Where will I get the news from?
It's not easy to get news reports while on a ship off the coast. CNN had offered
free use of their radio news service, but we could not solve the technical problems
of trying to use a satellite dish on a rocking ship. United Press International
(UPI) in London had offered free use of their radio news service via the internet.
We had no PC on board or link via mobile phone to an internet source. "Well",
said Ray, with his usual smile of confidence, "I've got you a ghetto blaster
and an old portable typewriter... Use traditional offshore methods. You can
do it!"
On day one the radio did not work, nor the typewriter. Oh well. The first five
news bulletins were hand-written, and all about Big L. By the afternoon a working
ghetto blaster had been found from the tender Lady Gwen, so a news service got
on the air, and by day three, a working portable typewriter appeared (which
museum did Ray rob?). After these revelations the news actually got typed, much
to the relief of Chris Elliot who found my handwriting and somewhat esoteric
spelling to be a bit of a challenge. Big L news was up and running. Of course,
if anyone asked where I got the news from, the answer was from Chipping Sodbury
Sound (ILR) via a satellite link on 10069 gigabicycles in the mega band. Where
is the dish? Oh, hidden below deck. I know no one fell for it, but the explanation
caused a few laughs.
Philosophy of news
Big L 97 was musically and style-wise time-warped into 1967, with the exception
of news content. However, the style of news was similar to the original; news
on the half hour, all read (no poor-quality almost unintelligible phone reports
saying in one minute what a news reader could say better in 15 seconds). I set
myself some ground rules which I think are correct for news on a music station.
No more than six items per bulletin, no more than two paragraphs per item, use
international news values ignoring the xenophobia which afflicts BBC and IRN
news, and keep to one and a half minutes total length including the weather.
Most of all, make it sound part of the station output, unlike IRN on the majority
of stations who all sound as anaemic as the rest, with poor quality telephone
reports that no-one can understand, and pre-pubescent news readers that no-one
can accept as an authoritative source (i.e. adult). Present radio news in the
UK is nothing but a mess; non-radio broadcasters with a mega-degree in communications
who only wish they were stars on TV News, leading the blind. How can a central
news source (i.e. IRN or BBC) provide news for a multiplicity of different style
and format stations and still sound part of the output? THEY CAN NOT! All I
know and feel is that collectively they sound out of style compared with their
US and Australian counterparts. Did my way work? Don't ask me.
Help is at hand
Two visitors came to the ship that I was especially glad to see. David Williams,
former News man on Caroline North arrived for a visit to take some video for
himself. No way Dave! After a chat he found himself reading the Big L news for
a shift. He liked it so much he foolishly volunteered to come back for more.
He did - thanks Dave. Also an old colleague from BFBS, Dave Windsor visited.
Yes, he too found himself relieving me on the news. Dave also got into the Big
L news and I deny phoning this news item to BFBS HQ, (Oh, all right, I admit
it Dave), from where it spread far and wide. I wonder if Dave has lived it down
yet? I hope not!
Everyone on board helped in the news process at some stage, especially John,
the Yeoman Rose's Mate. A quiet, thoughtful, typical sailor with an amazing
breadth of knowledge on current news events. At 5 a.m. on a rolling ship he
was a great help in news monitoring and giving suggestions, as well as keeping
up morale!