The answer? - MPs and peers plan to gift the Queen a LAMP-POST. The Mail on Sunday (Brendan Carlin, Political Correspondent) understands that this is what Parliament intends to present to the Queen next year to mark her Platinum Jubilee. I was shocked to read about the choice of gift to commemorate the Queens Platinum Jubilee, 70 years of devoted service on the throne. When I read it, It made me laugh and I genuinely thought, this has got to be a Wind-Up! A panel of MP's and Peers, headed by senior Tory MP and Solicitor General Michael Ellis, have apparently decided on a LAMP-POST and they're now inviting sculptors and artists to submit designs. The Queen is the longest serving British Monarch and will mark her Platinum Jubilee on February 6th next year (2022). I think she deserves something better than a Lamp-Post to mark such a wonderful milestone and occasion. The Queen has an incredible rich history of radio broadcasts, making her very first radio broadcast as HRH Princess Elizabeth, in October 1940, aged 14. The tradition of the Royal Christmas Message began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by King George V and since 1952, the message has been read by The Queen. These days of course the Christmas Day message is broadcast on radio, television and social media, but it all started on the radio. The Queen gave her very first public speech, when she became monarch in 1953, on the radio. She has even been the victim of a radio hoax call, when a Canadian DJ pretending to be the Canadian Prime Minister, managed to prank call her. The radio presenter got through to Buckingham Palace and spoke to the Queen on-air for 15 minutes, a moment she personally shared with me at a function for the arts at Windsor Castle. The Queen asked me 'And what do you do' – I told her I was a Radio and TV presenter and did Wind-Up phone calls on my radio show, at which point her majesty replied 'Oh yes, I've had one of those' It was a truly surreal moment, I was bonding with the Queen, we were sharing some common ground, it was a wonderful and crazy moment. I feel The Queen deserves something far more interesting to mark her Platinum Jubilee than a Lamp-Post. The Queen has spent over 70 years on the radio and I feel it would be quite fitting to mark and celebrate this. 'Queen Elizabeth Radio' (Working Title) I’m sure we can all come up with a better name, please send me your radio station name suggestions, will be a 24/7 Radio Station, playing the very best music from her 70 year reign with stories/anecdotes from those who have met her, from members of the public to some of the biggest stars in the World. It will be a totally unique Radio Station, unlike anything that has ever been heard before. In the digital age it will be a gift to the Monarch and the people, allowing members of the public to interact with the radio station, sharing their own stories of when they met the Queen etc Maybe each member of the Royal family could contribute in some small way with special recorded memories of a very special person. Celebrating The Queens 70 years on a radio station (24/7) that will be heard across the UK on DAB and across the World via the Queen Elizabeth Radio App, will be a far better Platinum Jubilee Gift than a LAMP-POST, something her children, Great Grandchildren and Great Great Grandchildren can enjoy forever. After all, we're marking a truly historic occasion. Additionally, a statue of a Radio could be made and placed in Central London to mark her 70 years of radio broadcasts, I know how much MP’s, Peers and Royalty appear to enjoy their statues.
Get ready to listen to 'Queen Elizabeth Radio' (70 years of hits, 70 years of memories). (c) Steve Penk 2021
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There is nothing I like more than listening to great entertaining radio from great broadcasters, equally there is nothing I dislike more than generic, poor, boring, predictable radio. There is so much Vanilla sounding radio out there now, that it feels like most radio Programme Directors simply visit the radio equivalent of IKEA and buy an identikit Breakfast Show off the shelf, because so many of them now sound exactly the same. 'Ringmaster' main presenter, weather and traffic girl, sports guy etc. all talking about exactly the same things, and doing competitions that most of the people listening really couldn't give a monkeys about. Mystery voice competitions and giving away money may have worked 20 years ago, but you need to be cleverer, funnier and far more engaging now to grab the attention of an audience, especially with so much digital choice out there for the listener. Piccadilly Radio was one of the original big commercial radio stations launched in Manchester in 1974. In 1988 Piccadilly Radio (as was) split frequencies, putting the main heritage of Piccadilly Radio (presenters and line-up) onto AM and launching a bright, new, exciting brand called Key 103 on 103 FM. The radio station management at the time did this in the very same week that Radio One (Piccadilly's main competitor at the time) launched their FM transmitters.
Manchester is a special market and Manchester listeners are direct, honest and won't take any old rubbish. Underestimate the audience at your cost. What they should have done in 1988, is bank the Piccadilly Radio heritage and the names on FM for the launch of Key 103, and do something new on AM, just like Capital Radio did in London launching Capital Gold, most likely learning from the mistakes they saw happen in Manchester. Key 103 when it launched was the worst sounding radio station you could imagine, with a strap line that nobody really understood.... 'Music, not Music' What the bloody hell was that all about? The listeners hated it and they switched off in droves. The reason for the brief history lesson, is I think history is about to repeat itself in Manchester with the launch of ‘Hits Radio’. Having listened for a few days, I have to say it’s terrible. The first few days are the most important, especially when Bauer have spent the past couple of months shouting about it on the air everyday and in the local press. They made the audience interested, possibly even excited, listeners wanted to hear how wonderful this new National Radio Station coming out of Manchester was going to sound. On Monday June 4th 2018 they got to hear it. I don't buy the argument that it's early days so give it a chance, that's corporate spin, nonsense and a poor cop out excuse. This is the digital age and Bauer Radio (Key 103 owners) are the 2nd biggest Commercial Radio operator in the UK, massive resources and equally massive deep pockets, when needed. They are not re-inventing the wheel, it's just radio and Bauer make radio for a living, it’s what they do, so it should be brilliant from day one, NO EXCUSES. The breakfast show, which is the most important show for any radio station, should be utterly brilliant from day one. They should have gone out and bought the best possible radio talent they could find and the breakfast show should be blowing everything else out of the water from Day one, creating positive social media coverage, people should be talking about it and loving it. They’re not. This is Big news in the World of Radio, it’s the very first National UK Commercial Radio Station to come out of Manchester, it should sound amazing, big, exciting, original and compelling. What I've heard is uninspired, predictable, run of the mill and just generally poor. The production is dreadful, I've heard internet radio stations with better imaging. It sounds like any typical ‘local’ radio breakfast show you hear everywhere, and it shouldn't sound like that, it should sound much better and far bigger. Key 103 has had issues in recent years with increased radio competition in the Manchester market and audience loss, but Key 103 had the one master trump card that non of their commercial competitors had, they had 30 years of heritage in Manchester. Listeners grew up with the brand, many loved it, some may have stopped listening in recent years, but listeners will always keep trying the heritage brand and will comeback if the radio station starts to sound better, that's what you get with heritage. Heritage is a powerful thing to have, and if used correctly can be almost unbeatable. Yes, Key 103 had to do something, mainly because it's been badly managed programming wise for far too long, consistently losing audience, but to simply throw away 30 years of heritage and hand the heritage hit music crown to your biggest and most fierce competitor (Capital/Global Radio) is the most spectacular own goal I've ever witnessed in radio. Why didn't they just call the new National station The Key or Key UK? The name would have worked. That way it would have allowed them to keep the Manchester Key heritage whilst at the same time launching a new National radio brand. Key as a National brand would have worked, brilliant marketing people would have made sure of that. Songs in 'The Key' of Life The Key to all your favourite hits, etc If 'Hits Radio’ turns into a huge disaster they will blame the on air talent, because as they always say, shit flows down, but the management, those people ultimately responsible for destroying 30 years of Manchester radio heritage, should be the ones held accountant-able. The legacy of all those involved in Hits Radio will be seen as, they're the ones who destroyed Key 103, not a great legacy.
A crazy, rushed, ill thought through re-launch in my opinion, made worse with a terrible name, open for ridicule from listeners who have already christened it ‘Shit Radio UK’. Not good for advertisers and sponsors. Everyone associated with the new 'Hits Radio’ will now be under the industry magnifying glass and many careers could be broken. New ideas are good, change is good. When the various ITV regional TV stations disappeared and everything merged into one giant ITV brand, some mourned the loss of local regional heritage names, but the quality was never affected, we just simply lost Granada, Thames, Yorkshire, Anglia etc and people will buy the change if the quality of programming remains, or is better. I understand the commercial thinking and the need to create another National Radio brand that can compete with Capital, Smooth and Heart, I totally get it, but this situation is different and to state the obvious, radio is completely different for many reasons. It's an exciting thing when something new and fresh comes along and replaces something old, but a 30 year old much loved radio brand has been thrown away and replaced by something inferior, which is just stupid. New ideas are always needed in the creative industry and change can be good, but I often feel now that Radio is lacking Big creative leaders and there aren't enough big talent radio programmers out there, who are used to handling Big Talent and finding the next Big personality superstar presenters. Many PDs take the easier option, often employing bland, easy to forget but easier to control on air talent, often resulting in predictable bland radio. There are not enough ruthless, hard, single minded, unique and brilliant Radio Programme Directors. We love our football analogy’s in Radio, when it comes to Programme Directors we need more Alex Fergusons running radio stations, and that’s exactly what Key 103/Hits Radio UK needs, inspired, creative, ruthless programming and leadership. I feel angry and deeply saddened that a radio brand with 30 years heritage has been cast aside and dumped, with the heritage card simply handed to someone else, what a gift for Capital, you can't buy heritage. Hits Radio fails on so many levels, I can't imagine for one minute that Manchester listeners will like it and nobody in London will choose to listen to Hits Radio when they have far superior radio stations already in the market. Capital, Kiss, Heart and Radio 1 are brilliant brands, brilliantly programmed with amazing on air production and imaging and just sound fantastic, it would take something very special to win listeners away from those stations in London and Hits Radio certainly won't. I will watch with interest what happens with ‘Hits Radio UK’ but simply based on what I've heard so far, the radio station is just not good enough and I sadly suspect it could end up being one of the greatest disasters in the history of British Radio. At a time when the American President Donald Trump Winds-Up the world every day on Twitter, this week sees the 20th anniversary (I know, I can’t believe it’s 20 years either) of my original and most famous Wind-Up, plus you can listen again to that call. What really happened on the day I wound up Tony Blair, the thought process behind it, why I did it, and the fallout afterwards. This is the full behind the scenes story of the day that surprised everyone. January 21st 1998 is a date I will never forget…I had been presenting the mid morning show on Capital FM (London) Europe’s number 1 Commercial Radio Station for just over a year, with my trademark Wind-Up phone calls being the highest rated part of the show. Everywhere I went the wind up calls were the number 1 topic of conversation, it’s all people wanted to talk to me about, every London taxi driver would spend the entire journey telling me about their favourite calls. London is one of the most competitive and creative radio markets in the world, and to remain King of the hill, you’ve got to keep coming up with good ideas that connect with your audience. On Tuesday January 20th 1998 whilst doing prep for the show the next day, I had the idea to call 10 Downing Street, but I needed a fresh approach. I had called 10 Downing Street a few years earlier to talk to John Major, who was at that time the Prime Minister, I called as a simple minded member of the public with a complaint about the price of onions in my local supermarket and insisted I speak to the Prime Minister immediately, but never got any further than the tough lady on the switchboard at Number 10, who told me the British Prime Minister “has more important things to worry about than the price of a pound of onions” and the call ended. I ran that wind up a few years earlier on my show at Key 103 in Manchester and the listeners loved it, so I knew this time, and with a different Prime Minister, I needed a fresh approach. The idea behind my next call to 10 Downing Street, calling Tony Blair, was to see how far I could get through the security phone system of number 10 and my thought was, for my listeners that would be the interesting and entertaining part of the call, little did I know what was about to happen. I had recently met an impressionist (new to London) who at that time had told me he was finding it difficult to find work, he was struggling to get noticed in London and was thinking of moving back home to the north, his name was Jon Culshaw. On the Tuesday night I rang Jon to ask him if he could do an impression of the then leader of the opposition William Hague. He did it for me down the phone and it sounded perfect, so I asked Jon to meet me at the studio in Leicester Square at 8am the following morning, which he did. My daily show on Capital FM started at 10am, so I knew I had limited time to try and record the wind up, edit it, have my daily pre show meeting with the Programme Director and get stuff ready for the show at 10. At 8:20am I went into a studio to make the call to 10 Downing Street, and like any wind up you only get one chance to get it right, it’s a one go hit. I rang Directory enquiries to get the number for 10 Downing Street, rang the number and the switchboard answered, at this point Jon launched into the voice of William Hague asking to speak to Tony. She put us through immediately to Tony Blair’s PA who at first wasn’t quite sure, saying it didn’t sound like him, but after a few more lines of dialogue, confirmed that she was convinced it WAS William Hague she was talking to and would go and fetch the Prime Minister. During this brief moment, I closed the microphone and told Jon, he was almost certainly about to talk to the Prime Minister and to be prepared, 30 seconds later a very familiar voice said “Hello”…..it was Tony Blair. Jon’s face was a picture, I will never forget that look of total shock in his eyes, he literally started to sweat. The conversation with Blair lasted less than 60 seconds and ended when security who were monitoring the Prime Ministers calls in a separate office, pulled the plug. I later found out, Tony was thoroughly enjoying the call and would have let the call last far longer, but the call ended and at that point, Jon had done his bit and left. Because I’d been doing wind up phone calls for years, at the point Tony Blair picked up the phone I knew I had the most almighty dilemma. This wasn't some local builder or housewife, THIS was the British Prime Minister, one of the most powerful people in the world and I had just wound him up. I didn’t know him, I didn’t know if the man had a sense of humour, or if that morning something world threatening was going on, and here I was trivialising his day. The call ended with Tony Blair at 8:25am. Every morning at 8:30am I had a daily pre show meeting on the 6th floor with my Programme Director, Richard Park. Richard was a tough man to work for, almost brutal at times if your work wasn’t to the highest standards, he expected nothing less. As I entered the lift, alone, on my journey from the 3rd floor of Capital Radio HQ in Leicester Square to the 6th floor (30 seconds) my whole life went into slow motion. I had worked all my life to get to the very top of my career and the decision I was about to make right now could destroy everything overnight. The dilemma was, when Richard asks me in 2 minutes time what do I have on today’s show, do I tell him I have just wound up the British Prime Minister or do I say nothing and just run the call without telling anyone. If I tell Richard, his next question would be, do we have permission from number 10 to run it, at which point my answer would be, NO we don’t. He would then ask, do we have permission from Tony Blair himself to run it, at which point my answer would be, NO we don’t, leaving Richard with no alternative than to stop me playing it on my show live 3 hours later. As a creative bit of content I knew Richard would have loved it, but as the Programme Director it would have placed Richard in an impossible situation, without permission from number 10 he would have had no choice but to ban me from playing it on the air. This was a total make or break decision for me, I’ve never felt such a feeling of absolute isolation and loneliness in my entire life, because if I played the call and it all went wrong and Downing Street, Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell came down on Capital Radio, not only would my own career be over but Capital Radio could have been heavily fined by Ofcom, or worse, had its licence taken away. Holy sweet Jesus, what a moment, what a decision. As I’m going up in the lift, I’m thinking…….’Steve, you don’t fuck with the British Prime Minister’ The lift doors opened on the 6th floor and there was Richard in his office, he welcomed me in and we sat down, my heart beating faster than ever, sweaty palms, my head racing. His opening question……What’s on the show today Penky? At that moment, I froze, it seemed like a long pause but in reality it was nothing, as I went through everything that was on the show that day……I told him everything apart from the Blair call. The meeting finished at 9am, I got back in the lift, went down to the studio and started to edit the Tony Blair wind up for transmission on my show at 11:30am. I personally produce and edit every single wind up I’ve ever done and the Blair call was no different, total control over your own creative content is the only way to do it. In the case of the Tony Blair call there was very little editing involved, I simply had to take out the long gaps as they went to find Mr Blair. My show started at 10am, Chris Tarrant and I (Chris was on before me doing breakfast) exchanged our usual morning silliness, but still I mentioned to nobody what was coming up. As 11:30am approached, I was getting more and more anxious and nervous, the question should I play it, shouldn’t I play it, went over and over in my mind. My wife Helen, daughter Natalie and I had moved from Manchester to London, we were living in a lovely house in Surrey, we had recently had another baby (Andrew) and life was pretty good, but was I about to throw everything away in a moment of creative madness, even my own wife didn’t know the risk I was about to take, I told nobody. I knew if it went okay everyone would benefit, but everyone else had absolutely nothing to lose, whereas I had everything to lose. 11:30am Wednesday January 21st 1998, Steve Penk Show Capital FM London, I played the Tony Blair wind up live on the air. Initially nothing happened, I had no comments from within the radio station, I suspect on that particular day the Producers, managers and Richard himself hadn’t actually heard it go out on the air, perhaps they were in meetings, as was normally the case in a busy radio station. I finished my show at 1pm and as I walked through the building after the show, still nobody within the radio station said anything about the fact I’d just wound up the Prime Minister on my show that morning. I made my way home and got home about 2:15pm and started preparation on the following days Show. Then, everything went crazy…. That afternoon, Tony Blair mentioned during PMQ’s that earlier that morning he had received a wind up phone call from Steve Penk at Capital Radio and that the wind up made more sense to him than anything William Hague had said that day in the House Of Commons during Prime Ministers Question Time, much to the amusement of MP’s from all parties. At the point Tony Blair mentioned the wind up in the House of Commons, the story went into overdrive, I had every single newspaper, radio station, TV station in the world wanting to talk to me. It was the craziest 24 hours of my professional life, it made Capital Radio even bigger, it took the heat off Tony Blair who at the time was under intense political pressure, it made Jon Culshaw famous and gave him that big break he was looking for, and it made me into troublemaker number one and for a moment, the most famous radio presenter in the World…….Ha ha, everyone was a winner.
On the day I made the Wind-Up call to Tony Blair he was under considerable political pressure and things weren’t great for him, he was being bashed somewhat, later a few cynical journalists thought the Wind-Up had been executed so perfectly with Tony Blair coming out of it so well, that they were convinced the whole thing had been stage managed by Alistair Campbell, it most certainly was not, in-fact I’ve never met or spoken to Alistair Campbell. The following morning as I started my show and every single news channel and newspaper was full of the wind up story, the door flung open and Richard Park stood in the frame of the studio door, said nothing and simply stood and applauded me, he knew the enormous professional risk I’d taken, he knew exactly what I’d done. We’ve never spoken about it, from that day to this. Happy 20th anniversary Mr Blair. There are many songs that are categorised as Classics, but some of them are not loved by everyone. I recently asked the question on Twitter: "What is the one song that everyone else seems to like, that you can't stand?" It presented me with some really interesting examples. My personal choice of a song that many would consider a classic, that I can't stand, is Angels by Robbie Williams....urgggh. This may be due in part, to being 'forced' to play it on the radio for years and years. Just because someone says they like a particular song, doesn't mean they then want to hear that same song played over and over and over and over again on the radio until they can't bloody stand it anymore. I used to like so many songs that Radio has managed to kill over the years, to the point that my ears now scream and cry whenever I hear them. When it comes to Classic songs, Smooth Radio, Magic and Heart are the worst offenders, often taking beautiful Classic songs and playing them until the audience simply can't stand them anymore. Dionne Warwick has recorded many great songs, but if you listen to Smooth Radio you'd swear she has only ever recorded Heartbreaker. Abba have an amazing Catalogue of music, but listen to Magic and you would think Chiquitita was the only song they had ever recorded. Goodbye to Love is an amazing song by The Carpenters, but they've made so many other wonderful songs. Programming of music on a radio station is a genuine skill that sadly many people who actually do the job these days, don't appear to have. It's a proper art form and takes experience, gut feeling, and a genuine love of music to do the job properly. Simply pressing a button everyday and letting a computer programme the music a radio station plays 24/7 irritates me so much, it's lazy and so uninspired. Take risks, find wonderful songs people haven't heard for years (there are many) and radio listeners will love it. Surprise listeners occasionally. It just takes time, passion, desire and care to find those songs. If listeners only knew how most radio stations programme the music they hear everyday, they would be amazed and shocked. Programming a music radio show is like a potters wheel, it takes care and thought to make it as perfect as you can everyday. Anyone who simply presses a button and let's a computer programme the music on their radio station everyday, should be thrown in the sea. Here is a short list of some of the Classic songs people have told me they can't stand. Do you agree, do you disagree? Let me know.
The List of Shame...
I wanted to say a couple of things about the past few days.
Sadly I work in an industry that is full of cynical people (not a nice trait) and I find it sad how some people often think the worst of others, it's not a great quality. I've had some people saying all sorts about me in the past 24 hours. It's for these reasons I decided to do this Blog, I simply wanted to set the record straight and tell the true story, instead of the various forum trolls 'thinking' they know what happened, or in most cases putting two and two together and getting seven (nothing new there then) It's normally the type of person who's never actually done anything new, original, creative or taken any risks themselves, that likes to slag off other people who do take risks and are creative and try different things. Anyway, I felt compelled to say a few words on the subject of Forever FM. To understand why I launched Forever FM on DAB in Manchester, and on line everywhere else, you have to understand me. I started my career in Radio aged 16. I love radio, I always have, i like to try new ideas, I especially love being creative and modern technology is so amazing now it allows so many exciting creative opportunities. Despite being accused of Car Share bandwagon jumping, I can assure you this was not my driving thought. The thrill of being creative was my motivation in making Forever FM in to a real radio station. My Radio skills and the amazing modern technology available, allowed me to turn a fictitious radio station (Forever FM) into a real and proper radio station remarkably quickly. From the moment I had the idea, I managed to make it happen and get it on the air in less than 3 days. This involved building an entire 24 hour radio station from scratch....on my own. Music, jingles, links, Ofcom, music licences etc Despite what some may think (cynics) I didn't do it for any financial gain, I did it because I have the skills to do it and wanted to do it, almost a labour of love really, a hobby. Anyone in radio understands how it all works and will know there are costs involved in doing something like this. A Playout system is required, PRS & PPL music licences need to be purchased, there are streaming costs plus the hundreds of hours of my time to put the whole thing together. All of this I paid for myself with no personal financial gain or planned financial gain. So why did I do that? Because I love radio, I love music and more than anything else, I love trying out new ideas and being creative, and whether the cynics buy that, I absolutely couldn't care less, it happens to be the truth. Too much traditional radio for me now I find mind numbingly generic, predictable and quite frankly, boring. It's the same formats, doing exactly the same thing over and over again, month after month, year after year. These days I like to create NEW ideas, NEW formats, have a go at something different. Recently I created Radio Dead and The Wind-Up Channel, both of these radio stations are absolutely unique radio formats. So, my desire to create new formats and new ideas led me to Forever FM. Although Forever FM is a fictitious radio station on a TV comedy show, it doesn't really exist as a proper and real radio station and I thought I would bring it alive and make it real. My thought process was..... Car Share is based in and around the Manchester area, I'm a heritage Manchester radio name, let's get it on DAB in Manchester and see what happens. I honestly thought the people behind Car Share would like it, and be flattered that I had gone to so much trouble and personal expense to make it come alive and turn it into a real radio station. I've done this a long time, so I'm no idiot, but quite frankly it never crossed my mind to seek permission to do it, mainly because I wasn't doing it for any selfish personal financial gain, I was only doing it for the love of being able to make it happen, but more than that, a tribute to the show and the people involved in it. Because there was only positive thought in my head and a creative desire to make it real, I was clearly blinded by my own enthusiasm to make it happen and get it on the air as quickly as possible, during the current run of the new series of Car Share on BBC1. In hindsight, I WAS stupid, but again if you know me, I sometimes get over excited with my own creativity. I'm impatient sometimes and I simply got carried away. Once I got Forever FM on to DAB, the media coverage and reaction from listeners across the UK was truly amazing, far bigger than I honestly expected it to be. It went live on DAB in Manchester on Friday and the response over the weekend just grew and grew. At one point, the numbers of people trying to listen was so huge, it crashed the internet and the servers couldn't cope. I was swamped on social media with wonderful positive comments, listeners were loving it. Even one of the co creators of Car Share tweeted me to thank me. The tweet simply said - 'Thank you Steve Penk for making Forever FM a real thing, now and Forever' Creatively I felt thrilled that so many people were enjoying it, the previous 4 days of virtually no sleep putting it all together suddenly felt like it was all worthwhile. Whatever you do for a living, you want to be good at what you do and in Radio and television there is no greater thrill, satisfaction or endorsement than when the public give you the thumbs up, and they were absolutely giving me a firm thumbs up. The whole weekend just got better and better, it was great (apart from City losing in the FA Cup Semi final of course) If I say so myself, the station sounded amazing, I was proud and pleased with the sound I had created using so little resources. I'm not going to mention any names at this stage, but on Monday I received an email objecting to my use of the name Forever FM. I totally respect and understand the rights of the person concerned. We spoke on the phone, they were very nice and pleasant to me and so was I in return, but after the email and phone call I immediately took the decision to cancel the project and close down Forever FM, it just felt like the right thing to do. I simply didn't want to fight or turn something that was meant to be fun and a joy into something ugly and toxic, it was just easier and more pleasant to close it down. It hadn't been received by certain people in the way I had hoped. Creatively I find it a terrible shame that I've had to close it down, especially after spending so many hours putting it all together and with so many people enjoying it. Forever FM has now been totally closed down and removed from DAB in Manchester. From today (Wednesday April 26th 2017) I have replaced it with my other station, Radio Dead. Radio Dead is a Globally unique format of my own, a radio station that only plays artists who are....Dead. They may be gone, but their music lives on. A celebration of amazing iconic artists who are sadly no longer with us. Radio Dead is now broadcasting on DAB from the Dead centre of Manchester. You can also listen everywhere else via @ukradioplayer @tunein radio or download the free Radio Dead app. 2016 has been a fascinating year with the loss of so many amazing artists. When I created and launched Radio Dead (March 2016) as an Internet/App based radio station, I obviously had no clue how the idea would be received by both listeners and the radio industry. Both have been hugely positive and the reaction from listeners has surpassed my expectations. From all the feedback I get everyday, listeners are loving it, mainly because it's new and unique. Now when a famous singer dies, Radio Dead is fast becoming the first radio brand that listeners think of, with listeners being the first to let me know that a famous singer has joined the Radio Dead playlist. When Prince died I was absolutely swamped with thousands of messages via social media that another artist was now available for the Radio Dead playlist, that's pretty powerful stuff. After the success of the Radio Dead App in 2016, I am now planning to create a spin off weekly 2 hour radio show called 'Radio Dead' that I would like to offer to all radio stations (Radio Groups, independents, community stations, FM/AM/DAB stations). I'm new to this syndication thing so I'm not exactly sure how it all works, but I think Radio Dead could bring an interesting and fresh dimension to weekend listening on your radio station in 2017. This is not just an oldies show, it's far more than that. When you consider the Gold format/Oldies format is now 30 years old, THIS is a fresh, exciting and contemporary reinvention of that format, and it keeps changing. Every time a famous singer dies your 'Radio Dead Show' will become talked about, no other music radio format in the world can generate that instant news worthy reaction. Even the name of the show will create talkability amongst your listeners - Radio Dead on (name of station) will be interesting and unique. As well as the weekly 2 hour Radio Dead show, I would also like to offer the Radio Dead format as a full 24 hour radio station, I am happy to help you build and programme the Radio Station. The new show is available to all broadcasters (UK and internationally). The 2 hour weekly show hosted by Steve Penk will be a celebration and tribute to all the amazing artists who are sadly no longer with us. The Rat Pack to 2PacAn amazing mix of artists including Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Elvis Presley, Glenn Frey (Eagles) John Lennon, Donna Summer, Amy Winehouse, Freddie Mercury. Radio Dead will not just feature solo artists and lead singers, but also guitarists, drummers, keyboardists and backing singers from famous groups/bands that are no longer with us, making Radio Dead a fascinating and compelling listen. Always positive, always joyous, this new weekly 2 hour spin off show from the hugely popular Radio Dead App, will bring a NEW appointment to listen to weekend programming on your radio station. A totally fresh and unique format that will get your listeners talking in 2017. Radio Dead will be Presented and Exec Produced by Steve Penk Media. Please contact me direct via the contact form at www.stevepenk.co.uk
One of the great TV success stories in the past 2 years has been the rise and rise of the hugely talented James Corden. His nightly show on CBS Television in America has been an absolute triumph of creativity. The Late Late Show hosted by James Corden and Exec produced by his good friend and fellow Brit Ben Winston is a joy to watch. Although non of us in the UK can watch this nightly show live, the show is watched by many on social media daily in bite size chunks, in the form of regular inspired features including Carpool Karaoke and Drop the Mic. The Late Late Show with James Corden has only been running for 21 months on CBS, but already on YouTube the show has 8.2 million subscribers. Compare that to the BBC1 Graham Norton Show, this show has been running for 12 years, and on YouTube the show has 864 thousand subscribers or Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV, this show has been running for 13 series, but on YouTube the show only has 133 thousand subscribers. In the social media age I would call that a spectacular fail by both shows, a lost opportunity, especially Saturday Night Takeaway, that in the main is aimed at the social media aware demographic. How has CBS managed to create The Late Late Show while ITV are still doing (post 10pm) almost exactly the same thing they've been doing for the past 40 years? Nothing has changed. That said, I hear ITV are now planning some new stuff at 10pm in early 2017, but what I find most remarkable is why the 2 biggest UK Television Channels (ITV and BBC1) are now playing catch up. Why did it take an American Television network, a British host and a British Producer to show them the way? Many on the executive floor in this country, especially at the Commercial broadcaster, must be scratching their heads and thinking 'why didn't we think of doing a James Corden type show first, with exciting, original, social media friendly content? Content that will engage and drive audience, content that will make people watch a show even if they don't actually watch the show. Yes, exactly, why didn't you? Instead, post 10pm, we get endless repeats of Life Stories with Piers Morgan, repeats of The Jonathan Ross show and Champions League highlights from games that happened 3 hours earlier, it's not exactly inspired programming is it, especially in the Digital social media age. We have so many talented Producers, Directors, Writers and performers in this country, yet the people who make the commissioning decisions appear to be doing things exactly the same way they've done it for years, commissioning the same shows again and again and again, often well passed their shelf life. What's most extraordinary, about ITV in particular, is ITV's 4 biggest entertainment shows, the audience bankers, the entertainment juggernauts are now ALL over 10 years old (Britains Got Talent, Saturday Night Takeaway, I'm A Celebrity and X Factor). Even Strictly on BBC1 is now 12 years old. I'm not saying any of these shows should be scrapped or rested, that's for others to decide, but what I am saying is.....
If you keep commissioning the same shows and the same type's of shows with the same small group of presenters over and over again, surely you get the same mediocre results. Game show after game show is just lazy programming in my book, it lacks originality and creative thought, especially now when the audience has become far more sophisticated. The last game show that created a real buzz and got people actually talking about it at work (water cooler moments) was 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and that was 1998. I can't remember the last NEW entertainment show that got people excited and had everyone talking about it. How is it, in an industry full of creative people (UK Television industry) nobody has managed to create a new entertainment juggernaut in more than 10 years. Yes, 10 years. The Late Late Show on CBS television has been brave and creative and is now reaping the rewards. It was a massive gamble by Leslie Moonves (Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation) to risk putting a relatively unknown (to an American audience) English presenter as main host on American television every night on The Late Late Show, but just look how that risk has paid dividends. I have always been a believer in the creative mentality of huge risk, huge results and I for one sit and applaud everyone involved in that show. It's brilliantly presented, brilliantly produced, and along with great writers it's been a huge TV success story. The timing was perfect of course, would it have become as successful without the power of social media? I suspect not. The show airs nightly on CBS at 12:35am, but who the hell watches television every night between 12:35am and 1:35am, let's be honest, not many. Embracing and totally maximising the social media generation is the single biggest factor in making James Cordens Late Late Show a triumph. Same with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, short, funny, often compelling clips makes you love the show, even if you don't watch the show. There are many entertainment shows now on British television that look old and tired. We work in a creative industry that constantly needs new, fresh, big, exciting ideas to keep it interesting for the listener and the viewer. The scheduling of TV shows also needs to change, it needs to be cleverer, not just doing it the same way it's always been done. My 2 middle kids, Andrew (19) Catherine (16) hardly ever watch traditional television anymore, choosing instead to watch bite size entertainment chunks from The Ellen Show and James Corden hosted Late Late Show on their smartphones and tablets. Many of their friends of similar age are exactly the same, choosing to watch very little, if any, normal television. This is a worrying trend for the television industry, because if you fast forward a few years, that's a whole generation who have grown up where TV doesn't matter in their lives. I'm not saying Television entertainment should suddenly become all about bite size, quick hit content, but something needs to change. Congratulations James Corden. I love creative people who take risks, it doesn't always work, but when it does, boy does it feel good.
2016 has been a remarkable year.
As I write this Blog, over 80 well known and loved celebrities have died in 2016, including many music artists. I always find the death of a well-known celebrity upsetting, I don't know why It makes me feel like it does, often these are people I have never met and don't know personally, but somehow because I've grown up listening to them, watching them and enjoying what they do, it feels like they've been a part of my life, and it makes me sad. This year especially has been horrible, with so many high profile names leaving us, including, amongst many others....
“Where words fail, music speaks" - Hans Christian Andersen
Music has been a large part of my life, I've been on the radio since I was 16 years old (at the time I was the youngest presenter ever on British radio with my own show). I started my record collection at the age of 9 and I am still adding to that collection to this day, I love music, all types. I didn't want to become a radio presenter to become famous or rich, my sole reason for wanting to be on the radio was to play music to as many people as I could. As any music radio presenter will tell you, there is a very special feeling you get playing great music on the radio, either finding a wonderful new song to play to your audience for the very first time, or playing a classic song that everyone loves.
Music has always been a passion, a great melody or a great voice can still make me cry, and often does. I sometimes find music can be better than photographs for instant recollection of special moments in your life, school years, first girlfriend or boyfriend, meeting your life partner, Marriage, birth of your children, holidays. Listening to a song can instantly transport you back to a special moment in your life, that's the power of music from all the amazing artists who write and perform it everyday.
A new radio format borne out of death...
When David Bowie died on January 10th this year (2016) closely followed by Glenn Frey from the Eagles (January 18th) and Maurice White from Earth, Wind & Fire (February 4th) It gave me an idea. The idea was to create a unique radio station that only plays and celebrates the music of artists who are Dead. As with any simple idea, at first I thought somebody else must have already done it, my knowledge of UK radio is pretty good, so I knew nobody in the UK had done it. However, I was sure somebody must have already done it in America (biggest radio market in the world) but no, nobody had done it anywhere in the world, so this idea of mine, the concept/format would be totally unique and a radio first.
Next, what should I call it?
I dislike anything that is bland and so much radio now is mind numbingly bland, including so many lazy spin offs of existing radio brands, no creativity, no variety for listeners, just dull radio. I love the name Radio Dead, it's interesting, it's different, it creates conversation, it's unique.
Radio Dead is now up and running as an on-line/app based radio station.
What is now interesting and macabre, is listeners are now actually contacting me and predicting who they think will be next to make an appearance on the Radio Dead playlist. Slightly morbid, yet truly fascinating. In a year like this year, when so many famous celebrities have died, I'm sure many people have had similar conversations at work or at home, who will be next? It doesn't make you a bad person or insensitive, it's just life, it's the type of stuff people talk about.
So who will be next?
Radio Dead is absolutely creating debate in offices, pubs and households across the UK, it appears to be catching the attention of the public. Artists are also contacting me direct to check if they're on the playlist. The latest to get in touch on Twitter is Dennis Locorriere, lead singer from the band Dr. Hook (When you're in love with a beautiful woman/A Little bit more/Sexy eyes).
Here is the tweet that Dennis sent me......
What I'm finding absolutely fascinating is when an artist dies, Radio Dead is fast becoming the very first radio station listeners think of, this was the case when Prince died and more recently when Pete Burns died, I suddenly had 100's of messages on my phone from people telling me these artists had died and that I now had additions to the Radio Dead Playlist, that is pretty powerful stuff. Radio Dead is the only radio station in the world that only plays artists who are.....Dead, and I don't just feature solo artists and lead singers, it also celebrates and remembers guitarists/drummers/keyboard players and backing singers from famous bands.
In a world where we now listen to the radio in so many different ways, the Internet now gives listeners access to Radio Dead everywhere in the world via live streaming www.stevepenk.co.uk and the Radio Dead app.
Apparently we're all living longer these days, but so many wonderful celebrities have died in 2016 including Gene Wilder, Robert Vaughn, Kenny Baker (man behind R2-D2) Muhammad Ali, Victoria Wood, Sir Terry Wogan, Alan Rickman and Caroline Aherne, to name only a few. I'm hoping one man can make it beyond December 9th this year, because it's a very special birthday for an iconic Hollywood star.
December 9th 2016 will be the 100th birthday of Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas. Come on Kirk, you can do it.
Listen anywhere. Download the Radio Dead App here:
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Kids on the air broadcasting to kids is never a great idea, mainly because they have very little to offer that's interesting or entertaining. Radio presenting is like any other job, you listen, you learn, you master your craft and only then when you are the very best at what you do, should you be considered suitable and able to broadcast on this radio station. |
Capital FM (London) should be the very best of the very best, and throughout most of its history it has been just that, but it's lost it's sparkle, it's lost that unique point of difference that used to make Programme Directors from radio stations all over the world fly into London, just to listen to Capital FM. Such was the reputation of this magnificent radio station, PD's (mainly from the US) would fly into London (pre Internet streaming) record the output, make notes and take those notes back to their own radio markets around the world, now that is pretty impressive.
The Chris Tarrant breakfast show dominated London breakfast listening for many years, it was appointment to listen radio. Legend has it, at its peak, listeners used to ring the radio station to ask when Chris was taking his own summer holiday so they could book the same time off, so they wouldn't miss any of the show and would be back in town, in time for CT's return from his holiday, now that is as powerful as breakfast radio can get. We are talking a juggernaut of a radio show, hosted by a man at the very top of his game, the way it should be on Capital FM (London) Compelling, laugh out loud content, water cooler moments, a great talkability breakfast show, the way the very best breakfast shows should be. The Chris Tarrant breakfast show on Capital FM London to this day remains one of the greatest breakfast shows in the history of Commercial Radio in the UK. |
The current Capital FM breakfast show (2016) in my opinion, is the worst in the history of the radio station. Some may say I'm being brutal, I just think I'm being honest, it doesn't make me right, it equally doesn't make me wrong, I'm just concerned and it's just my opinion. It's hosted by 3 people who look good, but have little or no idea how to generate and deliver compelling, strong, funny breakfast content day after day, month after month, year after year.
Who cares what they look like and how well they dress, this is radio. You don't learn your craft on one of the worlds biggest radio commercial breakfast shows, and it's this alone where I feel Capital has lost focus. Whenever I tune in, It sounds like one of those really boring teenage conversations that you occasionally over hear on the bus, on the train, out shopping, and then you suddenly realise that this is actually going out on the air on one of the worlds most respected and admired Radio stations. I've heard my own teenage kids and their friends, on the school run, describe the current Capital FM breakfast show as 'boring' and when the audience you're aiming it at are using words like boring, something is very wrong.
Compare the current Capital FM breakfast show (London) with the current Z100 breakfast show (New York). Both markets are very similar, both radio stations chasing similar audiences and playing very similar music. The Z100 breakfast show in New York, now syndicated across America, is a master class of breakfast entertainment radio with its ring master and main host Elvis Duran.
Listen if you can (on line) for a full week, it will take that amount of time to get to know the characters and feel part of the family, I guarantee the breakfast team will drag you in and you will be totally hooked, exactly the way breakfast radio should be, exactly what Capital FM (London) should be doing, exactly what they used to do. The players may have changed, times may have changed, but the the way you deliver great radio day in day out, hasn't changed.
Radio breakfast shows don't become successful by chance, it takes talent, focus, huge commitment and extremely hard work.
Capital FM should be absolutely dominating London radio listening and it's not. I hear that Ashley Tabor has taken personal charge of Capital FM (London). Ashley is Global Radio's founder and executive president, but has no qualifications for running and programming Capital FM. Of course nobody is going to tell him that.
Ashley is a nice man, when I was at Capital he worked in the record library, I always found him very pleasant, but he's not the right man to make Capital FM the powerhouse in London again that it used to be. I described Ashley on Twitter once as a playboy (which he didn't like) but if my dad bought me a Formula one racing car I wouldn't suddenly think I knew everything about Formula One and start driving the car. Ashley has a lot to learn and should never have taken control of Capital FM.
It's not an easy job programming Capital FM (London) and quite frankly I can't think of a single programmer currently in the UK who has the ability, steely determination, focus and reputation to deliver the quality product Capital FM should be delivering.
All I do know is Capital FM (London) used to be one of the best Commercial music radio stations in the world, sadly this is no longer the case, it simply sounds ordinary, it's like any other local radio station.
Capital (London) never use to sound ordinary.
Capital (London) never use to sound ordinary.
- Global may have deep pockets, but you have to know how to spend it, the key to any radio station sounding great is hiring the very best talent, not reality TV fodder who haven't got a clue how to make great radio.
- Simply hiring people because they've been on the telly is the worst kind of lazy, uninspired Radio programming you can get.
- You can make the best TV ads in the world and have wonderful summer and Christmas events but what really matters the most is what comes out of that studio 52 weeks of the year.
I decided to write this opinion piece after listening again to a breakfast show that wouldn't sound out of place on hospital radio. I know Global Radio management will hate this opinion piece but quite frankly I couldn't give a monkeys. I know they will think there's nothing wrong and that their breakfast show is perfect (head in sand) although I suspect Richard Park isn't that impressed with the way it currently sounds. Deep down Richard will know it's not right and simply not good enough. Richard is a perfectionist, how could he be happy, it's poor.
Every major City in the world has a great Commercial radio station at its heart, but if the current sound of Capital FM (London) is the very best this country can offer right now, I feel embarrassed.
Every major City in the world has a great Commercial radio station at its heart, but if the current sound of Capital FM (London) is the very best this country can offer right now, I feel embarrassed.
I suggest they get out of London more often, travel around the country and start listening to some of the good talent out there and get them on Capital FM.
Make Capital FM (London) great again and stop putting kids on the air who've got nothing to say.
Steve Penk
Radio Man!
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