chaplin

Saturday, May 11, 2013

No intelligent life on Planet Rock


It's always a delight to hear someone mangling a really rotten idea for a listener competition on the radio.

I was listening to Planet Rock the other day. A listener had proposed the following list of artists as a competition: George Harrison, Peter Frampton, Rolling Stones and Weezer. The thing they had in common was that they'd all once covered Buddy Holly songs. All except Weezer who had recorded a song called Buddy Holly.

It's the kind of "so what?" question that makes you want to lynch the inquisitor. The answer should always be more interesting than the question and this really isn't.

But it was made worse by the fact that the presenter hit the wrong button on the play out machine (nobody has actual CDs in the studio any more) and played Wheatus instead of Weezer. He didn't notice and ploughed blithely on with the competition, far too busy to listen to the music.

The only thing I ask of any DJ is that they be enjoying the same experience they're providing. Most of them aren't.

I see from their site they're asking "want to be a Planet Rock presenter?" Tempting.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:18 pm

    I do enjoy this radio station. Though recently, during a quiz, the DJ, in relation to one of the questions said that he had never seen Spinal Tap. I would've thought that this must be a prerequisite at the job interview. Still find it hard to believe thinking about it.

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  2. Disappointing, David. Planet Rock are doing great work promoting real music and real radio on a tiny budget.

    Yet you listen for five minutes, which don't happen to tickle your fancy, and you feel it's worth a whole blog post slating them?

    The premise for the blog post is weaker than the premise for that quiz, and your sense of entitlement is palpable.

    I remain a subscriber and admirer of your work in general.

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  3. i miss Alice Cooper in the mornings.

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  4. Where's the sense of entitlement, Unknown? This expression seems to be fired out with less and less discrimination these days.

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  5. No indication of how often you listen to Planet Rock, so can one assume it is not very often?

    It's easy to criticise after20 minutes or so, especially when you are looking for something to criticise.

    I guess you never made a mistake all the times you stood in front of the camera on Whistle Test?

    John 8:7 and all that

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