Wham bam, thank you . . .
The people have spoken. While the groundswell of antipathy towards 6 Music mid-morning host George Lamb seems to grow by the day, support grows exponentially. Last night he won a new Sony Award for "Rising Star", beating Kelly Osborne (Radio 1), Rob Ellis (Galaxy), Hywel and Jamie (Rock FM) and Amy Jones (Kerrang). This was a "people's choice" award, voted for online - unlike the major awards, which are voted for by committee - so there's no way round it: more people registered a vote for Larry Lamb's boy than the other candidates. What does it all mean? That the most vocal opponents of his noisy, matey, laddish presenting style are actually a minority? That, actually, he's popular among those who don't theatrically re-tune their DAB when he's broadcasting between 10am and 1pm every weekday? Critic and author Lynsey Hanley has written about her distaste for him in both the New Statesman (where she was briefly radio critic) and now Word. By law, every article about 6 Music in the press mentions the howl of protest Lamb's very existence engenders. Webpages like this one have been set up to pillory him. If you were an alien picking up signals from outer space you'd be forgiven for thinking that George Lamb was as hated as Robert Mugabe or Josef Fritzl or Tony Blair - the 6 Music message boards, and others, are still awash with what seems like self-pollinating but deeply entrenched protest, there's a Facebook page, so I understand, and this oft-linked-to online petition (2,979 signatures thus far). And just because he keeps shouting "Shabba!"
Having proudly served on 6 Music for five years, I can certainly vouch for the passion of its listeners, and especially those that lurk around its message boards. Many have been listening since day one and feel an ownership of the station; others are newer but feel the same proprietorial sense of entitlement: 6 Music is their station, and if they don't like a decision relating to its direction, they'll say so. (For BBC-style balance, I should point out that there is a counter online petition urging controller Lesley Douglas to keep Lamb on air - current tally: 2,144 signatures.) Other national BBC radio stations were allowed to grow an audience, find their feet and make mistakes before the advent of email and message boards. Not so, 6 Music, which from the start has offered interactivity as a selling point and thus, can never complain when the listeners use these very channels to have a pop. (I had instances of instant email abuse while on-air, which is most disconcerting, although I have to say, 97% of the immediate feedback was polite and positive.) The fact is, Lamb's style has rubbed up a lot of people the wrong way, and when your listening figures are in the hundreds of thousands rather than the millions, this matters. What matters more, however, is publicity - I mean all publicity - and he's easily the most talked-about DJ on the network. A Sony win for 6 Music will be sweet music indeed, as the station has been ill-served over the six years of its existence by the juries: it's never won Best Digital Station, and only Marc Riley, Steve Lamacq and the Freak Zone have won a Silver (ie. placed second out of five). Having had to go public and defend Lamb, Lesley Douglas will feel vindicated this morning.
There's a serious point here - it's not just bashing the new kid. Those that reject Lamb say he doesn't care enough about the music he plays, and that his taking over from Gideon Coe (much-loved founding father and renowned music lover) was endemic of a broader move away from "male" attitudes to music appreciation and towards "female" attitudes. I use those speechmarks advisedly, as this assumption rubbed plenty of female listeners up the wrong way. It's dangerous ground to generalise, demographically, about gender. You might as well say women don't like comedy, or that only men like football. I was personally repelled by the gait of the George Lamb TV ad, in which he told someone not to put pineapple on a pizza, but I think we can blame this on the people who wrote the ad, rather than on George himself. They picked up on certain elements on a presenter's on-air personality and ran with them. (We could even blame it on me - I don't think he's aimed at me.)
I know Mike, who produces George's show (he's guitarist and singer in the 6 Music band, and has worked at 6 since the beginning - he also produced me when I deputised for George in the old night-time slot), and I'm pleased for him. It can't be easy producing a show that "everybody" hates (ie. 2,979 people who don't listen to it), but this award will make it easier. Will it shut everybody up who keeps banging on about George Lamb? No, it will inflame them even further. Although I'm no longer contracted by 6 Music - and still slightly aggrieved by the way my tenure there ended - I am on the subs' bench, so don't expect me to weigh in to this debate. In any case, I can't: I have only listened to George Lamb in the mid-morning slot twice, once on his first day, and for five minutes of his understandably priapic post-Sony show this morning. Then the iPlayer packed up. It's too noisy for me, that's all I'll say. He's clearly more suited to Radio 1, and I expect that's where he's headed, if not Radio 2, where most accredited 6 Music presenters end up. I don't feel that any radio station is aimed at me. I find the bulk of indie guitar music that fills the airwaves today sludgy and uninspiring, which is why I listen to Smooth FM.
I'm happy to host a debate on the subject of George Lamb here though.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 3:11 PM
67 Comments
Contact
Andrew at
67 Comments:
We stopped listening to Mr Lamb in the morning in the office as we think the show's too noisy, too, rather than disliking him personally. I rather like him as a TV host; I think he comes over as a more thoughtful person, ironic for a 'noisy' medium. And yes, I do miss Gideon Coe.
I have to say, I've never listened to George Lamb, but plan to have a listen now out of curiosity.
Though if he's anything like as much of a loud humourless ignorant buffoon as Chris Moyles, I won't last very long.
With all that has happened recently over the Comedy Awards 'Audience Choice' Award ( especially Richard Herring's blog revelations) surely the shine must have been taken off this one a little for all concerned?
I'm more of an adamandjoe man myself. Peerless loveable posh boys forever in the eternal summer of late-youth. Did they get anything?
I really can't stand him. There's any number of things I can't stand about him (the sexism, the boorishness, the catchphrases, the sound effects, his palpable pride at his own ignorance of what he is playing, his attitude towards interviewees, his total lack of any wit or humour, the fact he told his listeners he was voting for Boris f. Johnson. I could go on.) but the worst thing for me is the "straight estate" comments. He's a sneering, oafish and completely unlikeable snob. If that's what they were trying to get across in the trailer then it worked perfectly. Perhaps it's all jokey but a fair few of the other DJs on 6 have made openly critical comments on air about him (Jon 'Olmes, Chris Hawkins, Shaun Keaveny for a start).
Nice to hear a likeable deputy in Lauren Laverne on recently but most of the new presenters and new deps have been atrocious. Phill Jupitus doesn't appear to have been invited back since he (rightly) slated the stupid covers programme he presented, which is a great shame. False nostalgia comes to us all eventually, but I really hate the way 6music has gone.
Who? (Googles...) Ah, right. Never heard him, but I'm sure I'd hate him. Curious name for a DJ though - he sounds like he'd be more at home repealing the Corn Laws than going to the weather.
That utter self-indulgent wank from Malcom McLaren (Malcolm McLaren's Life and Times In LA) otherwise known as 'Look how clever we all are, you idiots just don't understand what a genius I am' won best feature.
Against all of Radio 4's entire features output?
Surely that proves these Mickey mouse awards ar fixed. Never mind the bollocks, here comes the naked emperor.
Another alternative title might be 'This is your life - for the terminally pretentious'
Perhaps it's my age (46) but George Lamb is not for me and I've all but given on 6Music in the daytime (it's just Lammo onwards for me now). I did try listening to GL, honestly, gov, but he's just too shouty for me. I can only hope his Sony award will accelerate his transfer to Radio 1 where he really belongs. Then can the Wednesday Wist Waggon trundle Gideon back to the morning where he really belongs.
For me he's ruined 6Music. I very rarely tune in these days. If I hear any of his ads on other radio shows it sparks me into a rage. Maybe they just want to kill off 6Music. How I long for the good old days of you, Gid and Vic.
A fair summary but your last paragraph ("He's clearly more suited to Radio 1...") is kind of the important point. Why 6? It's about the station, not the man (or at least it should be).
And I'm not going to go into the detail of what I think about the workings of the 'DAB Rising Star' award but I think you're being slightly disingenuous to suggest it proves he's actually a well-loved figure.
I am surprised the BBC continued with his Sony entry given recent controversies re: competition fixing.
The reason George Lamb won was not that people like him en masse, but that he was a national radio DJ up against four LOCAL RADIO candidates. Of course he was going to get more votes, thanks to simple mathematics. 6 Music covers a land mass of 60 million listeners. Rock FM only covers the 800,000 inhabitants of the Preston area.
Even Robert Mugabe would hang his head in shame at that one...
He's not my cup of tea either
the petition's at 2994 now
He wasn't exactly up against tough opposition, was he? I'm sure you could fit the total listnership of all the others in a fairly small room.
Anyway, I think you hit the nail on the head in the last paragraph. He is on the wrong station. Zoo format radio is always going to sit uneasily on a station where the music is given a high priority. Also, taking over Gideon's show was always going to be problematic because they are very different styles.
I've only listened a couple of times and I didn't like it. I'm tired of sidekicks to laugh at the presenter's jokes and I felt he was trying too hard to find his own style and you could hear the bits he was taking. Which isn't necessarily such a bad thing, as I heard the first shows of Danny Baker and Chris Evans on GLR and they were both copying others. The only person I've heard hit the airwaves and sound original was Chris Morris, but I guess that's genius for you.
The only time I've listened to his slot was when Pete Mitchell covered recently. I've not got anything against Lamb personally, just wish they'd move him on to Radio 1 as soon as possible. He is unlike any other DJ on the station and it sits opposite to what others do, that SFA interview was awful.
The worst thing is the way that Douglas won't answer questions about the number of people represented by The John Noel Talent Agency on the station and that it's removed from discussion on the forums when it's brought up.
He also plugs the 'save lamb' sites on air as well as declaring which candidate in the Mayoral election he would vote for.
Those criticising do unfortunately come across as people who could tell you the label number of every Creation and Factory release though to be honest, which doesn't help.
Erm, the Sonys aren't voted for by the public, there's an expert committee that listens to the audio of each entrant and makes a decision based on that.
Steve, one of the DJs he was up against was Kelly Osborne, on Radio 1. Also I think it shows some support for him, because all those who are apparently against him could have voted for Kelly Osborne. Did they? (Also, the terms "national" and "local" are meaningless when the "national" station is a digital one and is thus available to less people than Radio 1. And Kerrang isn't "local" either, it's also digital.)
I fall squarely (maybe that's the problem?!) into the category of disgruntled trad 6music fan and sadly can't have his show on.
That said, it's quite possible that 6music has enough listeners like me and not enough like the ones attracted to George Lamb. Whereas I'd be more than happy for 6music to continue ploughing its own furrow I suppose it's quite possible they need to cater to more than just a niche market (license payers money and all that), although I wish that weren't the case.
Nothing to add on Lamb, never heard him don't really want to. The only I'd like to say is that Marc Riley and Steve Lamacq aren't the only 6Music winners.
A certain show by the name of The Freak Zone also won a silver (last year) perhaps the presenter was too modest to mention it!
Ian
It's amazing how listeners to national stations (be they FM or digital) assume that local radio is easy to toss aside.
The process of nomination and shortlisting was murkyto say the least, there was no verification process for votes (ie you could vote using made up email addresses), George was the only one with a National radio network relentlessly plugging him.... go figure if this is representative of audience opinion, or just more media manipulation by a woman extremely skilled in it.
George is an amateur, and an insufferable egotist. But the real problem is, he's in the wrong place. 6 music doesn't need this sort of tripe. Let him go back to presenting kids TV. Get a proper DJ in to do a DJ's job.
Oz Naughten, Oxfordshire
Well, I have a 9-5 job so I don't listen to his show, and the iPlayer is not Mac-friendly so I can't listen again. So I'll just say that your comment about him being more suited to Radio 1 worries me, and if that's true I can completely understand the furore. I used to love love love 6Music, and used to evangalize about it to my friends. "It's for people that can't stand Radio 1," I'd say, "yet have taste in music, thus rendering them physically unable to listen to Radio 2 without bleeding from their ears." The sad thing is that these days, when I do get the opportunity to tune in to 6Music (which isn't actually that much), it feels a bit like I'm listening to Radio 1. In fact it often feels like I'm listening to a local radio station trying to copy Radio 1, and not doing a very good job. Is that a deliberate shift to gain more listeners? I hope not.
Tom Robinson is still there though, that's something. I love him.
A lot of people voted but at the time I voted (for some random person I'd never heard of just so that Lamb wouldn't win) Kelly Osbourne wasn't even on the list. It seems she was a late addition which isn't particularly fair on her not that I have any idea what she's like as a DJ.
George Lamb talks far too much, but worse, what he says is neither interesting or amusing to me.
the music played is similar in style to the rest of the station's output, but he plays probably only 60% as many records.
When he does play music he talks over it, sings along to it, plays air horns and other effects over it and generally detracts from the music element of his show.
He is neither a music DJ nor a comedian.
Not my cup of tea either. 6Music daytime is a no go area here. I did try to listen to him a couple of times but only got as far as two tracks and then got irritated enough to turn it off.
I'm glad someone likes him, perhaps this award will assist him to think he's outgrown BBC 6Music and he'll clear off, although I expect they'll just get another of the same type to replace him.
It's not as good as in your day, Andrew, by a long chalk. By the way, I write as a female music fan who wants to know who produced that track and how the guitar was tuned to get that sound and who was offended by those silly gender specific comments.
I'm afraid I've fallen prey to the publicity and avoided tuning in to his show at all. In my defence, the most influential part of that publicity was the TV ad itself though, in which he came across as obnoxious idiot.
As a sometime Radio 1 listener it sounds as though I might be part of the target audience, but barring Chris Moyles (who I also avoid) Radio 1 isn't really very shouty these days. I tend to see 6Music as a refuge from the bilge of the Radio 1 daytime playlist, particularly at weekends. I think even Jo Whiley and her questionable tastes in 'new' music are preferable to shoutiness though.
By the way Andrew, if you're going to get uppity about apostrophes then you might also want to sort out fewer vs. less. Also, I'm really not sure if the Smooth FM remark was a joke or not...
Kerrang! is available on fewer digital platforms than 6 Music. 6 Music is available nationally on DAB, for example, whereas Kerrang is only on DAB in some local areas.
Meanwhile, whilst Kelly Osborne is indeed on Radio 1, she is only on once a week, on an "agony" show, and I guess has not been imploring her listeners to vote for her, in the way that Lamb has, five days a week. In fact, your point about 6Music interactivity is important here - I am guessing the presenters on Galaxy or Rock FM are largely told to shut up and play the music (as is commercial radio's way) rather than to indulge themsleves in long speech parts (as is the BBC's way).
George Lamb's show is rubbish, by the way. But then, I have largely gone off 6Music anyway.
I have been pretty vocal in support of George. I enjoy the show, as it adds a bit of humour to the morning and he plays lots of hip hop, old dance and northern soul too. I think there would be far more visible support for him if those who did raise their heads above the virtual parapet weren't immeadiately villified for incorrect use of grammar, colloquiallisms etc by what can seem to be a very vocal, threatening pack. It smacks of snobbishness. It's unfortunate that certain people have taken to condeming fellow listeners/licence payers simply because they choose to express a different opinion to the established 'forum folk'. Most people who listen to most radio shows simply can't be bothered to get embroiled in such hoo-hah. I have listened to 6 music from day 1, infact your show was my favourite!! I still listen to many of the shows, some I miss cos they are just not my bag. I can appreaciate that there are those who feel that not enough of the content of the Lamb show is based on music chat/playing tracks. However, bums on seats count and if it's a way of getting more ears to the DAB, then that's got to be good. Unless those members of the 'exclusive old boys/gals club' cannot bear to let others in lest they muddy the waters. Unfortunately if people aren't listening, then there will be NO STATION, let alone one to argue over. Music will naturally polarise opinion. People who like the types of music that 6 plays are more naturally going to be willing to engage in comment/debate. However, it's very interesting to read the general in-fighting and disapproval within most postings. It just happens that many of those who would normally contentedly squabble amongst themselves have joined forces in what could end up as a very bad-tempered and ill-fated quest.
Just thought I should show that Lambites are able to put finger(!) to keys and construct a reasonable response....QueenData.
Slowly Radio 6 has filled up with Radio 1-nnabes, and it's been a real shame. The only worse thing than listening to George Lamb teach students that it's a hilarious joke to copy the way some black people talk is to listen to Steve Lamacq's soul dying as he discusses the comedy news item of the day, or listening to the endless, impotent misery of Nemone's three-hour request show, where only one request actually gets played...
Andrew: Wouldn't casting a protest vote for Kelly Osbourne be a bit like the opportunity to vote UKIP in protest against Veritas? She recently told listeners to "f off", didn't she?
And isn't Kerrang on a local DAB multiplex rather than the national one?
“It can't be easy producing a show that "everybody" hates (ie. 2,979 people who don't listen to it)”
Are you sure about that?
On the 6Music board there’s the large thread where people ‘rightly’ vent their spleen about Lamb. What I find particularly baffling is how do these people who supposedly don’t listen to the show anymore manage to accurately quote & dissect whatever the latest gaffe Lamb has allegedly made on his most recent programme?
Personally if I don’t like something [on my TV or radio] I normally make the easy decision of tuning into something else, but maybe that’s just me.
If it was an autocracy where people were literally forced to listen to Lamb then perhaps I could sympathise with the detractors. However, evidently the only way the critics of his programme have any insight of his most recent faux pas can only be because they still periodically tune in for some very strange reason.
Is it purely glutton for punishment or a lingering hope that one day George Lamb will suddenly conform to whatever image an ideal 6 Music broadcaster ought to be?
I don’t know what his listening figures are, but I’d envisage they must be relatively decent for a digital/online programme – I stand to be corrected if it’s otherwise.
As for the Sony Award accolade, surely its vindication enough that he’s obviously doing something right – it’s voted by the people, presumably those who enjoy his output & think he’s worthy of such an honour.
Furthermore, when it comes to the other loud mouthed DJ on Radio 1, Chris Moyles [who is often compared to Lamb], he also won gold Sony Award only his was voted by esteemed judges/panellists. These are also the same folks who rightly [in my opinion] voted BBC Radio 4 as the station of the year proving that they are objective people who see the big picture.
Reading the incessant onslaught about George Lamb on the 6Music message board reminds me of that TV show, ‘Grumpy Old Men/Women’ – with old people complaining about how it’s just not like how it used to be in their day. Well, times have changed either get with the programme or vote with your feet [three’s actually decent radio elsewhere between 10:00 – 13:00 if you look for it] because while he continues to have ‘growing success’ George Lamb will not change for anyone.
I stand corrected on the bits where I was less than correct (Kerrang/local DAB platforms; Freak Zone Sony win; less/fewer outrage). I also had no idea that Kelly Osborne was added to the shortlist late, which slopes the playing field a bit. I stand by my original assertion though, that the noisy minority might just be that.
Yes I do listen to Smooth FM. It's less likely to have the Kooks or Scouting For Boys or the Pigeon Detectives or the Wombats. In fact, I'm guaranteed not to hear those bands!
Matthew, I never said the Sonys were voted for by the public (I should know, I was on the judging panel one year) - but the Sony DAB Rising Star award was voted for online.
Who?
With choose-your-own interweb radio 'stations' like lastfm, do people really bother listening to digital stations on their interweb still, let alone on a new-fangled DAB radiogram? Times have moved on surely to worry about gobshite-ing whippersnappers like George Pork or whoever he is.
Anna
I've heard bit of George Lamb's show several times when my radio's still been tuned to 6 Music from the previous evening. I've ranted to my flatmates about how absolutely fucking awful the show is (they agree), but I genuinely had no idea about his unpopularity.
I stopped looking at the 6 Music message boards a couple of years ago because all the posts seemed to be from the same man whinging about Jon Holmes and Russell Brand, endlessly repeating the phrase, "What has he got to do with music?" Barry Beatmaster? Beatmaster Barry? Whatever his name is, I bet he still posts constantly. He struck me as the sort of person who would have several pseudonyms so as he could reply to his own dull comments. Actually, I heard Jon Holmes mention him on air fairly recently, so presumably he still listens to the shows he hates. Jon is also the only DJ I've heard making negative comments about George Lamb, which always made me laugh because I thought I was in the minority of people who don't like him. As you said, perhaps I am.
George Lamb's presenting style reminds me a lot of Tim Westwood's. This can never be a positive thing.
Re: the "male" and "female" attitudes to music, if that were true, I would be the male and my boyfriend would be the female. Interesting. Reading those generalisations makes me want to go on a killing spree. And no, I'm not over-reacting. Shut up.
Andrew, do you know if Tony Hadocke won the Sony Award he was nominated for? I hope so. 'Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf' was amazing, and I've never even seen 'Doctor Who'. It's being repeated on BBC7 at the moment if anyone wants to listen online.
I gave up listening to 6music in the morning (ie. anytime before 1pm) less than a week as soon as GL was put in the morning slot, I'd already experienced his 'style' in the evening slot and it wasn't to my taste. I do occassionally make the mistake of waking up early and putting the radio on, as it's usually tuned to 6 I sometimes will catch the odd 5minutes of mindless drivel before I can get back to the radio to retune. Sometimes I even adopt the 'spectator at a car crash' attitude and subject myself to longer to see if I can work out what it is about this moron that people like, so far I have failed!
I was flabbergasted to hear that he'd won a sony, and just goes to show that it is easy to rig/fix these competitions and dispite all the new scrutiny due to recent scandals it still continues to happen. I did run an online poll, just search for 'george lamb' + Squidoo, this had over 600 votes, before the poll crashed :( it always surprised me that it attracted so much comment and attention and that 40% of visitors did actually like Lamb, some passionately!
Well, I just can't wait until he's promoted to radio 1 or 2, and allow the music, not the personality, to take precedence again at 6. Though having said that, they have some of the greatest hot and upcoming Comedy stars Dj'ing which really does liven up the schedule. So as long as it's a good personality...... :)
I find Queen Data's defence of Lamb to be a complete straw-man. Lamb is on a niche, albeit with a sizeable audience, digital station on the BBC. It should not have to pander to put bums on seats nor does an ends justify the means of rating grabbing hold up as much of a Reithian value. It's people who work in the media thinking like this who will continue to slide the BBC closer to a ratings grabbing commercial channel, it will lose what makes it unique and there will be political and Murdoch pressure to do change the way the license fee is implemented and it will eventually go.
This, would a bloody disaster.
Never heard him. Is it Glamb rock?
Andrew, my post on the voting system was aimed at Steve in Winchester's comments, not anything you said. However, I didn't know about the Rising Star's differing circumstances.
Andrew, the problem with the Sony that Lamb won was that the award didn't exist on the Sony nominations website and was only announced at the press launch for the awards. The nominees were drawn up by the Sony Awards commitee, which Lesley Douglas is a member of. The normal method of submitting a cd of show content to Sony and a shortlist being drawn up from those entries did not appear to exist for the rising star award.
I much prefer that slot when Pete Mitchell was filling in, as I avoid it when Lamb is on (just not my cuppa tea) but then again I loved Virgin's Pete & Geoff Breakfast Show and thought it was a shame when they went their separate ways.
Not really heard anything by the Kooks to comment on them but Scouting For Girls really get on my nerves.
The two singles I've heard so far by them seem to have about 4 lines in them repeated over and over and over again (only slight exaggeration) and they'd have to be a really good songs and tune to carry that off, and they're not.
I've listened to the odd bit of Smooth FM before now. Quite relaxing in some ways.
Can't stand Lamb on the radio myself. I always find the notion of how some loudmouth blatent lad/bloke is supposed to attract women to the station a rather absurd notion. I was amazed at one thing I read somewhere about one show featuring a segment discussing the breast size of one of the production team! If I'd heard that myself, I wouldn't have been able to complain fast enough.
But I don't listen - and consequently I listen to 6music far less than I used to because if I'm at work, and have some music on, it doesn't often get changed during the day.
I do feel sorry for all the people who do work on his show, and who have to put up with all this resentment and bad feeling. It can't be nice and they're just doing their job. But unfortunately for them Lamb is simply one of those people who is going to polarise the listenership. Just as he will on Radio 2 when he finally gets moved there.
Lamb for Steve Wright anyone?
I do have sneaking idea that there are more important things to get het up about, GL isn't a Burmese general or anything he's at worse a below par radio DJ. I'm not saying our money shouldn't be spent properly, I just think all this imaginative energy could spent somewhere else.
"I find the bulk of indie guitar music that fills the airwaves today sludgy and uninspiring"
See that's why I miss you on air so much!
You'd be proud of us:
Girls Aloud tickets for Sunday, FA Cup Final Tickets for Saturday, Times New Viking tickets for Monday and Green Man tickets for and a brand new camper van for the summer - life's rich tapestry, come back to a radio near us soon Andrew.
You said: "his was a "people's choice" award - unlike the major
awards, which are voted for by committee - so there's no way round it: more people registered a vote for Larry Lamb's boy than the other
candidates."
I think there is a way around it. It's easy to make fake e-mail
accounts to register votes. I could have spent an evening doing it quite easily, but didn't. Is this just sour grapes on my part? Well of course you could think that, but the voting system was open to abuse and personally I don't believe for a minute it wasn't fixed. I see far more anti-Lamb than pro-Lamb out there which makes his winning less plausible.
You said: "And just because he keeps shouting "Shabba!""
Well, honestly. That's really quite insulting. It's not just because
he shouts "Shabba" is it? It's because he's an ignorant,
loud-mouthed, egotistical man who is stepping all over a once great
radio-station to get to the next part of his career, which appears to be presenting reality programmes that people stopped caring about five years ago.
I've only heard about 20 minutes of his show, by mistake.
He's rubbish.
As for awards, no matter who votes, they're all rigged in some way (Herring's been going on about this recently, as you know).
An online vote is no more valid than a phone vote these days. There are many ways to corrupt the voting process (think Belle and Sebastiene or however you spell it at the Brits) - and Lamb's fans, considering they're up against a vocal opposition, will have voted in droves - duplicating their votes also, n'doubt.
Awards ceremonies are great PR exercises, great for brand recognition, great for a load of industry bores who like boozing for free, but to everyone else they're baffling. Unless they're the sort of individuals who buy albums because they happen to be Brit-nominated - and those sorts of people pollute the gene-pool.
So, to conclude:
Awards: Meaningless
Lamb: Meaningless
Swineshead: Genius
Sali, Toby Hadocke's Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf did not win in the Drama category, I'm afraid. Good to be nominated though - we always say that. They get a lot of entries.
Let's not be too hasty in saying any poll was "rigged", Roo. "Open to abuse", Matt's phrase, is fair comment if you didn't have to register to vote. Why didn't Sony fix it up so that you had to register? What's the point, otherwise? (Clearly, you can still register 100 times using 100 hotmail addresses, but who can be bothered?) The trouble with online polls, as per the People's Choice award at the Comedy Awards (won by Gavin & Stacey with its fairly small audience - certainly compared to Strictly Come Dancing and Britain's Got Talent) is that those candidates with a big online following are more likely to win ie. shows watched/listened to by younger people. (I hate to generalise, but fans of Strictly Come Dancing aren't sat at their PCs, desperate for "their" show to win.)
I do hate it when the BBC had to increase its audience. Why? This was happening at 6 Music long before I left: the mania to grow the audience rather than look after those who are already loyally listening. This is a BBC-wide problem, not unique to one digital radio station. It's all about the numbers. I love the BBC and will light up the flaming torch (as Stuart Maconie used to say) if the licence fee is threatened, but it seems to be under unnatural pressure to "compete", and this means commercially. Why, oh why? What's the point of having a BBC if it's just another commercial player?
The thing about GL is simply that R6 is really (if you read the remit) for grown ups and muso's. Hence the posting from people (gasp) in their 30's and 40's and sometimes older and often listen at work (or not as the case may be)
GL rubs them all up the wrong way as the show is quite frankly not aimed at them.
Result? Culture clash.
On R1 he would do just fine quite frankly and be completely unremarkable.
>>on a point of nominations I don't think Kelly was a late entry, but come on what self respecting anti-lambist would vote for her? Perhaps there is a parallel campaign against her with everyone voting for GL as the "only one anyone has ever heard of" and "slightly better than Kelly"
Tim - please put away that tired old argument that if you don't like something you should just switch off rather than complain about it.
I have switched off - or, rather, I listen again to Gideon's show from the night before between 10-1.
But it's a wider issue than just turning off one show. You suggest we 'tune into something else' - but the whole point is there isn't anything else to tune in to - and that's a direct result of replacing great shows (like Gideon's and, dare I say it, Andrew's) with dross.
The launch of 6Music tempted me back to music radio after I defected to speech-only in depair some years ago. At last we had an alternative to the idiocies of Radio 1 et al. I was very happy to switch off the crap and tune into something better.
But when the better alternative is then systematically dismantled what do you expect us to do?
I think people still listen to Lamb purely to gain further evidence in the campaign against him - and let's face it there's no shortage.
And no, it's not THAT important in the grand scheme of things - it is only a radio show/station we're discussing. But radio - and the things the BBC should stand for - are still very important to people.
I'm not prepared to throw in the towel just yet.
I'm with Andrew re. the BBC aping commercial stations - that's not what I pay my licence fee for.
I listened to some George Lamb after he got some mention round these parts a while ago, and thought the show was quite horrid.
I listen to Adam and Joe on 6Music because they are funny, the music is good and they have an intelligent attitude towards it amongst the japery.
There.
Christ. I just listened to two minutes of his machine-gun, laddish rasp and my ears are bleeding. Why is Lesley Douglas commissioning this crap?
Anna
It must be great for him to be at the centre of what is clearly a heated debate. Better to be talked about than not.
Personally I've not heard him on the radio, but I thought he was okay on the bits of Freshly Squeezed I caught while waiting for Everybody Loves Raymond to start.
However, as someone pointed out earlier, look at the competition: Kelly Osbourne! Well, really. What a farce. The celebrity as DJ is not a good idea. Look at Dermot O'Leary. I kno whe won an award, but why? He's not heard of any music pre-about 1995. It must be a personality-based thing.
Yes a DJ should have a personality of course, but above all they should like music, end of story. Or is that terribly old-fashioned thinking?
"I had instances of instant email abuse while on-air"
Andrew,hope me calling myself 'Andrew Collins Teeth' in the round table chatroom all those years ago wasnt thought of as abuse,i used the name affectionately yet still, you had me fixed...oh well
OH yeah George Lamb, where do we start?
How about with the dancehall track that he played that contained 15 odd F words or the dancehall tracks that he plays that are made by some of the most cretinous artists that record music...hey George stick this Skrewdriver Record on old chap.
I reckon if you showed Lamb a tracklisting for his own show he'd ask what it was.
"I was personally repelled by the gait of the George Lamb TV ad, in which he told someone not to put pineapple on a pizza, but I think we can blame this on the people who wrote the ad, rather than on George himself"
Dont Agree Andrew, this one line sums Lamb's show up completely
That one line is his shtick, i wouldnt be suprised if he storyboarded the whole advert around that line being in it.
"I know Mike, who produces George's show), and I'm pleased for him"
he actually seems like a nice bloke, albeit one with a different sense of humour that doesnt seem to belong with Lamb and his monkey boy, oh and the girl (the girl that mysteriously appeared on the show around the same time as Lesley Douglas retarded bloke/women remarks on the R4 feedback programme)
Lets get this right, i listened to 6 music from day dot, even listening to the test signals.
Purchased 2 dabs on the strength of the station,one for home one for work all based on the varied daytime schedule...Jupitus,Coe,Kershaw,Collins it was pure joy..all the dj's had 2 names for a change (although emma b did fill in once eek!!)
Now its turned to rot, starting with overplaying the 'word from our sponsors'(the playlist to you & me)and then "celebrity" dj's that arent really dj's but are people offa the tv who cant decide what media/station to appear on, so they appear on all of em.
And now the daytime schedule is just plain awful and to me at least unlistenable.
The only chink in the cloud is Nemone no longer does lunchtime darts (quack quack OOPS) and i think George Lamb as stopped talking in a west indian accent.
Perhaps he "won" in the same way Ant & Dec "won" the people's choice award at the 2005 British Comedy Awards.
Robbie Williams wasn't presenting, was he?
Deb Holt
My objection to Lamb's show has nothing to do with his presentation style - though I find it repellent, that's purely a question of personal taste. I object on the grounds that the format of his show has very little to do with music, and he himself appears to take very little interest in music (whatever his interest may be off-air, on-air it seems very low down his list of priorities). Now, if the station was simply called "Radio 6", then it would be a moot point whether such a music-lite show had any place in its schedule. But for a station whose very name consists almost entirely of the word "Music" to place in the very centre of its weekday schedule, a show to which music is at best peripheral, is indefensible. It's misrepresentation, pure and simple.
"It's all about the numbers." That's the real issue here isn't it. I haven't followed the dispute over Lamb but I did hear Lesley Douglas on Feedback defending him as a music enthusiast etc. If she hasn't said that he's there largely to boost ratings you'd have to say it was an elephant in room situation. Best to be straight about it, for all concerned.
Alex Lester has been attracting a million to Radio 2 for almost 20 years and has never been nominated. Something's not right there...
Let me preface this comment by coming clean and admitting to working for a commercial station - arguably a rival to 6 Music.
I won't get into the rights and wrongs of Lamb as I've never heard his show, and it'd be disingenuous to talk about his merits or lack thereof.
But Andrew's question about why the BBC has to continue to increase its audience is worth addressing. I'd argue that the BBC needs to stop now. The share of overall listening has now grown to a record for the BBC with it gaining 57% of all listening compared with commercial radio's 41%. That's an embarrassingly large lead that only gives the likes of Peter Bazalgette ammunition to demand the privatisation of Radio 1 and Radio 2, something that I don't believe would benefit anybody.
6 Music was set-up to do something different, serving an audience not otherwise served by the BBC or commercial radio. I suppose their quandry is at the same time it's an expensive service that only reaches a little over half a million people. It's the usual balance between not being too exclusive, yet not becoming too populist. Has it strayed too far in one direction perhaps?
In actual fact, it's Radio 2 that's probably doing the most damage to commercial radio, but that's another discussion...
If you're interested in more on this subject and want to see a nice chart showing the growing dominance of the BBC over the last few years, I've blogged about it here.
I've now seen George Pork on youtbe. He's like a weak mockernee version of Russell Brand in Mark Owen's haircut. Filth.
I'm a woman. Women don't go for this. What was Lesley Douglas on about, expanding the 6Music demographic to women with this NONSENSE?
I'm going to stop commenting on this now because it's doing my head in that he even has gainful licence-fee paid-for employment. He's an insult to the intelligence of listeners. A gobshite haircut with some earcans and a mic. RUBBISH!
Anna
Like a lot of the people commenting here, we used to listen to 6 in the daytime because it was the only channel that played eclectic music with passionate hosts. So now that we've got DJ's like Lamb the station's more like Radio 1. Radio 1's fine for the casual pop fan, but where are 6music listeners supposed to go now?
I'm in my mid 20s and theoretically the demographic Lamb's aimed at, but can't stand the guy. Very little music, constant noise, catchphrases and shouting, berating guests, lack of knowledge of what he's playing... It's a shame that in the light of all the negative feedback the BBC have branded him "controversial"... that makes it sound as if he's doing something different or new.
Sadly 6music started to go downhill in terms of its presenters when they got Jon Holmes and Russell Howard on. Neither of them are bad per se, I just can't listen to them. Things got a whole lot worse with Shaun Keaveny taking over the breakfast show. Urg, i cannot bear to listen to him. In comparison, i can't bring myself to care too much about Lambo.
Thank god Tom Robinson and Marc Riley are still there!
blimey, Jon Holmes mentioned me on his show recently? I haven't posted on the 6messageboard since I got banned last year, and no, I only used the one account there, and I only listen to the freakzone now. 6music's target audience has changed, and I'm not in it.
Happy to hear from you, Barry. (You'll understand why I didn't publish your other comment - nothing sinister! Email me direct on the matter if you like. No Stalinist censorship here. Except when I say so.)
The 6music message boards are ridiculous, getting to be as bad as the Radio 2 boards looked.
There's a tonne of hypocrisy going on, it seems as though the 'pack' will always whinge and moan about someone.
Pete Mitchell used to be a target on there but when he stood in recently he got rave reviews from all of the Lamb haters.
It all seems like such a waste of energy, I wish people would learn a few online manners.
The changes at 6Music really sadden me. To hear different music you now have to dip in at the end of the day, rather than waking up to some obsure ska track, and hearing passionate, informed and likeable DJs throughout the day. This is a real move towards the Radio 1 schedule, and I thought the point of 6 was it was for the folk that want alternative music all day - not just the usual play list.
George Lamb REVOLT's me, and as a female, his laddy style is way less appealing than Gideon's 'geeky' tones. Lamb is a snob, I've heard him make countless references to what 'chavs' or 'estate' people do - which is where the pineapple on pizza thing comes from. I also heard him say 'Vote Boris' one day - isn't that a sackable offence on the beeb???
There are some real star players on 6 - Adam and Joe have never been as funny and Stephen Merchant's show brings the sincerity that has been missing in recent Ricky podcasts - but I do miss Phill and Gideon in the morning. And it's not the same as the glory days with your good self and Richard of a weekend - thank god for podcasts! At least that fills an hour of the nightmare that is Lamb!!!
"it's not the same as the glory days with your good self and Richard of a weekend - thank god for podcasts!"
______________________________________________________
So here we have the crux of the problem – it’s just not like how it used to be in my day.
The authority figures in my younger days used to regurgitate the same sentiments with regards to the clothes I was wearing; the then ‘stylish’ haircuts I used to get; the music I was listening to etc.
George Lamb sticks out like a sore thumb on 6Music, but perhaps that’s exactly what Leslie Douglas wants.
Controversial jocks = successful radio
¬ Radio 1 has Chris Moyles
¬ Radio 2 has Russell Brand
¬ 5Live have Alan Green & Steven Nolan
¬ TalkSport had James Whale & still have George Galloway, Mike Parry, Adrian Durham etc.
¬ 6Music now have their own ‘shock’ jock in George Lamb who is getting increased headlines by the day.
Can I just point out that now all posts from "Matt" are me? Thanks.
Like everyone else, I tried to give George Lamb the benefit of the doubt. I can't - he's an inarticulate philistine and I've heard more fluent conversation on sarf london pirate radio. And worst of all, he's both boorish AND boring. In short, a twat.
Let's face it, 6music is the patron station for Stuff White People Like people. We feel it belongs to us (like Word Magazine). If you stuck Gaunty on the BBC Asian network and willfully ignored protests, there'd be mayhem. Why ignore our protests about George Lamb? Put him on R1 and see how he hacks it for a more appropriate audience, but let's get the JNP and R2/6Music cabalism questions out in the open.
Ach, what is this thing about Chris Moyles being so awful? His style, granted, is a matter of personal taste, but he's very gifted technically and would make an excellent producer with an ego-ectomy.
Sure, we have Last.fm, but I want to listen to something I've never heard before. I like 6Music's mix of reggae followed by dance followed by a Peel Session followed by something from the top ten. (I'm twenty-six, by the way, which is why I like the eclecticism.) I get a bit sad when this gets replaced by someone going on about things being 'estate'.
mippy
Post a Comment
<< Home