And so, the homogonisation begins...

Yes, the dreaded process of assimilating Atlantic FM into the Heart network has begun.  By comparing the output of Heart Plymouth on DAB and Atlantic FM on FM, I can tell that they are playing excatly the same songs, in exactly the same order.

I am reminded of Star Trek's The Borg in all this.  "We are Heart.  Resistence is futile.  You will be assimilated."  Central playlists, one of the scourges of great radio, going back to days of GWR Group.  Yeuch!!!

Still, this is the reality we have right now, but to know that commercial radio can do so much better, but they seem to only want to do just about adequate, which doesn't cut it with lots of listeners.  There is an old joke that rings so true here.  "Good enough?  Good enough is not good enough, Goodenough!"

Why should listeners put up with good enough, when they can do so much better, and we can hear so much better on the internet.  Content is still king, despite what the big commercial radio groups think.

Video Blogging Week on Viewpoint - Day 3 of 7

Day 3 of Video Blogging Week 2009, and this time, my thoughts turn to the upcoming Star Trek film due for worldwide release in May 2009.



The halfway point comes tomorrow. Day 4 of 7. I wonder what we'll talk about tomorrow...

Trifecta of lost souls.

It's funny how things always seem to come in threes. Whether they be good, or bad, really does not matter. It always seems to be a trifecta of either triumph or trouble.

The same seems to apply to famous people dying. Just 2 days ago, we lost one of the greats of sports broadcasting in the UK. David Vine started his career at Westward Television in Plymouth back in the 1960s. He started as an off-screen producer before being asked in front of the cameras one time on Westward Diary because the regular sports presenter hadn't turned up. From that day on, he never looked back.

He moved to the BBC in the 1970s and was a regular presenter on shows like Ski Sunday, Match Of The Day, and even hosted Miss World. He commentated on the Winter Olympics many times, and hosted Snooker coverage for over 20 years.

He retired from on-screen presenting in 2000. But since then, he has worked behind the scenes at BBC Sport as an adviser. David's easy going, gently humourous style has long been missed on screen, and his prescence will be missed off screen. David Vine was 73.

Today, we have had two famous actors die. Number 6, Patrick McGoohan, as he was known in the late 1960s ITV show The Prisoner, passed away today. Whilst he was best known as Number 6, he was also John Drake in ITVs Danger Man, and he also appeared in films, such as Ice Station Zebra and Escape From Alcatraz. He also made guest appearances in other TV shows. He made 4 guest appearances in Columbo alongside Peter Falk, and also appeared alongside Angela Lansbury in an episode of Murder She Wrote. McGoohan also directed episodes of The Prisoner and Columbo amongst others. Patrick McGoohan was 80.

Ricardo Montalban had already had a 20+ year career before he took on the role of Khan Noonien Singh in the first season Star Trek episode, "Space Seed". About 15 years he reprised the role of Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. It's reported that he agreed to take on the role again in the movie for a mere $100,000 purely because he loved the role of Khan so much that he actually wanted to play it again. For may sci-fi fans, he permanently became Khan, despite having only appeared in the role twice. That was a testament to the quality of his acting.

However, he guested on many different shows over a 30 year span, too numerous to mention. Search out his IMDB profile for a comprehensive listing. He did however have two series regular cast roles to his name. Mr Roarke, the owner of "Fantasy Island", and Zach Powers in the Dynasty spin off "The Colbys". In later years, he provided his voice to many animations. Ricardo Montalban was 88.

The "CNN Hologram" - now you know it's a successful

Whether you were watching the US Presidential Election earlier this week or not, you'll know that two big stories came out of it. The first was of course, Barack Obama's victory. The other was "The CNN Hologram". Here it is, as it happened.



There's an old saying, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This comes from TV3 New Zealand's coverage of the New Zealand General Election just a few days later...



...complete with Star Trek sound effect!

I think it's safe to say that we'll be seeing more "CNN Holograms" appearing on other news networks in the next few years or so.

The Menagerie on the Big Screen!

For one night only in selected US and Canadian locations, the only two part episode from the orignal series of Star Trek, The Menagerie, comes to cinemas for a "limited engagement" on November 13th.

I'd like to think they would release this in the UK and Ireland too, maybe at a later date, but for now, click here to see which US locations have the showing, and keep checking back there to find out which Canadian locations will have it too.