Digital Dolly ?

Make your own mind up. Five bits of Dolly singing 9 to 5 'live' over the years, the first from Glastonbury 2014, then Sydney in February, and London in 2011, 2009, and 2008.
 

Master of Puppets

Turned on BBC2 last night to see that the whacky Top Gear production team had been at it again. Give those zany presenters a bunch of guitars, bring their regular audience on stage, and see if you can fool 70,000 people in a muddy field.  Bravo, BBC.

Bobby Womack

Others know the Bobby Womack story better than me, but I'll chip in with this. He wrote and recorded Breezin' with Gabor Szabo (which, as a single, was a minor US hit, reaching 101 in the charts), and which features on Szabo's 1971 album, High Contrast. The producer was Tommy LiPuma, who, in 1976, recorded it again as the title track of George Benson's breakthrough album.



Personnel on this first version: Szabo on amplified acoustic, Womack on electric; Phil Upchurch on bass; Jim Keltner on drums; Carmelo Garcia on percussion; strings arranged by Rene Hall. (Rene Hall was himself a serious guitarist, playing with Little Richard and Larry Williams, and responsible for the solo in Richie Valens' version of La Bamba. He went on to add strings to Marvin Gaye tunes including What's Going On, Let's Get It On etc)

Retuning

The ad for Controller Radio 3 is finally out, and the new incumbent will "appoint and manage" the next Director of the Proms, where previously Roger Wright just talked to himself.  The Controller also takes responsibility for three orchestras and the BBC Singers - will there be as many when the job is next handed on ?  In all this, the Controller works to Director of Radio, Helen Boaden - there's no mention of Director of Music, Bob Shennan.

The recruitment has been outsourced to Odgers Berndtson, the UK's soi-disant pre-eminent executive search firm. I presume in-house HR are too busy not writing down appraisals and preparing for a summer of discontent.

• My scan of current vacancies also lighted upon one for a Web Developer (Backbone, Git, Grunt). Are we sure you can say that sort thing these days ?

At Ten

A little Friday fun.

Golden oldies

In this week of Five Live 20th birthday celebrations, here's the original "up to the hour" jingle from 1994, part of a huge package created by Allan Coates (of late-ish era The Hollies, from 1981 to 2004) and Kim Goody (former cast member of ITV Saturday morning show No 73, alongside Sandi Toksvig).


Mike Lewis, Head of Sport, lighted upon Allan and Kim working as The Voice and Music Company, I remember the day the first tapes arrived, with various editors and Controller Jenny Abramsky assembling in Studio 1A, and ruminating on where to add the ident. Jenny, trained as a Studio Manager, felt a music edit was required, and razor blades flashed. I suspect she still might think her version was the one we used.

If you played the up to the hour jingle at 59.06 on the clock, it ended exactly at the top of the hour. We never used pips, but some programmes prided themselves on hitting the clock exactly. Whereas the drive time show, launched as John Inverdale Nationwide, was a programme you really couldn't set your watch to...

Allan and Kim went on to do launch stings for News 24, packages for Sky, At The Races and many more. They're still in business, now as Soho Square Studios.

In rooting around the web for stuff from the launch, I found this picture of a car sticker. Simon Calder has written about the difficulty various add agencies had in finding an opening theme; the first wave of posters featured "Follow Mike", with the conceit that "Mike", a microphone, would take you to the heart of news and sport, on the end of a wiggly wire. It didn't last long...

The Wright man

It's uncomfortable to lose your key classical music executive the day before you announce more commitments to "The Arts"; unfortunate timing for the news of Roger Wright's decision to move on from Radio 3 and The Proms.

He's undoubtedly been a Good Thing for both jobs, despite the noises off from Friends of Radio 3. He took over Radio 3 in November 1998. His first quarterly audience figures showed a reach of 2.2m and a 1.4% share of the available audience; Classic FM's figures at the same time were 6.0m and a share of 4.3%. In the most recent quarter, Radio 3 returned as close as dammit to 2.0m and a share of 1.1%; Classic FM was down  to 5.6m and 3.5% share.

At the Proms, which he ran from the 2008 season, he's produced 453 concerts so far, and will have another 75 or so under his belt by the time his Last Night comes around in September. Average attendance for the main evening concerts in the last three series have run at 94%, 93% and 93%.

Over his tenure, the BBC has maintained the same number of orchestras; how long will that hold ?

Roger's home is north of Bedford (in a house that saw Glenn Miller's last ever private performance in this country), and he's famously used London hotels during the eight-week Prom seasons; from mid-September, the work journey is up from 60 miles to 100, to reach Aldeburgh, where he will be the new Chief Executive of Aldeburgh Music.

The Singing Director

Oh my word. Peter Horrocks, the BBC's Director of Global News, on Ghanaian TV. Specifically with the self-styled King of Prime Time, Kwaku Sintim-Misa. It starts at around 5.50 on the clock. There is toe-curling "singing" at around 15.30. All over by 17.30.


    

Lucky or what ?

We haven't done music for a bit, but I wonder if Pharrell, Nile and Daft Punk might have ever heard this one, from Vanessa Da Mata and Ben Harper in 2009 ?

Traditional

Let no-one say that the conjunction of the Brit Awards, the RTS Journalism Awards and the Radio 2 Folk Awards meant there was a dearth of celebs to perform the handing over of gongs. Why, at the Royal Albert Hall, Radio 2 Controller Bob Shennan produced noted folkies like Zoe Ball, Greg Dyke, Jarvis Cocker, historian Kate Williams, Tony Christie and Kevin Brennan, MP for Cardiff West to make presentations. And Suzanne Vega became a folk singer for the night.

Mr S may, however, want to have a word with Welsh singer and 6Music dj, who wasn't quite with the programme...

the English folk awards are going well
— Cerys Matthews (@cerysmatthews) February 19, 2014

Glam Slam

Just a month from his 67th birthday, is Alan Yentob getting confused ? The Prince by Machiavelli was the subject of one of his recent Imagine programmes - what was he expecting at the Shepherd's Bush Empire last night ?

Alan avoided the eight-hour queues endured by fans of Prince Rogers Nelson, and skipped up to the celebrity balcony where he boogied alongside funkmeister George Clinton (72) and actress Gemma Arteton (28). On those at the BBC will know if Al went on to the after-party....

Finger picking

We knew Bob Harris, Patrick Kielty and Cerys Matthews all got trips to Nashville as part of Radio 2's coverage of the Country Music Awards in November.

Now a newsletter called Aristo has noticed that others were there, too.

Extended credit

The Manchester Evening News reports that the awfully nice BBC has allowed Salford Council to reschedule payments destined to support the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Part of the complex gavotte between the BBC, the Peel Group and the Council that secured Auntie as anchor tenant of MediaCityUK was an agreement that the local authority would cough up £20m over eight years for the band. Since 2008 that's been coming through at around £2m per annum, but the next payment will be down to £1m, as Salford attempts to ease cuts - with the schedule extended now to 10 years.

A BBC spokeswoman said:”The BBC tries to be a good neighbour to businesses and communities throughout Salford. Building on these relationships is important to help all of us fulfill the potential of Media City."

Classical spam

Did you go to the Proms this year?   Did you get a text from Decca Records on the way?  You might like to read a case study in Marketing Week of how and why it happened... and why there'll be more texts next year.

Decca are part of Universal.

It's all in the presentation

Kevin Spacey v Alan Yentob - a celebrity interview so compelling that London's new Jewish Community Centre has allocated tickets by ballot. It's on November 23. The topic: a ripsnorter - The Power of Arts in the Community and the Place of Community in the Arts.

This week on screen, Alan replaced Joel Grey as narrator of Michael Kantor's excellent US documentary on the Jewish Legacy of Broadway. Though written and directed by Michael, Alan seems to have been given a clean mix of the soundtrack to drop in his dulcet tones - how many of the words he'd changed, we'll never know. The closing credits were shrunk to offer a self-serving tail piece with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and, yes, Alan Yentob, reviewing the work over cocoa in New York.

Not sure what was in the rucksack. Readers' suggestions welcome.

Hoofer

And lo, until recently unheralded in the Imagine winter running order, there appears on November 12th, "Broadway: A Jewish Legacy", presented by Alan Yentob, series editor Alan Yentob.

PBS in America had programme in January this year, called "Broadway: A Jewish legacy", presented by Joel Kay. Either this Imgaine offering is a different programme; or someone, maybe the series editor, has decided that Brits won't relate to Joel, or his context. Will Alan be on Broadway to put things right ?

Bass notes

Radio networks' tone and style are often defined by their newsreaders, and BBC World Service has just said farewell to a key voice of the past two decades or so, Iain Purdon.

Iain's career progressed through news and continuity for Radio 4 Scottish opt-out, which he joined in 1973, through to Presentation Organiser for Radio Scotland, which replaced the opt-out in 1978. London beckoned in 1982, as presentation editor for Radio 2, under controllers David Hatch, Bryant Marriott and Frances Line.

In 1994 he re-emerged at the microphone with World Service, where his wit and wisdom endeared him to a new set of friends. It wasn't surprising that he was picked to be last voice from the studios at Bush House.

For Iain, an amplified life continues, playing bass for Rock of Ages - this Saturday at Amersham Royal British Legion....

One direction

Tried a little Radio 3 this morning. Seemed to be hosted by a spurned love-child of Mark Radcliffe. Adam Tomlinson normally wakes up listeners to Radio York.

Keep the faith

Paul Mason, Newsnight's economics editor, has now left the building - with a fine farewell documentary on Northern Soul, complete with some dodgy dancing, 24 first-rate tracks, and unposed questions about Paul's possible use of diet pills.

He's also filmed a valedictory interview for the BBC's journalists to mull over - this is an edited transcript of his final thoughts on how things have changed during his twelve years with Auntie.

A more diverse set of people now get to be editorial leaders. But the organisation can still feel like it is set up to be led by a kind of patrician elite. There can be a jarring sometimes between newer, younger editorial management and the way the organisation responds to commands and requests. The danger sometimes is that the signals that come from the top are “don’t mess up,” (sometimes put a bit more forcefully), whereas the signals should be from the outside world, saying “you’re not ordinary enough, you’re not believable enough, you’re not innovating enough.”

If I said one thing on leaving this building, it would be: become more receptive to those signals.

Sensitive

As we head towards the last appearance of the BBC Big Band Special on Radio 2 tonight, the Tory MP for Reading East, and Daily-Mail-go-to-guy-for-outrage. Rob Wilson has appeared on the scene.

He wrote to Radio 2's Lewis Carnie, asking how much money was involved, axing the show after 34 years. Lewis, perhaps unwisely, wrote back thus "Due to the sensitive commercial nature of our budgets, I’m afraid I am unable to go in to detail about the exact monetary cuts and savings that will be made."

Rob duly froths "I am surprised to learn that the BBC considers that the budget for the Big Band’s activities to be commercially sensitive. The BBC is not a commercial organisation, it is a public one. Given recent revelations about the misuse of significant amounts of money involving some of those at the top of the Corporation, details about the exact monetary cuts to the budget for the BBC Big Band’s recording sessions may be embarrassing and rather awkward for the BBC, but that is not the same thing as being either sensitive, or commercial, or both. If the musicians of the BBC Big Band are indeed freelancers, then there is no contractual reason either why the overall cut to budget cannot be disclosed.

I do appreciate that you have difficult budgetary decisions to make, but I would suggest that a failure to be transparent over the reasons behind a decision to cut back on original, creative output is unlikely to inspire confidence in the BBC among licence fee payers and audiences."