RockScotland

angus wrote:Amusing to see that Russell Brand was the vocalist for The Haze though! Still sounded just like a bad Oasis tribute however and got the lukewarm reception that they deserved.

Russell Brand!!! LMAO - so true! Just another bunch of indie-pop students. Nothing to do with "classic rock". Certainly, there's a few rumours suggesting that their manager Donald McLeod has invested in Rock Radio and that's why they use the Garage for these gigs. As for the show he did on a Friday - there's no way he'd get away with that standard of performance or the rubbish (Bauhaus, Marianne Faithful etc) that he plays if he wasn't involved. Makes Ciaran O'Toole's playlisting sound almost acceptable!

angus wrote:Tom Russell announced during the gig that they had a guitar signed by Franz Ferdinand and was greeted by the whole room booing!

And this would have surprised anyone but Billy (Bon Jovi / Gun) Anderson and Jay Crawford?

angus wrote:Probably the most amusing part of the gig for me was Billy Anderson giving his wee speech to the crowd, touching his short perm and saying that "rock music wasn't a job - it was a way of life".

Yes, you could hear the sighs at that point! Gave me the dry boke anyway! They think they're fooling everyone as well! No chance!

Tom Russell is the only guy at the station who has any knowledge of the actual rock music scene in Scotland and particularly Glasgow. Certainly they could easily round up a few of the old team from the Radio Clyde Rock Show days - guys like John McCallman etc, and make a better effort.

I don't dispute for a second that 96.3 are the best of a bad lot but it could be so much better if they stopped compromising!

TP xxx

P.S. Don't get me started on Laura "Sparky" Marks - that's the ultimate slap in the face for the listeners. She was in a trendy pop band for 5 seconds - that's it - NO INVOLVEMENT WHATSOEVER WITH ROCK MUSIC!!!

P.P.S. Note to Billy "It's not a job" Anderson - there are plenty of proper female rock jocks around if you must have a "female" simply for PC reasons!

thistle_princess wrote:Don't get me started on Laura "Sparky" Marks - that's the ultimate slap in the face for the listeners. She was in a trendy pop band for 5 seconds - that's it - NO INVOLVEMENT WHATSOEVER WITH ROCK MUSIC!!!

Probably because she's got a lot in common with Billy Anderson and Jay Crawford - never had any involvement with Rock Music!

gallus

thistle_princess wrote:Tom Russell is the only guy at the station who has any knowledge of the actual rock music scene in Scotland and particularly Glasgow. Certainly they could easily round up a few of the old team from the Radio Clyde Rock Show days - guys like John McCallman etc, and make a better effort.

Sadly even old uncle Tom seems to have been reigned in by the GMG bosses and is now working from a preprogrammed playlist.

We're now getting The Smiths played on every show and Tom must be choking at having to play this jingly-jangly student rubbish.

You can't help to notice that the term "classic" has been dropped from all the jingles now as well and it's now supposedly just a "rock" station. I say again "The Smiths"!!!

A more obvious sign of corporate intervention is the appearance of the "English" rent-a-jocks, Ricky Kirby and Paul Anthony, being played on all 3 Rock Radio stations at once and the original DJ's like the Captain being banished to the late show.

Kirby played Don't Believe A Word last week and claimed it was Thin Lizzy covering a Gary Moore song! What can you say?

The amount of non-related filler programs and interviews being played and repeated as well suggests that the station are struggling to find material. Who wants to listen to interviews with some guy from the BBC Comedy Unit or the "Banned" series of programs, none of which have any rock music related content.

Bottom line is it's part of a big corporate entity and it'll only get worse unless people tell them what they think. Even then as somebody else has already said, they'll just do as they like if they think they can get away with it.

Shame!

gerry

P.S. At least Billy Rankin has the balls to speak out against some of the trendy non-rock rubbish that's getting airtime at the moment!

mabozza wrote:at least they seem to have nearly got the birthday party gig right Saxon,Waysted and Quireboys in one night!! brilliant

Unfortunately, not this time though! Line-up for the 3rd Birthday gig is the weakest yet!

The Virgin Mary's, Dan Reed, Blaze Bayley and Medina Lake? Come on?

Did the GMG office girls come up with this?

This line-up is pants and even Rock Radio realise it. Sadly all the dj's (remember when they were Rock Jocks?) seem to have been instructed to rant on about how they've "outdone" themselves.

I'm sure they could've trotted out at least the SAHB and GUN - while not exactly the peak of classic rock, at least it would've been 1000% better than the crap they've come up with.

At least we should think ourselves lucky that Billy Anderson didn't force his pet Pearl Jam tribute act, Logan on us again! Or any of Donald Mcleod's young friends.

gerry wrote:The amount of non-related filler programs and interviews being played and repeated as well suggests that the station are struggling to find material. Who wants to listen to interviews with some guy from the BBC Comedy Unit or the "Banned" series of programs, none of which have any rock music related content.

Bottom line is it's part of a big corporate entity and it'll only get worse unless people tell them what they think. Even then as somebody else has already said, they'll just do as they like if they think they can get away with it.[/quote]

The whole thing seems to be run by Classic Rock magazine now anyway - and it's a while since there was any original content in that magazine either. The Mick Wall "show" is such a joke. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed that his "guest" is usually Scott Rowley, the man who turned Classic Rock magazine into Kerrang! Junior and aimed it's content at schoolchildren.

The thing is Rock Radio was always an experiment for GMG and I'd be surprised if it's in any way profitable - that's why the team running it wouldn't know "rock" music if it kicked them up the arse. They all just came over from Real and thought that nobody would notice.

As for them doing what they like - it's really only the advertisers that can make them change as that's who funds it.

In the real world most people I know (with DAB radios anyway) have gone back to Planet Rock.

As Gerry says, SHAME!

Fiona

fiona wrote:Unfortunately, not this time though! Line-up for the 3rd Birthday gig is the weakest yet!

The Virgin Mary's, Dan Reed, Blaze Bayley and Medina Lake? Come on?

Did the GMG office girls come up with this?

This line-up is pants and even Rock Radio realise it. Sadly all the dj's (remember when they were Rock Jocks?) seem to have been instructed to rant on about how they've "outdone" themselves.

I'm sure they could've trotted out at least the SAHB and GUN - while not exactly the peak of classic rock, at least it would've been 1000% better than the crap they've come up with.

At least we should think ourselves lucky that Billy Anderson didn't force his pet Pearl Jam tribute act, Logan on us again! Or any of Donald Mcleod's young friends.

Could'nt agree more Fiona... truly diabolical!! Even though it's for charity,the line up is NEVER worth £15!! Rock Radio is unfortunately a dying entity....last time i listened it was full of English rent a diddy's and Real radio throwbacks.. Tom Russell (i feel your pain Tom)being the only rocker on the mince. Hopefully when GMG do pull the plug on it Tom will be able to find work at a true rock station like Planet Rock or ARFM.