portlock seagull
Well-known member
- Jul 28, 2003
- 17,777
I can barely listen to 5 Live now, outside of live football commentaries on a Saturday or Sunday.
I used to be a very regular listener in the days of Eddie Mair, Peter Allen, Simon Mayo, Shelagh Fogarty, Fee Glover and so on. But now the presenting style is so dumbed down, the bias or personal agendas of the presenters so obvious and the quality of the output so tabloid I can barely bring myself to listen. It's like seeing an old and much-loved friend suffer from a terminal illness.
I used to quite like Rachel Burden on breakfast but the way she is so deferential to the unsufferably smug and patronising Nicky Cambell makes it a very uncomfortable listen. Is there is a person in the world who loves Nicky Campbell more than Nicky Campbell? In fact, he used to be very good too but over the past few years has become a parody of himself. His massively inflated sense of his own self-importance and just how very pleased he is with himself obscures every story or interview he broadcasts.
I think the move to Salford irreparably damaged 5 Live. Maybe the better quality production / editorial staff declined to move with the station? It certainly sounds like a 6th Form radio station now, with very little expert editorial control brought to bear on the output. Whatever the reason, the station and it's output really is piss-poor these days. I am a radio junkie but it's mostly Radio 4 for me now.
Rachel Burden is no Sheila Fogerty or Fi Glover or Victoria Derbyshire; her impartiality is non existent and her voice grates too. You’re bang on the money with your comments.