Children in need auctions on radio 2

[AngelSparks]

This is so annoying

Chris Evans trying to get people to bid for experiences, that most of us don't have a chance of having the money for

One item went for £280,000!!!!
That would buy my house! !!

Radio 2 is funded by the public, so shouldn't spend all its time promoting something which excludes the majority of it!

Chris Evans radio shows have always been self indulgent. Bring back Terry Wogan...

Wah?

Re-phrased you just said: Radio 2 Radio 2 is funded by the public, so shouldn't spend all its time promoting something that raises millions of pounds for children's charities because I can't afford to buy anything!

And, as has been said already, The Ever Sainted Tel did exactly the same thing... and was equally self indulgent. If you don't like the show switch over to another publicly funded channel. Easy and totally within your control.

I think YABU. The Car Fest chat is really only one morning - the day tickets come on sale - and it's a hugely popular fund raising event that sells out every year with Chris Evans being the main driving force behind it.

Similarly CIN is one week a year and yes he pulls in favours from his friends but they make a huge amount of money for a charity which is properly structured and does deliver over a period of time. He always runs the Dine and Disco (Sir Paul McCartney doing him the favour this year) and will earn Millions but he does give away a table for people who enter a 3 pound text raffle..

Who cares if he uses his own pub for it - taking nothing for his time, staff, etc. - it's what charity is all about.

What else are they supposed to do - keep quiet about it?

Anybody who plays National Express by The Divine Comedy to promote a trip on a classic bus driven by Chris on the London to Brighton is fine by me..

Aww did I miss it?

I always think if I won the lottery I would bid :)

Blanche, Radio 2s job is to entertain people. It isnt financed by the public in order to fundraise for charity. That just isn't its remit. Now no one objects to some fundraising for CIN - I expect that most of us will contribute. But, there has to be some balance and if Radio 2 are managing to alienate its listeners, to the point where they turn it off, then that's counter productive, is it not?

Chris Evans is very irritating in a way that Terry Wogan is not. But I accept that it's a matter of opinion.

Well.. the balance would be the rest of the year, surely! And, given the amount raised, many people find the R2 CiN week entertaining enough.

And CiN is the Beebs own charity, so it obviously falls within its wider remit.

But, if you think that Radio 2 is alienating listeners, maybe you should email them and let them know. Then they can correct their error and pull the nasty, multi-million pound fund raising endeavour altogether!

Your opinion just might be in a grumpy minority!

Oh! You could just as easily say that Terry Wogan is very irritating in a way that Chris Evans is not.

They both irritate some, that's why it is a good thing there are other stations to choose from!

I'd be interested to know if the majority of the public find CIN entertaining, or consider that it is the BBCs role to have its own charities.

Im sure lots of people do love it. Equally, plenty of people probably don't. Personally, I don't recall being asked. Either way, it should aim to be inclusive in what it does.

The arguments about BBC public funding v public interest could equally apply to people who have no interest in sport/cooking/crime drama.

As for Chris Evans using his pub for the auction prizes, and promoting it via his show, well I guess there is an element of private gain via public funding. However, the overall benefit of this is not to CE surely? The additional profit his pub will make is surely less than the monies raised for CIN through the pub prize?

Viewing figures... 10million at its height, 7 - 9million usually, not bad out of 64million population.

Chris Evans radio seems to have 9 - 10 million listeners a week, presumably that's about 2million a day.

So, yes, lots of people do love it. How inclusive do you want it to be? Be careful how you answer that... think Chinese State TV etc....

And I don't recall being asked about a lot of the content of BBC and other broadcasters. But they do have websites, contact details and they run a lot of opinion polls, have a few broadcast/printed viewer opinion opportunities.

If you feel that strongly say something to them rather than be all pointlessly curmudgeonly here. It seems a waste of energy to do otherwise!

Tbh Blanche, I don't feel strongly enough to object to it, but enough to contribute to a thread.
I don't mind CIN, no doubt I will contribute to it. I can do that and still think that CE should remember his audience isn't entirely made up of rich people and his cronies.

They do do a raffle on CIN week on Radio 2. Think it was Wednesday this week when they did a raffle for places on some tables for the Dine experience.

And it isn't just Chris Evans either. The auctions have been going on for far longer than CE has been on the breakfast show; they were going when it was Terry Wogan at breakfast.

It doesn't bother me tbh. If I am not interested I switch stations, or just tune out and think about something else anyway. Its 1 week out of 52.

I'm with you on this OP - it's the super rich indulging themselves and our noses are being rubbed in it. "Fancy the day of your dreams? Well, if you can't stump up fifty grand, fuck off."

I always wonder where all these people that earn so much they can drop tens of thousands in a table or a car tour! Are some of them maybe businesses buying a table to entertain clients?

I had to turn it off this morning. If these big donors cared so much they're free to just donate that amount...but no, they're buying this amazing experience most of us can't ever hope to have. So not so charitable after all, is it? Why not just sell tickets for £££ without making a big deal over the whole raffle thing? It's not like 99% of the listeners are in with a chance, so hearing about these great meals and days out just seems a bit...mean really. Why not just sell tickets at. Few quid each so someone who would genuinely never have those experiences get to have them? If you can afford thousands of pounds you could buy a night like that any time really.

Yanbu op, I find it very unpalatable - the filthy rich having their fun while the rest of us are supposed to find this all heartwarming. Ah, how lovely someone has £280,000 to spare to go on a nice day out.

I switch it over to BBC Radio Nottingham when the auction is on - that's how bad it is.

Omg.
Yab soooooo unreasonable.
And utterly miserable.
These people raise millions to help children in need.
How can you possibly, possibly find anything negative in that???
I can't begin to afford these amounts, but I listen to the show this week with an enormous smile.

I won't listen to it (although I rarely listen to Radio 2 these days anyway). Just a load of very wealthy people publicly patting each other on the back for buying themselves a treat. Assuming it's gift-aided, the person who bid £280,000 will probably only really pay £224,000, since it is likely they are a higher-rate taxpayer and can therefore claim back 20% of any donations they gift-aid.

Fuck! I hadn't thought of that! Total wankers, How very fucking dare they?

And as for the people who offer up the 'lifetime experiences' for free, to cajole money out the rich bastards just so we can all feel pitifully poor and excluded from a goddam radio programme once a year I fucking hate them bastards too!

I am a convert. BOMB THE BASTARDS!

I've learnt to live with it, although I do switch off because I find it too dull. I did think that the raffle could have been opento more people. The Dine and Disco raffle raised 800,000 aapparently, but there were only 2 tables raffled. Why not half the tables raffled and half auctioned? I think the Doctor Who\ EastEnders idea is fab, but should be a raffle as well. It's the exclusivity that is the problem, and that it makes for incredibly dull radio. I agree washed I think it applies to most of radio 2 apart from Simon Mayo. They are crap but they have access to a huge music library, so play a bigger variety of music, and don't have adverts.

I've always hated this as well. I have always advocated a raffle so that a much broader range of people can have a chance. I doubt they want just anyone enjoying these experiences though. As others have said, it's cronyism.