I tip my hat to Brent Clough

warwick, fran, brent, tim.

Close to only radio station this house ever hears.

I was most disappointed with the winning entry in Fran's Bob Dylan song lyric competition.

what's the call sign thingy

i'm going to change my clock radio to it

621am

i mean how friggin obvious is it to choose Ballad of a Thin Man which is about journalism anyway.

I mean it was my first choice too

You've been with the professors And they've all liked your looks With great lawyers you have Discussed lepers and crooks

But I rejected it because it is contemptous and scathing of journalists and Fran is better than that.

And what happens? Stupid stupid judging panel gave it to that lyric. bah

It was a bullshit decision that pissed me off. And I cant stand Bob Dylan!

abc radio national is awesome in the wee small hours of the morning. all those wonderfully obscure radio documentaries.

What are peoples feelings about the amount of program repeats?

Is there a budgetary reason for this?

Or, does it have to do with their Charter?

Anyone know answers to these kind of Qs?

And the amount of podcasts is astounding

there always used to be one repeat even during the more glorious days.

i love waking up to michelle grattan

she's a fox too

i listen to various programs at 8.30 each morning on my way to work

the law report, the religion report, the media report

and occasionally, the health report

they are all repeated in the evenings.

podcasts are responsible for me getting hooked on rn. first it was just background briefing. then it was the media report. then the science show. now i wake up to fran every morning.

there was a great series on the history of electronic music on at lunch times a while back. Not available as a podcast tho'. think it was produced by radio canada

Yes, that series was amazing! It was available as a stream I think.

RN have one of the most forward thinking online producers in the country at the helm. It's no wonder they're incredibly successful in a pretty competitive market.

On of our greatest resources and institutions.

Still, NZ's Radio National broadcast a live set of MSU, I don't know if that could happen here.

is that you socks?

I love just about everything about RN. A real intelligence and depth of research is brought to every subject - even The Sports Factor sucks me in and I don't give a shit about any sport. The podcast system is amazing. Book Show, Philosophers Zone, Night Air, All in the Mind, Late Night Live... I have about a dozen favourite shows. Amazing but wonderful that it's remained so good in the midst of other ABC developments in recent years.

calico: No!

What are people's thoughts on:
- The Music Show
- The Planet
- Music Deli
- Sound Quality

I am not a fan, but I'd be interested to hear what other's thought - particularly with respect to the relevance of these shows to local music scenes.

As someone who used to be a bigger fan of Sound Quality, I've got to say I'm getting a bit bored with it. I dunno - Solid Steel seems (just a touch) lazy. There's much more interesting stuff out there and if I were running things, I'd be too excited about the other music that's out there to let someone else programme half my show...

...yeah, always puzzled me. so 90s. i mean ritchie is always banging on about the depth and quality of the local scene, yet always bows to the dogma of english electronic music fashions.

i never get enough time to listen to those programmes regularly, bxckxt. still, my appreciation for the variety of programming on radio national extends far beyond their music programmes.

is 'the night air' still on sunday nights? i used to listen to that program fervently.

socks, isn't solid steel just a replay of the BBC show started by coldcut way back when?

What's the show that does the ''quiet music'' in the middle of the night? I don't mind that.

Yes, yes it is.

What's the show that does the ''quiet music'' in the middle of the night? I don't mind that.

Yeah I like that. It's Paul Gough (aka Pimmon), The Quiet Space

Bingo. Good stuff.

Ah, well for all my praise, I don't actually turn to RN for music, and don't listen to any of those shows with any regularity. The Music Show sometimes, though it's pretty academy/canon oriented, and seems to have become somewhat less diverse in the last year. A fair bit of local content, but not exactly attuned to the grassroots. The Planet occasionally catches my ear for a few minutes, but their ''world'' isn't really mine, for the most part. Music Deli is just not my thing, and Sound Quality is on at awkward times. If these could be podcast I might have listened more, but obviously, licencing issues...

But I see where you're coming from bxckxtrxdxr, and yeah there's definitely room for a show or two focussing on the ''local now''. There's a fair of bit of stylistic crossover amongst the current music programs.

Oh yeah Quiet Space is good! Always forget to listen to it though, even in the online streams. But listening now to the latest, incl. Severed Heads, Seaworthy, Makers of the Dead Travel Fast! That's more like it. Thanks for the reminder.

Fran interviewed Chuggy this morning.

he 'broke' martha wainwright

From Greg Wadley's Spill Blog:

I like listening to radio more than putting albums on. Some musicians have berated me for this, but to me listening to radio vs album is like the difference between reading the paper - or your favourite blog - vs a book you've already read several times. Sometimes you'll want the book, but typically the paper is more suitable. Radio connects you to the world. It delivers a cultural barometer that your cd collection can't give you - because it's your collection. I have listened to a wide variety of radio over the years - not all of it voluntarily - here is my review of it.

Radio National

I've started with a wildcard entry. RN specializes not in music but in current affairs and documentary style shows, a format which is often called ''talk''. I know that for many people, especially those under 30, the idea of a talk station conjures up a horror of horse racing, insomniac talkback callers and shock jocks. RN is a rare and shining exception to this. It's like having a great magazine, at the flick of a switch, and constantly updated. Standout shows are too many to mention but include Phillip Adams every night at 10, and most of Saturday's daytime shows. If RN has one problem it is perhaps that it's too interesting - this is not background music for your thinkin' work. As David Nichols has pointed out, it is ironically RN's music programs that let it down, though there are exceptions such as Tim Ritchie's Friday night show. RN is now podcast, so you can listen at convenient times or while insomniac etc. I've yet to get an iPod but I imagine their owners, having discovered RN, need never experience boredom again.

''but to me listening to radio vs album is like the difference between reading the paper - or your favourite blog - vs a book you've already read several times.''

Yeah, but what if you listen to Gold 104?

they were talking about female ejaculation the other day! during prime time! at like 8AM!!!

If RN has one problem it is perhaps that it's too interesting - this is not background music for your thinkin' work... RN is now podcast, so you can listen at convenient times or while insomniac etc. I've yet to get an iPod but I imagine their owners, having discovered RN, need never experience boredom again.

Yep! Except that I have about 250 unlistened podcasts to be got around to... someday. And I can't stop downloading. Too interesting by half.

they were talking about female ejaculation the other day! during prime time! at like 8AM!!!

Case in point.

As David Nichols has pointed out, it is ironically RN's music programs that let it down...

Does anyone know the David Nichols article/whatever that Greg's referring to here?

There was this brief mention in a blog post... dunno if he's written more substantially about it.

My favourite Radio National program, The Night Air, has a new Blog!

Yesterday, the show featured the amazing music of Greek avant garde composer, Jani Christou. Check out the podcast here.

i've addicted to radio national for 2 years now.

amazing

Was listening to episode 3 of The Australian Landscape: A Cultural History

Really well made and interesting.

Your tax-dollar at work for good rather than evil.

Shakespeare's crack-pipes. English Lit meets Forensic toxicology... an excellent bit of pod-fodder. Thanks RN!

yeah, that was an awesome show ocelotl

RIP John Cargher. OK, his show was not to my taste nor most around here, but presenting a radio show for 42 years, up to the age of 89, sure earns my respect. And he died just 4 days after the broadcast of the episode which was deliberately planned as his last - talk about dedication.

Yeah, RIP for John. He was awesome. The level of detail around the politics and history of the opera singer that he presented was awesome.

some wankers from the JJJ breakfast show invaded radio national's breakfast this morning, spouting some tired dreary old cliches about old people listening to RN.

I'm sure however that you know it's the show that your average political/business/trade unionist/academic et etc person listens to in the morning to get their dose of current affairs before the day starts.

the old folks cliche is just for comic relief I spose.

but the RN breakfast show's idea of light entertainment is also good. Rob Forster was on last week talking about his new record and having access to Grant McLennan's diaries for a day so he could try and find the lyrics to Grant's new songs after he died.

they mentioned something about a presets gig and then explained to steve cannane what a 'gig' was. it was all quite edifying.

yeah so apparently RN is getting a bit of a makeover and some people are none too pleased about it. Talk of dumbing down, etc.

I think the most helpful thing to do at this time would be to take their survey.

i tend to listen to the 8.30am RN programs, law report, media report, even the religion report.

i'll miss them

Very angry about The Media Report going.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Stephen Crittenden's doing a bit of bridge-burning. Go, Steve! Anyway, seems that the cuts will be: The Religion Report, The Media Report, The Sports Factor, Radio Eye, In Conversation and Street Stories. Perspective and The Ark are ''under a cloud'', according to The Age, whatever that means. Anyway, on the face of it, this all seems to suck. Don't know what will replace the shows but Radio Eye will be a big loss. Sports Factor is the only program that has ever been able to make sport interesting to me. Hmm. Grumble.