The grumpy thread

[Slartibartfast]

I remember really hating Gemma Cairney when I first heard her on the radio, based on the way she talked, the fact she lisped and that part of her show featured fashion advice when she looked like she'd never looked in a mirror. Then I got to thinking, hang on, she's a radio DJ *with a lisp*. She's a bit funny looking. She must have worked really bloody hard to get where she is. When I listened to her subsequently, dropping my prejudices, I realised she's actually funny, and seems like a nice person, and I started actually looking forward to her shows. She's been rotated off Radio 1 now which I think is a real shame.

[Lacquer Peel]

It makes me really sad to read stuff like this. He's just a bloke, doing a job to the best of his (very high) ability. Steve is a very nice guy, knows his onions, is painfully shy and incredibly successful. Yet, bizarrely, because he's in the public eye - people feel that they can say unkind stuff.

 

I suppose it's a testament to his success that people have an opinion, but it never has (and never will) sit well with me when people get stuck into someone they don't know. Just don't listen - it's really not hard.

Some people can switch off but a large amount of people don't have a choice, the radio is forced on them at work. I've had to leave jobs because of this.

John Peel got me through many night shifts but the dullards at that job would often change it to the awful local radio station when he was on R1.

[chaseracer]

Not if you're Steve Wright. If it's "wrighty" we are talking about then it almost certainly will be a bit. After all he has to leave room for bigging himself up and playing 3min jingles every 5mins. *Love the show*

 

Radio2's listener numbers must drop like a greased anvil off a ski-jump between 1200 and 1700 each day.  Possibly later, now that Mayo's had a sidekick forced on him.

 

Vine?  Wright?  No thanks.

[robinmasters]

It makes me really sad to read stuff like this.  He's just a bloke, doing a job to the best of his (very high) ability.  Steve is a very nice guy, knows his onions, is painfully shy and incredibly successful.  Yet, bizarrely, because he's in the public eye - people feel that they can say unkind stuff.

 

I suppose it's a testament to his success that people have an opinion, but it never has (and never will) sit well with me when people get stuck into someone they don't know.  Just don't listen - it's really not hard.

The trouble is that his job is being popular with as many people as possible, which necessitates pandering to the lowest common denominator. It's a little known* fact that approximately half the population have a below-average IQ.

 

The other thing that most of us can't answer is how much is Steve Wright, and how much is an act. I don't hate Steve Wright the person, never met the bloke, but I do hate the Steve Wright that I hear on the radio. See also Simon Mayo, Mike Read, Jo Wiley, Chris Moyles, Sara Cox, Nick Grimshaw, BLT, Simon Bates and Mark & Lard.

 

There is a very different but very special place in hell reserved for Charlie Sloth (unless I'm missing the point and he's meant to be a joke, like Westwood was).

[BavarianRetro]

£25 a day "late payment fee" plus interest on a debt of £900 is unlikely to be enforceable - even if it is in the contract - which, of itself, sounds a bit vague to me.

[AlabamaShrimp]

It's a little known* fact that approximately half the population have a below-average IQ.

 

Would that be a factoid then?

[Slartibartfast]

There is a very different but very special place in hell reserved for Charlie Sloth (unless I'm missing the point and he's meant to be a joke, like Westwood was).

Charlie Sloth is VERY funny when he's guesting on other people's shows, and I always get the impression that he doesn't take himself seriously at all, but I can't stand his show, and it boggles my mind that he's got a slot at 9pm EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

 

Westwood was never meant to be a joke, he just became one.

[Parky]

Charlie Sloth is VERY funny when he's guesting on other people's shows, and I always get the impression that he doesn't take himself seriously at all, but I can't stand his show, and it boggles my mind that he's got a slot at 9pm EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.Westwood was never meant to be a joke, he just became one.

Wouldn’t it be great if John Peel was still around and doing the Capital FM Breakfast show?

 

Bouncy assistant presenter

“Hey Peely, I went clubbing on Saturday yeah, with the girlies for dirty martinis somewhere swanky in the Citeh, and there was this bloke right with spiked hair and I was all like wow, and he was all like yeah I know and it was amazing -so have you ever been out somewhere in an outfit that was like totally yeah and people have mentioned it?”

 

Peel

(Audible sigh). “Here’s Teenage Kicks by the Undertones”

[Aston Martin]

The Cacti heatshield has started to resonate. Nothing loose, but at low speeds it resonates and is annoying.

[cpjitservices]

£25 a day "late payment fee" plus interest on a debt of £900 is unlikely to be enforceable - even if it is in the contract - which, of itself, sounds a bit vague to me.

Well if it isn't then it isn't, but I'll be handing it over to a debt collecting agency soon, I'm sure they will know the rights and wrongs and collect the outstanding invoice amount. 

[Wack]

Fuck me

 

https://www.facebook.com/1508319129436612/videos/2051710601764126/UzpfSTQ3Nzg1MTAyODg5MzkxNzoxOTA4NjE0NjQyNDg0MjA4/

[cort1977]

It makes me really sad to read stuff like this.  He's just a bloke, doing a job to the best of his (very high) ability.  Steve is a very nice guy, knows his onions, is painfully shy and incredibly successful.  Yet, bizarrely, because he's in the public eye - people feel that they can say unkind stuff.

 

I suppose it's a testament to his success that people have an opinion, but it never has (and never will) sit well with me when people get stuck into someone they don't know.  Just don't listen - it's really not hard.

 

I think and hope that the reference to Yewtree was exaggeration for comic effect.

 

Steve Wright may be a nice guy, I'm sure he knows the business and he is undoubtedly successful but what bearing should that have on people's opinion of him as a presenter?  I think people are perfectly entitled to get stuck in to someone they don't know when they are a public figure - what's bizarre about that?  If you want to lead a private life then by all means do so; if you want to address millions of people on national radio, paid for by a government-mandated tax, then you must expect a response. 

 

I don't know him personally but I know that he has been on the BBC since I was at least 10, I'm 41 soon and his programme, presenting  style and even the music he plays has hardly changed at all.  His fawning over any guest is embarrassing, his sycophantic sidekicks are beyond irritating and on the rare times he plays something good he talks all over it or plays one of his inane jingles.   

 

Surely there must be other people coming up in the industry who the BBC could give a chance?

[cort1977]

Wouldn’t it be great if John Peel was still around and doing the Capital FM Breakfast show?

 

Bouncy assistant presenter

“Hey Peely, I went clubbing on Saturday yeah, with the girlies for dirty martinis somewhere swanky in the Citeh, and there was this bloke right with spiked hair and I was all like wow, and he was all like yeah I know and it was amazing -so have you ever been out somewhere in an outfit that was like totally yeah and people have mentioned it?”

 

Peel

(Audible sigh). “Here’s Teenage Kicks by the Undertones”

 

And I fucking hated John Peel as well the smarmy git.  Held up as a national treasure, he married a 15 year old (even if legal still incredibly dodgy) and couldn't even play records at the right speed the mock-Scouse twat.

[beko1987]

09.10am - Amy goes out. Rings about 10 minutes later, there's a warning light on my car, a triangle with a car and a wavy line underneath... ABS light then. GR9, but it'll be fine, just dont brake sharply...

 

Carries on working from home.

 

01.30 - Ring Ring - My car won't start. It goes click and then nothing. So, I drive over in my increasingly reliable Laguna...(I needed to drive anyway to check my foot is OK, which it is, forgot about the wheel shake at 60 though, fuck it, no time to care. Jump the Zafira, and the ABS light comes back on, which explains that.

 

ECP can get me a battery for £50 with todays 33% code, did I read somewhere someone had a really meaty code? Using what's left of my Shitefest budget here, so could do with it being as cheap as possible really, although £50 isn't terrible I know.

 

EDIT - Playing shit parts bingo, CP4L had a LION one for £44. Add next day delivery so it's here by the weekend made it £48, which I can't really argue about for a brand new battery.

 

And I can't really say Orl Vauxhalls R Shit (well I can...) because the battery in it is a vauxhall battery, and I would put money on it being the one fitted when it left the factory... So it's done well for 10 years

 

It's just very annoying as now I have £25 in my Shitefest savings! That might get me to Newcastle fuel wise... Best hope I get a youtube ad revenue payment this month and don't miss the threshold by 50p like what happened a few months ago!

[Datsuncog]

Last time I was in the Bangor branch of Halfords, I was so tempted to ask the till-jockey to turn the sticky-tape dispenser over - so I could see whether it still had 'Death to Radio 1' inscribed on the base in permanent marker... written in an inchoate fit of fury sometime in Summer 2001 when I'd finally had enough of hearing Do You Really Like It? by DJ Pied Piper (and, not forgetting, the Masters Of Ceremonies) every hour, on the hour, every day, every week...

 

Radio 1 did my tits in, as it was (allegedly) the only station we were allowed to play in-store, since "commercial radio might run ads for our competitors" - according to Beano, the Area 6 manager. I've never listened to it willingly since I left.

 

Although it has left me with some odd synesthesic tics - hearing Ian Van Dahl's Castles In The Sky still brings the tang of spilt Redex to my nostrils.

 

Weird.

 

I'm not really a massive Steve Wright fan after spending longer than I'd like to recall stuck in M5 traffic jams outside Bristol while his drivetime show burbled on, but don't really grasp the hate-levels out there for him...

[Wack]

It makes me really sad to read stuff like this.  He's just a bloke, doing a job to the best of his (very high) ability.  Steve is a very nice guy, knows his onions, is painfully shy and incredibly successful.  Yet, bizarrely, because he's in the public eye - people feel that they can say unkind stuff.

 

I suppose it's a testament to his success that people have an opinion, but it never has (and never will) sit well with me when people get stuck into someone they don't know.  Just don't listen - it's really not hard.

 

The problem is there really isn't an alternative for middle of the road music unless you like adverts every 10 minutes , especially if you're driving as local radio only stretches so far .

 

I can take or leave Steve Wright but I do think he's past his sell by date , he tries to be funny but he's really not , he wasn't in the 80s and he isn't now

 

I do wonder how he still has the prime afternoon slot , perhaps if he stopped the attempts at being funny he'd be more liked , it used to annoy the fuck out of me when he butted into the music with a "witty" observation about it but I've noticed he has stopped doing that

[Kiltox]

Dayinsure quote for the Boxster for a week - £700

 

Phoned Admiral to add it as a temporary vehicle to the Duster’s policy - £37

 

£19 admin fee included in that though!!

[Kiltox]

09.10am - Amy goes out. Rings about 10 minutes later, there's a warning light on my car, a triangle with a car and a wavy line underneath... ABS light then. GR9, but it'll be fine, just dont brake sharply...

 

Carries on working from home.

 

01.30 - Ring Ring - My car won't start. It goes click and then nothing. So, I drive over in my increasingly reliable Laguna...(I needed to drive anyway to check my foot is OK, which it is, forgot about the wheel shake at 60 though, fuck it, no time to care. Jump the Zafira, and the ABS light comes back on, which explains that.

 

ECP can get me a battery for £50 with todays 33% code, did I read somewhere someone had a really meaty code? Using what's left of my Shitefest budget here, so could do with it being as cheap as possible really, although £50 isn't terrible I know.

 

EDIT - Playing shit parts bingo, CP4L had a LION one for £44. Add next day delivery so it's here by the weekend made it £48, which I can't really argue about for a brand new battery.

 

And I can't really say Orl Vauxhalls R Shit (well I can...) because the battery in it is a vauxhall battery, and I would put money on it being the one fitted when it left the factory... So it's done well for 10 years

 

It's just very annoying as now I have £25 in my Shitefest savings! That might get me to Newcastle fuel wise... Best hope I get a youtube ad revenue payment this month and don't miss the threshold by 50p like what happened a few months ago!

You’re waiting for delivery to save £2? That combined with the ECP/CP4L parts lottery doesn’t seem like a great idea

[Parky]

Last time I was in the Bangor branch of Halfords, I was so tempted to ask the till-jockey to turn the sticky-tape dispenser over - so I could see whether it still had 'Death to Radio 1' inscribed on the base in permanent marker... written in an inchoate fit of fury sometime in Summer 2001 when I'd finally had enough of hearing Do You Really Like It? by DJ Pied Piper (and, not forgetting, the Masters Of Ceremonies) every hour, on the hour, every day, every week...

Am I right in assuming you weren’t lovin’ It lovin’ it lovin’ it, weren’t lovin’ it like that?

[Datsuncog]

The best bit about why don't you? Was laughing at the Norn Iron kids talking about making a Fil Um.

 

The Fil Um was usually depressing shit about the troubles or sheep farming or rock formations.

 

(I don't wish to make light of the troubles or sheep farming for that matter, but I was 9!)

 

Time to go out on my bike.

 

I could relate my own personal tragedy here - that even if I did turn off the telly and go outside on my bike, I would still have been surrounded by The Troubles, sheep, and rock formations (Scrabo Quarry, the scene of a million geography field trips). And other Norn Iron kids, making fillums.

 

But I won't.

[Datsuncog]

Am I right in assuming you weren’t lovin’ It lovin’ it lovin’ it, weren’t lovin’ it like that?

 

Indeed I was not. I was so very not.

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Going into Terminal 2 car park today, I spot a brand new high-top LWB Transit driven by a confused looking woman, indicate to come across into my lane. This would take her up the ramp and into the carpark, which has a 6'6" height restriction, I sound my horn and accelerate alongside her to prevent this. I even point at the 8' square flashing sign that advises over height vehicles to use only the left two lanes.

She of course thanks me and safely turns left, right?

 

Yeah, right! She sticks her middle finger up and calls me a wanker, so I lower my passenger window and shout; " You can't go up there, you'll get stuck"

" I can go wherever I want, just because you're in a big fancy car (!?) you think you own the road

 

I carried on into the carpark.

 

 

Half an hour later , when I left, there was a Police Shogun blocking off the ramp to the car park and two Heathrow security Discoveries parked just before the bit that the roof suddenly drops to 6'6" and an awful lot of people queuing to get in the car park.

Wish I'd had time to go around and laugh at the presumably wedged Transit.

[Kiltox]

Hahahahahaha what a fucking arse!

[beko1987]

You’re waiting for delivery to save £2? That combined with the ECP/CP4L parts lottery doesn’t seem like a great idea

No, your right, I did fuck up a bit because I forgot about delivery. She's working this weekend and I realised it was 2.45 so would probably hit the post today and come tomorrow so cost saving got knackered by £4 postage, but I haven't got to rescue it on Saturday morning when she wants to come home

 

Was hoping someone would have a 50% code or something, but that probably doesn't exist

 

Just got to hope it's not the alternator or something but I'll worry about that if it is when it happens

[beko1987]

Going into Terminal 2 car park today, I spot a brand new high-top LWB Transit driven by a confused looking woman, indicate to come across into my lane. This would take her up the ramp and into the carpark, which has a 6'6" height restriction, I sound my horn and accelerate alongside her to prevent this. I even point at the 8' square flashing sign that advises over height vehicles to use only the left two lanes.

She of course thanks me and safely turns left, right?

 

Yeah, right! She sticks her middle finger up and calls me a wanker, so I lower my passenger window and shout; " You can't go up there, you'll get stuck"

" I can go wherever I want, just because you're in a big fancy car (!?) you think you own the road

 

I carried on into the carpark.

 

 

Half an hour later , when I left, there was a Police Shogun blocking off the ramp to the car park and two Heathrow security Discoveries parked just before the bit that the roof suddenly drops to 6'6" and an awful lot of people queuing to get in the car park.

Wish I'd had time to go around and laugh at the presumably wedged Transit.

Yea, fuck you in your expensive car thats the right tool for your job, and your knowledge of the location. How dare you... You should be driving a cavalier with missing wheel trims, your punters would understand...

[Datsuncog]

Fuck me

 

https://www.facebook.com/1508319129436612/videos/2051710601764126/UzpfSTQ3Nzg1MTAyODg5MzkxNzoxOTA4NjE0NjQyNDg0MjA4/

 

Yeah, the AGM of the Dublin Institute of Advanced Drivers has been known to get a bit out of hand, sometimes...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

There are plenty of clichés still in regular use - all of which boil my piss.

 

"Bit of Robbie Williams coming up!!!1!" (No - you're not going to play a bit, you're going to play it all.)

"25 degrees outside right now" (I didn't think you'd be giving the temperature inside my airing cupboard, but thanks nonetheless)

"Anyone out there want to call up?" (Out where? Out there in radio land?? Plus, you talk to just 1 person - not an "audience")

I don’t think Smashy and Nicey helped things much.

I guess it must be really difficult to strike the right balance between sounding enthused and interesting/ed and fucking annoying and up your own arse. As a teacher, it’s part of my remit to deliver content in an interesting and engaging way, but I have the advantage that my ‘customers’ can see me, engage there and then and use their body language and/or mouths to let me know if they’re interested or not!

 

If Autoshite launched a radio station, I wonder how it’d sound? Would the jockeys of the discs all sound like they’re on the spectrum, or would they be engaging to the masses*?

 

I’d start my gig by playing The Who’s epic Baba O Riley, whilst psyching myself up to discuss how my photographically memory enables me to memorise way too many car number plates, when I really don’t need or want to know them.

 

Actually, on reflection, I dont sound dissimilar to the wittering presenters on our local volunteer-run radio station. I enjoy a listen from time to time - some really random music is played (much of which I actually quite like). Maybe I need to get volunteering!

[Datsuncog]

I’d start my gig by playing The Who’s epic Baba O Riley

 

Please get yourself a broadcasting licence and commence directly.

 

It's the track I've always used to benchmark any new stereo equipment.

 

Joyous stuff!

 

(And hence not really suitable for the Grumpy thread.)

[Guest Hooli]

You called?

 

 

Yup. Do you sound & pretend to be an overactive five year old on speed with lower than average mental abilities? Shouting endlessly the same crap unfunny joke for months & pretending it's a catchphrase? If so, take a long walk in the sea & when your flat cap floats keep going.

 

I'll assume not though as you don't appear to be an utter cunt on here.

 

As for 'Wrighty' he's ok but past his sell by date. Mayo is a lot worse to my ears, but no one on R2 is as bad as Vine.

 

Talking of radio, why are all the best shows on over night? Alex Leicester was the best DJ on R2 for years (might still be, I've lost track) and was on about 2-6am.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Fuck me

 

https://www.facebook.com/1508319129436612/videos/2051710601764126/UzpfSTQ3Nzg1MTAyODg5MzkxNzoxOTA4NjE0NjQyNDg0MjA4/

Welcome to 21st century Britain. There’s really no hope. Put them down, seriously.