The first edition of ITV's Nightly Show frittered away a great opportunity.
At 9pm Broadchurch Series 3 started with a massive 7.48m viewers - a 34% share of the available audience. David Walliams' half hour at 10pm got an average of 2.86m viewers (16.8%). But more worrying is that he started with 3.8m, and finished with 2.2m. So some 3.7 million people swerved the new chat show altogether; another 1.6m found something else more interesting to watch or do by the end.
The reality of Crimewatch was no match for the rape plotline of Broadchurch - BBC1 got an average of just 1.47m for the hour from 9pm. But News at Huw was largely unscathed by the Walliams challenge, at 4.19m (24.7%).
The Lygo Strategy saw The Nightly Show add 1m to the average audience of the 10pm slot; and the delayed ITV News was watched by 1.56m (11.6% share).
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Mending The Nightly Show
10 quick fixes to ITV's Nightly Show. No fee.
1) Hire writers from Have I Got News For You
2) Remember - the top topical gag is always better than material you've stacked up in case nothing funny happens that day. Leave that on the shelf.
3) Could Walliams pretend to be interested in the guests, if that's not too much trouble ?
4) Don't show us the audience too clearly. They looked more nervous than Walliams.
5) Pace. Fast and slow, please.
6) Get a band or announcer for the host to bounce off.
7) Sort the acoustics. Double track the audience laughter, like Mantovani did with his Strings.
8) The host must glance between the guest/s and audience in wide shots; and into the camera on close-ups - which must be much closer.
9) Move the sofa. The guests almost have their backs to the audience they're supposed to be amusing.
10) Put one person in charge.
Here's a wonderful example of how it should be done....
1) Hire writers from Have I Got News For You
2) Remember - the top topical gag is always better than material you've stacked up in case nothing funny happens that day. Leave that on the shelf.
3) Could Walliams pretend to be interested in the guests, if that's not too much trouble ?
4) Don't show us the audience too clearly. They looked more nervous than Walliams.
5) Pace. Fast and slow, please.
6) Get a band or announcer for the host to bounce off.
7) Sort the acoustics. Double track the audience laughter, like Mantovani did with his Strings.
8) The host must glance between the guest/s and audience in wide shots; and into the camera on close-ups - which must be much closer.
9) Move the sofa. The guests almost have their backs to the audience they're supposed to be amusing.
10) Put one person in charge.
Here's a wonderful example of how it should be done....
What The Papers Say
"If the first night proves representative, the show may struggle to equal, on any of its five nights, the level of star power that Graham Norton manages on his one. It will need to answer firmly the question: why this at that time?" Mark Lawson, The Guardian
"Looking at what had replaced him in the schedules, newsreader Tom Bradby must have been gnashing his teeth with frustration. The Nightly Show needs to improve fast if ITV are to avoid expensive dental bills - not to mention egg on their faces." Michael Hogan, The Telegraph
"As controllers have found before, it’s risky moving around the heavier furniture of television schedules, riskier even than Walliams was risqué. I did not feel the pleasurable shock of the new, I felt as if something awkward had landed on my foot." Andrew Billen, The Times
And from the Interweb Worldwide Information Highway
"In the intro, Walliams joked that confused viewers might think ‘the News At Ten’s gone a bit down-market’. Downmarket’s not the issue, bland is. The Nightly Show does not feel like the mustn’t-miss proposal that ITV need it to be. The gamble hasn’t paid off." Steve Bennett, Chortle
"Looking at what had replaced him in the schedules, newsreader Tom Bradby must have been gnashing his teeth with frustration. The Nightly Show needs to improve fast if ITV are to avoid expensive dental bills - not to mention egg on their faces." Michael Hogan, The Telegraph
"As controllers have found before, it’s risky moving around the heavier furniture of television schedules, riskier even than Walliams was risqué. I did not feel the pleasurable shock of the new, I felt as if something awkward had landed on my foot." Andrew Billen, The Times
And from the Interweb Worldwide Information Highway
"In the intro, Walliams joked that confused viewers might think ‘the News At Ten’s gone a bit down-market’. Downmarket’s not the issue, bland is. The Nightly Show does not feel like the mustn’t-miss proposal that ITV need it to be. The gamble hasn’t paid off." Steve Bennett, Chortle
Monday, February 27, 2017
Alex Young RIP
Dubbed "The Golden Vision", Alex Young has died at the age of 80. He made 273 appearances for Everton from 1960 to 1968, and scored 87 goals, winning the League Championship in 1963 and the FA Cup in 1966.
His title was backed up by no less than Danny Blanchflower: "...the view every Saturday that we have of a more perfect world, a world that has got a pattern and is finite. And that's Alex – the Golden Vision." In his day, he was one of the shorter players to wear No 9, but he could make prodigious leaps, particularly at the near post. At his best, he could put defenders on their bottoms, without prodigious speed but with almost balletic feints.
In 1968, towards the end of Alex's time in the top flight, he was enjoying life swapping elegant passes with new boy Alan Ball. Neville Smith and Gordon Honeycombe wrote a Wednesday play, directed by Ken Loach, which caught the passion of the fans, with much of the dialogue improvised in real time at matches. It was called the Golden Vision.
I meet Alex in the summer of 1964 - I was 13 rising 14, and had been pea-picking for pocket money in Maghull. My dad was going to pick me up in the early afternoon from an agreed spot outside Maghull Post Office. Here's the full dialogue, as Alex gets out of his sports car and approaches the shop.
Alex: "Is it closed ?"
Me: "Yes".
His title was backed up by no less than Danny Blanchflower: "...the view every Saturday that we have of a more perfect world, a world that has got a pattern and is finite. And that's Alex – the Golden Vision." In his day, he was one of the shorter players to wear No 9, but he could make prodigious leaps, particularly at the near post. At his best, he could put defenders on their bottoms, without prodigious speed but with almost balletic feints.
In 1968, towards the end of Alex's time in the top flight, he was enjoying life swapping elegant passes with new boy Alan Ball. Neville Smith and Gordon Honeycombe wrote a Wednesday play, directed by Ken Loach, which caught the passion of the fans, with much of the dialogue improvised in real time at matches. It was called the Golden Vision.
I meet Alex in the summer of 1964 - I was 13 rising 14, and had been pea-picking for pocket money in Maghull. My dad was going to pick me up in the early afternoon from an agreed spot outside Maghull Post Office. Here's the full dialogue, as Alex gets out of his sports car and approaches the shop.
Alex: "Is it closed ?"
Me: "Yes".
Rose picked
The BBC has turned to C4 to find a new Head of Films - 45 year-old Rose Garnett, daughter of Adrian (Andy) Garnett and Polly Devlin OBE, writer and a member of the Northern Ireland team for Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz.
Rose began her dramatic career in 1992 at Cambridge University, as the producer of ‘Talking Tongues’ Theatre Company with David Farr, Sacha Hails and Rachel Weisz ('Rose is my best friend'). She and Farr then took over the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill where they commissioned and worked with writers and directors including Lee Hall, Tracy Letts, Anthony Neilson, Ben Hopkins, Dominic Cook and Sarah Kane.
Previous film work includes Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan and Gaby Dellal's Angels Crest as associate producer. She joined C4 in 2013.
Rose's husband, Tom Browne, is an actor-turning-writer-producer. Credits include the 2009 short, Spunkbubble, and 2014's Radiator, Richard Johnson's last film before his death.
Previous film work includes Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan and Gaby Dellal's Angels Crest as associate producer. She joined C4 in 2013.
Rose's husband, Tom Browne, is an actor-turning-writer-producer. Credits include the 2009 short, Spunkbubble, and 2014's Radiator, Richard Johnson's last film before his death.
Missing two million
Quite a tumble for the second episode of SS-GB. Down from 6.1m for the opener to 3.8m (19% share). On ITV the Good Karma Hospital attracted 5.2m, a 25% share.
The head-to-head between Countryfile + Call The Midwife and The Voice Battle Rounds left the big beasts pretty much unscathed, with Countryfile on 7.4m, Midwife 8.5m and The Voice on 4.1m
The head-to-head between Countryfile + Call The Midwife and The Voice Battle Rounds left the big beasts pretty much unscathed, with Countryfile on 7.4m, Midwife 8.5m and The Voice on 4.1m
My Dad, the Phone Hacker
Back in 2011 I wrote a number of posts about Greg Miskiw, former News of the World operator - Where is he ?, There he is, and Miskiw and Chicago.
Since then he's served time - 37 days, out of a six-month prison sentence, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages. Now I'd like to point you to a very thoughtful piece by his daughter, Sophie Miskiw, now a freelancer working out of Stockholm.
Since then he's served time - 37 days, out of a six-month prison sentence, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages. Now I'd like to point you to a very thoughtful piece by his daughter, Sophie Miskiw, now a freelancer working out of Stockholm.
Wrong envelope ?
Getting things the wrong way round moves to the UK tonight. At 10pm on ITV, David Walliams will follow Broadchurch 3 with the first Nightly Show, and News at Ten becomes, in the official ITV schedule, simply "ITV News", at the later time of 10.30pm for at least eight weeks.
The gamble belongs to Kevin Lygo, Director of TV at ITV. Last year the original News at Ten averaged 1.8m viewers. "We underperform in the commercial sense in the 10 o’clock hour,” Lygo tells The Guardian. "Not only do fewer than a million tune in to the channel at 10.30 but those viewers are “not young”. Lygo is in part looking to the USA, where ABC's Late Night News does rather well after the big gun chat shows, and against the second-leaguers, like Seth Meyers and James Corden. But he's also acknowledging the current strength of News at Huw.
“I think our News at Ten is rather brilliant and it frustrates me that every night four to one people watch the BBC instead. The truth is that when you’re up against the 50-times resourced juggernaut of BBC1 news you won’t get more viewers.”
I suspect Andrew Pierce, in the Daily Mail, has slightly over-written "Newsnight under the axe ?", but it also faces a squeeze if Lygo does shift the news ecology. The Mail puts Newsnight's average audience at 550,000. The Katz Curate's-Egg-of-a-Show needs, and gets,a little trail within the BBC1 bulletin, just before the regional news section, which has nibbled away at the declining Newsnight audience.
If Lygo's scheme works, there's a chance Newsnight will be permanently scheduled against the main evening ITV News, unless BBC Director of News James Harding blinks. Harding is right to consider his options. "Slow News" could be a way out - move to 11pm for an hour and nick the paper review off the News Channel. Fewer viewers, but a bigger slice of the BBC2 budget.
The gamble belongs to Kevin Lygo, Director of TV at ITV. Last year the original News at Ten averaged 1.8m viewers. "We underperform in the commercial sense in the 10 o’clock hour,” Lygo tells The Guardian. "Not only do fewer than a million tune in to the channel at 10.30 but those viewers are “not young”. Lygo is in part looking to the USA, where ABC's Late Night News does rather well after the big gun chat shows, and against the second-leaguers, like Seth Meyers and James Corden. But he's also acknowledging the current strength of News at Huw.
“I think our News at Ten is rather brilliant and it frustrates me that every night four to one people watch the BBC instead. The truth is that when you’re up against the 50-times resourced juggernaut of BBC1 news you won’t get more viewers.”
I suspect Andrew Pierce, in the Daily Mail, has slightly over-written "Newsnight under the axe ?", but it also faces a squeeze if Lygo does shift the news ecology. The Mail puts Newsnight's average audience at 550,000. The Katz Curate's-Egg-of-a-Show needs, and gets,a little trail within the BBC1 bulletin, just before the regional news section, which has nibbled away at the declining Newsnight audience.
If Lygo's scheme works, there's a chance Newsnight will be permanently scheduled against the main evening ITV News, unless BBC Director of News James Harding blinks. Harding is right to consider his options. "Slow News" could be a way out - move to 11pm for an hour and nick the paper review off the News Channel. Fewer viewers, but a bigger slice of the BBC2 budget.
Habit forming
We knew that the BBC's James Purnell once understudied Daniel Craig. It was in a National Youth Theatre production of Murder In The Cathedral in 1987-9, which toured London, Newcastle and Edinburgh, before ending up at the Moscow Arts Theatre. The future James Bond beat Purnell to the part of 4th Knight, but teenage Purnell covered the role whilst joining the chorus of Monks, who had much less to do. Here's the recollection of fellow Monk, Mark Griffin.
"It was a fantastic trip ... but to be honest apart from scuttling about in a monk-like fashion, rising in mock amazement when Thomas a' Becket returned from France and shouting my one line 'The Door is Barred!' as dramatically as I could, there wasn't that much to do. The starring roles carried the action and we obediently provided the wallpaper.
"As the tour went on boredom, and inevitable subversion, grew and the monks started to make up fantasy back stories and sacred duties for their characters. Some of us looked after the bees, some illuminated manuscripts, some fermented mead, others tended the orchards and one of our number memorably became a sandal thief - this at least gave us something to improvise quietly in the back ground ('A good year for windfalls, brother Mark' or 'I'm afraid I'm clean out of left feet this week, brother Martin') whilst the turbulent priest's story was re-enacted out in front of us.
"By the time we had reached Stanislavski's hallowed theatre we'd realised that our large cassocks could hold almost anything and a new competition evolved for what could be hidden in the sleeves - this led to bags of chips, water pistols, bottles of vodka and one evening a kitten joining us on stage. We were untouchable and the joy was in getting away with it.
"The smooth and ever reliable James Purnell was amongst our number. James was renowned for being sensible - often refusing to join in with the squirting or animal kidnapping fun - and whilst the rest of us indulgently corpsed our way through the shows - he remained steadfastly focused on providing exemplary monastic support to the archbishop in a range of impressive genuflects, bows and head shakes, even cowering behind the nearest pillar as the Knights ran Thomas through with their long swords. At the end of the run James shook each of our hands in turn, joined the Labour Party and disappeared off to Oxford to start his PPE degree."
"It was a fantastic trip ... but to be honest apart from scuttling about in a monk-like fashion, rising in mock amazement when Thomas a' Becket returned from France and shouting my one line 'The Door is Barred!' as dramatically as I could, there wasn't that much to do. The starring roles carried the action and we obediently provided the wallpaper.
"As the tour went on boredom, and inevitable subversion, grew and the monks started to make up fantasy back stories and sacred duties for their characters. Some of us looked after the bees, some illuminated manuscripts, some fermented mead, others tended the orchards and one of our number memorably became a sandal thief - this at least gave us something to improvise quietly in the back ground ('A good year for windfalls, brother Mark' or 'I'm afraid I'm clean out of left feet this week, brother Martin') whilst the turbulent priest's story was re-enacted out in front of us.
"By the time we had reached Stanislavski's hallowed theatre we'd realised that our large cassocks could hold almost anything and a new competition evolved for what could be hidden in the sleeves - this led to bags of chips, water pistols, bottles of vodka and one evening a kitten joining us on stage. We were untouchable and the joy was in getting away with it.
"The smooth and ever reliable James Purnell was amongst our number. James was renowned for being sensible - often refusing to join in with the squirting or animal kidnapping fun - and whilst the rest of us indulgently corpsed our way through the shows - he remained steadfastly focused on providing exemplary monastic support to the archbishop in a range of impressive genuflects, bows and head shakes, even cowering behind the nearest pillar as the Knights ran Thomas through with their long swords. At the end of the run James shook each of our hands in turn, joined the Labour Party and disappeared off to Oxford to start his PPE degree."
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Taboo Two ?
Fans waiting for a continuity voiceover at the end of Taboo on Saturday night were disappointed; no breathy off-screen mouthing of "And Taboo will be back with a new series, etc etc".
The drama, which has been picked up for dubbed versions in Europe and South America, is jointly financed by the BBC and FX, a FOX cable channel in the United States. The final episode goes out there on Tuesday. So far the ratings in the States have followed the UK - good start but poor follow-through. 2.1m viewers for episode one; an average of just over a million for the following six shows. That's average for FX, not stellar.
The drama, which has been picked up for dubbed versions in Europe and South America, is jointly financed by the BBC and FX, a FOX cable channel in the United States. The final episode goes out there on Tuesday. So far the ratings in the States have followed the UK - good start but poor follow-through. 2.1m viewers for episode one; an average of just over a million for the following six shows. That's average for FX, not stellar.
Odd couple
Is it possible to have a "posing imprint" ? When you're with the same person, and the snapper approaches, do you assume the position ?
Below Josh Berger and Alan Yentob at the BFI Chairman's Dinner this week...
Below, Josh Berger and Alan Yentob at a pre-BAFTA party at Annabel's Nightclub in 2013
Below Josh Berger and Alan Yentob at the BFI Chairman's Dinner this week...
Below, Josh Berger and Alan Yentob at a pre-BAFTA party at Annabel's Nightclub in 2013
Believable
If you fancy one of those nothing-new-under-the-sun articles, may I commend this from the Public Domain Review ?
It features fascinating illustrations and graphics all available from the Library of Congress, including this, left, from Puck magazine. Puck was published from 1871 to 1918, and was perhaps the first US magazine to major on topical cartoons and political satire. This particular etching is from 1894.
It features fascinating illustrations and graphics all available from the Library of Congress, including this, left, from Puck magazine. Puck was published from 1871 to 1918, and was perhaps the first US magazine to major on topical cartoons and political satire. This particular etching is from 1894.Sound women needed
Here's a good bet. The next person appointed to run a BBC network or channel will be a woman.
Quietly, the reshaping of these jobs, away from Television and Radio, into Content and Radio & Education, has left a vast preponderance of blokes running output.
In Radio, Gwyneth Williams is the only woman minding networks - Radio 4 and Radio 4 Xtra (though Tony Pilgrim is Executive Editor of the digital channel). Otherwise, from James via Bob as his Number 2, you have Ben, Alan, Jonathan, Lewis and Paul running the rest. James Purnell has to take some comfort in other bits of his portmanteau portfolio, with Alice Webb running Children's, supported by Cheryl Taylor, CBBC; Kay Benbow, CBeebies; and Sinead Rocks, Head of Learning (though neither Kay and Sinead bother the BBC list of those paid more than £150k).
If you want to make a programme for any of the BBC's national radio networks, the commissioning guideline pages give you 14 contacts. Only one Sioned Wiliam, looking after comedy for Radio 4, is a woman.
In Content/TV, with Charlotte at the top, BBC national networks are run by Patrick, Cassian, Damian and Dan. Charlotte gets some comfort from Barbara Slater as Director of Sport, Victoria Jaye minding the iPlayer, and can point to six women in the top eleven commissioning roles.
Quietly, the reshaping of these jobs, away from Television and Radio, into Content and Radio & Education, has left a vast preponderance of blokes running output.
In Radio, Gwyneth Williams is the only woman minding networks - Radio 4 and Radio 4 Xtra (though Tony Pilgrim is Executive Editor of the digital channel). Otherwise, from James via Bob as his Number 2, you have Ben, Alan, Jonathan, Lewis and Paul running the rest. James Purnell has to take some comfort in other bits of his portmanteau portfolio, with Alice Webb running Children's, supported by Cheryl Taylor, CBBC; Kay Benbow, CBeebies; and Sinead Rocks, Head of Learning (though neither Kay and Sinead bother the BBC list of those paid more than £150k).
If you want to make a programme for any of the BBC's national radio networks, the commissioning guideline pages give you 14 contacts. Only one Sioned Wiliam, looking after comedy for Radio 4, is a woman.
In Content/TV, with Charlotte at the top, BBC national networks are run by Patrick, Cassian, Damian and Dan. Charlotte gets some comfort from Barbara Slater as Director of Sport, Victoria Jaye minding the iPlayer, and can point to six women in the top eleven commissioning roles.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Dozing spires
The line-up for Oxford Media Convention, coming up on 8th March, isn't quite as zingy as last year.
Indeed, a number of speakers are approaching their media sell-by dates. The booking of John Whittingdale MP is hardly a coup; in a matter of months, Baroness Dido Harding will no longer be part of Talk Talk; Nick Denton, formerly of Gawker Media, is concentrating on whether he wants to be bankrupt or not; Jane Martinson, media supremo of The Guardian, can perhaps explains how her parent group intends to break even by 2018/19; and Rona Fairhead, the only BBC name in the speaker-line-up, has a matter of weeks to run as Chair of the BBC Trust. (She's also saying bye-bye to her HSBC non-executive role - £524k for the most recent year.)
Sharon White of Ofcom is perhaps the star guest - but even she won't be ready to tell us how Ofcom will judge distinctiveness at the BBC; consultation, consultation, etc.
Indeed, a number of speakers are approaching their media sell-by dates. The booking of John Whittingdale MP is hardly a coup; in a matter of months, Baroness Dido Harding will no longer be part of Talk Talk; Nick Denton, formerly of Gawker Media, is concentrating on whether he wants to be bankrupt or not; Jane Martinson, media supremo of The Guardian, can perhaps explains how her parent group intends to break even by 2018/19; and Rona Fairhead, the only BBC name in the speaker-line-up, has a matter of weeks to run as Chair of the BBC Trust. (She's also saying bye-bye to her HSBC non-executive role - £524k for the most recent year.)
Sharon White of Ofcom is perhaps the star guest - but even she won't be ready to tell us how Ofcom will judge distinctiveness at the BBC; consultation, consultation, etc.
And relax
Those who choreographed Lord Hall's pacification of the Nations & Regions can break open a bottle of the good stuff this weekend. If, at the end of all this, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland remain quiet after a shift of around 0.1% of the BBC's income, it will be a triumph.
So far, no-one has pinned the BBC DG down about the cuts that are the obverse of this money-moving-when-funding-is-largely-flat. Scotland was transfixed by the unicorn out of the sporran - a whole new tv channel, with an hour-long news bulletin at its centre. Scotland 2016 (30 minutes of news and current affairs at 10pm) returned average audiences of 30 to 35,000 at its demise. Weekly show Timeline started with 75,000, but no further figures have been released. The new show won't claim all of the 80 additional journalists - that represents Donalda Mackinnon's fun money, and will probably support the splitting of Radio Scotland into "Talk" and "Music" for at least part of the day (whether Scotland wants it or not).
And then there's a £2m portrayal fund, managed by new Director of Nations and Regions Ken Macquarrie. Some of this may have already been spent on Eastenders, where a Polish deli owner has turned up - only the second spotting of the nationality in the soap's history. More will surely follow - the bars and refreshment venues of Walford must eventually acknowledge the existence of foreign workers.
So far, no-one has pinned the BBC DG down about the cuts that are the obverse of this money-moving-when-funding-is-largely-flat. Scotland was transfixed by the unicorn out of the sporran - a whole new tv channel, with an hour-long news bulletin at its centre. Scotland 2016 (30 minutes of news and current affairs at 10pm) returned average audiences of 30 to 35,000 at its demise. Weekly show Timeline started with 75,000, but no further figures have been released. The new show won't claim all of the 80 additional journalists - that represents Donalda Mackinnon's fun money, and will probably support the splitting of Radio Scotland into "Talk" and "Music" for at least part of the day (whether Scotland wants it or not).
And then there's a £2m portrayal fund, managed by new Director of Nations and Regions Ken Macquarrie. Some of this may have already been spent on Eastenders, where a Polish deli owner has turned up - only the second spotting of the nationality in the soap's history. More will surely follow - the bars and refreshment venues of Walford must eventually acknowledge the existence of foreign workers.
- Ofcom now has 25 staff members in Edinburgh, up from 5 before it had to look after the BBC.
Friday, February 24, 2017
Ready ?
It's a matter of weeks now before Ofcom takes over as the BBC regulator, and gaps in their new wall of bureaucracy are already appearing.
Ofcom's take on how it will set 'service licences' - which circumscribe the activities of all BBC networks and stations - hasn't even gone out to consultation yet, and won't be published until Autumn. So the BB has to make do with the old ones.
The BBC Trust had a staff count of 63 full-time posts (some of them filled by part-timers and job shares) Ofcom says it has currently recruited 30 additional staff and expects a total of 40 new members in post by April. "Preparations are ongoing and, once a firmer view of workload and resourcing has been established, this number could grow – on our current reckoning – by an extra 10 people or so." I make that 80.
The Trust ran its own operations on £7m last financial year, plus it had to pay fees to Ofcom of £2.8m. Ofcom requires up to £6.5m for this financial year (can it spend that much by April 3rd ?) plus £9m for 2017/18.
Ofcom's take on how it will set 'service licences' - which circumscribe the activities of all BBC networks and stations - hasn't even gone out to consultation yet, and won't be published until Autumn. So the BB has to make do with the old ones.
The BBC Trust had a staff count of 63 full-time posts (some of them filled by part-timers and job shares) Ofcom says it has currently recruited 30 additional staff and expects a total of 40 new members in post by April. "Preparations are ongoing and, once a firmer view of workload and resourcing has been established, this number could grow – on our current reckoning – by an extra 10 people or so." I make that 80.
The Trust ran its own operations on £7m last financial year, plus it had to pay fees to Ofcom of £2.8m. Ofcom requires up to £6.5m for this financial year (can it spend that much by April 3rd ?) plus £9m for 2017/18.
Big Data
How's myBBC doing ? We were told to expect the BBC to move to mandatory sign-in for iPlayer in "early 2017". Is that before Easter, one wonders ?
The BBC is still hiring for the project: a big bloke from Sky is coming in "spring", and there are currently ads for Software Engineer - myBBC; Full Stack Leader Developer myBBC; Senior Developer In Test myBBC; Senior Full Stack (PHP) Developer myBBC; Full Stack Developers (node.js) Middleweight & Senior myBBC; Business Analyst myBBC 3rd Party Data; Business Analyst myBBC SCV; plus an open invitation to a Software Engineers Hiring Event.
"SCV ?" I hear you ask. Why, silly, that's the Single Customer View platform, "a petabyte scale, cloud-hosted, big data warehouse". That's probably why they're also advertising for a Big Data Engineer.
Occasionally, and only occasionally, English breaks out in some of the ads. I quite liked this: "We’ll get along great if you’re a fantastic developer who gets excited by emerging web technologies and shares a passion for creating web experiences accessible by all.
"If you don’t currently match the job spec completely then don’t let this dissuade you from applying. We’re looking for intelligent people who are quick to learn and adapt."
The BBC is still hiring for the project: a big bloke from Sky is coming in "spring", and there are currently ads for Software Engineer - myBBC; Full Stack Leader Developer myBBC; Senior Developer In Test myBBC; Senior Full Stack (PHP) Developer myBBC; Full Stack Developers (node.js) Middleweight & Senior myBBC; Business Analyst myBBC 3rd Party Data; Business Analyst myBBC SCV; plus an open invitation to a Software Engineers Hiring Event.
"SCV ?" I hear you ask. Why, silly, that's the Single Customer View platform, "a petabyte scale, cloud-hosted, big data warehouse". That's probably why they're also advertising for a Big Data Engineer.
Occasionally, and only occasionally, English breaks out in some of the ads. I quite liked this: "We’ll get along great if you’re a fantastic developer who gets excited by emerging web technologies and shares a passion for creating web experiences accessible by all.
"If you don’t currently match the job spec completely then don’t let this dissuade you from applying. We’re looking for intelligent people who are quick to learn and adapt."
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Wha-hae
The Scottish Culture Committee looking at Lord Hall's peace-offering to the licence-fee payers of Scotland has started its questioning.
Lord Hall said the programme spend on the new digital channel for Scotland would be 'comparable' with BBC4, that the £30m funding didn't include overheads, and that 60% of the output (between 7pm and midnight each night) would be new commissions.
Overall, he reckoned programme spend in Scotland would now move to 68% of the total licence fees paid in Scotland; that compares with 74% in Northern Ireland, and 95% in Wales.
Donalda said there would be "leadership" for the new channel, but wasn't ready to reveal her new management structure. Tony told the committee he wasn't prepared yet to reveal audience targets for the new channel, but wanted to see a growing figure, and an improvement in appreciation figures north of the border.
On BBC Alba, Donalda said, on top of the £1.2m going directly to the channel, she hoped the wider additional funding for Scotland would help support three extra hours a week of output for viewers, at BBC-generated total of 7.2.
[I don't mean to be difficult about the BBC4 numbers, but this year the BBC Trust licence for BBC4 puts the 'service budget' at £48.7m.
The BBC Annual Report for 2015/16 gives these figures for BBC4.
Content spend £44.2m
Distribution £4.1m
Content and distribution support £7.7m
General support £3.8m
Total £59.8m]
Lord Hall said the programme spend on the new digital channel for Scotland would be 'comparable' with BBC4, that the £30m funding didn't include overheads, and that 60% of the output (between 7pm and midnight each night) would be new commissions.
 |
| Kenny, Tony and Donalda |
Overall, he reckoned programme spend in Scotland would now move to 68% of the total licence fees paid in Scotland; that compares with 74% in Northern Ireland, and 95% in Wales.
Donalda said there would be "leadership" for the new channel, but wasn't ready to reveal her new management structure. Tony told the committee he wasn't prepared yet to reveal audience targets for the new channel, but wanted to see a growing figure, and an improvement in appreciation figures north of the border.
On BBC Alba, Donalda said, on top of the £1.2m going directly to the channel, she hoped the wider additional funding for Scotland would help support three extra hours a week of output for viewers, at BBC-generated total of 7.2.
[I don't mean to be difficult about the BBC4 numbers, but this year the BBC Trust licence for BBC4 puts the 'service budget' at £48.7m.
The BBC Annual Report for 2015/16 gives these figures for BBC4.
Content spend £44.2m
Distribution £4.1m
Content and distribution support £7.7m
General support £3.8m
Total £59.8m]
Foot-tapper
No Marigold Hotel nonsense for Alan Yentob. A couple of weeks from his 70th birthday, he was up early with the movers and shakers at London (youth) club Home House for a Kruger Cowne Breakfast talk. And, at the other end of the day, he was stageside at the Brits, choogling away to Ed Sheeran. Can a Grime edition of Imagine be far away for our favourite trendsetter ?
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Nine
Not a 6, or a 7. It's a Scottish 9pm for the BBC. DG Lord Hall has promised 80 journalist jobs working on a hour-long integrated news bulletin sitting within a new digital channel, BBC Scotland, to launch in 2018.
The channel will start at 7pm, with a £29m budget (£10m of that is already being spent, so presumably there's some repeats being allowed - £19m is new money). That compares with £48.7m service budget for BBC4 over 2016/17.
9pm is described as "a timeslot which attracts the largest available audience. It will not compete with any other terrestrial news programmes and will offer audiences an alternative to high-end drama and entertainment scheduled at this time on other channels." Good luck with the audience figures for that, then. The weekend news will be just 15 minutes at 7pm.
BBC Alba is getting an extra £1.2m a year - way short of the campaigners' target - some of which will provide Gaelic news bulletins at the weekend.
Tomorrow it's Scottish Parliament committee time for Tony and Donalda - is this enough to take the wind out of the MSPs' sails ?
The channel will start at 7pm, with a £29m budget (£10m of that is already being spent, so presumably there's some repeats being allowed - £19m is new money). That compares with £48.7m service budget for BBC4 over 2016/17.
9pm is described as "a timeslot which attracts the largest available audience. It will not compete with any other terrestrial news programmes and will offer audiences an alternative to high-end drama and entertainment scheduled at this time on other channels." Good luck with the audience figures for that, then. The weekend news will be just 15 minutes at 7pm.
BBC Alba is getting an extra £1.2m a year - way short of the campaigners' target - some of which will provide Gaelic news bulletins at the weekend.
Tomorrow it's Scottish Parliament committee time for Tony and Donalda - is this enough to take the wind out of the MSPs' sails ?
Me too
As ITV prepares to move its prestigious-if-now-slightly-niche News at Ten to News at Ten Thirty next Monday, cheeky old Sky are relaunching their News at Ten as a "smart, polished, precise half-hour" - with no advert break in the middle. It'll have new titles and a new theme tune. The presenters will be either Anna Botting or Anna Jones.
Both Sky News boss John Ryley and his new Head of Content, Cristina Nicolotti Squires boast the ITV version of News at Ten in their cvs, and this is Cristina's first move since arriving from ITN at the start of this year. And we all thought she'd been hired to do all that digital stuff....
Both Sky News boss John Ryley and his new Head of Content, Cristina Nicolotti Squires boast the ITV version of News at Ten in their cvs, and this is Cristina's first move since arriving from ITN at the start of this year. And we all thought she'd been hired to do all that digital stuff....
Nid aur yw popeth melyn
BBC DG Lord Hall is on his way to Scotland to brief staff on investment plans for the next financial year. His case may contain a smoke canister and a mirror or two.
Yesterday we got a press release about investment for BBC Wales, headlined thus: "BBC to increase investment in programming for Wales by 50 per cent". Last year the BBC spent £22.5m on English language programmes made specifically for Wales. The release promises "£8.5m additional new funding" for English language tv - that's an increase of just over 37%. But wait, there's a hope that BBC Wales can bring in an additional £5m of co-production funding - that gets us to 60%. And then, pause again - there's a target of getting half of the new productions from Wales, set to total 130 hours a year, onto the full UK Network or iPlayer - so presumably, someone else elsewhere in the BBC will lose that funding. Putting the £8.5m in context, BBC Wales productions costing a total of £61.7m last year (think Dr Who, Casualty, etc) made it to network last year. Perhaps the BBC Press team can help us hit the 50% calculation of their headline.
And whilst increases are more than useful, hacks might like ask about the other Welsh budget lines. Last year, the BBC spend £20.3m on Welsh TV content for S4C; £40.7m on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru; £1.4m on orchestral performances for Radio 3; and £1.9m on contributions for national radio networks. Are they unchanged ? In May, Director of Wales Rhodri Talfan Davies said he expected to make 2% savings a year, every year to 2022.
Yesterday we got a press release about investment for BBC Wales, headlined thus: "BBC to increase investment in programming for Wales by 50 per cent". Last year the BBC spent £22.5m on English language programmes made specifically for Wales. The release promises "£8.5m additional new funding" for English language tv - that's an increase of just over 37%. But wait, there's a hope that BBC Wales can bring in an additional £5m of co-production funding - that gets us to 60%. And then, pause again - there's a target of getting half of the new productions from Wales, set to total 130 hours a year, onto the full UK Network or iPlayer - so presumably, someone else elsewhere in the BBC will lose that funding. Putting the £8.5m in context, BBC Wales productions costing a total of £61.7m last year (think Dr Who, Casualty, etc) made it to network last year. Perhaps the BBC Press team can help us hit the 50% calculation of their headline.
And whilst increases are more than useful, hacks might like ask about the other Welsh budget lines. Last year, the BBC spend £20.3m on Welsh TV content for S4C; £40.7m on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru; £1.4m on orchestral performances for Radio 3; and £1.9m on contributions for national radio networks. Are they unchanged ? In May, Director of Wales Rhodri Talfan Davies said he expected to make 2% savings a year, every year to 2022.
Target time
A press release from the BBC yesterday...
BBC News is launching a £1 million scheme to recruit, train and develop journalists with disabilities, both visible and hidden, its Director of News James Harding announced today.
Over the next year, twelve new positions will be created in BBC News’ Mobile and Online teams. The roles will range from broadcast journalists to assistant editors, with the successful applicants working across a wide range of content. The year-long scheme will include bespoke training and learning and at least half of the roles will become permanent at the end of the year.
Is this new ? The Guardian in May last year report on a BBC News £1m scheme to recruit disabled journalists. Has it really taken that long to get off the ground ?
Employment statistics from BBC News up to December 2016 show 225 disabled staff out of a total of 6398. I make that 3.5%. That's short of the overall BBC target for 2017 of 5.3%.
BBC News is launching a £1 million scheme to recruit, train and develop journalists with disabilities, both visible and hidden, its Director of News James Harding announced today.
Over the next year, twelve new positions will be created in BBC News’ Mobile and Online teams. The roles will range from broadcast journalists to assistant editors, with the successful applicants working across a wide range of content. The year-long scheme will include bespoke training and learning and at least half of the roles will become permanent at the end of the year.
Is this new ? The Guardian in May last year report on a BBC News £1m scheme to recruit disabled journalists. Has it really taken that long to get off the ground ?
Employment statistics from BBC News up to December 2016 show 225 disabled staff out of a total of 6398. I make that 3.5%. That's short of the overall BBC target for 2017 of 5.3%.
Where was he ?
Two new sets of minutes from the BBC Executive have landed online - sharing the same omission. James Harding, Director of News, is not noted as an attendee at either the December or January meetings - nor as someone who has sent apologies. Which is odd, as one of the meetings discussed progress on his plans to recruit hacks serving both the BBC and local newspapers.
The summary minutes are as cryptic as ever....
"Executive Board noted an update on the myBBC programme. The majority of planned work would be completed over the next few months and the platform transition to ‘Business As Usual’ in line with the original schedule. The second phase will continue until the end of July for the ID platform."
A cynic, or the NAO, might read this as a cute way of reporting a project overrun, without mentioning money. I wonder who the Project Sponsor is now, as Helen Boaden is clearly thinking big thoughts and a future outside Auntie at Harvard.
The summary minutes are as cryptic as ever....
"Executive Board noted an update on the myBBC programme. The majority of planned work would be completed over the next few months and the platform transition to ‘Business As Usual’ in line with the original schedule. The second phase will continue until the end of July for the ID platform."
A cynic, or the NAO, might read this as a cute way of reporting a project overrun, without mentioning money. I wonder who the Project Sponsor is now, as Helen Boaden is clearly thinking big thoughts and a future outside Auntie at Harvard.
Flattery ?
It would be instructive to see ITV's business plan for the redevelopment of their site on London's South Bank. I'll take a wild guess that there might be another, smaller, tower block going up on the site - and a wilder one that some pretty expensive flats might be part of the proposal.
London Weekend started operating from the site in 1972. The offices, in Kent Tower, run to 22 floors, straddling three large and three small tv studios at the base, covering a 2.5 acre site previously known as King's Reach. The architects were Elsom Pack Roberts - EPR. The new development was actually owned by the National Coal Board Pension Fund, and LWT took a 100-year lease. Since 2003, ITV has been buying that out, and now owns the freehold.
CEO Adam Crozier has begun consultations with the unions on closing the big studios operation, saying in the new development there'll will only be smaller studios dedicated to daily shows such as GMB, This Morning and Loose Women. Big shiny floor shows, like Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, will have to strike deals with other suppliers - perhaps BBC Studioworks.
There'll be disruption, too, for the office workers, who face a move to temporary accommodation in the old Prudential Building on Holborn, previously occupied by Skype.
If, say, you converted Kent Tower to residential (building a smaller, squatter office block at the base), you might get 100 three-bedroom luxury flats, many with river views. Nearby, the former IPC building, which used to be known as King's Reach, is now South Bank Tower, with the first of over 180 apartments now on offer at £8.5m.
 |
| 1972 |
CEO Adam Crozier has begun consultations with the unions on closing the big studios operation, saying in the new development there'll will only be smaller studios dedicated to daily shows such as GMB, This Morning and Loose Women. Big shiny floor shows, like Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, will have to strike deals with other suppliers - perhaps BBC Studioworks.
There'll be disruption, too, for the office workers, who face a move to temporary accommodation in the old Prudential Building on Holborn, previously occupied by Skype.
If, say, you converted Kent Tower to residential (building a smaller, squatter office block at the base), you might get 100 three-bedroom luxury flats, many with river views. Nearby, the former IPC building, which used to be known as King's Reach, is now South Bank Tower, with the first of over 180 apartments now on offer at £8.5m.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Gearing up again
It looks like Top Gear returns to BBC2 on Sunday March 5th. Certainly they're recording something this Wednesday with an audience at Dunsfold Park.
Matt Le Blanc says humour is the key to success for the show, with his new full-time foils Chris Harris and Rory Reid (and occasional appearances from Sabine Schmitz). Unfortunately, humour is so far lacking in the first trail, with an "insurance man", and in the series 'puffs' - Matt eats a horse penis. The new trio appeared yesterday at the BBC Worldwide Showcase in Liverpool - if they'd said anything uproarious, I feel we would have known by now.
Most scriptwriters would tell you LeBlanc is best as a foil, or idiot foil - Lou Costello, Mike Winters, Tommy Ball. There's a lot riding on Chris and Rory in Wednesday's recording.
Meanwhile, the schoolboy humour of Clarkson, May and Hammond, if not to everyone's taste, seems effortless and occasionally genuine. And their publicity machine is quite cute.
Matt Le Blanc says humour is the key to success for the show, with his new full-time foils Chris Harris and Rory Reid (and occasional appearances from Sabine Schmitz). Unfortunately, humour is so far lacking in the first trail, with an "insurance man", and in the series 'puffs' - Matt eats a horse penis. The new trio appeared yesterday at the BBC Worldwide Showcase in Liverpool - if they'd said anything uproarious, I feel we would have known by now.
Most scriptwriters would tell you LeBlanc is best as a foil, or idiot foil - Lou Costello, Mike Winters, Tommy Ball. There's a lot riding on Chris and Rory in Wednesday's recording.
Meanwhile, the schoolboy humour of Clarkson, May and Hammond, if not to everyone's taste, seems effortless and occasionally genuine. And their publicity machine is quite cute.
Squad rotation
Half the senior managers in BBC News are new in post since the arrival of James Harding as Director.
A Freedom of Information enquiry reveals there have been 44 appointments at the senior management grades of SM1 and SM2 since 1st August 2013. "All appointments followed an open recruitment process."
In March last year, there was an overall total of 88 senior managers in the division.
A Freedom of Information enquiry reveals there have been 44 appointments at the senior management grades of SM1 and SM2 since 1st August 2013. "All appointments followed an open recruitment process."
In March last year, there was an overall total of 88 senior managers in the division.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Steve Hewlett RIP
How it all started. In conversation with Roger Bolton at the Radio Theatre, for The Media Society.
Futurology
Will the BBC Trust go out with a roar or a whimper ?
The august body's Twitter account hasn't tweeted for two weeks and the latest monthly minutes are late - but wait ! Tomorrow sees a public lecture by outgoing Chair Rona Fairhead, at Godolphin and Latymer School, noted girls public school in Hammersmith. For £15 (including a glass of juice or wine) you can find out what she thinks about "Truth, power and responsibility: the BBC’s future".
At least Rona's daughter, a stalwart of the school cricket team, is entitled to free entry.
The august body's Twitter account hasn't tweeted for two weeks and the latest monthly minutes are late - but wait ! Tomorrow sees a public lecture by outgoing Chair Rona Fairhead, at Godolphin and Latymer School, noted girls public school in Hammersmith. For £15 (including a glass of juice or wine) you can find out what she thinks about "Truth, power and responsibility: the BBC’s future".
At least Rona's daughter, a stalwart of the school cricket team, is entitled to free entry.
We can't talk here
I'm not going to enter this week's mumbling debate, about Sssshh:GB on BBC1. Suffice it to say that the first episode started with 6.9m viewers, according to the overnight viewing figures, and ended with 5.4m. On ITV, the Good Karma Hospital went the other way, from 4.2m to 5.1m.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
No six, but....
The Herald is unequivocal: "Scottish Six plans dumped by London broadcasting chiefs".
The paper says the 20-year campaign for an hour-long bulletin of international, UK and Scottish news at 6pm weeknights produced in Scotland is over. BBC DG Lord Hall is expected to appear before the Scottish Parliament's Culture Committee on Thursday, accompanied by new Director of Scotland, Donalda McKinnon. As the Herald puts it, "It is not known whether Hall will cite lack of quality or finance".
I'm guessing that Lord Hall will not claim lack of quality in the various pilots that have been made, but the year-long operational costs of "dual running" at that level (which could be quadrupled if Wales and Northern Ireland also demanded their own mixed bulletins). It's a good bet he'll also wave some audience research suggesting there might be lower overall BBC1 viewing in Scotland between 6pm and 7pm. And he'll come bearing some other, slightly less expensive, goodies, like an extra channel for Radio Scotland, with which he'll hope to distract the MSPs.
Lovable former BBC presenter John Nicholson, SNP MP for East Dunbartonshire, tells the Herald, “BBC newsroom staff have been led up to the top of a hill and led back down again. The staff were working incredibly hard, working on pilot programmes. Reporting Scotland will remain stuck in a 1970s time warp. The argument for having a Scottish Six is unanswerable."
The paper says the 20-year campaign for an hour-long bulletin of international, UK and Scottish news at 6pm weeknights produced in Scotland is over. BBC DG Lord Hall is expected to appear before the Scottish Parliament's Culture Committee on Thursday, accompanied by new Director of Scotland, Donalda McKinnon. As the Herald puts it, "It is not known whether Hall will cite lack of quality or finance".
I'm guessing that Lord Hall will not claim lack of quality in the various pilots that have been made, but the year-long operational costs of "dual running" at that level (which could be quadrupled if Wales and Northern Ireland also demanded their own mixed bulletins). It's a good bet he'll also wave some audience research suggesting there might be lower overall BBC1 viewing in Scotland between 6pm and 7pm. And he'll come bearing some other, slightly less expensive, goodies, like an extra channel for Radio Scotland, with which he'll hope to distract the MSPs.
Lovable former BBC presenter John Nicholson, SNP MP for East Dunbartonshire, tells the Herald, “BBC newsroom staff have been led up to the top of a hill and led back down again. The staff were working incredibly hard, working on pilot programmes. Reporting Scotland will remain stuck in a 1970s time warp. The argument for having a Scottish Six is unanswerable."
Relentless
Should we be concerned about churn in the BBC's leading edge HR Department ?
Current vacancies:
HR Business Partner, Design & Engineering
Lead Advisor, Training
Continuous Improvement Root Cause Co-ordinator (x2)
Continuous Improvement Co-ordinator (x4)
Change Co-ordinator (Continuous Improvement)
HR Specialist Team Leader (Continuous Improvement)
Training Co-ordinator
HR Business Partner, Reward
Current vacancies:
HR Business Partner, Design & Engineering
Lead Advisor, Training
Continuous Improvement Root Cause Co-ordinator (x2)
Continuous Improvement Co-ordinator (x4)
Change Co-ordinator (Continuous Improvement)
HR Specialist Team Leader (Continuous Improvement)
Training Co-ordinator
HR Business Partner, Reward
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Coming soon
Piers Morgan is, as you would expect, cocky about the overnights for his Life Stories with Boy George - 3.25m, 16.6% - and the show's highest rating since Gary Kemp in 2014. On the other hand, we should note that Good Morning Britain has been pretty solidly above 600k without Piers Morgan this week - doubly good because it's half term.
Tracy Ullman, on BBC1 at 9.30pm, is fading away, down to 2.32m (12.2% share). The BBC News at Ten suffered - 3.16m (19.0%), while the ITV version had a rare nudge over 2m, at 2.08m (12.5%).
Eight days until ITV's new Nightly Show attempts to bust all this wide open for Kevin Lygo.
Tracy Ullman, on BBC1 at 9.30pm, is fading away, down to 2.32m (12.2% share). The BBC News at Ten suffered - 3.16m (19.0%), while the ITV version had a rare nudge over 2m, at 2.08m (12.5%).
Eight days until ITV's new Nightly Show attempts to bust all this wide open for Kevin Lygo.
Casting off
'Jeremy Paxman and his partner separated last year,’ confirms his agent. ‘They retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children.’ Thus the Daily Mail this morning.
Jeremy got together with Elizabeth Clough some 35 years ago, when Jeremy was a globe-trotting reporter for Panorama. Liz, like Jeremy, had been a BBC News trainee, though was working at ITV at the time they became an item. They have three children - Jessie, now 26, and twins Jack and Vita, 19 - brought up in the family home in the Chilterns, twixt Henley and the M40.
In 2012, Jezzer dedicated his book Empire "For Elizabeth, Jessie, Jack and Vita, for whom the imperial project meant long periods of either physical or mental separation. Independence is at hand".
Elizabeth is president-elect of the Old Marlburians. She is also a non-executive board member of Wild Blue Cohort, a group of angel investors in West London. She is about to join the Independent monitoring Board for Bullingdon Prison, her local nick in Oxfordshire.
In 2005, Jeremy bought a flat in a mansion block in Kensington Park Road - portered, with lifts and private access to Ladbroke Gardens - for just under £600k, which looks like excellent value at today's prices.
Next week Channel 4 brings us the first of four "River" documentaries filmed by Paxman last summer. They cover the Tweed, the Severn, the Mersey and the Thames.
Jeremy got together with Elizabeth Clough some 35 years ago, when Jeremy was a globe-trotting reporter for Panorama. Liz, like Jeremy, had been a BBC News trainee, though was working at ITV at the time they became an item. They have three children - Jessie, now 26, and twins Jack and Vita, 19 - brought up in the family home in the Chilterns, twixt Henley and the M40.
In 2012, Jezzer dedicated his book Empire "For Elizabeth, Jessie, Jack and Vita, for whom the imperial project meant long periods of either physical or mental separation. Independence is at hand".
Elizabeth is president-elect of the Old Marlburians. She is also a non-executive board member of Wild Blue Cohort, a group of angel investors in West London. She is about to join the Independent monitoring Board for Bullingdon Prison, her local nick in Oxfordshire.
In 2005, Jeremy bought a flat in a mansion block in Kensington Park Road - portered, with lifts and private access to Ladbroke Gardens - for just under £600k, which looks like excellent value at today's prices.
Next week Channel 4 brings us the first of four "River" documentaries filmed by Paxman last summer. They cover the Tweed, the Severn, the Mersey and the Thames.
Enemies of the people
Does Donald Trump finally have a sub working on his Tweets ? Probably not.
Screenshot of first version, now deleted...
.
Second version comes much later in the evening. People gets a capital letter, the list is longer, but clearly someone in Trump Towers thinks "SICK" is offensive. So that's all good.
Screenshot of first version, now deleted...
Second version comes much later in the evening. People gets a capital letter, the list is longer, but clearly someone in Trump Towers thinks "SICK" is offensive. So that's all good.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
Friday, February 17, 2017
Peter Skellern
Peter Skellern was born in Bury, Lancashire on 14th March 1947. He said he felt a calling to the priesthood at 9, but did nowt about it. At 11 he went to Derby School in Bury - in Peter's time it was a combination of a grammar and a technical school. He also joined St Paul's Church in the town as a chorister. By 16, he was organist and choirmaster. And played the trombone in the school orchestra.
It was his keyboard skills that took him to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he graduated in 1968. He then joined a band called March Hare, which had a couple of singles on the Deram label, and earned some money backing Billy Fury on tour. March Hare renamed itself Harlan County in 1970, with an album on the (British) Nashville label. Peter played piano and organ, and contributed to the writing of four songs. But the group split the same year.
In 1972, Terry Wogan took over at breakfast on Radio 2, and picked up on Peter Skellern's first solo single, "You're A Lady". With Tel's support it got to number 3 in the UK Charts. Andrew Pryce-Jackman arranged and conducted on the track; the producer was Peter Sames; and the brass came from the Hanwell Band (with euphonium intro from Johnny Luckett), later to work with Wogan on his version of the Floral Dance.
Subsequent singles didn't fare so well - but there was other stuff to do, like work on theme tunes - Radio 4's Stop the Week, from 1972. Peter also contributed weekly topical songs for the early years, and made occasional appearances through to the late 1980s. In 1975, Peter worked with John Burrows, John Harding and Mark Wing-Davey on a series of revues at the Royal Court Upstairs, called Loud Reports. There followed a full musical, Dirty Giant, starring Geraldine James, which ran at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.
In 1975, Peter got back into the charts with Hold On To Love, which became an unlikely favourite of John Peel - he rated it at 15 in his Festive Fifty for the year. The single, and album, were produced by one Meyer Shagaloff, a pseudonym for Geoff Haslam, probably on holiday from a contract with Atlantic Records.
In 1980, there were six autobiographical shows for BBC tv, half-hours with musical illustrations recorded in front of a live audience around the UK. Then came the distinctly odd Happy Endings, again with songs - five playlets featuring Peter in roles ranging from country vicar Septimus Meek to Harold the Handbell Ringer.
1984 saw the formation of Oasis [not that one - Ed] - an easly listening super-group with Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Hopkin and guitarist Bill Lovelady, but the records didn't sell.
Skellern had become friends with Richard Stilgoe; they found themselves both on the bill of the Royal Variety Show in 1982, and watched pianos being pushed on and off stage for them; the solution seemed obvious. Three years later they formally joined forces for Stilgoe And Skellern: Stompin’ At The Savoy, a show in aid of The Lords Taverners. This led to successful tours over 18 years and a two-man revue, Who Plays Wins, which ran both in the West End and on Broadway.
There was also plenty of solo work on tv and radio variety shows, a series on piano greats for tv, and regular record shows on Radio 2. In 1990, he was cast as Carter Brandon, in the radio version of Peter Tinniswood's Uncle Mort's North Country.
In more recent years, the Skellern family lived in Waterside House, in the heart of Polruan. At one time a shipyard (which inspired Daphe Du Maurier) it had a spell as a bistro, before conversion to a family home. In 2000, they moved inland, to a converted corn mill. Peter enjoyed sailing, sometimes with performing partner Richard Stilgoe, and was the owner of a Fowey River class dinghy. Peter's music moved on from nostalgia and pastiche nostalgia through to choir arrangements and (back to) full-blown hymns. In the local community, he also helped with the Polruan Theatre Club.
In 2005, Peter and Richard Stilgoe were together again for the Queen's 80th birthday party at Windsor. Richard says "We did our notorious line-dancing demonstration, which made the Queen laugh a gratifying amount".
Just over three years ago, Peter begain to train for the priesthood - and his local Bishop fast-tracked everything when the diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour came through. He was ordained as a deacon and a priest on the same day last October, under a special dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
It was his keyboard skills that took him to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he graduated in 1968. He then joined a band called March Hare, which had a couple of singles on the Deram label, and earned some money backing Billy Fury on tour. March Hare renamed itself Harlan County in 1970, with an album on the (British) Nashville label. Peter played piano and organ, and contributed to the writing of four songs. But the group split the same year.
In 1972, Terry Wogan took over at breakfast on Radio 2, and picked up on Peter Skellern's first solo single, "You're A Lady". With Tel's support it got to number 3 in the UK Charts. Andrew Pryce-Jackman arranged and conducted on the track; the producer was Peter Sames; and the brass came from the Hanwell Band (with euphonium intro from Johnny Luckett), later to work with Wogan on his version of the Floral Dance.
Subsequent singles didn't fare so well - but there was other stuff to do, like work on theme tunes - Radio 4's Stop the Week, from 1972. Peter also contributed weekly topical songs for the early years, and made occasional appearances through to the late 1980s. In 1975, Peter worked with John Burrows, John Harding and Mark Wing-Davey on a series of revues at the Royal Court Upstairs, called Loud Reports. There followed a full musical, Dirty Giant, starring Geraldine James, which ran at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.
In 1980, there were six autobiographical shows for BBC tv, half-hours with musical illustrations recorded in front of a live audience around the UK. Then came the distinctly odd Happy Endings, again with songs - five playlets featuring Peter in roles ranging from country vicar Septimus Meek to Harold the Handbell Ringer.
1984 saw the formation of Oasis [not that one - Ed] - an easly listening super-group with Julian Lloyd Webber, Mary Hopkin and guitarist Bill Lovelady, but the records didn't sell.
Skellern had become friends with Richard Stilgoe; they found themselves both on the bill of the Royal Variety Show in 1982, and watched pianos being pushed on and off stage for them; the solution seemed obvious. Three years later they formally joined forces for Stilgoe And Skellern: Stompin’ At The Savoy, a show in aid of The Lords Taverners. This led to successful tours over 18 years and a two-man revue, Who Plays Wins, which ran both in the West End and on Broadway.
There was also plenty of solo work on tv and radio variety shows, a series on piano greats for tv, and regular record shows on Radio 2. In 1990, he was cast as Carter Brandon, in the radio version of Peter Tinniswood's Uncle Mort's North Country.
In more recent years, the Skellern family lived in Waterside House, in the heart of Polruan. At one time a shipyard (which inspired Daphe Du Maurier) it had a spell as a bistro, before conversion to a family home. In 2000, they moved inland, to a converted corn mill. Peter enjoyed sailing, sometimes with performing partner Richard Stilgoe, and was the owner of a Fowey River class dinghy. Peter's music moved on from nostalgia and pastiche nostalgia through to choir arrangements and (back to) full-blown hymns. In the local community, he also helped with the Polruan Theatre Club.
In 2005, Peter and Richard Stilgoe were together again for the Queen's 80th birthday party at Windsor. Richard says "We did our notorious line-dancing demonstration, which made the Queen laugh a gratifying amount".
Just over three years ago, Peter begain to train for the priesthood - and his local Bishop fast-tracked everything when the diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour came through. He was ordained as a deacon and a priest on the same day last October, under a special dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Polished
BBC News needs a new Chief Operating Officer, now Charlotte Moore at Content/TV has nicked the old one, Richard Dawkins (no, not that Richard Dawkins).
So someone has written a job advert. I just hope it's not James Harding, Director of News. You'd have thought he'd at least read through a pitch for a top right-hand operative. It's a remarkable confection of grammatical errors, infelicities [my bad - wrong first time round] and general all-round bollocks.
"The Chief Operating Officer will be passionate and excited about BBC News & Current Affairs and the content we are producing and to communicate and transmit this enthusiasm. They will bring the ability to foster constructive and influential working relationships at a senior level, having the experience and gravitas to influence and direct colleagues and peers, without having direct line management authority over them."
So someone has written a job advert. I just hope it's not James Harding, Director of News. You'd have thought he'd at least read through a pitch for a top right-hand operative. It's a remarkable confection of grammatical errors, infelicities [my bad - wrong first time round] and general all-round bollocks.
"The Chief Operating Officer will be passionate and excited about BBC News & Current Affairs and the content we are producing and to communicate and transmit this enthusiasm. They will bring the ability to foster constructive and influential working relationships at a senior level, having the experience and gravitas to influence and direct colleagues and peers, without having direct line management authority over them."
Gap
Latest website stats from the ABC, as reported in Press Gazette, say the Mail Online has a total of 243m unique browsers per month - 66m in the UK and 177m in the rest of the world.
Latest website stats from the BBC says bbc.com has 98m unique browsers per month in the rest of the world.
Latest website stats from the BBC says bbc.com has 98m unique browsers per month in the rest of the world.
Trends
"As a TV programme Channel 4 News is growing, with audiences of between 700,000-1 million, well above those of its old rival Newsnight on BBC2."
From yesterday's piece by Ian Burrell in The Drum, interviewing Ben de Pear, Channel 4 News editor.
Last night's overnight ratings: Channel 4 News 0.66m, a 3.5% share.
Last night's overnight ratings: Channel 4 News 0.66m, a 3.5% share.
Shopping news
From yesterday's visit to Sainsbury's.
Adnams Broadside Ale 500ml £1.60
Fever Tree Indian Tonic Water 500ml £1.70
Adnams Broadside Ale 500ml £1.60
Fever Tree Indian Tonic Water 500ml £1.70
Just being British isn't enough
Some more, if you can stand it, from the USA, home of the increasingly-mangled tiny-vocabulary version of the English language.
Here are extracts from an 'exclusive' interview in Deadline with Sarah Barnett, boss of BBC America.
"BBCA has its distinct DNA, which is informed by a broad mix as an entertainment network. You know, we’re not a sort of offshore version of BBC1 and BBC2, which sit in such a different landscape with such different expectations.
"Our ability at BBCA to have a fairly diverse slate and to be able to pivot with that in response to the shift in linear viewing patterns is something quite cool about this network. BBCA was, certainly for me and the team when we all started working together here, a case of really figuring out that just being British isn’t enough for BBCA. We have to maximize and create great stories around the stuff that’s always worked. We have, in a certain sense, some really unique tools at our disposal, I think, or levers to pull in responding to what audiences are watching and what they’re not watching.
And on the network's forthcoming launch of Planet Earth II:
"I think what we’re excited about is the transcendent nature of this content. So stats and actual volume of viewership aside, we have real ambition and belief that this show is remarkable and is at the perfect moment to resonate right now. So that’s how we’re approaching it. The fact that this show is remarkable, and I think it taps into a remarkable moment where people of any side of what feels like a big divide, actually, I think are craving something that unifies us, but transcends, and I think there’s something about nature and something about connecting with the planet that we all share that truly lifts you up and reminds us all of our shared experience on this planet."
Today, BBC America is showing Star Trek repeats from 0600 to 2400 East Coast time.
Here are extracts from an 'exclusive' interview in Deadline with Sarah Barnett, boss of BBC America.
"BBCA has its distinct DNA, which is informed by a broad mix as an entertainment network. You know, we’re not a sort of offshore version of BBC1 and BBC2, which sit in such a different landscape with such different expectations.
"Our ability at BBCA to have a fairly diverse slate and to be able to pivot with that in response to the shift in linear viewing patterns is something quite cool about this network. BBCA was, certainly for me and the team when we all started working together here, a case of really figuring out that just being British isn’t enough for BBCA. We have to maximize and create great stories around the stuff that’s always worked. We have, in a certain sense, some really unique tools at our disposal, I think, or levers to pull in responding to what audiences are watching and what they’re not watching.
And on the network's forthcoming launch of Planet Earth II:
"I think what we’re excited about is the transcendent nature of this content. So stats and actual volume of viewership aside, we have real ambition and belief that this show is remarkable and is at the perfect moment to resonate right now. So that’s how we’re approaching it. The fact that this show is remarkable, and I think it taps into a remarkable moment where people of any side of what feels like a big divide, actually, I think are craving something that unifies us, but transcends, and I think there’s something about nature and something about connecting with the planet that we all share that truly lifts you up and reminds us all of our shared experience on this planet."
Today, BBC America is showing Star Trek repeats from 0600 to 2400 East Coast time.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Great expectation
Hoorah ! BBC Worldwide has taken a 24.9% share in Expectation, a new indie launched by Peter Fincham and Tim Hincks.
Tim Davie CEO of BBC Worldwide, said investing in Expectation "was irresistible" given the duo's track record.
Tim was appointed to the BBC in April 2005, as Director of Marketing, Communications and Audiences - pretty much Mark Thompson's first appointment as DG. The following month Peter Fincham arrived as Controller of BBC1.
Tim Davie CEO of BBC Worldwide, said investing in Expectation "was irresistible" given the duo's track record.
Tim was appointed to the BBC in April 2005, as Director of Marketing, Communications and Audiences - pretty much Mark Thompson's first appointment as DG. The following month Peter Fincham arrived as Controller of BBC1.
Let's Face it
Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear makes some good points in an interview with The Drum.
“A proper news organisation can't earn enough money off Facebook to wash its face......Facebook say that they are not a media company [but] I believe they are and that, with the amount of money they are making and the power and influence they have, they have to accept responsibility.”
The article claims that Channel 4 videos online had 2 billion views last, many of them driven by coverage of Syria. “We had 300 million views of our stuff from Aleppo but there were 100 million other views for people who stole it off us and those people could do what they wanted with it. A lot of it was in Arabic or Russian and a lot of it could be distorted.”
“For every pound fake news has earned for the fake news publisher, Facebook has made at least the same amount of money”.Only 12 of C4 News' 130 staff are solely devoted to digital journalism. de Pear notes that the BBC "have a slightly bigger team… I think they have 3,000 people working on digital”.
There are questions for the BBC to answer about its current obsession with Facebook [net income 2016 - $10bn]. This year has seen new BBC Facebook pages, myriad Facebook 'lives' and videos made specially for Facebook. Is the Corporation getting any money back ? Should it ? How much journalistic effort is devoted to Facebook output, in staff or hours ? Which bit of the new Charter says "We really want you to get out there and monster this Facebook thing" ?
“A proper news organisation can't earn enough money off Facebook to wash its face......Facebook say that they are not a media company [but] I believe they are and that, with the amount of money they are making and the power and influence they have, they have to accept responsibility.”
The article claims that Channel 4 videos online had 2 billion views last, many of them driven by coverage of Syria. “We had 300 million views of our stuff from Aleppo but there were 100 million other views for people who stole it off us and those people could do what they wanted with it. A lot of it was in Arabic or Russian and a lot of it could be distorted.”
“For every pound fake news has earned for the fake news publisher, Facebook has made at least the same amount of money”.Only 12 of C4 News' 130 staff are solely devoted to digital journalism. de Pear notes that the BBC "have a slightly bigger team… I think they have 3,000 people working on digital”.
There are questions for the BBC to answer about its current obsession with Facebook [net income 2016 - $10bn]. This year has seen new BBC Facebook pages, myriad Facebook 'lives' and videos made specially for Facebook. Is the Corporation getting any money back ? Should it ? How much journalistic effort is devoted to Facebook output, in staff or hours ? Which bit of the new Charter says "We really want you to get out there and monster this Facebook thing" ?
Out trousered
The Evening Standard saw Alan Yentob at the BAFTAs after-party thrown by fellow film mogul Harvey Weinstein. "In the corner we spotted Alan Yentob, catching up with friends and looking dapper. Alas, he chose not to wear his much-loved check pyjamas trousers."
Here's a picture of the waiters engaged for the event, at the Rosewood Hotel in Holborn. Perhaps Alan now has to ring ahead, to check what the staff might be wearing.
Here's a picture of the waiters engaged for the event, at the Rosewood Hotel in Holborn. Perhaps Alan now has to ring ahead, to check what the staff might be wearing.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Michael Ember
Robert Robinson's "friend from East Molesley" has died, in his 85th year (I was initially out by 10, for which I apologise - but he wouldn't have minded). Producer Michael Ember was the creator of two key Radio 4 shows - Stop the Week ("Stop the rot", to Robinson) which ran on Saturdays from 1974 to 1992, and In The Psychiatrist's Chair, from 1982 to 2001.
Michael (Miklos) left his native Hungary in 1956 at the age of 24; he had been goalkeeper for the national Under 21 side. He studied criminology and psychology, and then joined the BBC's Hungarian Service, where duties included record request shows.
In 1971, he brought his sharp blazers, perfectly-creased slacks and immaculate hair to Broadcasting House, working across a range of programmes, from current affairs documentaries to Monty Modlyn pilots. In 1972 he took over as producer of Start The Week, and in 1974, a proposal for a sister show was accepted.
Recorded on a Friday afternoon, with the help of a little BBC Club champagne, the first few weeks featured ring-master Robinson with Dennis Barker, Edward De Bono and Anna Raeburn. Michael would over-record by ten or fifteen minutes, and then sharpen things up ("boiling off the fat", he called it) with the help of a studio manager and a number of razor-blades. The longest serving regulars included Anne Leslie, Laurie Taylor, Benny Green, Dr Michael O'Donnell and Milton Shulman.
In The Psychiatrist's Chair was conceived by Michael with another Stop the Week regular, Antony Clare. I was working on Midweek at the time, and said, boldly for one so young, that the title was rubbish. Everyone knew the Psychiatrist sat in the Psychiatrist's Chair, and that the Patient lay on a Couch.
Michael (Miklos) left his native Hungary in 1956 at the age of 24; he had been goalkeeper for the national Under 21 side. He studied criminology and psychology, and then joined the BBC's Hungarian Service, where duties included record request shows.
In 1971, he brought his sharp blazers, perfectly-creased slacks and immaculate hair to Broadcasting House, working across a range of programmes, from current affairs documentaries to Monty Modlyn pilots. In 1972 he took over as producer of Start The Week, and in 1974, a proposal for a sister show was accepted.
Recorded on a Friday afternoon, with the help of a little BBC Club champagne, the first few weeks featured ring-master Robinson with Dennis Barker, Edward De Bono and Anna Raeburn. Michael would over-record by ten or fifteen minutes, and then sharpen things up ("boiling off the fat", he called it) with the help of a studio manager and a number of razor-blades. The longest serving regulars included Anne Leslie, Laurie Taylor, Benny Green, Dr Michael O'Donnell and Milton Shulman.
In The Psychiatrist's Chair was conceived by Michael with another Stop the Week regular, Antony Clare. I was working on Midweek at the time, and said, boldly for one so young, that the title was rubbish. Everyone knew the Psychiatrist sat in the Psychiatrist's Chair, and that the Patient lay on a Couch.
Funny Valentine
More than a tad counter-intuitive for Valentine's Night, BBC1's scheduling of The Moorside paid off last night, with an average of 7.21 million viewers watching the second and final part, according to the overnight figures - a 33.7% share. People who know think both episodes may eventually hit 10m with catch-up - a triumph, we should note, for ITV Studios, who presumably offered it to ITV first.
News at Huw benefited, reaching 4.69m, 29.7% share, compared with News at Tom on 1.61m, 10.2% share.
ITV's gamble on The Nightly Show does, as predicted, begin on Monday 27th February, straight after the launch episode of Broadchurch III. The BBC can't expect to win at 9pm with Crimewatch.
Meanwhile The Nightly Show pilots continue at the Cochrane Theatre, with John Bishop and Gordon Ramsay both being put through their paces with a range of c-list guests.
News at Huw benefited, reaching 4.69m, 29.7% share, compared with News at Tom on 1.61m, 10.2% share.
ITV's gamble on The Nightly Show does, as predicted, begin on Monday 27th February, straight after the launch episode of Broadchurch III. The BBC can't expect to win at 9pm with Crimewatch.
Meanwhile The Nightly Show pilots continue at the Cochrane Theatre, with John Bishop and Gordon Ramsay both being put through their paces with a range of c-list guests.
Learning from others
Quietly, the Government is pressing ahead with commercial radio de-regulation. The Americans did most of this in the last century. Here are a selection of views about the consquences....
"The most significant consequence of deregulation has been that `local' radio stations are completely insulated from any form of direct community influence that is not contained within channels created and controlled by industry. In the USA, the idea of `public interest' in radio broadcasting is now defined entirely in the terms of private industry." Deterritorializing Radio: Charles Fairchild 1999
"In the same way that every mall in every city has the same stores carrying the same products, you can tune into a Clear Channel radio station in Phoenix and hear the same music that the Clear Channel station in Milwaukee is playing. Sometimes the same announcer, too. Just try calling their request line !" Contribution to Policy Debate 2007
"The Telecom Act unleashed an unprecedented wave of radio mergers that left a highly consolidated national radio market and extremely consolidated local radio markets. Radio programming from the largest station groups remains focused on just a few formats—many of which overlap with each other, enhancing the homogenization of the airwaves." Future of Music report 2006.
"Between 1994 and 2001, the number of full-time radio newsroom staff shrank by 44 percent, and part-time news staff by more than two-thirds, 71 percent." Pew State of the Media report 2004
"The most significant consequence of deregulation has been that `local' radio stations are completely insulated from any form of direct community influence that is not contained within channels created and controlled by industry. In the USA, the idea of `public interest' in radio broadcasting is now defined entirely in the terms of private industry." Deterritorializing Radio: Charles Fairchild 1999
"In the same way that every mall in every city has the same stores carrying the same products, you can tune into a Clear Channel radio station in Phoenix and hear the same music that the Clear Channel station in Milwaukee is playing. Sometimes the same announcer, too. Just try calling their request line !" Contribution to Policy Debate 2007
"The Telecom Act unleashed an unprecedented wave of radio mergers that left a highly consolidated national radio market and extremely consolidated local radio markets. Radio programming from the largest station groups remains focused on just a few formats—many of which overlap with each other, enhancing the homogenization of the airwaves." Future of Music report 2006.
"Between 1994 and 2001, the number of full-time radio newsroom staff shrank by 44 percent, and part-time news staff by more than two-thirds, 71 percent." Pew State of the Media report 2004
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Uphilling
The Radio 2 schedule reminds us that it's half-term - women-in-waiting Nicki Chapman, Sara Cox, Fearne Cotton and Vanessa Feltz at the microphone from 0500 to 1400 - and that many senior BBC executives are on the piste; some will have headed straight from the BAFTAs to the airport.
New chairman Sir David Clementi is in and out of Broadcasting House, having short spells in the BBC IPCRESS induction machine, but the management floors are not densely packed. And there is a big list of THINGS THAT NEED TO BE SORTED. Here's mine.
Songs of Praise: The new world of all-out competition for BBC TV output saw A Question of Sport put out to tender, considered carefully, and given back to BBC Studios. Holby City, Horizon and Songs of Praise are also up for grabs. The future of the hymn show will be a test for new tv religion commissioner Fatima Sularia, presumably with strategic support from minder-of-religion-and-ethics James Purnell. If the BBC loses out, there'll be quite a few free desks at MediaCityUK and a moderate-hole in the BBC's commitment to putting jobs outside the M25.
The Nations: Lord Hall will have to go on tour shortly and face Welsh and Scottish committees eager for more spending on their patch - and particularly for better news coverage. They can only be disappointed. Will James Harding be at the DG's side this time ?
Diversity: BBC functionaries are delaying on Freedom of Information enquiries looking for progress on diversity promises. If the BBC can get to the new financial year, the figures will look terrific, as the World Service hires hundreds of staff working in African and Asian languages. But strip them out, and targets are being missed.
Non-executives: Less than eight weeks to the new governance arrangements. Can Lord Hall, Sir David and Karen Bradley convince us that their choices of side-kicks have a bit of spark about them ?
Executives: Charlotte Moore or James Purnell for a seat at the new top table ?
All to be sorted after a few blue runs and a dribble or two of gluhwein/vin chaud.
New chairman Sir David Clementi is in and out of Broadcasting House, having short spells in the BBC IPCRESS induction machine, but the management floors are not densely packed. And there is a big list of THINGS THAT NEED TO BE SORTED. Here's mine.
Songs of Praise: The new world of all-out competition for BBC TV output saw A Question of Sport put out to tender, considered carefully, and given back to BBC Studios. Holby City, Horizon and Songs of Praise are also up for grabs. The future of the hymn show will be a test for new tv religion commissioner Fatima Sularia, presumably with strategic support from minder-of-religion-and-ethics James Purnell. If the BBC loses out, there'll be quite a few free desks at MediaCityUK and a moderate-hole in the BBC's commitment to putting jobs outside the M25.
The Nations: Lord Hall will have to go on tour shortly and face Welsh and Scottish committees eager for more spending on their patch - and particularly for better news coverage. They can only be disappointed. Will James Harding be at the DG's side this time ?
Diversity: BBC functionaries are delaying on Freedom of Information enquiries looking for progress on diversity promises. If the BBC can get to the new financial year, the figures will look terrific, as the World Service hires hundreds of staff working in African and Asian languages. But strip them out, and targets are being missed.
Non-executives: Less than eight weeks to the new governance arrangements. Can Lord Hall, Sir David and Karen Bradley convince us that their choices of side-kicks have a bit of spark about them ?
Executives: Charlotte Moore or James Purnell for a seat at the new top table ?
All to be sorted after a few blue runs and a dribble or two of gluhwein/vin chaud.
Doesn't suit you, sir
The operators of Burberry's Twitter account made an embarrassing red carpet error at the BAFTAs; the company had presumable prior knowledge that Dev Patel, who eventually won Best Supporting Actor for "Lion", would be wearing a Burberry "custom made navy tuxedo" (dinner suit to you and me). Unfortunately they attached the caption to a picture of Riz Ahmed, there for the un-awarded "Rogue One".
It was a bad gaffe on more than one count: Ahmed's suit was grey mohair. A shame for former BBC money man John Smith, working out his notice as Burberry's COO, and still serving as chairman of BAFTAs Finance and Audit Committee.
It was a bad gaffe on more than one count: Ahmed's suit was grey mohair. A shame for former BBC money man John Smith, working out his notice as Burberry's COO, and still serving as chairman of BAFTAs Finance and Audit Committee.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Wearing her sleeve on her heart
Nothing like the traditional order of words in this strapline for the Independent...but it sort of works.
Al Jarreau RIP
Al and writing partner Lee Holdridge created the theme song for mid-1980s tv series Moonlighting, starring Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd. The track was produced by Nile Rodgers.
Here's Al's take on Teach Me Tonight, written by Gene De Paul and Sammy Cahn back in 1953. This is live with the US Air Force Studio Band
And, as a sidebar, Brenda Russell's 1983 tribute to Jarreau.
Here's Al's take on Teach Me Tonight, written by Gene De Paul and Sammy Cahn back in 1953. This is live with the US Air Force Studio Band
And, as a sidebar, Brenda Russell's 1983 tribute to Jarreau.
Where are they now ? (No 3)
An occasional series
Peter and Gordon were Peter Asher (Jane's brother) and Gordon Waller, who struck gold with their first single "A World Without Love", in February 1964. It was written by Paul McCartney.
Peter and Gordon were Peter Asher (Jane's brother) and Gordon Waller, who struck gold with their first single "A World Without Love", in February 1964. It was written by Paul McCartney.
Cuttings
The BBC's James Purnell will find at least thee items in his digital cuttings service this morning from the Mail - courtesy of Peter Hitchens, T E Utley and Andrew Pierce.
Hitchens and Utley are getting upset in advance at the forthcoming culture fest Civilisations, inspired by the seminal Kenneth Clark series, Civilisation, from way back in Lord Hall's teenage years, 1969. Despite the fact that Clark himself admitted it should have been called Western Civilisation, both dislike the idea of pluralist views. For Mail columnists, civilisation starts with The Veneral Bede, through Shakespeare, Constable, the Ealing Comedies, the stroke play of Ted Dexter, the sculptures of Henry Moore (But Not The Ones With Holes In Them) through to Downton Abbey. It also includes contemporary photographic essays on the almost-uncovered female form (cf this morning: "Peek-a-boob! Braless Lady Gaga flashes flesh and new body art in outrageous crop-top and kinky boots on Grammy Awards red carpet").
Mr Purnell must slightly regret taking ownership of Civilisations, in his new BBC role as purveyor of "Expertise without elitism" (this all in a self-effacing blogpost entitled "Reinventing The BBC"). Civilisations is very much Lord Hall's baby, first mooted in March 2014. It took a little time for his tv operatives to realise he was serious, but now the ten episodes are finally heading for post-production; six from Simon Schama, two from Mary Beard, and two from David Olusoga. We expect one episode to be entitled Renaissance and another The Human Body.
Now it's over to Director of Content Charlotte Moore to schedule them for maximum impact, heading to Christmas/New Year. Move over, Mrs Brown's Boys.
Meanwhile, Andrew Pierce simply teases James Purnell about fake news and Photoshop.
Hitchens and Utley are getting upset in advance at the forthcoming culture fest Civilisations, inspired by the seminal Kenneth Clark series, Civilisation, from way back in Lord Hall's teenage years, 1969. Despite the fact that Clark himself admitted it should have been called Western Civilisation, both dislike the idea of pluralist views. For Mail columnists, civilisation starts with The Veneral Bede, through Shakespeare, Constable, the Ealing Comedies, the stroke play of Ted Dexter, the sculptures of Henry Moore (But Not The Ones With Holes In Them) through to Downton Abbey. It also includes contemporary photographic essays on the almost-uncovered female form (cf this morning: "Peek-a-boob! Braless Lady Gaga flashes flesh and new body art in outrageous crop-top and kinky boots on Grammy Awards red carpet").
Mr Purnell must slightly regret taking ownership of Civilisations, in his new BBC role as purveyor of "Expertise without elitism" (this all in a self-effacing blogpost entitled "Reinventing The BBC"). Civilisations is very much Lord Hall's baby, first mooted in March 2014. It took a little time for his tv operatives to realise he was serious, but now the ten episodes are finally heading for post-production; six from Simon Schama, two from Mary Beard, and two from David Olusoga. We expect one episode to be entitled Renaissance and another The Human Body.
Now it's over to Director of Content Charlotte Moore to schedule them for maximum impact, heading to Christmas/New Year. Move over, Mrs Brown's Boys.
Meanwhile, Andrew Pierce simply teases James Purnell about fake news and Photoshop.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Saturdays
The Voice on ITV seems to be just pulling away from Let It Shine on BBC1. Despite the channel acquiring a peak viewing of 9.20m for the Wales v England rugby, the first half of LIS was watched by 4.64m (23.4% share). But they didn't all come back for the results show: 3.69m (18.0% share). The Voice got an average of 5.96m, a series high and a 28.7% share.
Taboo eased down to 3.29m (17.6% share).
Taboo eased down to 3.29m (17.6% share).
Where are they now ? (No 2)
An occasional series.
Dollar were David Van Day and Thereza Bazar, who met at 17 when they both auditioned for the cabaret group Guys and Dolls. They broke away as a duo, with their first single, Shooting Star, released in 1978. They split in 1983; reformed in 1986, and finally split for good in 1988.
Dollar were David Van Day and Thereza Bazar, who met at 17 when they both auditioned for the cabaret group Guys and Dolls. They broke away as a duo, with their first single, Shooting Star, released in 1978. They split in 1983; reformed in 1986, and finally split for good in 1988.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Standards slipping
Just four years after The Queen officially opened the new bits of Broadcasting House, a worrying picture of surface trunking for electricity has emerged from one of the female conveniences. I'd have a word with facilities management, wouldn't you ?
Nasty
A real, offensive, battle of loudmouths on the Bill Maher show, between lovable Brit Piers Morgan and ever-relaxed Aussie stand-up Jim Jefferies. Lots of swearing.
Fans of Piers may like to know that GMB is still doing ok-ish without him (626k, 16.4% share on Thursday morning, compared with 1.59m, 38.6% share for BBC Breakfast). Last night's Life Stories, with Piers Morgan interview Nigel Havers, was watched by 2.4m - a 12.6% share.
The people who said Hillary Clinton was 'The Lesser of Two Evils.' Can we get the apology right now? w/@piersmorgan @jimjefferies pic.twitter.com/0FoBHwriP2— Bill Maher (@billmaher) February 11, 2017
Fans of Piers may like to know that GMB is still doing ok-ish without him (626k, 16.4% share on Thursday morning, compared with 1.59m, 38.6% share for BBC Breakfast). Last night's Life Stories, with Piers Morgan interview Nigel Havers, was watched by 2.4m - a 12.6% share.
Expertise
In a week in which some senior BBC executives have had pay rises of up to 15%, let's look at the BBC's Director of Reward, called before the Remuneration Committee which has to approve top salaries.
It's currently Sally-Anne Borrill (Holywell School and Leeds University, BA in Textile Design) who joined Auntie a year ago, and currently commutes two-hours each way from Buxton to Birmingham. She spent 12 years working for Siemens, starting as a generalist HR Manager, and acquiring skills on the job.
“Having been an HR Manager, the board were shocked at how financially aware I’ve become through having to understand how we finance our fleet of cars for example. I also now say to myself ‘if I can understand this then I can easily understand pensions and payroll’. I had to put in a web based expenses system and no-one had been able to do it but I did. When I was asked to do the Compensations and Benefits role I thought, ‘well I’ll give it a go’ and I found that I could actually learn it if I took the time!”
Siemens signed a £2bn ten year contract with the BBC in 2004 to provide core technology services, with many BBC staff being TUPE'd across. Sally-Anne left Siemens in 2010, as the BBC contract was transferred to ATOS, for a job with T-Mobile. Just before joining the BBC, she spent eight months with the supermarket chain Morrisons.
It's currently Sally-Anne Borrill (Holywell School and Leeds University, BA in Textile Design) who joined Auntie a year ago, and currently commutes two-hours each way from Buxton to Birmingham. She spent 12 years working for Siemens, starting as a generalist HR Manager, and acquiring skills on the job.
“Having been an HR Manager, the board were shocked at how financially aware I’ve become through having to understand how we finance our fleet of cars for example. I also now say to myself ‘if I can understand this then I can easily understand pensions and payroll’. I had to put in a web based expenses system and no-one had been able to do it but I did. When I was asked to do the Compensations and Benefits role I thought, ‘well I’ll give it a go’ and I found that I could actually learn it if I took the time!”
Siemens signed a £2bn ten year contract with the BBC in 2004 to provide core technology services, with many BBC staff being TUPE'd across. Sally-Anne left Siemens in 2010, as the BBC contract was transferred to ATOS, for a job with T-Mobile. Just before joining the BBC, she spent eight months with the supermarket chain Morrisons.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Onwards and upwards
And (finally ?), in the latest round of salary nudge-ups for top managers at the BBC, we find Matthew Postgate, now rebranded to add "Product Officer" to his existing title of "Chief Technology Officer". He's up from £295,000 (£302,800 with extras) to £310,000.
HR Director Valerie Hughes D'Aeth (who presumably excused herself from the Remuneration Committe when her raise was signed off) goes from £295,000 to £310,000. Anyone else fancy a 5% rise ?
HR Director Valerie Hughes D'Aeth (who presumably excused herself from the Remuneration Committe when her raise was signed off) goes from £295,000 to £310,000. Anyone else fancy a 5% rise ?
The power of prayer
Trebles all round for Dermot O'Leary at Radio 2. He finally gets the Saturday morning breakfast show, from 8 to 10, and it will be produced by Ora et Labora, a radio production company of which he and his agent, John Noel, are directors.
Dermot's Saturday afternoon slot goes to Zoe Ball, which will also be produced by Ora et Labora. Ora et labora is Latin for "Pray and work", the motto of the Order of St Benedict.
Dermot's Saturday afternoon slot goes to Zoe Ball, which will also be produced by Ora et Labora. Ora et labora is Latin for "Pray and work", the motto of the Order of St Benedict.
Am I blue ?
BBC tv news said goodbye to blue, grey and beige for its sets during 1999, and embraced China Red with the help of design guru Martin Lambie-Nairn.
Red is still the predominant colour in the main set for News at Huw - indeed, it drives the presenter to use red ties more often than not.
So, when ITV begins its gamble on putting The Nightly Show at 10pm every weekday at the end of this month, the set features a blue proscenium. Just so that you know you're not watching BBC News...
Red is still the predominant colour in the main set for News at Huw - indeed, it drives the presenter to use red ties more often than not.
So, when ITV begins its gamble on putting The Nightly Show at 10pm every weekday at the end of this month, the set features a blue proscenium. Just so that you know you're not watching BBC News...
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Who was in charge ?
Extracts from John Whittingdale's valedictory interview with the Institute for Government about his time as Culture Secretary....
"When I was appointed, it became clear very quickly that big decisions were taken by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. I would go and there would be a meeting with the three of us and that was where it was decided. That was the case certainly with the BBC, where I would go along and the Prime Minister, understandably, took the view that at the end of the day he wanted to get an outcome which the BBC would say was a good one for them because that would make it much easier. So there would be about half a dozen issues where I and the BBC were arguing and in each case I’d go and I’d talk to George and the Prime Minster and they would say either ‘We agree with you, yeah, tell them that’s going to happen’ or they’d say, ‘Look, you know it’s not worth the fight, I don’t think we should push that.’ So, yeah, there are some things I didn’t get but in each case it was always those decisions were taken by those two, with a special adviser and the policy unit person present, generally."
"I suppose in terms of my legacy, the thing which has my name written on it is the BBC Charter which was an incredibly painful process in that there was massive lobbying and ‘Save the BBC’ campaigns, you know, fighting a threat which simply didn’t exist. But despite my numerous attempts to tell people that I had no intention of dismantling the BBC, there was this perception and we had this sort of propaganda war going on. Then I had my own personal relationship with Tony Hall [the Director General of the BBC] and we would meet: we had the exchanges in the newspaper columns or briefings in the press, we then had the formal negotiation where the BBC team would meet my officials, and then about once a month Tony and I would go out to dinner together, just the two of us, and that was very helpful. We actually reached an outcome which, you know, didn’t deliver everything I wanted but it delivered a lot of what I wanted and which he also was able to say he thought was a good outcome. I think that the Charter does represent really quite important changes to the way in which the BBC operates and, you know, it is my charter. So I’m happy to be remembered for that."
So those are some successes. Was there anything, on the other hand, that you found frustrating about being a minister?
"Oh yes! Well, I mean the propaganda wars. There was the BBC where 38 Degrees [campaign group] just went bananas, you know, thousands of emails! We had issued this consultation paper and it was a six-week consultation period and by five and a half weeks quite a lot of people had responded. But then in the last 48 hours, I think we got 100,000 and we ended up with 198,000 responses, and this was organised through 38 Degrees. To be fair, they weren’t just cut and paste jobs, they were actually genuine responses. I wasn’t sure that they were necessarily reflecting public opinion; they reflected a particular part of public opinion. That was quite frustrating, in a way. We had to deal with the ‘Save the BBC’ campaign, I mean half the BAFTAs was devoted to attacking me for wanting to dismantle the BBC. There was then Channel 4 who embarked on a very aggressive political lobbying campaign against privatisation – I had merely said I wanted to look at it. I had previously said there was a case for it but, you know, they went in quite strong; a lot of lobbying in the House of Lords and that sort of thing. Actually, because of the parliamentary arithmetic, even though I think the Prime Minister and Chancellor were quite sympathetic, the chances were we would struggle in the House of Lords. The government are still looking at it, but it became clear that it was going to be a very big fight and I’m not sure it was one that they particularly wanted."
"When I was appointed, it became clear very quickly that big decisions were taken by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. I would go and there would be a meeting with the three of us and that was where it was decided. That was the case certainly with the BBC, where I would go along and the Prime Minister, understandably, took the view that at the end of the day he wanted to get an outcome which the BBC would say was a good one for them because that would make it much easier. So there would be about half a dozen issues where I and the BBC were arguing and in each case I’d go and I’d talk to George and the Prime Minster and they would say either ‘We agree with you, yeah, tell them that’s going to happen’ or they’d say, ‘Look, you know it’s not worth the fight, I don’t think we should push that.’ So, yeah, there are some things I didn’t get but in each case it was always those decisions were taken by those two, with a special adviser and the policy unit person present, generally."
"I suppose in terms of my legacy, the thing which has my name written on it is the BBC Charter which was an incredibly painful process in that there was massive lobbying and ‘Save the BBC’ campaigns, you know, fighting a threat which simply didn’t exist. But despite my numerous attempts to tell people that I had no intention of dismantling the BBC, there was this perception and we had this sort of propaganda war going on. Then I had my own personal relationship with Tony Hall [the Director General of the BBC] and we would meet: we had the exchanges in the newspaper columns or briefings in the press, we then had the formal negotiation where the BBC team would meet my officials, and then about once a month Tony and I would go out to dinner together, just the two of us, and that was very helpful. We actually reached an outcome which, you know, didn’t deliver everything I wanted but it delivered a lot of what I wanted and which he also was able to say he thought was a good outcome. I think that the Charter does represent really quite important changes to the way in which the BBC operates and, you know, it is my charter. So I’m happy to be remembered for that."
So those are some successes. Was there anything, on the other hand, that you found frustrating about being a minister?
"Oh yes! Well, I mean the propaganda wars. There was the BBC where 38 Degrees [campaign group] just went bananas, you know, thousands of emails! We had issued this consultation paper and it was a six-week consultation period and by five and a half weeks quite a lot of people had responded. But then in the last 48 hours, I think we got 100,000 and we ended up with 198,000 responses, and this was organised through 38 Degrees. To be fair, they weren’t just cut and paste jobs, they were actually genuine responses. I wasn’t sure that they were necessarily reflecting public opinion; they reflected a particular part of public opinion. That was quite frustrating, in a way. We had to deal with the ‘Save the BBC’ campaign, I mean half the BAFTAs was devoted to attacking me for wanting to dismantle the BBC. There was then Channel 4 who embarked on a very aggressive political lobbying campaign against privatisation – I had merely said I wanted to look at it. I had previously said there was a case for it but, you know, they went in quite strong; a lot of lobbying in the House of Lords and that sort of thing. Actually, because of the parliamentary arithmetic, even though I think the Prime Minister and Chancellor were quite sympathetic, the chances were we would struggle in the House of Lords. The government are still looking at it, but it became clear that it was going to be a very big fight and I’m not sure it was one that they particularly wanted."
Hard work
Is it possible that Radio London listeners have fallen out of love with their current saviour-of-breakfast, Vanessa Feltz ? She took the chair from 7am to 10am from January last year, and the quarterly reach figures read 208k, 293k, 241k and now 166k....
How do you host a successful radio phone-in? 📻📞 @VanessaOnAir and @GemStevenson1 have the answershttps://t.co/Xxf2V3NnLC pic.twitter.com/d92PQFuH5N— BBC Academy (@BBCAcademy) January 13, 2017
Extra for Anne
Still finding odds and ends in the new salary structure at the BBC: Anne Bulford, made Deputy Director General in July last year, was awarded a £40k rise for the responsibility in November - up 10%, from £395k to £435k.
Mark Byford, last previous holder of the title, left Auntie in 2011, on a salary of £475k (Total package £488k) with a pay-off of £949k.
Mark Byford, last previous holder of the title, left Auntie in 2011, on a salary of £475k (Total package £488k) with a pay-off of £949k.
The new ITV...
Piers Morgan is taking a couple of weeks off Good Morning Britain to torment Americans - but the ratings haven't yet fallen off a cliff. Sans Piers on Tuesday, they were watched by an average of 668k (18.7% share).
Things were less good for ITV's News at Ten, with 1.68m (10.7%), against the BBC version with 4.46m (28%). When IS Kevin Lygo's big gamble, The Nightly Show, going to appear ? It could be the most-piloted show in history, with The Cochrane Theatre booked out for 10 nights in November/December, and from the 6th of this month.
If it's going to follow Broadchurch 3, the best bet is now February 27th.
Things were less good for ITV's News at Ten, with 1.68m (10.7%), against the BBC version with 4.46m (28%). When IS Kevin Lygo's big gamble, The Nightly Show, going to appear ? It could be the most-piloted show in history, with The Cochrane Theatre booked out for 10 nights in November/December, and from the 6th of this month.
If it's going to follow Broadchurch 3, the best bet is now February 27th.
TV times
"Hi, Bill, how's the salary balance in BBC tv ?", I hear you ask.
Well, good news for Charlotte Moore, personally - her salary has gone up, as Director of Content, from £295k in July, to £325k in the latest figures. This puts her ahead of James Purnell, on £295k - but then, the figures are only up-to-date to September 2016, and James only (officially) got the Radio gig at the very end of that month. What's the betting he gets declared at £325k next time ?
In tv team terms, Kim Shillinglaw used to be Controller of both BBC2 and BBC4, for a handsome £227,800. Now we have Patrick Holland, at BBC2, on £195k and Cassian Harrison, at BBC4, on £160k. (Total of £137,200 more than Shillinglaw)
Some well-paid commissioners join the Moore line-up - Kate Phillips, Entertainment, on £200k, Alison Kirkham, Factual, also on £200k, and Tom MacDonald, all-purpose commissioning, £160k. Shane Allen, picking our comedies, is on £207k and Mark Cooper, TV Music, £156k. Lucy Richer is looking after Drama on £164,800, while we wait for Piers Wenger's salary to be disclosed; and we're also waiting for a new head of BBC Films. You can add to the mix Damian Kavanagh, looking after BBC3 for £213,400, and Dan McGolpin, commissioning daytime for £175k.
Well, good news for Charlotte Moore, personally - her salary has gone up, as Director of Content, from £295k in July, to £325k in the latest figures. This puts her ahead of James Purnell, on £295k - but then, the figures are only up-to-date to September 2016, and James only (officially) got the Radio gig at the very end of that month. What's the betting he gets declared at £325k next time ?
In tv team terms, Kim Shillinglaw used to be Controller of both BBC2 and BBC4, for a handsome £227,800. Now we have Patrick Holland, at BBC2, on £195k and Cassian Harrison, at BBC4, on £160k. (Total of £137,200 more than Shillinglaw)
Some well-paid commissioners join the Moore line-up - Kate Phillips, Entertainment, on £200k, Alison Kirkham, Factual, also on £200k, and Tom MacDonald, all-purpose commissioning, £160k. Shane Allen, picking our comedies, is on £207k and Mark Cooper, TV Music, £156k. Lucy Richer is looking after Drama on £164,800, while we wait for Piers Wenger's salary to be disclosed; and we're also waiting for a new head of BBC Films. You can add to the mix Damian Kavanagh, looking after BBC3 for £213,400, and Dan McGolpin, commissioning daytime for £175k.
Starting at the top
The listening figures for BBC network radio for the last quarter of 2016 are a pretty solid inheritance for the new joint custody of James Purnell and Bob Shennan - with a market share of close to 46%.
And the stand-out figures are for the Today Programme on Radio 4, who benefited from Trumpery and Brexitness to add 420,000 listeners year on year, bigger than the rise for the whole network. (Is the only way up for Sarah Sands ?) Spookily Radio 2 was down by 420,000, with Chris Evans dropping 230,000. More evidence of networks being led by their breakfast output - Nick Grimshaw was down 500,000 year on year; Radio 1 was down 770,000.
Radio 5Live was up from 5.59m to 5.71m, and LBC added close to a quarter of a million listeners, with figures for James O'Brien, from 10am to 1pm, said to be very good.
And the stand-out figures are for the Today Programme on Radio 4, who benefited from Trumpery and Brexitness to add 420,000 listeners year on year, bigger than the rise for the whole network. (Is the only way up for Sarah Sands ?) Spookily Radio 2 was down by 420,000, with Chris Evans dropping 230,000. More evidence of networks being led by their breakfast output - Nick Grimshaw was down 500,000 year on year; Radio 1 was down 770,000.
Radio 5Live was up from 5.59m to 5.71m, and LBC added close to a quarter of a million listeners, with figures for James O'Brien, from 10am to 1pm, said to be very good.
Where you are...
Some bits of good news for BBC radio listening around the country in the latest RAJAR audience figures, for the last quarter of 2016.
Total reach for BBC Local Radio in England was up 2% year on year. Radio Devon, in its last three months of Simon Bates, was up 23%. Radio Somerset was up a welcome 40% (from a low base of 49,000 listeners a week in the previous year), Radio Leicester was up 38%, Radio Manchester 28%, and Radio Gloucestershire 21% (with average hours per listener up a remarkable 52%).
The roller coaster figures for Radio London continue - this time swinging down nearly 32% year on year, and putting it lower in London than the BBC World Service. .
Around the nations, Radio Wales was down 8%, but Radio Cymru up nearly 6%. Radio Scotland was practically unchanged.
Total reach for BBC Local Radio in England was up 2% year on year. Radio Devon, in its last three months of Simon Bates, was up 23%. Radio Somerset was up a welcome 40% (from a low base of 49,000 listeners a week in the previous year), Radio Leicester was up 38%, Radio Manchester 28%, and Radio Gloucestershire 21% (with average hours per listener up a remarkable 52%).
The roller coaster figures for Radio London continue - this time swinging down nearly 32% year on year, and putting it lower in London than the BBC World Service. .
Around the nations, Radio Wales was down 8%, but Radio Cymru up nearly 6%. Radio Scotland was practically unchanged.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Buddy
It's good to know that Ken MacQuarrie won't be lonely at the BBC in his new role as Director of Nations and Regions. Bruce Malcolm, formerly Chief Operating Officer, Scotland, has emerged at his side as Head of Service Development - a job unadvertised, and, as yet, without published responsibilities. Bruce will be on £150,818 pa.
Ken has taken a good nudge up from his previous salary as Director of Scotland - from £192,800 to £257,800. Still not quite as much as Pat Loughrey was taking home when the post was closed in 2009 - £311, 580.
Ken has taken a good nudge up from his previous salary as Director of Scotland - from £192,800 to £257,800. Still not quite as much as Pat Loughrey was taking home when the post was closed in 2009 - £311, 580.
Million plus management team
The latest BBC update to senior salaries reveals that Mark Linsey (£340k pa), running the soon-to-be-commercial BBC Studios, is creating quite an expensive superstructure around him.
Director of Scripted [sic] Nick Betts has edged up to £240k pa. Lisa Opie, running Factual, is not far behind on £230k. Roger Leatham, running Entertainment, Music and Events, lands on £195k, and Damon Pattison, thinking up all the groovy new ideas in Development, gets £180k.
Of course, if they can get to the new financial year, all these salaries will be secret.
Director of Scripted [sic] Nick Betts has edged up to £240k pa. Lisa Opie, running Factual, is not far behind on £230k. Roger Leatham, running Entertainment, Music and Events, lands on £195k, and Damon Pattison, thinking up all the groovy new ideas in Development, gets £180k.
Of course, if they can get to the new financial year, all these salaries will be secret.
Tied to their desks
BBC expenses are out for Quarter 2 2016/17 - and Lord Hall's got the management under his thumb - remarkably few flights outside the UK for the suits, at least at the BBC's expense.
Indeed, easier just to list them.
Justin Bairamian, Director BBC Creative (whatever that might be) had a trip to Tallin.
Nick Betts, Head of Scripted in the new BBC Studios, went to New York.
Shirley Cameron, in Finance, went to Chennai.
Andy Conroy, Head of R&D, went to Amsterdam.
Alan Davey, Controller of Radio 3, managed a couple of nights in Berlin.
James Harding, Director of News, went to New York for a conference.
Mark Harrison, grandly titled Director of Transformation, went to New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Ian Haythornthwaite, Finance, also went to Chennai.
Mary Hockaday, World Service, went to Phoenix, Arizona.
David Jordan, Editorial Policy, went to Montreal, as did Damian Kavanagh, the Controllor of BBC3 and Fran Unsworth of Global News
Alison Kirkham, TV Factual went to Washington to meet PBS.
Tom McDonald, running TV Commissioning went to Washington twice, and New York.
Jonathan Munro, running Newsgathering, went to Beirut, Singapore and Bangkok.
Neelay Patel, looking after TV systems, went to Amsterdam,as did Robin Pembrooke, and their big boss Matthew Postgate, Chief Information Officer
Alice Webb of Children's TV went to Cannes
Gwyneth Williams, of Radio 4, spent four nights in Accra.
They're all cowed. Even Bal Samra, former King of the Cabs, only had one claim.
Indeed, easier just to list them.
Justin Bairamian, Director BBC Creative (whatever that might be) had a trip to Tallin.
Nick Betts, Head of Scripted in the new BBC Studios, went to New York.
Shirley Cameron, in Finance, went to Chennai.
Andy Conroy, Head of R&D, went to Amsterdam.
Alan Davey, Controller of Radio 3, managed a couple of nights in Berlin.
James Harding, Director of News, went to New York for a conference.
Mark Harrison, grandly titled Director of Transformation, went to New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Ian Haythornthwaite, Finance, also went to Chennai.
Mary Hockaday, World Service, went to Phoenix, Arizona.
David Jordan, Editorial Policy, went to Montreal, as did Damian Kavanagh, the Controllor of BBC3 and Fran Unsworth of Global News
Alison Kirkham, TV Factual went to Washington to meet PBS.
Tom McDonald, running TV Commissioning went to Washington twice, and New York.
Jonathan Munro, running Newsgathering, went to Beirut, Singapore and Bangkok.
Neelay Patel, looking after TV systems, went to Amsterdam,as did Robin Pembrooke, and their big boss Matthew Postgate, Chief Information Officer
Alice Webb of Children's TV went to Cannes
Gwyneth Williams, of Radio 4, spent four nights in Accra.
They're all cowed. Even Bal Samra, former King of the Cabs, only had one claim.
Final 3
The Royal Television Society Journalism Award nominations are out, and it's a mixed bag for the BBC. Huw Edwards is pitted against Jon Snow and Victoria Derybshire in Daily News Programme category; Victoria is also nominated in Network Presenter, against Emily Maitlis (which must miff Evan Davis) and Tom Bradby.
No nomination for the BBC in Breaking News or International News Coverage, which ain't good, considering the scale of their operations. And thankfully, coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's flat in Sunningdale didn't make it through to Scoop of The Year.
No nomination for the BBC in Breaking News or International News Coverage, which ain't good, considering the scale of their operations. And thankfully, coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff Richard's flat in Sunningdale didn't make it through to Scoop of The Year.
Three weeks
The case of Sally Chidzoy v The BBC in an employment tribunal at Cambridge looks likely to provide some rich material over the next three weeks, with a least five BBC suits taking the witness stand.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Where are they now ?
An occasional series.
Bardo were Sally Ann Triplett and Stephen Fischer, brought together to represent the UK in the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, with "One Step Further". They were the bookies' favourites, with the contest staged in Harrogate, but ended up 7th. The single reached No 2 in the UK charts.
Bardo were Sally Ann Triplett and Stephen Fischer, brought together to represent the UK in the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest, with "One Step Further". They were the bookies' favourites, with the contest staged in Harrogate, but ended up 7th. The single reached No 2 in the UK charts.
It's all in the game
The last we heard of Sir Cliff v The South Yorkshire Police and BBC, it couldn't have been more emphatic. A BBC spokesman said on December 7 "We have now submitted our response to this claim and will defend ourselves vigorously." And. we noted, the BBC had hired top brief Sir Gavin Millar.
Two months on, it is rumoured that Sir Gav may not get a chance to make the BBC's case that there was nothing untoward about their coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff's Sunningdale flat. Sniffs of a settlement are in the air; Lord Hall, even with the new Charter banked, is worried about the impact of a court hearing; and Sir Cliff's legal team are relaxed and not corralling witnesses at this stage. Sir Cliff is on his regular New Year break in Barbados.
Two months on, it is rumoured that Sir Gav may not get a chance to make the BBC's case that there was nothing untoward about their coverage of the police raid on Sir Cliff's Sunningdale flat. Sniffs of a settlement are in the air; Lord Hall, even with the new Charter banked, is worried about the impact of a court hearing; and Sir Cliff's legal team are relaxed and not corralling witnesses at this stage. Sir Cliff is on his regular New Year break in Barbados.
Glued up
It was all going so well. James Purnell has been polishing this blog post for some time.
"Does it strike the right level of accessibility, yet still show I'm quite clever ? Can I get away with 'in an F R Leavis kind of way' ? Read it through, would you, Al ?
Learning is not just a means to an end. It’s about meaning — about asking and answering the big questions. Not in an FR Leavis kind of way — there’s no canon, no set texts, nobody is handing down tablets of stone. It’s about working out what we want from life, and learning the empathy that, as Peter Bazalgette argued recently, “is the glue that enables families, communities and countries to function in a civil and civilised manner”.
"Then the online so-and-so's put the piece up with my title wrong...."
"Does it strike the right level of accessibility, yet still show I'm quite clever ? Can I get away with 'in an F R Leavis kind of way' ? Read it through, would you, Al ?
Learning is not just a means to an end. It’s about meaning — about asking and answering the big questions. Not in an FR Leavis kind of way — there’s no canon, no set texts, nobody is handing down tablets of stone. It’s about working out what we want from life, and learning the empathy that, as Peter Bazalgette argued recently, “is the glue that enables families, communities and countries to function in a civil and civilised manner”.
"Then the online so-and-so's put the piece up with my title wrong...."
New news ?
The billing for the BBC News at Ten says it brings you "the latest national and international news". Last night's lead was "an extended report" by correspondent Ed Thomas from the A&E department of the Royal Blackburn Hospital, filmed over a week. Huw said it contained "new evidence" of the immense pressures on the NHS, at the start of a week of special NHS coverage.
This was certainly slower news, in terms of duration - taking up 7 minutes 20 seconds - but had plenty of impact. The BBC, we were told, had been given "exclusive" access - but who made the call ? CEO Kevin McGee, who looks like a pretty media-savvy guy, said he wanted us to "see how busy we are, how difficult it can be". Waiting times, for some sitting on the floor, went above 13 hours. Some people were being treated on trolleys in corridors.
Some of the context followed in a second piece from Health Editor Hugh Pym, re-nosed to cover a Government move to stiffen resolve in reclaiming money from "health tourists".
And yet. The BBC's special Health Check pages tell us 9 out of 10 NHS hospitals are "unsafe", having more than 85% of beds filled since December. The exact figures - 137 out of 152 Trusts. But last March, the figure was worse - 143 out of 154.
Old-school hacks hate these special weeks; stuff that should be in current affairs shows, they argue. Let's see where it all goes. Meanwhile, some of the phrasing on the News website is a little loose...
This was certainly slower news, in terms of duration - taking up 7 minutes 20 seconds - but had plenty of impact. The BBC, we were told, had been given "exclusive" access - but who made the call ? CEO Kevin McGee, who looks like a pretty media-savvy guy, said he wanted us to "see how busy we are, how difficult it can be". Waiting times, for some sitting on the floor, went above 13 hours. Some people were being treated on trolleys in corridors.
Some of the context followed in a second piece from Health Editor Hugh Pym, re-nosed to cover a Government move to stiffen resolve in reclaiming money from "health tourists".
And yet. The BBC's special Health Check pages tell us 9 out of 10 NHS hospitals are "unsafe", having more than 85% of beds filled since December. The exact figures - 137 out of 152 Trusts. But last March, the figure was worse - 143 out of 154.
Old-school hacks hate these special weeks; stuff that should be in current affairs shows, they argue. Let's see where it all goes. Meanwhile, some of the phrasing on the News website is a little loose...
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