When I try to analyse all this, a couple of things strike me as pivotal in my behaviour shift.

First, what we’re increasingly given to believe is news these days is merely opinion dressed up as actuality. Oh yes, in some dark alleyway behind those barking Breaking News graphics, my suppliers have been cutting their stash with reaction, speculation and spin, and passing it on as the real deal.

OK, so I freely admit that I got caught up in this sordid subculture myself not long ago during the Michael Jackson saga. But perhaps that experience is part of the reason why I’ve since started (albeit inadvertently) to get clean.

Having met and interviewed Jackson by accident in 1999, my phone started ringing off the hook late on the night he died. From New York to New Zealand, complete strangers wanted to know what I had to say about my relatively short time with the late King of Pop.

In truth, I was a bit puzzled at first and also rather anxious that I had nothing to say of any real consequence. But what I didn’t realise then was that that didn’t matter at all. Most of them just wanted words. Any kind of words - from anyone who’d had anything to do with Michael Jackson. Ever.

So time and again I recounted the rather bizarre story of our chance encounter at Liberty Radio and explained how I found Jackson as an individual. All fair enough. But then came the really strange questions. How much did I know about his financial affairs? Who did I think would benefit in his will? Was he taking hormones to maintain his high-pitched voice?  Again, it didn’t really matter what I knew, they just wanted to know what I thought.

In short - the uninformed informing the uninformed. Great.

And yet sadly, that’s what all too often passes for news in this 24 hour TV age of ours.

Second, and perhaps more relevant, I’ve come to realise that my own news agenda no longer correlates with that of any single news provider. Thankfully though, the miracle of the web now allows me to search out stories on the issues that do matter to me and better still, digest video reports and articles from a variety of different perspectives at any hour of the day or night. It really is my news, my way.

As any decent shrink will tell you, if you want to feel better about life: stop watching the news.  And from where I’m sitting, there’s more than a grain of truth in it.

As for my habit - well, while I can’t say I’ve gone cold turkey quite yet, I’m more than happy to settle for getting my factual meds online as and when the old urge strikes.

On Tuesday morning at the Home of Free Speech, Jon Gaunt’s topics ranged from the teacher who’d been jailed for having sex with a pupil, to sterling’s latest slump against the Euro, and the paper’s own campaign to save the British pub. An impressive string of expert guests lined up to comment including Claude Knights from Kidscape, financial wizard David Kuo and Guinness boss Paul Walsh. All in all, a fascinating listen peppered with interesting calls that had me hooked right to the very finish. And yes, a far cry from White Van Man FM - as its sniffier critics have dubbed it.

The show is now also carried live by Bay Radio and Spectrum FM on the Spanish costas, so listeners from Catford to Calahonda can pitch in with opinions, questions and various pleas for help.  One such caller rang in to say that First Choice had just announced plans to close its route to Mojacar, spelling disaster for the local economy and yet further misery for the region’s already cash-strapped ex-pats.

Within minutes, The Sun’s Travel Editor was in the studio with an official response from the tour operator and for the first time in what feels like forever, I felt that radio was once more doing what it does best - engaging with real people and responding to their needs.

The Sun clearly has the kind of resources that traditional broadcasters would kill for but it’s not just about the money or the editorial support. It’s also about the paper’s vision and its willingness to embrace convergence - deftly filling a gap in the radio market in the process.

I was chatting with Jon Gaunt a while back at an industry event and was immediately struck by his enthusiasm for online radio and his appreciation of its enormous potential. 

Gaunty and I may argue about many things but on one issue we definitely agree. Smart phones, WiFi receivers and all those other new media devices coming over the horizon will totally transform listening habits across generations, just as transistor sets did back in the 60s. And those who continue to look the other way will ultimately be left to survey the wreckage.

Now, back to the records…

Back in 1983, I was lucky enough to be a part of the launch team at Southern Sound Radio (as it was then known) and although the hours were long and the money was truly lousy, I wouldn’t have missed those years in Franklin Road, Portslade for the world.

The brains behind the station, Keith Belcher and Rory McLeod, had assembled a motley crew of journalists, presenters and enthusiastic beginners (myself included) and together we set out on a journey to create a station was all about life in Sussex. It may sound like a cliché today but it really was local radio for local people, cobbled together by a small but dedicated team from an old cinema in one of the less glamorous districts of what is now called the city of Brighton & Hove.

In the weeks, months and years that followed, records jumped, egos clashed and more than a couple of outside broadcast aerials got stuck in trees as I went about learning my trade from the bottom up. It was all a great adventure for the ambitious and rather cocksure teenager that I was but more importantly, it provided me with all the basic skills I would carry with me through more than a quarter of a century in the media profession. 

But times change and although today’s Heart transplant marks the loss of another much-loved radio brand, in a way, I can’t help feeling that it’s something of a merciful release. In recent years the station had become a ghost of its former self and ultimately, the once Sunny Sound of Sussex was condemned to death by a thousand cuts at the hands of its subsequent owners.

With only a couple of local shows a day, Global promises more music variety delivered both locally and nationally, blah, blah - and while the region may well come to love its shiny new Heart, I fear the Sussex ether has just lost a bit of its soul.

From Adam Ant to XTC and from Kid Creole to the Fun Boy Three, Ashes To Ashes pumps out a relentless catholic mix of top tunes from my favourite musical decade. So why, as I stand on the threshold of the official oldie audience demographic, can’t I find the same kind of references to my musical youth playing on my radio?

There seems to be a misconception among the programmers of Radioland that once listeners hit a certain age, we move into radio’s sheltered accommodation where wardens dish out cuddly-soft oldies like tranquillisers to maintain the daily peace. Younger programmers could be forgiven for thinking this way because by virtue of their age, they’ve yet to appreciate the true emotional power of musical nostalgia. As a young radio pup, I also found it hard to fathom why I had to play endless oldies by The Beatles, Connie Francis and Manfred Mann but to our target audience, these tunes were evocative gems that reminded them of a golden time in their lives - when the world was somehow simpler, brighter and more carefree. And that, my young friends, is the reason why oldies get played on the radio, full stop.

Unlike today, us kids of the 70’s & 80’s didn’t fit into a one-size-fits-all musical blur – open your Guinness Book of Hit Singles and you’ll find Punks, Mods, Goths, Post-Punks, New Romantics, New Wave, Disco, Electro, Hi Energy, House, Heavy Metal and plenty more riding high in the charts. So how come the only nod to this era I ever seem to hear on Marconi’s magic box comes from acts like Shalamar, Jennifer Rush and McFadden & F***ing Whitehead?

Interestingly, a good friend of mine in her 50’s (yes, her 50’s) has been singing the praises of Spotify recently, telling me how great it is to hear the old tunes she knows and loves all day long without the need for a radio. Indicating once again that in this new digital era, audiences of all ages are ready and able to go where the music takes them.

So, one more time - wake up Radioland! The rules have changed and I and my generation will continue to listen to The Specials, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Jam, China Crisis, Prefab Sprout, The Stranglers, Heaven 17, Gary Numan, et al - whether you’re willing to play them or not.

It’s highly likely that Sun Talk will be every bit as populist as its parent in print and that there won’t be many panel shows, dramas or documentaries among the schedules - so at least the burghers of Radio 4 will have little to worry about.  However, talk stations such as BBC 5 Live, LBC and Talk Sport should have every reason to be concerned because here comes a wealthy new kid on the block with in-house commercial, editorial and marketing expertise in spades. What’s more, without transmitter rental or Ofcom licence fees to pay, plus a direct line to the News Corporation’s Sky News Radio, it doesn’t take an enormous leap of faith to see the sums starting to add up.

While it’s not yet clear whether the output will be linear, vertical or some combination of the two, Gaunt is set to present a daily live show on the station - taking the notion of print titles delivering rich media content a stage further than the current on-demand offerings of say, The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. As an online broadcaster, Sun Talk will of course be free from the traditional radio restrictions on programming, sponsorship and advertising - allowing the station to carve out its own editorial and commercial path without fear of interference or sanctions from Ofcom. And while that might set alarm bells ringing with über liberals and established radio operators alike, if steered carefully, Sun Talk could herald a new freedom to develop commercial programming with the kind of honest and innovative edge that’s been missing from British broadcasting of late.

The only real fly in the Sun cream is the vexed issue of portability but with applications already available for tuning in to radio on iPhones and other mobile devices, it can’t be too long before that particular circle is squared. Radio purists will of course be quick to point out that Sun Talk won’t be radio at all because it’s delivered by wires but that’s a somewhat pointless argument in today’s digital age in which audiences already search for content that’s more relevant to them instead of simply accepting whatever happens to be dolloped out before their eyes and ears by the usual suspects.

Interestingly, an old friend and former captain of the commercial radio industry said to me recently, "British radio is completely F***ed!" He might well be right but then again, perhaps print will turn out to be the new radio.

Anyone care for a bun?

It seems that in return for launching two new national channels on the Digital One multiplex, commercial radio wants to see a reduction in locally-originated output requirements plus greater scope for smaller stations to co-locate and, in effect, provide local programming from studios outside their patch. So much for the whole notion of local radio then.

In case you didn’t already know, something needs doing with DAB and it needs doing fast - either a shot in the arm or just plain shooting altogether. So far, its reliance on heavily-automated commercial offerings has hardly helped DAB sets fly off the shelves, drive listenership and generate highly-profitable revenue streams for their operators - in fact, quite the reverse is true. DAB’s stunted growth has been largely driven by BBC services offering something more than non-stop music. Remind me again, how many commercial DAB services have fallen by the wayside since this whole fiasco began? And how many slots are currently sitting empty on Digital One (excluding the Bird Network)?

Set against that background, the idea of investing seriously in a couple of new national channels all sounds pretty encouraging - particularly when one is rumoured to be a much-needed alternative speech station. But if the commercial sector does get its way and the current regulations are relaxed once again, I rather fear that local radio’s entire proposition will be weakened further - and quite possibly to the point of collapse. You see, local radio’s not about selling widgets, it’s about selling local relationships and as we all know, to get anything out of a relationship you have to be prepared to put something in.

As I’ve said here before, I’m not entirely against the concept of networking but I am however, totally at odds with commercial radio’s relentless slash and grab approach to turning a fast buck. Come on guys, is the key to local programming success and thus profitability really yet another 5 hours of automation followed by Dave Wonderful 50 miles away banging out the best mix from the Focus Group 500? Because actually, the evidence suggests that adult audiences often do want something more engaging than back-to-back More Music Variety and endless Text To Win stunts. Just take a look at Radio 2’s successive RAJAR’s - do millions really listen to Wogan, Evans & Co. purely because of the music they play? OK, I accept that Magic does incredibly well in London with its less-talk proposition but that in itself doesn’t mean it’s the only commercial game in town.

Look, it may well be a tall order these days but it’s not rocket science. In my view, commercial radio simply needs to get off its arse, reconnect with local audiences and for once, raise the bar a little instead of constantly trying to pull it down and sling it in the nearest skip.

And by all means, let’s have another pop at making DAB a serious player but please, not at the expense of local radio’s already flaccid integrity.

Pass me the shotgun. 

Until now, internet radio has been largely dismissed by the denizens of Medialand as the sorry refuge for geeks, anoraks and other wannabe bedroom broadcasters. But times and media habits are changing, and while RAJAR recently reported a slight drop in online listening, I hope it’s only the quiet before a streaming storm.

To my mind, the issue of creating a profitable internet radio brand presents a number of immediate challenges to new media entrepreneurs - credibility, awareness, difference, relevance and revenue.  But from where I’m standing, it looks like Wight FM might just have hit upon a winning formula.

Founded by a couple of island businessmen with a background in local news & magazine publishing, the station’s first smart move was to sign former Isle of Wight Radio presenter and local personality Alex Dyke to head up the operation - porting both his considerable broadcast experience and his popular Mid-Morning Boogie show format in the process.

Next, they used their existing print titles to promote the new station heavily across the island, while also driving awareness of this emerging media platform. Incidentally, another stroke of genius is that Wight FM will also sell the WiFi radios and FM mini-transmitters that uninitiated listeners might need to tune in more easily around the home or workplace.

They then developed a programming strategy to set them apart from the competition, employing a refreshingly eclectic mix of tunes and names like Mike Read, Paul Burnett and Ed Stewart among the line-up. Adding IOW Festival guru Jon Giddings plus a handful of local club promoters and island personalities to the schedule only helped strengthen their local USP yet further.

And finally, I’m guessing they simply grew out their existing print news-gathering & commercial sales operations to provide the new radio brand with a local voice and crucially, a direct route to potential advertisers & sponsors.

So, with a passing nod to the 1967 launch of Radio 1, Wight FM burst into life at 11am last Sunday morning and despite a few inevitable hiccups, the overall response this week appears to be more than positive with calls and emails of support flooding in from across the island and the country. Of course, there’s also been no shortage of folk taking pot-shots at both Dyke and some of the clunkier automated segments on Wight FM but hey, it’s early days and with a bit of spit and polish, they’ll soon knock it into shape. However, to these old radio ears of mine, Wight FM already sounds fresh, exciting and fun.

Only time will tell what happens from here but interestingly, the week ended with another IW Radio presenter jumping ship and joining Wight FM’s self-styled WiFi Revolution. Sure, the station faces an uphill struggle but since when did that become reason enough to abandon hope and settle for the status quo?

 Vive la révolution! 

You see, with the economy on its knees and ad revenues on the slide, it makes perfect sense to me to cut costs by sharing output wherever possible. It’s obviously something that’s crossed the minds of the great and the good at Global too but over at TLRC, they’ve decided that local radio should be exactly that. So are they ready to buck the trend and dig deep to invest in local output? It would be nice to think so but in the current climate, I think it’s all a bit unlikely.

Instead, I rather fancy the TLRC stations will come to rely on a lean formula of extended live shows, increased automation and cheaper on-air talent. OK, so on paper it might actually be locally-originated programming but will listeners really be getting a better deal? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for local voices on local stations and more job opportunities in Radioland, but in this day and age it can no longer be such an emotional argument because for commercial radio the bottom line really is the bottom line.

Unlike many of my fellow bothers and sisters in radio, I don’t have a problem with the concept of networking per se. For me, the problem comes when network output pretends to be local because generally speaking, the end result is often rather disappointing. It’s neither fish nor fowl - afraid to sound too local and equally afraid to sound any larger. And while technology now offers a whole bag of tricks to enable split breaks, idents and even links to be played out seamlessly on local transmitters, I still can’t help feeling that in this global media age of ours, the time and effort spent perpetuating the illusion of 24/7 local programming purely for the sake of it is all rather pointless.

Way back in my BFBS years, we relied on a mix of local output and networked shows from both London and other BFBS outposts around the globe.  Each added value to the output by playing to its own particular strengths. For instance, network output featured big name presenters, specialist music shows and easy access to high-profile guests and contributors, while locally-originated programming brought local colour, flavour and helped create that important sense of belonging to a smaller community. But there was never any subterfuge - listeners always knew what was going on and where all the programmes were coming from - and yet nobody ever seemed to feel short-changed. Now in my book, that isn’t such a bad result.

Networking can have a valuable role to play in the viability of today’s cash-strapped radio market - just so long as it’s more than expanding musical foam squirted liberally into the gaps between local Breakfast and Drive slots. Ask yourself this: would listeners rather hear a well-crafted and properly resourced programme from outside their area during off-peak, or another four in a row played out by computer from the local industrial estate? You won’t need to phone a friend but you may want to ask the audience.

Hey, it simply boils down to being honest with your listeners - drop the act, tell them what’s in the tin and then get on with making the kind of radio they’ll really want to hear, whether it comes from London, Macclesfield or the Moon.

As for TLRC? Well, it may have escaped your notice but over the past year or so, they’ve been slowly scaling down their presence in the sector and I suspect this new initiative may be a little less about championing local output and a bit more about neatly parcelling up individual stations ready for market. Only time will tell. 

And now…back to the records. 

Ridiculously posh and most definitely politically incorrect, Dai carried an air of gentle naughtiness with him and was as mischievous on air as he was outside the studio. Besides a rather heated discussion about Kentucky Fried Chicken (which landed us all in hot water with the Radio Authority), my fondest memory is of Dai’s radical proposal to help the destitute in London.

In short, he thought the government should shoot all the pigeons in Trafalgar Square and then feed them to the starving homeless - thereby solving two social problems in one hit. Needless to say, the switchboard was ablaze within seconds as irate do-gooders and animal rights activists lined up to take pot-shots at him. With a twinkle in his eye, he argued his case passionately and sent each of them packing without giving an inch or offering so much as a word of apology. It was a joyous experience to behold and one of the most entertaining phone-ins I have ever refereed.

Dai Llewellyn was a one-off: bold, outrageous, articulate, hysterically funny, warm and generous in spirit. They don’t make ‘em like that any more - more’s the pity.

Since its launch on 14 February 2006, the new kid on the Caledonian block has faced an uphill struggle to win listeners in sufficient numbers. With a TSA of around a million adults, Talk107’s audience has only hovered around the 40,000 mark - apparently not nearly enough to generate the kind of ad revenue it needed to survive. So the station was put up for sale in October and despite encouraging rumours of a management buyout in late November, last week parent group UTV Radio decided to cut their losses and close the station down.

Talk 107’s untimely demise will leave the UK with just two local talk players in the commercial sector - London’s LBC 97.3 and Liverpool’s City Talk 105.9. That’s a truly pathetic state of affairs for a nation of 60 million, in which it seems everyone has something to say or a story to tell about virtually everything. So why is the talk format generally seen as such a commercial turkey?

After all, conversation is the great glue that bonds us together as a society - it enables us to form friendships, families, communities and even enemies. Sure, we may all have opinions to share on various topical issues of the day but there’s far more to talk about in life than regurgitated tabloid headlines or the latest celebrity tittle-tattle. And frankly, talk radio’s core proposition shouldn’t be any different.

Reflect, engage and interact with your audience on a more personal level and I promise you, they’ll come back for more. They’ll even help build brand awareness by telling their friends about you. OK, so you may have to spend a bit more money along the way (always a big worry for commercial radio) but remember, you’ll be investing in thousands of genuine, loyal and lucrative relationships built on mutual respect.

Is it really so hard to create compelling and commercially-viable talk radio programming?

Find out right after today’s Celebrity Bingo numbers.