Monday 1 November 2010

Ah yes, that makes sense...

I know from the stats that a majority of my exalted readership are exiled in Foreign, cruelly cut off from the Mitherland, so forgive me if the next bit doesn't ring any bells.


BBC Radio Scotland, faced with declining  listener numbers are just about to launch a new daytime schedule.


I've got my own ideas on why the numbers are slipping, an argument that can be summarised in just five words: "Fred MacAulay and Tom Morton" but let's leave that for another day and consider instead the identity of the new, noon-time news show anchor.That would be BBC Scotland rugby pundit John Beattie. 
Er, OK.
Now I'm all for programmers thinking outside the box, and Radio Scotland seriously needs a massive kick up the arse because most of the output is middle-aged and white breid, but John Beattie, fronting a news show?


What's next, Chick Young presenting a series on post-existential French philosophy? I might be wrong here, but it feels like a presenter-shift too far. Like it or not, news coverage on radio (especially on radio) has to  convey a certain gravitas, I'm not sure John brings that to the yard.
Imagine:
"And reports are just coming in that World War Three is underway. In a moment, we'll be attempting to  contact those reporters across the globe not yet engulfed in a radioactive firestorm, but first, what will this all mean for the Six-Nations schedule?"


Inside: "And coming up next on BBC Radio Scotland, relationship advice from Jim Traynor."

No comments: