it would be an upgrade. I actually like Ross on the radio. That slot suits him as he's reined in a little by the family audience potential.

But the fact that Danny Baker isn't on BBC national radio (save for one 606 show a week) is a disgrace.

Allisons not that bad, a little cheesey but there's far worse; lets prey George Lamb doesn't take Ross's slot. I will miss Ross on Saturday mornings.

His Radio One show on Saturday mornings (and Sundays) were a joy in the early nineties(?)
I too will miss Ross and I'm afraid Allison is that bad imho.
Haven't heard George Lamb other than the Ray Davies debacle which ought to debar him if there was any justice.

please all of the people all of the time. My radio listening is confined to when I am in the car or at the computer and the programme is definitely something I would listen to.

So Richard Allinson would be suitable background music. The Word podcast is sufficiently of interest I would play that. Jonathan Ross spent too much time talking about himself, joshing unfunnily with his posse and with guests who mainly have something to sell and nothing else. Occasionally he was reminded to play music. So for me the music comes first and I have to have similar tastes to the DJ. Stuart Maconie fits the bill perfectly, but not with Mark, erm, Radcliffe if you please.

If I want conversational radio I turn to Radio 4.

Is that a serious comment? He's terrible.

I too was disappointed when he turned up yesterday. I suspect the BBC have gone for 'ultra safe' in the face of a crisis. I won't be listening for the forseeable future if Allinson is the semi-permanent replacement.

That's one less person to complain to the BBC...and they still have your licence fee! Mission accomplished by Auntie.

Wonder if we did a flash-mob-kinda-mass-protest about a given programme, say Strictly Ballroom Claptrap, it would have the sames effect as this latest spat. No I thought not.

...is when Mark Lamarr presents it. So, imagine my disappointment when he didn't get the gig for the next 12 weeks.

I remember him from a long, long way back. When I lived in Germany in 1986/87, he'd crop up on the British Forces Broadcasting Service. He has changed not one jot. Superficially affable, bland, predictable, unreflective, vacuous and - at least as far as his radio persona is concerned - seemingly as thick as porcine excrement. In short, he's bloody awful. I'd rather have anyone with a brain and a personality and decent taste in music. Danny Baker would do fine (I think he's got pretty good taste).

why Heppo & Ellen are not on Radio 2.

Probably could not afford them...

Try Adam & Joe on 6Music, very entertaining. Great dialogue, and features such as "Songs Wars" where each week they both compose a song on a given theme and ask for a vote on the best.

Here are their proposed theme's for Quantum Of Solace from a couple of months ago (videos put together unofficially):

Adam

Joe

I work weekends and don't often get the radio on, so I usually catch up on both Ross and A&J via podcast.

I've posted about this on another thread, but have to say I really enjoyed what I heard of Allinson's show. He is a bit cheesy but affable enough, and it was a nice change to listen to a show that was more about the music than one man's out-of-control ego. Even if you didn't like his DJ patter you were never more than a minute or so away from another record, and usually a pretty good one. Contrast this with Ross holding forth at length on such subjects as recent tennis matches against Jimmy Carr or how smelly his dog is.

There were several great tunes during the segments of the show I heard, and I've just whizzed through it again on iPlayer and found lots of others I missed.

His playlist included: True Faith - New Order; Ant Music - Adam and the Ants; Get Ready - The Temptations; I'm Every Woman - Chaka Khan; Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack; 4am - Cherry Ghost; Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen; Start Me Up - The Rolling Stones; Living in America - James Brown; Rock n Roll - Led Zeppelin; Crazy in Love - Beyonce; Can I Get A Witness - Marvin Gaye; I Can't Help Myself - The Four Tops; London Calling - The Clash; Pull Up To The Bumper - Grace Jones; Serious - Richard Hawley; This Charming Man - The Smiths; and Imitation of Life - REM.

I would argue that's a pretty decent selection for any three-hour radio show and for that reason I will be happy to listen again.

If I just want to listen to music I have a range of choices that mean I don't have to put up with stuff I don't like on the stereo, ipod or computer. What I'm looking for if a presenter is involved is something additional. This can be information in the style of Maconie or entertainment in the style of Ross.

Now I realise that Ross's presentational style divides people but I liked it (on the radio). And the music he played (yes I know he didn't choose it) was pretty acceptable.

As somebody said earlier, you can't please all the people all the time. And for everybody that enjoyed Ross there will be at least as many who find him irritating.

I'm just trying to work out what it was I found so desperately dull about Allison. I think it's the "interaction" with listeners. I think that this is perhaps a wider problem. The rise of email and text messaging has led to really lazy radio. All the presenter has to do is read out "I'm on the M62 delivering a truck load of flanges. Please give a shout out to the truckers' massive and tell my good lady I'll be home soon." Johnny Walker can be a bit guilty of this. Wogan, Radcliffe and Maconie etc use interaction to add something. It's not just "I've got exams today so please play something bland and boring for me".

Gosh I'm getting old and grumpy.

the wonderful The Word CD the other ways for me to discover new music is to go down the record shop and listen to what they have to offer, go on the internet and scour various websites for clips and downloads or simply turn on the radio. If I am lucky I will get some new songs, mainly I will get loads of old songs. If I don't like what is being shoved at me I turn it off or change stations.

Yes I would listen to Allison, Wogan, Bruce, Long, Maconie and their ilk until I think they are playing tosh - or my journey has come to an end. I would not sit and listen to the radio like I would sit and watch TV. If I knew Harris, Walker, Moyles and Ross were on the radio I would not switch them on. It's a free world and they rarely play music I dig, er, man.

The post by Tony mentioned "entertainment in the style of Ross". I just don't see Ross as an entertainer. Ever. Neither do I get it when his shows win comedy awards. He is not a comedian. Leave it to the professionals. He is a presenter, a broadcaster, and interviewer and at times a bloody good one. His interview with Tony Curtis the other week almost reduced me to tears because he did not take the piss and he treated an ailing actor, due to a condition my wife suffered, with dignity and respect that brought back the sparkle to the eyes of the old rascal Tony. And everything stopped in our house when his Japanorama series was on.

The man knows his stuff and anyone who likes Hayao Miyazaki is alright in my book. He just needs to keep away from "da yoofs", try not to be a cool dad and keep away from the lure of the ITV/Sky shilling.

Andy Davies laughing in the background is something that I won't miss from the absent Ross Show. Sycophanitic radio sidekicks are one of the very worst things in life.

Ross and definitely Brand will turn up anytime soon on newly relaunched Absolute Radio (fka Virgin).

I'm not for a moment condoning what Brand and Ross did - it had all the hallmarks of the antics of playground bullies.

But Ross' Saturday morning show has nearly always entertained me in a way that his TV show on Friday night never did. I think the absence of a studio audience reins him in. He has worked with Andy Davies for donkey's years and they have a good banter. He generally gets the best out of his guests and Andy's music choice is pretty good. Yes it can get a bit sycophantic at times but it's never been too bad.

I predicted on another thread that Richard Allinson would have a terminally dull test in "theme". Even having said that I was appalled at how bad it was - although granted some of the music he played was good. But there is more to hosting a radio show than just playing music. The DJ needs to engage the audience and Richard Allinson never has with me.

I suspect we won't see JR back which for his radio show I say would be our loss.

(retreats with tin hat)

So I'm just catching up with WordWorld (TM) and I'm living in a different era to you all. I am up to podcast 27 (6th November 2007) - listen to the first ten minutes again, and you will find that H&E predict the "we licence payers are funding this filth!" furore, almost exactly one year ahead of 'the incident'.

I am anticipating that in podcast 74 they will predict (through their visionary wonder) the Paul McCartney, Dhani Harrison, Julian Lennon and Zac Starkey CD, due for release in June 2009.

'Ross and Brand' to be set alight

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7711020.stm

I haven't heard the R.Allinson show (nor did I ever listen to the Ross version) but I wonder if (m)any of the prime-time R2 presenters have much (or anything) to do with selecting the music on their shows. Nor their producers, come to that. Surely these days such a playlist (see example above in thread), which could not be much more mainstream if it tried, will have been assembled by a piece of computer software, based on certain "type of music rqeuired" parameters? Then, during tx, the presenter's assistant just flies in the required music from the in-house server. The presenter just waffles. Nobody has to fill out "music played" forms for PRS, either, since the system does all that too.

Am I anywhere near the truth? I'd be interested to know.