The reasons for saving Radio 6 keep piling up.
This morning, I found myself listening to the station’s presenter Shaun Keaveny playing Velvet Underground and The Gang Of Four. . . before the 9am watershed.
As if that wasn’t good enough, Keaveny does media analysis, too.
This morning, the laconic Northerner picked apart ITV’s announcement that it would be replacing GMTV with a new show fronted by Adrian Chiles and a ‘glamorous female co-presenter”. (You can listen to this yourself, on iPlayer, here: the segment in question begins after 1hr 25 mins. . .)
‘Do they have to be glamorous?’asked Keaveny. ‘Are they going to looking at her journalistic CV or is it just onscreen chemistry they’ll be looking at? Which translates to: can we disseminate rumours that they’re sleeping together?”
Next, Keaveny pinpoints ITV’s odd suggestion that the new show will contain more ‘male-friendly features”. Keaveny suggests that ‘Arm-Wrestling For Pints’might be among them.
New studios are being built for the £1.5m launch, he points out. At this point, surrealism takes over entirely (so it’s best to simply quote verbatim):
‘It’s going to be presented by Adrian Chiles, who they’ve spent do much money on, they’re making the most of it.
‘It’s going to be presented from the White Cliffs of Dover, which will be sculpted Rushmore-style into the shape of Adrian Chiles’s face. Apparently.
‘And the studio will be situated in his mouth, which I can’t wait to see. It’s going to be spectacular.”
Where to start with Keaveny’s critique? It’s a sharply-turned satire on celebrity egotism, tabloid collusion, and broadcast sexism. Want to criticise the BBC for paying ridiculous amounts to Jonathan Ross? Ah, but perhaps we should also be looking at how much ITV pays Adrian Chiles. . .
No doubt ITV’s new morning show will be great. Me? I reckon I’ll be sticking with Shaun Keaveny on BBC Radio 6. . .
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