Entertainment For Lively Minds
Too much news?
Posted by AndyPage on 29 January 2012 - 8:55am.
I have recently been driving a car without a functioning CD player, but the radio works. Not DAB, just the usual FM/AM/LW.
It has occurred to me that there is just far too much news broadcast. It is every station's assumption that everyone wants to hear about 5 mins of news every hour.
Surely, if you have a radio, and want to catch up on the news, you could just tune to an appropriate station?
Is it just on because royalties don't have to be paid on it? If anyone does listen to a station all day at work, do they want to hear the same bulletin 8 or 9 times?
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I believe
That most radio stations operate on the principle that people listen for an average of 20 minutes - hence the heavy degree of repetition of songs on commercial radio. Believe me, if you have to endure listening to Capital (as I do at work and at home) then the news comes as a blessed relief after the fourteenth airing of 'Dancing in the Moonlight' by Toploader.
It might also be part of the regulations of granting a license.
I'd agree with above and say its a license thing
Royalties DO have to be paid if they use a music bed under the news - which mostly they do
Tend To Agree
I know what you're saying and with the Internet, there's very little reason to miss out on what's happening in the world - you don't need to "tune in" at any special times. The news on 6Music often seems particularly trite and I've often said, after a 3 minute bulletin that what they really mean is that nothing happened today. Often it seems like the main story is "A man was killed in a house fire and this is what the neighbours said...". Should I care? I don't really see why I should. Do I care? No I don't. I think they should have a quick think - is this story of interest to more than 1000 people? If yes, broadcast it, if no, then have the balls to say that nothing important happened today.
I believe that back in the 30s
it occasionally happened that the announcer said 'There is no news today. Here is some music'.
I was brought up in a household where every news bulletin had to be watched religiously (thank goodness there were only 2 channels) so I'd had my fill of news by the age of 10.
Has anything happened since 1967?
I very rarely watch tv news, only catch parts of radio bulletins on Radio 4 in the morning and evening.
But if they even think about removing a bulletin, there is always an outcry about 'dumbing down' - which comes from journalists who, almost by definition, are more interested in news than the rest of us.
You know, a lot's changed since 1967
but, as Austin P would say:
As for myself, if the world's due to end, I'm sure Radio 3 will drop it casually into the conversation, after some Bach. And anything else can wait, imo.
I think radio 3 manages a bit less than 5 mins per hour of news-
Feels more like 3 and is one reason I listen to it in the morning.