The Nostalgia of Radio

I had a decent small radio from a very early age and it was a lifeline for me.

In the late 1950s in London, I laid in bed late at night listening to crackling baseball games coming from American Forces Radio, Voice of America broadcasts in “simple English” (or “slow talkers of America” as my Dad and I called them), Radio Moscow propaganda, the glorious voice of Garner Ted Armstrong and his Worldwide Church of God, lots of boxing matches where I had to imagine the impact of the blows, and early rock and roll, Radio Luxemburg.  It was wonderful.

When I first came to Canada in the late 1970s, I worked up in Stewart near the Alaska border, and there wasn’t much TV that I recall.  But that was when I discovered the wonder of late-evening and early-morning CBC Radio.  Allan McFee’s Eclectic Circus (going out to “all those in vacuumland”) was my end-of-day sleeping pill, while a time-shifted Morningside with Don Harron woke me up (I stopped listening once Gzowski took over).

Great days they were.

 

Death In Paradise — Why?

For those not aware, Death In Paradise is a British TV crime series. From what I understand it is one of the top three shows, by audience, on British TV and has managed to last for nine seasons, now being broadcast in most countries of the world.

Set on a fictional island, a British possession in the Caribbean, each episode of the series sets up a murder mystery — often a variation of the locked room genre — that needs to be solved by the police led by a visiting British detective inspector. It is often comedic in a lighthearted way, and highly formulaic.  The setting is beautiful (filmed on Guadeloupe) and, for what it is, the acting is fine.  Nearly every episode has one or more guest stars who are well-known personalities on British TV.

It is, however, racist to the core and a paean to colonialism.

It is racist because, although most of the local — black — police characters are shown to be both interesting and good at their jobs, in no case is the murder ever solved by anyone other than the white detective. In the formula used to close every episode, he — always a he — gathers all the potential suspects together and explains in detail how he has brilliantly worked out the mystery.  Applause all around while the British detective takes his bows.

As for the colonialism, there is no attempt to have a local officer work their way up to the inspector level. The inspector is always seconded from London. And always white. It is as if black British actors such as Idris Elba, David Ajala, or Lenny Henry don’t exist.

I am probably making too much of this; after all, I am sure the production gives lots of work to local actors and crew. But it does piss me off.

Amsterdam and Burgers

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Tonight, the Everloving and I had our first date night since the plague began, and we went to the movies. We saw Amsterdam.

David Russell’s movie is brilliant, anarchic at times, beautifully written and crafted, and superbly cast down to the smallest bit parts. I will definitely watch it again sometime.

After the movies we had really good burgers at Earls next to the theatre.

A fine night out!

Happiness: A Film by Steve Cutts

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A profound movie.

The Great CBC Rip-Off

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I don’t watch a lot of network TV, preferring to stream stuff on my own schedule. However, I have been watching The Great British Bake-Off series each Sunday on CBC. Last week, I noticed something that I thought was peculiar, and yesterday evening I confirmed it.

The show is scheduled as a 90-minute broadcast. But of that 90 minutes, a full 37 minutes (or about 40%) is commercials. No only that but the ads now come in huge batches — some segments being 5 minutes long!

The CRTC used to have strict rules about the amount of commercial time per hour but my reading of the current regulations suggest there are now “no limits” for TV stations. That is a bizarre way of killing the golden goose because I will no longer watch network CBC and will switch entirely to Gem for their shows which eliminates the need for me to be deluged in commercials.

There Was Life Before TV Or Movies

None of us today — at least none of us in the industrialised north and south — can remember a time when there wasn’t either the TV or the movies to give us animated entertainment.  But life before us wasn’t dull or without its own mechanical delights.

The always interesting Low-tech Magazine has a fascinating series of articles covering the Panorama, the Stereoscope, the Magic Lantern, and the Peep Show.

Well worth the time.

Death In Paradise — Why?

For those not aware, Death In Paradise is a British TV crime series. From what I understand it is one of the top three shows, by audience, on British TV and has managed to last for nine seasons, now being broadcast in most countries of the world.

Set on a fictional island, a British possession in the Caribbean, each episode of the series sets up a murder mystery — often a variation of the locked room genre — that needs to be solved by the police led by a visiting British detective inspector. It is often comedic in a lighthearted way, and highly formulaic.  The setting is beautiful (filmed on Guadeloupe) and, for what it is, the acting is fine.  Nearly every episode has one or more guest stars who are well-known personalities on British TV.

It is, however, racist to the core and a paean to colonialism.

It is racist because, although most of the local — black — police characters are shown to be both interesting and good at their jobs, in no case is the murder ever solved by anyone other than the white detective. In the formula used to close every episode, he — always a he — gathers all the potential suspects together and explains in detail how he has brilliantly worked out the mystery.  Applause all around while the British detective takes his bows.

As for the colonialism, there is no attempt to have a local officer work their way up to the inspector level. The inspector is always seconded from London. And always white. It is as if black British actors such as Idris Elba, David Ajala, or Lenny Henry don’t exist.

I am probably making too much of this; after all, I am sure the production gives lots of work to local actors and crew. But it does piss me off.

AdSpend Changes Reflect Rapid Digitization

From one of my favourite data vizualization sites comes this singe graphic which, by itself, goes a long way to demonstrating why the current newspaper business model is failing and crashing before our eyes:

Newspapers have lost two-thirds of their advertising revenues ($97 billion down to $31 billion) in just ten years. They need an entirely new model, which I suspect will be subscriptions.

Television, having lost 20% by value of its advertising, is hanging in there, primarily I believe because of innovations in streaming.

It is digital display ads, all those inconvenient bits we see on our phones and computers, that has taken up all the slack and a lot more.

Birth of Our Four-Letter Universe

Just fifty-five years ago today, viewers and listeners in the UK were shocked to hear for the first time on the BBC someone saying the word “fuck” without it being bleeped.

The protagonist of this drama was the theatre critic and essayist Kenneth Tynan, a well-known provocateur.

“On 13 November 1965, Tynan participated in a live TV debate, broadcast as part of the BBC‘s late-night satirical show BBC-3. He was asked whether he would allow a play to be staged in which sexual intercourse was represented on the stage, and replied: “Well, I think so, certainly. I doubt if there are any rational people to whom the word ‘fuck’ would be particularly diabolical, revolting or totally forbidden. I think that anything which can be printed or said can also be seen.” 

Paul Johnson later called Tynan’s use of the word “his masterpiece of calculated self-publicity”, adding “for a time it made him the most notorious man in the country”. There were apologies from the BBC and even a House of Commons debate about it.

Now, a generation and more after, we are more surprised by TV and film dramas where that word — and many others — are not used.

R.I.P. Alex Trebek

One of the presents the Everloving bought me for my birthday last month was an Alex Trebek T-shirt. We are both Jeopardy addicts. It is therefore with a heavy heart that I just read he died overnight.

It was apparently in his contract that he only be called the host of the show as he said it was the contestants who were the stars. That is a fine measure of the man.

He will be missed.

The Annoying Pause

I am becoming ever more irritated with newsreaders (especially) who add a pause before the final couple of words in each sentence. If the final phrase had some special meaning then perhaps it might be OK. But usually it is just the end of a sentence — nothing special — and it is used as some kind of effect.

I suppose they are taught this in broadcasting school, and I am noticing it more frequently these days with younger anchors. Scott Roberts on CTV News is a prime example of a pauser.

It really annoys me.

Fascist Fashion

Many of us might be familiar with the recent news that the Fred Perry Company has stopped producing a particular style of polo shirt because the clothing has been adopted by the fascist Proud Boys and similar neo-Nazi scum. In light of that, the Everloving came across an interesting article in BuzzFlash which led to others supplying a brief historical background to the uses and abuses of fashion by fascists.

For example, Manjima Bhattacharjya wrote in her Firstpost column titled “Dressed to kill”, that the age of high fascism and fashion are inextricably and insidiously linked.

“The Italian fascist party through the 1930s and 1940s systematically employed the fashion industry as a tool to mold the cultural expressions of nation, class and gender in the ‘new Italy.’” After the Nazi occupation of  France, “Hitler used fashion as propaganda, organizing photo-shoots of stylish people in Paris alongside his soldiers, to show that people were living happily under the occupation.”

Fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, author of Worn on This Day told Fast Company:

“The appeal [of the Perry shirts] for the Proud Boys seems to be in its laurel wreath logo—a sports reference inconveniently reminiscent of Nazi imagery—and specific color combinations,” Fast Company’s Elizabeth Segran noted that “Adolf Hitler’s ceremonial flag, for instance, featured a black swastika in the center of a yellow wreath.”

On October 8, Glossy’s Danny Parissi reported that

“Groups like the Proud Boys have a long history of co-opting fashion brands and aesthetics to appeal to potential new members, and that aesthetic has been moving further toward high-fashion. (The polo sells for $90 at Bloomingdale’s.) For the brands who these groups latch onto, the association can be hard to shake.” The same article noted that “Dr. Martens, whose boots have been a staple in British and American fashion for decades, has long been dogged by associations with Neo-Nazi groups and skinheads, who adopted the Doc Martens boot as part of their aesthetic in the 1980s. That association has followed the brand ever since. In 2017, the brand was criticized widely for a billboard showing a black boot with red laces, a color combination that is often worn by skinhead groups, with the red laces specifically denoting that one has ‘spilled blood’ for the cause.

As Howard Graves comments, there is little the companies can do: “The furthest reaches of it are out of the brands’ hands. If the Proud Boys want to keep saying they love Fred Perry and wearing Fred Perry, they’re going to keep doing it. They’re relentless. But I tend to think that an open refutation of groups that are co-opting your brand for fascism is the least you can do and heartening when I see it.”

Changes To Media Consumption, By Generation

From Visual Capitalist comes this fascinating dissection of how each generation is changing its cultural habits during the covid-19 crisis:

Select image for a much larger, clearer view.

The article also includes this breakdown of “Internet Activities” which shows some definite trends, by generation, that should keep social scientists busy for a while:

The full article has a lot more detail on trust, and media subscriptions. I recommend the read.

The First Kiss

In April 1896, Thomas Edison released a 21-second film that became an instant sensation. In the movie, May Irwin and John Rice recreated a scene from a popular New York musical comedy show called The Widow Jones.

 

As an article in JSTOR Daily notes:

“It was the first time anyone had filmed a kiss, let alone shown it to the public, and moviegoers couldn’t get enough. Audiences crowded vaudeville theaters and music halls to see the two actors embrace on film “in a way that [brought] down the house every time,” according to a Thomas Edison, Inc. catalog …

The Kiss immediately became “the most popular of the many shorts being shown” when it debuted. Audiences found it fresh and funny, and the media breathlessly fed into the hype…

The public fascination was so intense that fans soon started demanding live reenactments. When Rice took the stage with his actress wife Sally Cohen that summer, fans yelled from the gallery, “Where’s the ‘Widow Jones’ kiss?” Cohen declined to participate in an imitation, but a young lady ran down the aisle offering to take her place …

Sweet, sensational, and slightly scandalous, The Kiss was a cinematic milestone that left audiences clamoring for more. Early filmmakers met the demand with a wave of similarly-themed shorts like The Kiss in the Tunnel and Something Good—Negro Kiss, which both premiered before the turn of the century.”

Ahh, such sweet innocence.  How we have changed.

Press Freedom Around The World

In advance of World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, Visual Capitalist has this interesting map indicating the level of press freedom around the globe.

Select image for a detailed look.

One doesn’t have to accept the figures given as gospel. It does however allow a good general indication.

Death In Paradise — Why?

For those not aware, Death In Paradise is a British TV crime series. From what I understand it is one of the top three shows, by audience, on British TV and has managed to last for nine seasons, now being broadcast in most countries of the world.

Set on a fictional island, a British possession in the Caribbean, each episode of the series sets up a murder mystery — often a variation of the locked room genre — that needs to be solved by the police led by a visiting British detective inspector. It is often comedic in a lighthearted way, and highly formulaic.  The setting is beautiful (filmed on Guadeloupe) and, for what it is, the acting is fine.  Nearly every episode has one or more guest stars who are well-known personalities on British TV.

It is, however, racist to the core and a paean to colonialism.

It is racist because, although most of the local — black — police characters are shown to be both interesting and good at their jobs, in no case is the murder ever solved by anyone other than the white detective. In the formula used to close every episode, he — always a he — gathers all the potential suspects together and explains in detail how he has brilliantly worked out the mystery.  Applause all around while the British detective takes his bows.

As for the colonialism, there is no attempt to have a local officer work their way up to the inspector level. The inspector is always seconded from London. And always white. It is as if black British actors such as Idris Elba, David Ajala, or Lenny Henry don’t exist.

I am probably making too much of this; after all, I am sure the production gives lots of work to local actors and crew. But it does piss me off.

Remembering Radio Caroline, Again

About a year ago I wrote about my memories of Radio Caroline, the first of the UK’s “pirate” radio stations from the 1960s.  I just heard that Ronan O’Rahilly — the original pirate — has died.  In his honour and memory, I am re-running my article.

 

*  *  *  *  *

It is 55 years ago today since Radio Caroline, the first of the British pirate radio stations began broadcasting.  It was an event and a summer I remember well.

In the previous 18 months, the British music scene had exploded, first based on the incredible success of the Beatles but then quickly followed by dozens of groups from all over the country. Unfortunately, the staid old BBC held a monopoly of British radio and so many of us listened to this new music on Radio Luxemburg which broadcast in the evenings. However, the playlists of Radio Luxemburg and BBC TV’s weekly Top of the Pops were more or less controlled by the major record labels and didn’t cover the full spectrum of pop music then available.

Ronan O’Rahilly, an Irish entrepreneur, decided to broaden the choice. He purchased an old ship, refitted it with high powered radio equipment, and parked it just outside British territorial waters. On 28th March 1964, Radio Caroline began broadcasting with a Rolling Stones song, and pirate radio — pirates because they were unlicensed — almost immediately changed the entire British cultural scene.

For the next few years, everyone I knew listened to the pirates (a number of other radio ships had joined in the fun) and no matter the laws the government tried to impose, their popularity continued to increase. By 1967, even the BBC had been completely revamped, with BBC Radio One becoming simply a copy of the pirates.

That was, indeed, the Summer of Love.

Supporting Local Stores Goes So Much Further

As anyone who reads my history pieces, and especially anyone who has read, The Drive, will understand how important I believe local newspapers are — both for us today and for the historians of the future.  It is with the utmost regret, therefore, that I note the passing of the Vancouver Courier.

The Courier is having to close because of the lack of local advertising that supports its work:

“The small, independent businesses in our community that are under economic pressure to shut their doors or reduce services are the same ones that have supported our coverage and made it possible to deliver free, local news to you. Their significant drop in advertising revenue for our publication and lack of quick, available government funding means that we have been forced to make the difficult decision to cease both print and online coverage.”

Our loyal support of local merchants is one of the reasons our neighbourhood is usually so vibrant and alive.  The current retail shutdown is not of our making. However, as we can now plainly see, lack of that support (for whatever reason) has even wider ramifications than deserted sidewalks and empty stores.

My fingers are crossed that the Courier‘s closure will be just temporary, but I will sorely miss their journalism in the weeks ahead..

 

Escaping Isolation via Web Cam #2

 

Venice.

 

See previous Escaping Isolation posts.

Escaping Isolation via Web Cam #1

If you just need to stare at a screen and bliss out for a bit, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has some live web cams on YouTube of jellyfish, penguins, sharks, and birds. This is my current favourite:

These guys know nothing about physical distancing: they bump into, across, and though each other.  I am amazed their plumages don’t get tangled up.