Posts by Damian Christie
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
This thread has taken an exciting new twist - can't wait to investigate TBGO...and yes, that phrase of mine was indeed uttered by "Big" Tony Amos.
I was just going to say, and not to draw a line under the conversation at all, because I'm liking it a lot but, last night, a friend of mine who shares the same name as one of the radio stations we've been discussing was telling me how much he's been enjoying this conversation and the various well known figures from the industry adding their two cents.
He said (since he seems content to lurk - feel free to jump in anytime buddy) that it struck him the fact that there has been such a long discussion, that we are all so passionate about bFM, it's another sign how unique, how important bFM is/was to us. If JayJay replaced Polly on Classic Htis Drive or whatever, I don't think anyone, anywhere would have much to say on the topic at all.
Now I'm off to check out Big Tony Amos on the web. Ohhh happy times.
(And off to Dunedin for Back Benches tonight if anyone's tuning in)
-
And my bad about there not being a drum 'n' bass show on bFM. I was going off a friend who is a d'n'b producer/DJ who was complaining the other day about it and assumed he'd know better than me...
-
Haha true dat Steve.
My favourite quote from commercial radio comes from Solid Gold FM. I still trot it out in my cocknouncer voice quite often. You've got to say it in a fake deep yet nasal voice and all running together quickly...
"Hey yeah that was 'Hooked on a Feeling' and if you're gonna be hooked on anything it might as well be a feeling eh, make it a good one, have one for meeeeee."
-
@OscarLow - 12pm Sundays? I'm there!
-
I should add a couple of points actually Simon:
I don't do appointment radio. Therefore specialist shows can be great, but only if they're at a time I'm likely to bump into them. Like most people, I listen to radio in the morning, in the car during the day and at drive time. Once PU started doing Breakfast it was pretty hard not to hear a house track 100% of those times. We had a running joke where we'd be in the car and just as we'd flick over to George I'd start doing the 4/4 mmm-sst-mmm-sst of generic house music to see if I could fluke it in time with whatever was on.
My personal issues with being ripped off aside (because as I say, as a lawyer I shoulda known better and it was a good life lesson in never trusting anyone...), I still stuck around at George for a couple of years after that. In the end I left because they were still on a small frequency and I got tired of doing a show every day that at least half of the people I knew couldn't hear. About two months after I went to bFM, George got a full frequency. Go figure.
I'm not denying you had a fantastic time at George at some period, but to me as a co-founder and then listener, I heard the diverse thing of beauty I had helped create turn into (at least at the times I was listening) as narrow-minded and stale a beast as the station it had been competing with.
-
Simon, no doubt you're right. Yes, I had issues with George, being screwed over majorly by Dave and Thane at the time (after setting up all the weekday nighttime shows - including half of the ones you mention - getting them all sponsored in return for a share of the profit from it they said "thanks, we'll take it from here" which was my bad being naive and thinking we were all in it together...).
Maybe the house was "limited" to the daytimes, drive, and half a dozen specialist shows. It still represented about a 1000% increase of house music from what precededed it. I still saw shows like the drum and bass show be scrapped or pushed into the wee small hours to accommodate more house. It definitely got less diverse for a while.
At the same time I agree that bFM had big issues when we started up George. Massively defensive, they seemed to almost dig in and play less electronic music to spite the audience. Even today they have a Nocturnal Dominion death metal show, but no drum and bass show....
-
@Simon: Not really true though Damian.
The weekends (which include Cian, Victoria, the funk shows, the jazz shows) have always been a bit of an exception on George (and I did say "almost exclusively"). What did happen though, was a number of the shows that I had set up with specialist DJs, were replaced with house shows. The night-time shows, I'm talking about.
I remember having an argument with Pam about it (who had taken over the PD role from me), she was replacing I think it was the drum and bass or hip-hop show at the time, with another house show (there were about 6 during the week by this stage, not including daytime shows).
"But it's a different kind of house, doll", was her response.
When I left doing Drive Monday - Friday in 2000, Drive was divided up into 5 different shows too, and became once again a whole lotta bedroom house DJs. For at least a few years the sound of George FM was that of two house records slowly slipping out of time from each other. It was really depressing after what we'd started.
Then a few years later, you're right Simon, things changed a bit. You came along, so did others, things got a bit better. Honestly though? I'd given up listening by then. I had a job at bFM, my music tastes were changing too, and I've never been one to listen to much radio in the evening where those good specialist shows are. And I've never really gone back to George.
-
I'd wager there was, and likely still would be 20 kids in Auckland entertaining themselves in the clubs along K Rd, Pons Rd, and down High Street for everyone at a live venue that night.
@Simon - I think you're probably right, although I'd argue - in terms of one's relationship to the music - there is a difference between me sitting at the bar at 4am that happens to be playing dance music, and making a conscious decision to head along to a gig (whether a band or a DJ gig). I think the days of people heading out to hear certain DJs have definitely waned.
-
I believe that if bfm had properly reflected the dance music that came through in the early 90s (like Radio Active did) rather than propping up derivative rock, the other stations like George would never have got a foot in the door. Not that I mind having options.
As I mentioned before, I helped start George, and without putting too fine a point on it (and some people might remember it differently) it weren't dance music before I got there: it was cafe jazz. I took over management of the nights which was previously just a computer playing cafe/acid jazz, and slotted in techno shows (Chelsea), D&B shows (Riddle and Pots), House shows (Roger & Soane), Big Beat (Timmy Schumacher), NZ Music (Kog), Hip Hop etc etc. When I left George it became almost exclusively house for a long long time. Aural wallpaper as Russell points out.
The thing is, I wouldn't have gone to George if the PD at bFM (Bill Kerton) had given me a chance when I'd asked him - I'd come from doing the news and co-hosting breakfast on Active, but it didn't make a difference. Years later Bill kindly acknowledged that might have been an oversight.
Not saying George wouldn't have become a dance station (and therefore a challenger to bFM which wasn't playing *much* at the time), but it's an interesting link. To me anyway.
I spent a lot of time at Active, and I have friends there, but yes, fuck that station has some issues. When I moved down there a few years ago and started playing the stuff I'd been playing from bFM, the feedback I got was extraordinary. It's like they hadn't heard any indie music for the past ten years. They've got the same issue there too, people who have been doing the job for so long they were probably spinning records there when Mikey was in Push Push.
-
It hurts 'cos it's true...
It'll be like we were at the Pixes Mark - a whole bunch of us in our mid thirties all wearing Chuck Taylors... sigh.