Am I stupid?
I'm doing the meme, Jane, honest. I may even post twice in one day by putting it up later. Mmmmm.
I listen to Radio 1 in the mornings. Don't know why, at my age, I suppose it's just force of habit really. Can't force myself to listen to Radio 2, that's for old .... for fuck's sake, get off the midlife crisis thing, will you? Can't even write a simple paragraph without going on and on and on about it. Jesus.
Anyhoo, as Greavsie would say, Chris Moyles this morning. I quite like the guy. I can also see how many people would find him astonishingly irritating. Still. He does a little quiz thing every week, among the people in the studio and a couple of callers on the phone.
This week's questions:
What kind of animal is a natterjack?
Which Ukrainian city gave its name to a chicken dish?
On a ship, facing forwards, is port to your left or your right?
Who was the youngest player to score for England in the twentieth century (football)?
Which are the three American states with only four letters in their names?
Now I know you know the answers. You are erudite, educated, knowledgable people. I won't patronise you by telling you the answers*.
While going through the answers, the breakfast crew (I think that's what you're supposed to call them), between them, variously thought that a natterjack was a bird or a frog, and that frogs and toads are the same thing so that counted, that Stroganoff is both a city and furthermore in Ukraine, the stern of a ship is the front, Wayne Rooney (I reckon he would have been about 13) was playing for England in the twentieth century, and were generally unable to name the all three states.
I sat in the car, listening, with a bemused air. I don't get cross about stuff like this any more. How did these people get onto national radio? Surely everyone around the country is shouting at the radio at the stupidity?
And then I thought, who is being stupid here? What is the point of this kind of team presenting on the radio, if not to be inclusive and welcoming? It's a lads' and ladettes' club in the morning. People tune in because they feel like the presenters are their mates. They feel they know about their private lives (they don't of course: tiny irrelevant details are dropped in carefully, but never anywhere near enough for someone to, say, find out where they live) and feel like they could all go for a drink together and have great time.
So how would it help having people on the team who, like me and I suspect you, would get 7 out of 7 every time on these sort of questions? It wouldn't. The inclusiveness would be lost. So, by definition, national BBC radio is deliberately dumbing down, despite their protestations to government and elsewhere that they are not. And I can therefore leave you with another question - should the BBC be chasing ratings or maintaining standards? Better minds than I can debate that one.
Conclusion? Nobody likes a smartarse.
Story of my life.
*oh all right, just in case there's one you don't know and it's annoying you: toad, Kiev, the left, Michael Owen, Ohio, Utah, Iowa.
I listen to Radio 1 in the mornings. Don't know why, at my age, I suppose it's just force of habit really. Can't force myself to listen to Radio 2, that's for old .... for fuck's sake, get off the midlife crisis thing, will you? Can't even write a simple paragraph without going on and on and on about it. Jesus.
Anyhoo, as Greavsie would say, Chris Moyles this morning. I quite like the guy. I can also see how many people would find him astonishingly irritating. Still. He does a little quiz thing every week, among the people in the studio and a couple of callers on the phone.
This week's questions:
What kind of animal is a natterjack?
Which Ukrainian city gave its name to a chicken dish?
On a ship, facing forwards, is port to your left or your right?
Who was the youngest player to score for England in the twentieth century (football)?
Which are the three American states with only four letters in their names?
Now I know you know the answers. You are erudite, educated, knowledgable people. I won't patronise you by telling you the answers*.
While going through the answers, the breakfast crew (I think that's what you're supposed to call them), between them, variously thought that a natterjack was a bird or a frog, and that frogs and toads are the same thing so that counted, that Stroganoff is both a city and furthermore in Ukraine, the stern of a ship is the front, Wayne Rooney (I reckon he would have been about 13) was playing for England in the twentieth century, and were generally unable to name the all three states.
I sat in the car, listening, with a bemused air. I don't get cross about stuff like this any more. How did these people get onto national radio? Surely everyone around the country is shouting at the radio at the stupidity?
And then I thought, who is being stupid here? What is the point of this kind of team presenting on the radio, if not to be inclusive and welcoming? It's a lads' and ladettes' club in the morning. People tune in because they feel like the presenters are their mates. They feel they know about their private lives (they don't of course: tiny irrelevant details are dropped in carefully, but never anywhere near enough for someone to, say, find out where they live) and feel like they could all go for a drink together and have great time.
So how would it help having people on the team who, like me and I suspect you, would get 7 out of 7 every time on these sort of questions? It wouldn't. The inclusiveness would be lost. So, by definition, national BBC radio is deliberately dumbing down, despite their protestations to government and elsewhere that they are not. And I can therefore leave you with another question - should the BBC be chasing ratings or maintaining standards? Better minds than I can debate that one.
Conclusion? Nobody likes a smartarse.
Story of my life.
*oh all right, just in case there's one you don't know and it's annoying you: toad, Kiev, the left, Michael Owen, Ohio, Utah, Iowa.
posted by crisiswhatcrisis at
9:43 am
4 Comments:
I once listened to C Moyles on the way to school. It is a 25 minute journey. We joined him as one song ended and he did not play another piece of music all the way to school. All he did was shout and encourage about six people to talk at once. We tried again the next day, and he did play one song in the 20 minutes or so we were tuned in.
My son, now 12, said he wouldn't bother with him again, and please could I get the CD player fixed so he can play CDs in the car.
If Moyles was the only choice I would.
Mind you, he is a handsome bugger.
By
the Beep, at 12:38 pm
I have a few of these strange, out-of-kilter-with-the-zeitgeist preferences. I like James Blunt. And Riverdance. Not Chico, though. Even I can't go that far.
By
crisiswhatcrisis, at 2:11 pm
He used the word 'handsome'. *points at the beep*
I just said I liked the guy. Oh, and I said I liked Riverdance, too, didn't I? Mmmm.
*Goes off to rearrange furniture and cook quiche*
By
crisiswhatcrisis, at 6:32 pm
Sorry. Small slippage of the sacrasm control button towards the end there. He once paraded aroudn Reading FC's ground with at shirt that said "Single-handed saviour of Radio 1" on the back.
Exactly!
By
the Beep, at 7:26 pm
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