[Isonstine]

The first thing I had to check when seeing that press release of a "refreshed weekend schedule" was to check that Nick Abbot was still in place on Friday & Saturday nights.......
Nick is the only appointment to listen show for me on LBC, the last light-hearted, non-serious show that's left on the station. My god, serious news is depressing enough these days, a bit of light relief with Nick is much needed on Friday & Saturday nights.

Same! I get that news talk provides solid, credible content and Global have certainly increased LBC's standing in recent years by doubling down on the format. But I do miss the more light hearted nature of the station's past. Nick Ferrari's breakfast show has always been news focussed but it felt like he injected more of his humour into the show but now it feels like painting by numbers. Perhaps, that's just a symptom of the fact he's been there and doing the same thing for a long time now but you do hear little glimmers of it at times. Most other shows are similarly devoid of personality though, as good as the content and presentation are.

The David Lloyd days of Anna Raeburn and Gary King's Big Quiz seem like a distant memory now, but then it's understandable considering it was over 15 years ago! I may be getting older but it genuinely feels like yesterday that James O'Brien and Iain Lee had an on-air running race. Definitely a different station now.

I'm always holding out hope that Global's strategy of launching spin-off stations might encourage them to try a talk format which isn't news focussed and isn't afraid to have a bit of fun. But since the revival of Talk Radio tried it and then fairly quickly moved to right leaning news talk, there's clearly no appetite for it.