To hate Jo Wiley

[bridgetjonesmassivepants]

Not personally obviously, surprisingly enough I don't know her, but I love the Radio 2 Drivetime programme and she is going to ruin it. I find her voice grating, she has a babyish breathy style that is highly irritating. The Drivetime show was perfect and now they have got rid of homework, foody Thursday with Nigel and they are getting rid of MATT!!!! Are they crazy???

I'm all for gender equality but why can't Jo share a show with Steve Wright as his show is already awful.

I know I may be getting this out of proportion but it feels like this show is part of my life and it's just gone.

[LittleLionMansMummy]

I like Jo. I like Simon. But I like them separately. There's no on air chemistry between them and it all feels very contrived and uncomfortable. On the plus side, they've been playing some great tunes - the One I Love by REM last night. I've consequently dusted off my REM playlist...

[slalomsuki]

I also have been letting the show have an other chance and dipping in a bit over the last couple of weeks again. No improvement, sorry. They just don't suit each other on the radio and while I have no doubt they are friends they just don't gel working together. Jo mumbles a lot and Simon sits back and seems disinterested in it all. He show seems to have lost some of its chatter and banter and the overall dynamic is very subdued.

I think I will give up now on this and move on

[Smidge001]

Chris Evans did a massive bit the other morning about how great their show was. It really felt as though he'd been told to. Went on about how he hadn't listened previously at all, but had a first listen the night before. I thought the phrase that he said it was an adequate(?) drive time show may have been his true thoughts. Spent the rest of the time saying 'Churn' is normal. He wants to have their 3 word slot if they won't take it back. But blimey, he went on and on about how there had been a big fuss initially but now everyone loves it.

I DON'T THINK SO CHRIS.

[Fontella]

Chris Evans did a massive bit the other morning about how great their show was

I wouldn't have heard that because if there is one person who I really can't abide it's Chris Evans. I don't even understand myself why I dislike him so much but everything about him just grates, his voice, his shoutyness, his ego, his childishness ... it's like timewarp radio - stuck somewhere between 90s Radio One and CBeebies.

As soon as he appears on my TV screen or I hear his voice on the Radio I'm out of my chair and hitting the off switch. I appreciate some like him .. but for me Radio 2 Breakfast has been a no-go zone for years.

Jo Whiley is a different matter entirely. I don't dislike her. Like others, I quite liked listening to her evening show even if it was bit 'I Love Music' intense ... it didn't matter because it fitted the time slot perfectly.

It's just that she doesn't belong on weekday radio at 5pm - that's all.

Drivetime was a good radio show that ticked all the boxes. Light, funny, banter, natural, unforced, entertaining - and it's no longer that and that's why I think people can't and won't take to it.

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

Does Jo Wiley like music then?

The programme is so strange now, it's a really odd mix to say the least.

[Fontella]

Does Jo Wiley like music then?

I think she might!



There are little hints, little clues ... reading between the lines of what she says.

Nothing obvious you understand.

[MrsMozart]

Having heard the Beebs response today (basically "Tough!"), then I'm no longer a Radio Two listener.

I don't tend to watch BBC shows either, so will look to see how I can (legally) stop paying the licence fee.

[Inkanta]

"Drivetime was a good radio show that ticked all the boxes. Light, funny, banter, natural, unforced, entertaining - and it's no longer that and that's why I think people can't and won't take to it."

Yes I think you've got it there Fontella. That's what folk want at that time. I think she would better suit an evening slot.

[Fontella]

Having heard the Beebs response today (basically "Tough!"), then I'm no longer a Radio Two listener.

That's always been their response unfortunately.

There is a breathtaking arrogance at the BBC - that doesn't exist on commercial TV and radio stations where they have to have financial viability to succeed.

The BBC are virtually public sector - funded by our license fees - with little accountability, and they almost force feed what they think we should watch and listen to. They get it right a lot of the time but they also get it wrong on occasions, and it's when they get it wrong that you see that lack of accountability.

The stock responses - 'thanks for your complaint - we are sure you will grow to love the show given time' and that's the end of it.

So we switch off, and the assumption is that others will take our place as listeners, and the Rajars will record record audiences, and all our grumpy old complaints are meaningless and ignored.

I am the perfect Radio 2 demographic but their programming over the years has left me at the point where I rarely listen, where once I would have had the radio on all day. I am literally down to a bit of Graham Norton on a Saturday morning, maybe half an hour of Lisa Tarbuck of a Saturday evening when I'm cooking and the only show I regularly tune in to now is Johnny Walker on a Sunday afternoon and if I miss it, I will catch up on Listen Again.

But they don't give a shit because the money still comes in via the License Fee regardless of the critical reception, and some bright spark there thought shoehorning Jo Wiley into Drivetime was a good idea and the views of thousands of listeners don't matter one iota.

[Solo]

Petition signed! They've ruined it! It was perfect before!

[MrsMozart]

Fontella you have it right, sadly.

Ah well. Given the nature of this bright new world, the dinosaur that is the BBC will be left behind. Foolish and short sighted of their powers-that-be.

[Solo]

OMG! Now Elaine Paige is on! Can't stand her either but, I didn't realise she was on of an evening now ...even worse than JW with SM.

[MrsMozart]

EP is definitely a niche slot presenter...

I've given up on evening Radio Two as well.

The only thing I've not stopped doing is paying towards the blasted thing!

[Solo]

EP is as bad as Barbara Windsor with her stupid cackle! Sunday at 12:59 pm I'd say turn it off! That woman's coming on! Dd couldn't get to the radio fast enough. Is she (EP) still on on Sundays?

[CiderwithBuda]

EP is still on on Sundays. I like the music so don’t mind her too much. She can’t help her laugh - I’m sure she has had comments on it all her life.

[Solo]

I know, Cider it just makes me cringe so, I can't listen to her; I did try.

[ICantBelieveIDidThis]

Anybody read this?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44536868

[KitchenDancefloor]

Thanks for sharing the link. I wonder if any MNers have been quoted in that article?!

[redrubiesnmore]

Oh joy! Does this mean we have to endure 4 more months of this before BBC listens to us?

Since it takes shows 6 months to "bed in"?

I wonder if Carnie spent 6 months on all relationship before he figured which was a waste of time and which wasn't!

Usually Carnie, some things are really obvious from the first date.

[MrsMozart]

Ditto Redrubies

Why the heck did they change the one programme that didn't need changing. Jeremy Vine or Steve Wright - either of those could've gone. JV's is now effectively Kyle on radio, and SW passed his sell by date some years ago.

Six months? Well, I can and will play the long game.

[Smidge001]

Where do they get their ratings figures from? Is it just a questionnaire given to a sample of people or do they have some way of telling what your radio is tuned to?!
Assuming it's a questionnaire, how do we get to be in the sample??

[TheKitchenWitch]

I am slowly getting used to evenings without Drivetime. It’s sad, but I don’t bother tuning in any more. I think they’ve shot themselves in the foot with this one.

[MyOtherProfile]

If like to see the listening figures too. Surely they must have failed off radically?

[MrsMozart]

I don't know where the figures come from. Read something that said they won't be known for a few months.

No longer listen to it on purpose. The odd time I've caught it on I've tried (eternal bloody optimist), but it's so bloody boring now.

[Derwent19]

The radio listening figures are released quarterly. As far as I know it is still based on a sample of people who fill in a diary stating their listening habits.

As far as the new show is concerned I do think it is improving. It is nowhere near as good as the old drivetime show, but it is still better than any alternative that I can find. Moving confessions back to it's old time slot is a good decision and I still enjoy All Request Friday even with Jo involved; I think she is OK at talking to callers. Not as good as Simon, but OK.

I used to listen to every minute of the old show, but I no longer do now. I listen as and when I remember between 5-7 and still haven't heard a minute past 7pm. It is now just casual listening, rather than appointment listening as it used to be.