Anyway, that's enough of the football. What caught my attention this weekend is that Sarah Kennedy has finally left her early morning Radio 2 show The Dawn Patrol. This is probably off the radar for many people unless, like me, you have Radio 2 set on the clock-alarm and you get up far too early. The funny thing is, most people seem to treat her show like me: It's a fantastic alarm clock because you really have to get up and switch the damn thing off after 5 minutes. Either that, or listen to her odd stories about weird cats, conniving dogs, her muddle England lifestyle and, failing that, right wing musings and reading stories from the Daily Mail as if they were actually true. Even then, she would read them as if she had left her specs on the bus. Having said that, she did seem to disappear for long periods due to various non-specified health issues and we would get Aled Jones or Lynn Parsons filling in. Apparently, we are going to get much more of them now!
The odd thing is, I really think I'm going to miss her. I won't miss her as a presenter; she must be as oddly cast as a radio broadcaster as that bloke on Central FM news who stutters, or the entire surreal world that is Isles FM (and I bet you thought the Outer Hebrides Broadcasting Corporation was a joke). What I will miss is that she was one of the last distinctive voices on radio; rather like a mad old aunt who never quite gets their brain in gear. Radio has become more and more homogenised, risk-averse and frankly dull. At least with the likes of Sarah Kennedy there was always the chance of something genuinely outrageous happening - a bit like the Duke of Edinburgh being let loose in a Bradford clothes factory. Maybe non-politically correct musings are actually top entertainment when you aren't related to the person in question. I'm not sure, but I can see BBC radio becoming blander and blander - not unlike the commercial radio stations with their interchangeable presenters and predictable play listings.
I don't know who her permanent replacement is going to be. I think another female presenter would be nice: Lynn Parsons or Lisa Tarbuck would be my choices. One thing is sure: early morning radio is never going to be quite the same.
If I go upstairs, I can get S4/C which is what I did when the England game was on ITV1. I managed to miss the first half including the goal that Montenegro scored against Wales but it looks like I didn't miss anything good. Most of the bits of game I saw had Wales in charge but it was too little too late. Robbie Savage has called for Tosh to be sacked and I quite often like Robbie - but I like Tosh more. They do have problems though. Wish I'd watched the England game.
ReplyDeleteI too will miss Sarah - mostly for the cat stuff. I'd put Mo Dutta in that slot.