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(24-02-2023, 04:43 PM)London Lite Wrote: Another factor is Vernon knows how to host a good game show, which will be important when he does the new pop quiz.
I'm still mad that 1000 Heartbeats only lasted two series...
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(24-02-2023, 06:04 PM)Spencer Wrote: (24-02-2023, 05:31 PM)London Lite Wrote: Ken was the last remaining island of the old traditional easy listening format of Radio 2, so I don't think it's much of a surprise that it's received positive feedback.
It’s only a few months since Scott Mills was announced, and I’m not seeing anywhere near the negativity (and downright nastiness) he received, thankfully.
I think bringing in Scott Mills helped to increase the churn of older listeners from R2 to commercial stations like Smooth and Greatest Hits which accommodate the audience that enjoyed Steve's show.
The remaining hardcore fans of Ken will switch to Greatest Hits while the rest will stick with Radio 2 regardless of numerous presenter changes.
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(24-02-2023, 07:05 PM)London Lite Wrote: (24-02-2023, 06:04 PM)Spencer Wrote: It’s only a few months since Scott Mills was announced, and I’m not seeing anywhere near the negativity (and downright nastiness) he received, thankfully.
I think bringing in Scott Mills helped to increase the churn of older listeners from R2 to commercial stations like Smooth and Greatest Hits which accommodate the audience that enjoyed Steve's show.
The remaining hardcore fans of Ken will switch to Greatest Hits while the rest will stick with Radio 2 regardless of numerous presenter changes.
That does seem to be the experience when previous presenters have gone to other stations, Radio 2's audience in general has shrunk gradulally over the years but there's not been mass exoduses.
Also the gains for the other stations haven't been that great. Chris Evans gets around a million on Virgin which is more than they got before but a long way from the 9 million on Radio 2. Same with Graham Norton on Virgin and Simon Mayo on GHR.
People are loyal to stations moreso than presenters. Also Radio 2 has universal coverage in FM and DAB. Other stations don't - Ken Bruce fans in many parts of the country won't be able to hear him on FM for example (possibly not in DAB either). Even if they can it's coverage is fairly patchy and annoyingly (as I do listen to it) it doesn't have RDS AF - I have it on 3 car radio presets as round here it took over 3 local stations in different towns and they don't switch when driving about!
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Ken's departure date has been bumped up to next Friday
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I can see why Radio 2 would benefit from Ken not being on the air anywhere for a period. If it’s a case of him finishing on Radio 2 at the end of one week and starting on GHR at the beginning of the next, the chance of listeners jumping ship is probably greater.
But this doesn’t seem like a great way to treat someone who’s given so many years of loyal service to the BBC, and given Ken had already announced he was leaving at the end of March, seems like a bit of a PR own goal which will probably now overshadow the positive reaction to Vernon Kay’s appointment.
It’s also a shame he’s leaving on a slightly sour note. Incidentally I notice Ken’s profile picture on Twitter has the GHR pink background. I wonder when he changed that.
(This post was last modified: 24-02-2023, 08:35 PM by
Spencer.)
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Being spun as the BBC being evil to a long term employer but actually a smart decision not to allow him to finish on Friday and his listeners have somewhere else to find him on the Monday. (TBH I wouldn't know where to find GHR anyway - is it digital only?)
Also a smart move to launch the replacement quiz with Gary Davies - if it works they just carry it over to Vernon Kay. If it doesn't they quietly ditch it when Vernon starts and try something different.
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He is lucky other stations take presenters off without warning and don't get to say goodbye.
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(24-02-2023, 08:34 PM)Brekkie Wrote: (TBH I wouldn't know where to find GHR anyway - is it digital only?)
It’s on some FM/AM frequencies that were previously home to Bauer’s “heritage” stations or their oldies offshoots, also including the old Virgin/Absolute 105.8 frequency in London, but there is a feed with national advertising on DAB.
(This post was last modified: 24-02-2023, 09:13 PM by
TVNerd.)
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I was hoping for a worse choice than Vernon, as I wouldn't feel so bad switching to GHR in the late morning. I can't say I really understand the (albeit isolated) negative feedback to his appointment; he's one of the most competent presenters in the business at the moment and I find myself enjoying his stints covering for Zoe Ball than the aforementioned host herself. Either way, I'll find myself feeling ever so slightly torn.
Does anyone know how Scott has been doing yet? I didn't listen to his show on R1 but I'm assuming it had more meat than the show he has now; as far as I've heard his only real "features" he has are playing WhatsApp voice messages and telling callers what songs were in the charts on their birthday
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(24-02-2023, 09:22 PM)Larry the Loafer Wrote: Does anyone know how Scott has been doing yet? I didn't listen to his show on R1 but I'm assuming it had more meat than the show he has now; as far as I've heard his only real "features" he has are playing WhatsApp voice messages and telling callers what songs were in the charts on their birthday
On R1 there was a different main feature every day at 1:40/2:10, some like “The Whooo Game” were always on the same day of the week and others like “Brother or Lover” appeared on different days, “Bangers” at 2:40, and the “Don’t Look It Up” quiz at 3:10 (previously “Real Or No Real”)
(This post was last modified: 24-02-2023, 09:28 PM by
TVNerd.)