There’s a campaign at the moment to make today, the Monday after Remembrance Sunday, a Bank Holiday. Many events seem to grow year by year, and not all of them for the better. I think most would agree though, that the increased awareness lately of Armistice Day, the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal, and Remembrance Sunday can only be a good thing. Cllr Jackie Lane commented today on Tameside Radio that attendance at Remembrance events seems to on the increase, particularly with younger people, and that a holiday after the remembrance weekend would be a fitting tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Cllr Lane’s interview on Tameside Radio was just one aspect of our output dedicated to paying tribute to our service men and women over the course of the last few days. Every year since our launch in 2007, i’ve been immensely proud of the work our team of staff and volunteers have to put in to providing tasteful and respectful coverage at this time of year, and this year was no exception. We broadcast a series of interviews (thank you to all our contributors), played appropriate music (just one song a lot of people have been asking about is called All Quiet On The Western Front by Elton John) and observed two minutes silence on Friday, Armistice Day, as well as on Remembrance Sunday. It’s more or less a given that every radio station observes the silence on Sunday, but on Armistice Day itself it’s more of a judgement call. We’ve always observed the silence at Tameside Radio, not just because I think it’s the right thing to do, but because i’m sure it’s what our audience want and expect from their radio station. If you’re part of the community yourself, you tend to know (most of the time!) what your listener is thinking. So, I was surprised to hear about a radio station just a few miles up the road from us, that seems to have got itself into an almighty pickle on the subject, resulting in their best personality presenter (in my opinion) being dismissed. This station decided not to observe the Armistice Day silence on Friday, believing their audience would want the station news and music output to continue unbroken. Their mid-morning presenter disagreed. This is a broadcaster who lives in the heart of his station’s transmission area, and undoubtedly knows his audience. As I understand it, he expressed his opinion and concern on the decision to the station management. Undeterred, they decided to ignore his advice, and instructed him not to observe the silence. He followed their instructions and did as he was told. As he predicted, his audience was largely upset and offended, and made their feelings known by text, email and ‘phone. The problem here with being the presenter currently on air is that you ARE the radio station. Your listener doesn’t know, or care, that you were doing as the station management told you. You’re the person on air. You’re responsible. You’re loved when things go right, and hated when things go wrong. This presenter decided to deal with the forthright feedback, by recording the remainder of his show (not an unusual practice with today’s technology), keeping his head down, and quietly exiting stage left, with the intention of starting afresh on Monday after the weekend break. That wasn’t to be. A few hours later he received a phone call from the station owner telling him he was dismissed for “leaving his show before it had finished.” The furore today has made the front page of the local paper. Another senior station manager (a former boss of mine, for whom I have a great deal of respect, and learned a lot) was quoted in the paper saying how much admiration and respect he has for the armed forces, and that there are around 500 commercial radio stations in the UK, about a third of which observe the Armistice Day silence. SO WHAT?? It’s YOUR station and YOUR audience you need to know, not the other 499 station’s! A local radio station in a working class part of Greater Manchester chooses not to observe the silence. How can people with so many years experience make such a spectacularly poor decision? How could they ignore the counsel of a person who is so much a part of the community he broadcasts to? Questions I certainly don’t know the answer to. Then taking a step further by binning the presenter involved? Adding insult to injury. Whatever they say about being in an impossible position is nonsense. You only “have” to fire someone if you want to fire them!
My grandad (and other relatives) fought in the Second World War. In common with many people of his generation, he very rarely spoke of his experiences. In fact, I can only remember him telling me one story. I was about 12 or 13, and we were making model aeroplanes. One of the kits was a Spitfire, the other a Stuka. In an almost matter of fact way, my grandad said “oh, a Stuka. One of these dived at me and nearly got me once!” He managed to hide in a ditch, expecting the plane to return once it had spotted him. But luckily it must’ve been short on fuel, and flew off into the distance. But it’s not all about grandparents’ stories of the 1940’s. In recent months I’ve witnessed the funeral of a young serviceman take place at the church across the road from where I live.
As far as Remembrance on Tameside Radio goes, i’m confident we got the judgement call right. It’s a shame others can’t hold their hands up when they get it wrong.
A couple of disclaimers. I don’t usually criticise the efforts of other stations, but I felt strongly enough on this subject to write this post. I’m don’t have an axe to grind, I’m not using this subject matter to take a cheap shot, and I’m not a habitual blogger on every subject under the sun. I’ve chosen not to name names here, but I’m sure you’ll find the story covered on other websites and other media.
