Hopes for A New Year

For the past few days broadcasters, journalists and bloggers have been reviewing the last twelve months, picking out the highs and the lows the good and the bad.

I'd like to look forward - not to what I know is coming but to what I would like to see and hear.

Let me begin with Radio
So much of what I hear is the same. Commercial radio seems to be stuck with 'the best music mix' concept. Every station can't have the best music mix, there have got to be some out there with the worst. Unfortunately most stations offer up the 'same music mix'. Long gone are the days when stations tried to sound different, these days they all follow the same pattern, the same chart records, the same lame DJ's. My hope is that out of this porridge someone, somewhere will have the guts to do something different.

Last year I discovered BBC 6 Music. It ploughs a different furrow, one where the influence of Simon Cowell on the record industry cannot be felt. I know where I'll be tuning for my music.

Is there any chance that Radio 4 might loosen up a bit? It's tough when you're the best speech radio station in the world to admit that there's so much that is old fashioned and stuffy. Test Match Special has managed to reinvent itself for a younger audience (50!) without dumbing down, perhaps some of the others programmes could follow suit.

Finally, please God Danny Baker recovers from the cancer that has kept him off our radios. He is truly the Mozart of Talk Radio.

Television
Money is tight. Times is tough. But would it be so hard to order a few more episodes in a drama series? British television has always preferred short commissions, six episodes of a drama, six sitcoms.  But now it's getting silly. Three. Two. My hope is that there will be more confidence in good projects. When you believe in something show the audience. Downton Abbey gave people the opportunity to find it. Upstairs Downstairs was all done and dusted in three consecutive nights. U/D knocked the dramatic spots off DA but as DA was first out of the traps U/D is now fighting for attention. I'm sure there's lots of folk who'd appreciate a few more episodes of their favourite shows - and god knows writers needs shows to write.

I really really hope British Entertainment shows discover some more words. Presenters vocabularies have shrunk to such a point that I believe there are only twenty odd words left that are considered acceptable. "There can only be one winner...I can now reveal...the phone lines are now open/closed...going home this week..." PLEASE can we agree that all shows DON'T have to follow the same form and don't have to use the same bloody words! There, I've used up my exclamation mark for the year. I think I may be hitting my head against a brick wall here.

Finally Movies
More money for development. More films made in the UK and more intelligent action films - see Inception. Bourne showed the way, Inception has put the bar even higher. You can have car chases, explosions and brain puzzles that people will flock to. Michael Bay be warned.

Happy New Year.