fit for broadcast".

If there is a member of Transmission Staff listening TO the programme, what sort of equipment do they use?

What planet are they on?

Who edits the programmes, do they monitor on ear-buds? IF they edit with the script in front of them, then they have an unfair advantage over the rest of us 'mere mortals'.

I do not need to have music 'hype' the tension. I do not need thumping bass to say 'hurry up ....this is exciting'.

I too, have a hearing problem, I have a decent audio set-up and when a tranmission is in Dolby 5.1 then the dialogue is a waste of time...

Just because a producer and audio department CAN do something, it doesn't mean they have to.

A classic event some time ago:-

Script..

"Listen to the whales calling each other"...
except we couldn't as there was intrusive music all over the 'specially created sound'.

Can we have an audio track WITHOUT The M&E?

(Music and effects).

A message to all production staff involved in audio post production...

Keep it simple,
Keep it audible.
Don't drown the script.

When we can't hear the words, we turn the TV off or change channels.

Is anyone out there listening to us (for a change)?

Having recently been declared partially deaf I am now equipped with posh hearing aids that connect direct to the telly with bluetooth technology. It's great.....BUT....sadly it only highlights the problems of music drowning out speech or adding nothing to the visual content.  I just wish every programme producer was made to wear these things to hear just how bad it is for us oldies. Today's edition of the delightful "Escape to the Country" was ruined by continuous and repetitive jangling that had nothing to do with suspense, mood or colouration. Totally unnecessary. But I guess that's what the whizz kids think about US!

Stereo..

left or Right?
https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/1116688668968857600

the way things used to be...

An interesting and relevant article by India Knight ( especially para 6) on Radio 4 from yesterday's Sunday Times Magazine ------

Nothing gives me more happiness than poking about in the cold frame in the spring sunshine, obsessively checking on the progress of my seeds. I do this in the company of a portable radio that is tuned to Radio 4 — my idea of heaven; as for many people, Radio 4 is the soundtrack to my day. Well, mostly — I migrate to Radio 2, with its brilliant roster of women presenters, if the news is too grim, or if Woman’s Hour is, in its tin-eared and patronising way, trying to be relevant to the sort of young women who literally don’t know what Woman’s Hour is and will never listen to it.

So I was exceptionally irritated to read about cuts to the station, demoralised staff and the recent resignation of Gwyneth Williams, its long-standing controller. An article in The Times said that established shows have been “cut to the bone” and quoted one anonymous presenter as saying: “Radio 4 is in danger of being destroyed. The jewel in the crown is being shut down and asset-stripped like a Midlands car factory.”

Staff have recently been told to save money by interviewing authors without reading their books; there was also the suggestion that shows should rely more on promotional interviews with guests on publicity tours. When I tweeted my anger about this, a couple of presenters replied saying they’d not noticed any cuts to their shows (yet). But my private messages were a whole other story.

This is all happening because the station is chasing young people. Where to start with the stupidity of this? The minority of young people who like Radio 4 already listen to it. The young people who are future listeners will find their way to it eventually, because that’s how it works: you listen to what you find interesting, and that changes with age. It seems tragic to have to point this out. Also: what draws people in is the intelligent and eclectic nature of the programming. The broadcasts I was most resistant to in the past are now among my favourites: Melvyn Bragg discussing Gerard Manley Hopkins or papal infallibility live; or Jim Al-Khalili somehow making laser physics vaguely comprehensible. Radio 4 works because you discover things by happy accident. It’s where ideas and culture intersect. It is a massive educational resource. Seeking to change any of that is a pointless act of cultural vandalism.

And to what purpose? All any of this is doing — and everything I’m saying also applies to Radio 3 — is turning off the existing, older, enviably loyal (thus far) listeners. This is a catastrophic error, because those older listeners will now go off and listen to something else, such as audiobooks or podcasts. There will be no new younger listeners, because they are happily engaged elsewhere. The station will slowly die.


The pursuit of youth in this context is incredibly ill-judged. It reminds me of Tony Blair inviting the Gallagher brothers to No 10, like an excited old uncle. That was, perhaps not entirely coincidentally, during the period when James Purnell, currently the BBC’s director of radio, was a Downing Street adviser. Purnell has a pet project, under which everything must apparently be subsumed:the unusable and universally unloved Sounds app, created at vast expense to replace the popular and user-friendly iPlayer Radio app.There’s also the forthcoming streaming service from the BBC and ITV, supposedly to compete with Netflix and Amazon, just as Sounds is, hilariously, supposed to compete with Spotify et al. The service is called BritBox, the name already deeply nostalgic, with its sad, yearning echoes of Blair-era Cool Britannia.

The BBC denies any of this is happening. The other day, some BBC bloke was on Radio 4 explaining why it was important for the station to have a more youthful perspective. He was effectively saying that there shouldn’t be silos. Odd, then, that he did not talk about how Radio 1 Extra should be trying to attract septuagenarians.

Here’s a thought: maybe the BBC doesn’t have to be a behemoth serving every part of a huge market that’s also served by vast commercial enterprises. Maybe its current problems are a consequence of it fighting to stay vast. It doesn’t have to be vast — just good. As good as the current Radio 4 output, say.

India Knight

BBC Sounds Help and Feedback.....


Here is the place to go for "Live Chat" from 1615 until 2400.

The guide to 'Live Chat' is here.

Thanks, Tom, for a wonderful tribute to a wonderful-sounding lady- she is what made "Auntie"!

G
L
A
D
Y
S

Perfect.

Admin

Gladys Holloway has died at the age of 86. She worked for the BBC for nearly 46 years, quite an achievement from a remarkable lady. She started in 1946 at the age 14 at Aldenham House near Elstree, where her first boss had been one of original 25 staff at Savoy Hill. For most of her service she had been the Transcription’s Bookings clerk, first at St Hilda’s Maida Vale and then Kensington House in Shepherd’s Bush. Her job title utterly failed to describe the range of her duties (and functions – which are not necessarily the same things!) She was an island of calm in the midst of the occasional panic; adviser and assistant to a succession of Operations Managers; confidante of countless Transcription and other BBC staff; impeccable source of local knowledge and history; and most important of all a sort of workplace “mum” to generations of Transcription engineers whose thousands of expenses she typed…if only she had received commission! When she retired in 1992 the 100 or so guests at her retirement party were just a sample of the many lives she touched and careers she had helped. When she retired part of her job was done by computer, this wasn’t as reliable as Gladys but in her honour the scheduling software was renamed-the Graphic Listing Aid for Daily and Yearly Scheduling.
At the expense of her own happiness and over many years, Gladys dedicated her time away from work caring for her aged mother. Over the last few years it was her turn to be cared for at a home that she had been moved to, away from London, making it difficult for her friends to visit.
She will be deeply missed by her countless friends and colleagues all over the country.
Her funeral is at Southend Crematorium on 15th April 2019 at 10:20.

There cannot be anyone who worked at St. Catherine’s Close, the imposing home of BBC East in Norwich until 2003, who doesn’t remember Peter Battle. Sadly Peter died on Sunday 31st March just short of his 100th birthday. How delighted he would have been to have received a card from the Queen.

In addition to being our gardener for forty-four years he was also a loyal and much loved member of the BBC East ‘family’. His horticultural skills once included draping the front of St. Catherine’s in hanging baskets which won ‘Norwich in Bloom’ awards. Peter, together with his late wife Janet, were also keen supporters of the BBC East Club from its inception (circa 1960) until it closed after the move to the Forum.


Peter’s funeral will be held at 11am on Wednesday April 17th at Earlham Crematorium, Earlham Road, Norwich NR2 3RG.