Steve Allen live at the Mermaid

www.photochris.co.uk

Steve Allen has been a presenter at LBC since 1979 and has built a considerable fan base over the decades. In recent times he has also taken to putting on a few stage shows a year around London.


He and his entourage held court at the Mermaid Theatre at Puddle Dock in London for two such shows on Saturday 26th February. Mr Allen started off with some entertaining observations on ITV’s current Sunday night extravaganza- Dancing on Ice. Like most of the audience, he is not against the show at all, but grates at the exposure given to some of the so–called celebrities that feature on it. After warming to the theme and berating the tabloid press and ‘celeb’ magazines, he introduced the first act of the evening.


This was the mind reader Graham P Jolley, an acquaintance that Steve bumped into on his Las Vegas flight last year, and he proved to be popular. People were selecting words from thesauri, names and numbers from phone directories, random numbers etc. and he accurately predicted what they had chosen. There were too many random audience volunteers for them all to be stooges, and of course, no obvious hidden cameras or microphones. 

Graham P Jolley is good at what he does, but like all these type of acts, I think it is sometimes a case of knowing the trickery behind the glitz and with that and enough practice, many more of us could do it. (N.B. added Summer 2011- He also went onto fool Penn & Teller on national tv in the UK so he is obviously at the top of his game and far better than I had appreciated- my apologies Graham!) 

He concluded with a clever number prediction act, which I have seen a street entertainer do in Covent Garden. But nice for this mature gentleman to be given this opportunity, and a fun act: http://www.mindreader.org.uk/

With Steve’s producer Amanda and two of his part time co-hosts, John Warrington and Paul Savory, handing out sweets in the interval, there was a convivial atmosphere for the second part of the show.

Steve showed just why he is a legend, or maybe that is a cult, with his sparkling chat (not to mention his three sparkly jackets), and seamless friendly chat about a wide range of issues- from the daft labels on some food ingredients (“Weetabix- contains wheat” etc.) through to his childhood days in Hong Kong.


A straw poll of the audience revealed who their favoured LBC presenters were. Personally I was horrified how many appear to find little wrong with the reactionary Nick Ferrari and James Whale. I was pleased that there was less approval of Steve’s adversary, the even more reactionary James Max (I believe they had a spat a while back when the ex-Apprentice candidate got an LBC slot?).


The name of my own favourite, Ken Livingstone, got a mixed reception but another of my faves,  travel guru Simon Calder, was not even mentioned.


Steve gave us a slide show of LBC’s history which was very good, nothing overly intellectual but a chronological run through of the station’s Gough Square days, and previous presenters such as Bob Holness, Therese Birch and Douglas Cameron.


We heard about Steve’s own start on the overnight show, through to the current day freelance contractual wrangles, and tales of his colleagues past and present. We came up to date with the current day operations and studio set ups in the Global Radio building on Leicester Square, which hosts other radio stations and holds 600 people.


All too quickly the show had reached an end. I was disappointed that the Q and A session alluded to at the start did not occur. My one big question before I went was “How much of the Steve Allen persona on the radio is Steve Allen in reality?”.


What we saw on stage was the same no holds barred Steve, railing against those non-deservers put on too high a pedestal. I believe that the real Steve Allen when relaxing with friends over a post-show breakfast, shopping for Jo Malone candles in the City or cooking Brussel sprouts in his Twickenham home, is not that much different. Hooray for that!


Steve Allen is live on LBC weekdays 0500 to 0700, Sundays from 0800. Plus the pre-recorded “In Conversation" on Sundays from 0600 to 0700. Worth waking up early for, or pay for the podcasts at the LBC website: http://www.lbc.co.uk/


Over 500 photos from the February 2011 Mermaid shows at: http://www.photochris.co.uk/  

World Radio Network and Prague farewell

Ending an era: Radio Prague signs off on shortwave - Radio Prague

"With the following special presentation, Radio Prague ends 75 years of shortwave radio service. As many of you know by now, austerity measures across Czech governmental ministries have forced budget cuts in many sectors, and public broadcasting is one of them. "
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/special/ending-an-era-radio-prague-signs-off-on-shortwave


 I "tune" to Radio Prague now via the World Radio Network or listening to the Czech Republic online at: http://www.radio.cz

I cannot recommend the World Radio Network  highly enough if you are wanting to listen to international broadcasting via the internet. It makes the perfect background accompaniment if you are having a work day at the computer (and are able to have audio on!) Radio France International, KBS World Radio from Seoul, Radio Netherlands, Deutsche Welle, and many more streaming through the day. http://www.wrn.org/
 
Ok, it's not the same as twiddling the knobs on the radio, but a good day time fix until you can get back in your shack and dedicate proper time to analogue radio.


Postscript/clarification:
Despite the above news, Radio Prague DOES still maintain a presence on shortwave in English, albeit a small one.

This is via WRMI Radio Miami International on 9955kHz, daily at 0700 UTC, weekdays at 1000 UTC, and weekends at 1930 UTC.  Jeff White, WRMI General Manager, said that "Radio Miami is happy to be able to help Radio Prague stay on the air, just as we did with Radio Slovakia International when its shortwave transmissions were scheduled to end last December 31. We have had close cooperation with Radio Prague for many years now, and we hope this cooperation will continue for many more years."

Radio Websites February 2011

Published in Radio User Feb 2011 http://www.radiouser.co.uk/

Chrissy Brand looks at websites with a radio connection from vintage DX to modern technology and explores a miscellany of internet radio stations.




DX programmes past and present
We start off by continuing a look at DX programmes past and present that have an online presence. This is in response to a request from RadioUser reader Bradley Allen in Kent. We are spoilt for choice really, as there is so much out there.


DX Partyline was a favourite programme of many a DXer in the 1970s. It used to air on HCJB in Ecuador but these days can be heard on WWCR from Nashville http://www.wwcr.com/  and WRMI from Miami: http://www.wrmi.net/  . There is a link to audio and information at www.hcjb.org/dxpl/audio.php  


Doing a little research I found that long time host Allen Graham also presents a weekly version of 15 minutes on European Gospel Radio: http://origin.egradio.org/  which airs via Nexus International Broadcasting in Milan at http://www.nexus.org/  It is all less confusing than it sounds!


Looking back at how the shortwave bands used to be is very much the concern of an excellent new blog at http://www.coldwarradios.blogspot.com/  Run by Richard H Cummings who is a published author on the subject, being the director of security for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for 15 years beginning in 1980. It is packed with insight into how Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia operated in their heyday. Richard has written "Cold War Radio: The Dangerous History of American Broadcasting in Europe, 1950-1989" (2009) and "Radio Free Europe's 'Crusade for Freedom': Rallying Americans Behind Cold War Broadcasting, 1950-1960" (2010). Both published by McFarland & Company, North Carolina in the USA.

DXing with Cumbre is another long running DX show with a website which includes an online forum and polls at http://www.cumbredx.net/  Some of the links are out of date but there is plenty top read and an audio archive to explore. You can also tune to the programme when it airs on World Harvest Radio at http://www.whri.com/  


Polish Radio has a media programme called Multi-touch which can be accessed at www.thenews.pl/radio/multitouch  which covers all aspects of our multimedia world, from shortwave to e-banking. Radio New Zealand have their long running mailbag programme
with Myra Oh, Bryan Clark and John Durham who provide DX Reviews. Kevin Hand reviews the Utility Bands. There are occasional features on Pacific Radio from David Riquish, and Chris Makerell reports on digital radio DRM. Frequency Manager Adrian Sainsbury, answers technical questions http://www.rnzi.com/pages/features.php  


If you want to read a free book on Radio Monitoring then go to the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) website at http://naswa.net/  and once you have read all the information on what they do, navigate to http://naswa.net/areybook.html  
where you will find a 6mb download of this excellent book by Skip Arey, first published in 1997.

NASWA “have been active in the business of sharing information about shortwave radio since 1961. We focus on domestic and international broadcasts on shortwave frequencies between 2 and 30 MHz. We are the premiere organization in North America for shortwave listeners and DXers. We sponsor the popular yearly Winter SWL Fest, where monitoring hobbyists of all stripes, from DC to daylight, gather for a weekend of cameraderie and talk about radio. Our club motto is Unity and Friendship”. For details on the 2011 Winter SWLfest, which is in Pennsylvania on 4th and 5th March, go to http://www.swlfest.com/  




The Global Net blog is a useful technical place for the 21st century, with information on computers and television, including the new Lookee TV which is actually a Wi-Fi connected Internet TV and radio Player: http://globalnetmt.blogspot.com/  


In the UK there is a weekly show called the Gadget Detective with a website at http://www.gadgetdetective.com/  There are audio archives of some shows that were aired on BBC Radio Berkshire and TalkSport, but rather ironically for a site with such subject matter I find it rather confusing clunky and not at all user friendly. There are many other examples of DX type shows online but it is time to move on for now.


Internet Radio stations
Time now to visit some internet radio stations that have been recommended to me. Gerard Omasta-Milsom in London writes that “Radio 365 Saucy Jack is an internet based radio station, run by my friend Bernard Gibbons. It plays an interesting eclectic collection of old blues, reggae, Ethiopian, South African and other African music, and some more mainstream stuff.” As with much of Live 365 it is free and can be accessed at: http://www.live365.com/stations/bernardgibbons?site=web&play=2  Or go to http://www.live365.com/index.live  and search for Saucy Jack. Other Live 365 stations I have been tuning to of late include African Jazz Spotlight Radio, Radio Free Wales and Mary Ann Radio who broadcasts a range of classic rock music, talk radio and opinions from Walnut Creek in California “from real estate to real life.” Mary Ann can also be found at http://maryannradio.com/  Robot Radio is an innovative 365 channel which has robot DJs who give their solutions to global warming and other social and global problems, in between playing a esoteric mix of tunes.


Just use the search facility at Live 365 and you will be in for hours of audio pleasure, whatever your tastes in music.

There is a website full of vintage clips from Australian radio, including BBC classics that were aired in Oz, at http://www.bluehaze.com.au/mmedia/radio_shows.html  Packed with history and photos as well as programmes, the website was set up and maintained by the late Tony Sanderson. It is kept going in his memory by friends. From here I clicked to an interesting Australian band called Ben Rogers’ instrumental Asylum at http://www.benrogers.com.au/  They are a “high energy surf-style trio dedicated to reverb surf/gypsy/Tarantino guitar.” Gaining popularity in the USA and the UK as well as in Australia they play real guitar music for guitar nuts. Worth listening to some samples of their sounds at the website.

An ambient music portal from the USA is Echoes at http://www.echoes.org/inside.html  which should help you relax at any time of day and night. It has interviews as well as music and the introduction to the site describes it better than I could: “Echoes is a daily two-hour music soundscape, distributed by Public Radio International and broadcast on 130 radio stations from Maine to California. With host John Dilberto it brings together a wide array of styles, from acoustic to electronic, jazz to space music, the avant-garde to rock. Echoes is a sound that is cross-cultural and trans-millennial, merging cultures and forms, technology and tradition, the ancient past and the possible future.”

Finally this month, if you want to have the BBC World Service news signature tune Lilliburlero as a mobile ring tone go to Jingle Mad at http://www.jinglemad.com/  and http://www.jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/bbc_ws_lillibullero_stereo.mp3

For the history of the tune and the BBC’s use of it there is a full explanation at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/faq/news/story/2005/08/050810_wssigtune.shtml  Rather than typing that into your browser it is easier to google “Lilliburlero.”

December 2010 Radio Advent blog 24

Christmas Eve and radio-wise there will be millions tuning to BBC radio and television with good reason. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the Christmas Eve service held in King's College Chapel started in 1918 and has been covered by BBC radio since 1928.



You can read about the service and download a service booklet at: http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/events/chapel-services/nine-lessons.html  


The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 on 24 December at 1500 UTC http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wqgmv  
It is also broadcast at 1400 UTC on Radio 3 on Christmas Day http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wlg7m  , and at various times on the BBC World Service: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00cjlc2  
It is also on BBC 1 and BBC 2 tv and you can find it on the Listen Again facility at BBC i-player for seven days aftrwards.


I first heard it in 1989. I remember that Christmas well, as the most politically momentous year of my life to date drew to a close. The Berlin Wall had been torn down six weeks earlier, eastern Europe was becoming free, the peace protestors of east and west had finally been vindicated, and even the apartheid regime in South Africa was having to relent. Sadly democracy in China was still to come, and we still wait today, whilst ruthless western capital of so many kinds, from services to products, greedily makes inroads into the Chinese markets with scant regard to using this to help secure soem kind of democracy for the people.


Tuning into Radio Bucharest’s looped and live announcements when the station was seized by the people after the revolution which overthrew the despotic Ceausescus. Hearing the impassioned pleas and gasps of the taste of freedom live on air (in the pre-internet age remember) was breath-taking.


On a lighter note I remember preparing for Christmas in Surrey, watching Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday for the first time- which was a film that endeared me to Jacques Tati and remains a favourite. And then tuning into Radio 4 or the World Service as the day darkened and cooking and present preparations took place all around. The haunting sounds of the carols from Kings hit me and I realised why it had become such an important starting point to so many people’s Christmas across the globe.


I wish you a peaceful Christmas and a brave 2011.

December 2010 Radio Advent blog 23

Glogg (Swedish mulled wine), See Radio Sweden's Advent calendar, for 15 December http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=1687283

Scandinavian radio is often entertaining and informative. The main international shortwave broadcaster in English is of course Radio Sweden, their 60 Degrees North programme is one of the best on the air (and the Internet), and at this time of the year often contains fascinating glimpses into winter celebrations across the Nordic countries: http://radiosweden.org/ 

For the local radio scene try the Swedish northern coastal city of Lulea for Radio Norrbotten: www.sr.se/Norrbotten/  and Rix FM: www.rixfm.com

In the far north of Norway Radio Tromso is at: www.radiotromso.no whilst on the north-eastern border with Finland in Karajsok, NRK Sami radio broadcasts for the Lappish (Sami) community. Maybe this is Santa's local radio station?: www.nrk.no/kanal/nrk_sami_radio/

 

As well as covering the northern part of Norway and Sweden, Lapland extends into Finland. Lapin Radio in Rovaniemi, with a photo gallery of celebrations in the studios, is at: www.lapinradio.fi  


Just south of the Arctic circle in Tornio is a radio station called Radioaktiivenen, (Finnish for Radio Active), complete with studio webcam: http://active.llaky.fi  


Finally from the frozen north why not try national radio on the Faroe Islands, which comes from the capital Torshavn and is online. Ras 2 is at: www.ras2.fo  and Utvarp Foroya is at: www.uf.fo  There are links in English including travel information and maps, ferry timetables should you fancy a winter break with a difference at: www.ssl.fo/  

December 2010 Radio Advent blog 22

Photo from: http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem295rep.dx

There is special place in my heart for the British DX Club, BDXC, of which I have been a member since the 1990s and general editor of the monthly bulletin “Communication” since 2005. I also run the BDXC Audio Circle, a monthly programme available on mp3, CD or audio cassette. Full details including logs, news, downloads frequency guides, social events and DXpeditions, plus the important membership details are at: www.bdxc.org  

From Finland, Mika Makelainen publishes reports on the DXpeditions to Lemmenjoki in Finland's Arctic North. Imagine how deep and crisp the snow is laying there as you read this!


2010 DXpedition in Finnish and English: http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem295rep.dx and
http://lem298.blogspot.com/  
Check out the details at the ever excellent DXing Info website:
2009 DXpedition http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem278rep.dx
Also http://www.tapiokalmi.net/dx/lem/index.html  

December 2010 Advent Radio blog 21

A fascinating look back at Christmas radio during the Cold War from a VoA, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty versus Radio Moscow, Berlin, Kiev, Tashkent etc. perspective, at this great newly launched historical blog, not long up and running and wowing many of us:

http://coldwarradios.blogspot.com/2010/12/red-invader-freedom-girl-and-santa.html