Nation's Favourite Paperback – 5 July 1999
by
Simon Garfield
(Author)
In 1993, BBC Radio One gained a new controller. Matthew Bannister said he was going to reinvent the station, the most popular in Europe. But things didn't go exactly to plan. The station lost millions of listeners. Its most famous DJs left, and their replacements proved to be disasters. Radio One's commercial rivals regarded the internal turmoil with glee. For a while a saviour arrived, in the shape of Chris Evans. But his behaviour caused further upheavals, and his eventual departure provoked another mass desertion by listeners. What was to be done?In the middle of this crisis, Radio One bravely (or foolishly) allowed the writer Simon Garfield to observe its workings from the inside. For a year he was allowed unprecedented access to management meetings and to DJs in their studios, to research briefings and playlist conferences. Everyone interviewed spoke in passionate detail about their struggle to make their station credible and successful once more. The result is a touching, exciting and often hilarious portrait of a much loved national institution as it battles back from the brink of calamity.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication date5 July 1999
- ISBN-100571197353
- ISBN-13978-0571197354
Product description
About the Author
Simon Garfield was born in 1960. He is the author of Expensive Habits: The Dark Side of the Industry (1986), The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS (1994), which was awarded the Somerset Maugham Prize, The Wrestling (1996), The Nation's Favourite: The True Adventures of Radio 1(1998), the best-selling Mauve (2000), described by the Daily Telegraph as 'a remarkable book about science which also happens to be a miniature work of art', and the acclaimed The Last Journey of William Huskisson.
Product details
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0571197353
- ISBN-13 : 978-0571197354
- Customer reviews:
Customer reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
23 global ratings
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Top reviews from other countries
Joanne Sheppard
5.0 out of 5 stars
You ain't seen nothing yet
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 December 2013Verified Purchase
For anyone who remembers Radio One during the 80s and always had a sneaking suspicion that a lot of the station's big names were obnoxious egomaniacs, this book will absolutely confirm your view. Pretty much nobody except John Peel comes out of it looking anything other than a fool and the degree to which the likes of DLT and Simon Bates are essentially humourless, reactionary caricatures of themselves really does come across beautifully. Enlightening and entertaining.
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The Stationmaster
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Summer Radio! on the, Peter Powell Show! here is the music show, on the Peter Powell Show!!"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2017Verified Purchase
"Radio One, On,The,Road!!!" ah yes, the old Radio-1 summer roadshow, Week-end morning "Junior Choice", Anne Nightingales Sunday evening "Student Choice" as well as John Waters, Alexis Kornah, and of course the seminal John Peel. echoes of the past of a Radio station much-missed and very difficult to believe in today's 'Celebrity' obsessed shallow repetitive brainless rubbish and cloned "DJ's" that pollute today's Radio-1. this book explores the history and mostly the build-up to the notorious Bannister "Clear-Out" amusingly pastiched by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, as out went the"Tony Blackburn" "Hairy Cornflake" "Kid Jensen" "Simon Bates" "Adrian Juste" "Andy Peebles" "Peter Powell" "Gary Davis" (and with a supressed snarl, as i really can't stand him---) "Steve Wright" and through all this John Peel survived this slaughter virtually intact, and how horrible the later demonization of some of those above mentioned DJ's thankfully (with a particular exception) they emerged blameless and better appreciated for their revolutionary style of broadcasting not just for the "Yoof" but for everyone else--housewives, factories, offices etc which today's Radio-1 simply cannot do and which (quite rightfully) Radio-2 does a most admirable job today, This book should be read by not only us oldies who loved the old Radio-1 but event today's younger generation with ideas to read this warning from the past in not how to run a radio station very emasculated by a man who despite his best intentions has done a massive amount of damage which today's BBC has yet to recover from, I am not being an old grumpy but change is always needed in most things in life, but a gradual phased programme system would have been a better idea rather than a fast brutal clean sweep--as i cannot see how the awful Emma Freud, Idiot Chris Evans, Charmless Tit Chris Moyles and the useless Lisa I'Anson, and others could have possibly been able to take over the mantle! An entertaining but thought-provoking book well worth purchasing--recommended.
M. D. Souter
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting if you are a radio fan
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2013Verified Purchase
Gives quite an interesting insight into the behind the scenes wranglings at the BBC. Having worked there for years, I can empathise with a lot of the goings on. A bit of a dreary read at times, but worth a look.
2 people found this helpful
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