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Hot 97

Published 5th March 2024

Jingles / Radio / TV Comedy

Over the last month and a half, I have been bulk-watching Seinfeld. Is it healthy to watch 128 episodes and counting in that time? Probably not, but right now I don’t feel like watching any other comedy show ever again.

But that’s not the topic of today’s post. Take a look at the following from “The Pool Guy”, which first aired in the US on the 16th November 1995. Kramer, for reasons best known to Kramer, is busy impersonating a film information line.

KRAMER: Hello. And welcome to Moviefone. Brought to you by The New York Times and Hot 97. Coming to theatres this Friday: Kevin Bacon, Susan Sarandon… “You’ve got to get me over that mountain! No!” There’s no higher place than Mountain High. Rated R.

And my ears pricked up. Hot 97. Why did that radio station mean something to me? After all, I’ve never lived in New York. And it’s not one of the especially well-known stations for radio geeks, like WABC.

Answer: because I remember a jingle for that station. But not just any jingle.

You see, Hot 97 wasn’t always called Hot 97. It used to be called Hot 103, and was owned by Emmis Communications. In 1988, Emmis bought WYNY 97.1 from NBC, and at the time, FCC regulations prevented a single company from owning two FM stations in the same market. Emmis thus decided to sell its old frequencies, and move its radio stations to the new ones.

I fully admit I had to look up some of the in-depth information above. But I already remembered the broad details: Hot 103 became Hot 97. And why did I know this?

Because on the 18th November 2018, I heard a segment on Jon Wolfert’s Rewound Radio show, where he plays lots of classic radio jingles. This particular segment was about how Hot 103 promoted its frequency change to Hot 97.

Yeah, here’s how. No Gloria, it’s not 1-2-3, it’s…

I only had to hear that jingle once, and it stuck in my head instantly. To the point where, more than five years later, a passing reference in Seinfeld brought it all right back. “Oh yeah, Hot 97 used to be Hot 103…”

I’m not entirely sure anybody can afford to sneer at jingles right now. Traditional broadcasting is in enough trouble as it is, without turning their nose up at marketing which patently works. It even grabs people out of time, where the actual message it’s getting across is completely irrelevant.

Hot 103 is moving down to 97, guys.

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Steve Wright (1954–2024)

Published 13th February 2024

Radio

Back in 2011, The Mirror published a hit piece on Steve Wright. I’m not going to link to it, and I’m not going to extensively quote from it. Indeed, you may wonder why I’d even bring it up on the day his death has been announced.

I’ll just give you the short version: they called him a fat loner.

It was obviously deeply unpleasant. But I wondered: how was he going to deal with is on his next Radio 2 show? Make a big thing of it, and you look weird and over-sensitive, despite how nasty it was. Maybe it’s best to ignore it entirely… but that’s a little weird too. Elephants in the room are bad things, whether you’re responsible for the elephant or not.

So I tuned in, wondering what he was going to do. The opening music starts up, the big cheer. Steve introduces himself, as usual. Then a pause.

And then, muttered under his breath: “I’m so lonely…”

Then on with the show.

Perfect.

Bits & Pieces Of The Radio 1 Roadshow

Published 25th July 2023

Jingles / Radio

As you may have noticed, Dirty Feed is undergoing something of a quiet patch at the moment. I have – finally – decided to knuckle down and write the next part in my series about flash frames, and that involves burying myself in a slightly ludicrous amount of research.

So while I’m busy investigating Party Political Broadcasts from 1970, here’s something fun from me old mucker Duncan Newmarch: a beautiful celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Radio 1 Roadshow. Set aside an hour, and enjoy this summer trip around the UK’s coast.

Note in particular that the source of many of these clips is most certainly not a hissy off-air medium wave signal. So you’re hearing this stuff in higher quality than most people did at the time.

It really does feel like you’re there.

The Ultimate Stuck in the 80s Collection

Published 1st May 2023

Radio

My mate Duncan has a radio show. It’s a radio show which plays music from the 80s. But it isn’t a radio show which plays music from the 80s, but is desperate to sound like 2023. It really does sound like the 80s.

Today, the fourth and final episode of this incarnation of the show went online. I think people who read Dirty Feed might enjoy it. Here are all four episodes; take a listen, and be transported.


Duncan’s Stuck in the 80s


Duncan’s Still Stuck in the 80s


Stuck in the 80s at Christmas


Stuck in the 80s: 4 The Last Time?

I do strongly feel that chainsaws should be a bigger part of radio programming.

Duncan’s Still Stuck in the 80s

Published 20th April 2020

Radio

Last year, my pal Duncan Newmarch was Stuck in the 80s. Guess what? He’s still there. What trouble is he causing this time?

You’ll have to listen to find out, but I will reveal that it ends with a car chase.

People in the UK may wish to peruse this little refresher on New York radio station Z-100 before listening:

“A few little jinglettes for you…”

Published 22nd September 2019

Jingles / Radio

A fun thing happened a week or so back. Radio presenter Nathan Turvey1 posted the following absolutely delightful thing.

And don’t miss Kenny’s little message to Nathan at the end of the reel.

Understandably, this went down extremely well on Twitter. At the time of writing, that video has had nearly a million views, and a ridiculous number of replies. Which is fascinating for such an arcane subject. After all, radio jingles are not exactly the most popular thing to talk about on Twitter. Believe me, I know. I’ve tried to talk about them on there for years.

Which proves one thing: topics are esoteric and simply not talked about… until they suddenly are talked about. People just need a gateway into them. And I don’t mean that in a sneery way at all; quite the opposite. There are plenty of topics I never think about, until I suddenly do.

The reason that has happened here isn’t difficult to figure out. The story of a 13 year old writing to his radio hero and getting back some jingles made just for him is an irresistible one. As a jingle nerd I’ve heard audio of Kenny making jingles for other people before… but for professional DJs, never for a kid who just looked up to him. Combine that story with the presence of Kenny himself – where the word genius really does apply – and you have a story which is pretty much guaranteed to go viral. And quite right too. We all need as many glimpses of pleasure as we can get these days.

My point is simply that subjects can be seen as impossibly nerdy and esoteric, when they actually aren’t at all. To take a similar example: old Radio 1 jingles weren’t exactly a popular conversation on Twitter… until Radio 1 Vintage played some of them, and people remembered how great they were. Or moving away from jingles entirely: chatting about Doctor Who continuity errors was confined to a decreasing section of society… until a certain Russell T. Davies relaunched the show in 2005, and a brand new legion of fans got involved in the UNIT dating controversy.

To be absolutely clear: nobody is better because they talked about this stuff before other people. You can’t do everything at once. My first love is sitcoms, but I only got round to watching Are You Being Served? properly this year. A fair few people enjoyed my observations about the show, but I’m sure plenty of what I talked about had been discussed by people decades earlier. This is not about cultural gatekeeping.

It’s just a reminder not to worry about whether the things you love are important, or popular. Because those statuses can flip in an instant. And then flip back again. And certainly don’t let anybody sneer at you for your interests.

Just love the things you love, and the rest will take care of itself.

  1. Yes, that Nathan Turvey. ↩

Duncan’s Stuck in the 80s

Published 30th April 2019

Radio

My old pal Duncan Newmarch appears to have a problem. “He doesn’t remember the 80s – he’s still there…”

Featuring an appearance by yours truly, as the last caller of the show. But how can I be phoning in, if I’m living in 2019 and Duncan’s stuck back in the 80s?

I think the answer is really obvious. In fact, it’s so obvious, I’m not even going to patronise you by giving you the answer. Let’s just say my local telephone exchange has a few issues, and leave it at that.

Discussion For ‘Em

Published 31st March 2019

Jingles / Radio / TV Comedy / TV Presentation

A fairly large percentage of my time online is still spent hanging around forums. Admittedly, not as much as I did in 2002, where my time on a Knightmare forum directly contributed to me failing to get a degree. But still enough to notice a rather unfortunate pattern from some posters, across many different topics of conversation.

Let’s take an example, from a TV presentation forum I frequent, perhaps despite my better judgement.1

“Anyone else often wonder what planet certain posters are living on? Very few people care about TV presentation outside this forum.”

And I get it, I really do. Some posters are utterly tiresome with their statements that the entire general public cares deeply about the current set of BBC One idents. Sometimes, you just want to let everyone know that at least you’re aware that there’s a wider world out there. One where people don’t tut or cheer depending on what’s bunged in front of EastEnders.

But.

*   *   *

There I was, sitting in the TX suite of a popular television channel a few years back. Let’s take a look at the programmes on in the afternoon. Ooh, hang on, that show was made in back in the 80s, was it? I’m sure we have an era-appropriate ident we can stick in front of that.

So I make the change in the schedule – checking with all the right people before doing so, in case anybody relevant is reading this – and then did the junction, live announcer and all. Everything went fine, and I sat back, pleased I’d added something fun to the nation’s viewing that afternoon.

A few weeks later, the announcer collared me, and said her mum had been watching, and she loved the ident. It brought back so many memories for her from decades ago, and got all excited when it appeared. And not just because her daughter was talking over it.

*   *   *

If TV presentation fans are near the bottom of the fandom pile2, then there’s one kind of fan even they are allowed to look down on: jingle anoraks.3 It seems that in real life, most people just aren’t interested in discussing the intricacies of WPLJ jingle packages.4 Which is frankly outrageous.

Still, when Radio 1 Vintage aired in 2017, celebrating 50 years of Radio 1, a curious thing happened in my Twitter feed. “Oh yeah, I remember that jingle…” People who I’d never managed to get into a conversation about jingles were suddenly enthusing about all those silly six second songs.

It was great.

*   *   *

Red Dwarf fandom was in quite a miserable state in 2008. It’s no secret that morale was on the floor. We’d lost all trace of Red Dwarf, tempers were strained, and supplies were… wait, sorry, this isn’t Ganymede & Titan, I’ve really got to stop throwing in these stupid quotes.

Anyway, the site was quieter than it had been in years. Certainly, we had less reader engagement than ever before. Then, suddenly, new episodes were announced.

And achieved record ratings.

*   *   *

My point, of course: this stuff isn’t binary. People aren’t either interested enough in TV presentation to post on forums, or not interested whatsoever. Same goes for jingles, same goes for Red Dwarf, same goes for anything.

Sure, a general audience doesn’t tend to spend every evening pondering unused BBC Two idents, listening to some of the worst radio jingles ever made, or comparing episodes of Red Dwarf and Hancock’s Half Hour. But to presume that somebody doesn’t have an interest in a subject just because they don’t hang around on a forum risks being hugely patronising. Where did all those people interested in Red Dwarf magically appear from and give Dave those record ratings?

Answer: they were always there. They just didn’t spend much time reading a website about it, that’s all. But it doesn’t mean they didn’t care.

*   *   *

And yes, I used the “For ‘Em” joke back on Ganymede & Titan in 2004, on Noise to Signal in 2006, and here on Dirty Feed in 2010.

I am a complete twat.

  1. Rule: don’t read about comedy on a TV presentation forum. And don’t read about TV presentation on a comedy forum. ↩

  2. I’m allowed to say that, I’m one myself. ↩

  3. I’m allowed to say that, I’m one myself. ↩

  4. If you are interested in this, I highly recommend Jon Wolfert’s Sunday Jingle Show. ↩

Reasons Shaun Keaveny is Boring #2847342

Published 10th January 2019

Radio / Videogames

The aforementioned Shaun Keaveny, 6 Music, 9th January 2019, on a listener talking about their kid playing Minecraft:

“If he’s playing it, I don’t mind that. It’s watching my children sometimes watching a kid playing Minecraft on YouTube which beggars belief for an analogue person. The other day, I saw a kid watching a kid playing Minecraft on YouTube, and a kid watching over his shoulder. It’s like Russian dolls, isn’t it? Absolutely insane.”

Let’s take a little trip back to my childhood. I remember watching and loving my sister play games on our BBC Master. I remember watching and loving my friend Joel play games on his Archimedes. And I remember being at a Scout activity weekend, where by far the best thing that happened all weekend was gathering around our leader’s Amiga and watching each other play games.1

I totally get that Shaun Keaveny is not trying to be the voice of youth. But 6 Music hiring DJs which don’t even manage to keep up-to-date with what was happening in the early 90s – or, indeed, far earlier – is not a good look. People watching other people play videogames is not a new thing in any way whatsoever. It’s been going on for decades.

By the way, the fact I didn’t invent Twitch and make millions of pounds despite being well aware that people love watching other people playing games will haunt me to my deathbed.

  1. The other amazing thing which happened that weekend was the sex scene in Problem Child 2 making me feel a bit funny. ↩

The Worst Radio Jingles Ever Made

Published 2nd December 2018

Jingles / Radio

…or certainly up there, anyway.

I’ve talked before about Jon Wolfert’s Sunday Jingle Show, and how you should all be listening to it. If you can’t be bothered to click on that link: Sundays, 3pm ET/8pm GMT on Rewound Radio, stuffed full of great radio and advertising jingles.

Well, usually great, anyway. Unless I send in a request to the show. Then, I’m afraid, you get the dregs.

[mejsaudio src=”https://dirtyfeed.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/rewound-ecology.mp3″]

Download “Rewound Radio (04/11/18) – Ecology” (12.5MB MP3, 8:41)

After a week’s break, the show is back tonight. So if you want to listen to someone who knows damn well what they’re talking about take a little trip through the history of radio, then give it a listen.

It’s often the highlight of my week; if you like the kind of thing I post here, I think it could be yours, too.