Holiday Season

One of the perks of being a radio listener during the summer is a bit of a break from the listening routines that i normally have and this summer is the bonus round with several of the regulars booking holidays during the Olympics. Patrick Kielty has already spent two weeks in for Simon Mayo on Radio 2 drivetime and now switched to covering for Steve Wright's afternoons, the latter having also been recently covered by Chris Tarrant. For those who have forgotten how good Chris Tarrant is on Radio, these cover shows have been something of a reminder of how well polished his product was on Capital. The style may sound a little dated these days, but Tarrant's high energy presenting style is still nonetheless enjoyable when compared to some of the amateurs who are only on air because they've been on the telly.

Anyway, back to Patrick Kielty. Whilst he wouldn't be my first choice for these covers, he is doing a solid job. The shows are flowing together nicely and he exudes an engaging  warmth that was missing from covers by Ryan Tubridy for Ken Bruce and Chris Evans earlier in the year. Kielty would probably benefit from having a regular show on Radio 2 to build his own set of features, and in this respect i'm somewhat surprised that he wasn't given the summer cover for Graham Norton on Saturday mornings. This brings us neatly on to Jon Holmes.


The Jon Holmes Situation is not a Radio 4 sketch show as the title may suggest, rather a transplant of Holmes' 6 Music Saturday Morning show direct to Radio 2, albeit with a less interesting playlist. Whilst Holmes is on Radio 2, the obligatory 6 Music supersub Andrew Collins returns to the slot he has previously co-hosted with Josie Long, Richard Herring and Michael Legge. Whilst these two holiday cover jobs would appear to be something new, in reality they are reassuringly familiar. My one criticism of the Jon Holmes Situation would be that the podcast has shrunk somewhat from the 6 Music offering.

Finally on Radio 2, Sara Cox has been welcomed back in to overnights to cover for Janice Long having spent a week sitting in for Alex Lester earlier in the year, so her previous stint must have been considered a success. Personally, i didn't think Cox's self centred chatter fitted in with Radio 2's normal overnight output, but she clearly relates far more to the Radio 2 playlist than she has done to the Radio 1 output since the turn of the millennium. It is a bit difficult to see where Sara Cox would fit in these days on radio - whereas Zoe Ball has matured in to being accepted on daytime Radio 2, you can't help but feel there is still something needy in the nature of Cox and she hasn't quite shaken off the overgrown teenager image which still comes through in her broadcasting.

Most of the Radio 1 staff have remained in place, but sparky Ulsterman Phil Taggart has been covering the odd weekend slot (Sara Cox on Sunday mornings, Gemma Cairney on weekend breakfast). I find it difficult to dislike Taggart - he has demonstrated a good understanding of music on the Northern Ireland Introducing show, and has a lively style with something of a scattergun approach which sees him taking lots of interesting diversions over the course of a three hour show.

Moving over to local radio, BBC Bristol stalwart sports presenter Geoff Twentyman has taken over Steve Le Fevre's breakfast show for a few weeks and is doing a good job of interviewing people without interrupting them, my perennial pet hate of Le Fevre. I think this is exacerbated by the fact that BBC Bristol trails endlessly praise his "hard hitting" interview technique. I also struggle to distinguish between when Le Fevre is being sarcastic or just patronising and wonder how intentional either are. But i digress. Twentyman's deep scouse tones and less confrontational technique are a considerably easier listen first thing in the morning.

The lunchtime show, normally home to Steve Yabsley has been taken over for this week by Tony James. The first show was technically a complete mess with vocals and jingles being crashed all over the place. The playlist and banter also appear to have degenerated into a sub-Classic Gold 60s "Remember When" set up, guaranteed to alienate anybody under the age of 60. The constant "best part of the country / best radio in the country" patter as he tries to relate to the region is quite painful and out of keeping with the usual station imaging and does hark back to GWR imaging on the late 90s which insisted on calling Bristol the greatest city in the world every five minutes. James is something of a journeyman of local radio since the mid 80s, having broadcast for various ILRs and BBC locals. His website would have you believe he is the sole reason that any radio station ever gains listeners, but for somebody so experienced in broadcasting to be making such a cliched and technically messy show is rather a poor performance. I was almost expecting the "do you remember Spangles" phone in to come along...