Radio 2 why so dumbed down

[Parsley1234]

I cannot stand the relentless drivel that is Zoe Ball oh my god yesterday Stacey Soloman and her diatribe of awfulness and now replacing Graham Norton with Claudia just why ? I am Mrs Brady moany old lady for sure what else can I listen to 🥴

Fucking hate Sunday love songs. Makes me want to vomit.

Is Sara Cox the one that comes on at 5 o'clock with the weird 1-in-4 RP: Northern Accent?

"Eye know you'll lorve this new band oooos been making waves allovert country" etc

I finish work at 5 and she is excellent at making me think "Time I went home!"

Steve Wright is probably a bit crap but I sort of grew up with him and therefore forgive him much.

Fucking hate Sunday love songs. Makes me want to vomit.

I'm glad it isn't just me.

They put Sunday love songs on to fill time because surely very few people actually listen to it ? Unless your sad enough to write in.
I bet most of them letters or emails are made up anyway!
It's just shit

I particularly cannot bear Rylan. Also Zoe Ball, Steve Wright, Jeremy Vine

I love love love Lisa Tarbuck.
Sara Cox and Paul O'Grady too but Lisa I just adore. She has me in hysterics every saturday tea time.

Is Sara Cox on about half 5? I always turn off the radio subconsciously then and I think it's her fault. Too many kids.

Sunday love songs is absolutely dire. I'd love to see listening figures for that, they must be low.

R4 podcasts for me a lot now.

Urghhhh Michael Ball is unbearable.

I love songs from the musicals but Elaines laugh is just awful.

Gary Davies I rather like.
Vanessa Feltz - much prefer her to JV on the lunchtime slot.
Anneka Rice - quite like her too.

But Liza Tarbuck is my absolute favourite. I love the alternative music she plays too.

Can't bear the Rev Kate, before Sunday Love songs. Someone obviously thought as it's Sunday they need some religious input, but all she does is promote herself. Don't like her co presenter Jason Mohammed either.
Strangely I really like Paul O'Grady on TV, but not his radio show.
Do like Michael Ball, Gary Davies (when he covers for Steve - who happily seems to have more and more time off these days) and actually enjoy Zoe.

I have found the older I get, the larger the number Radio station I listen to.
Talked about this with DD (mid 30s) today as she is now a radio 2 listener!
Tbh I am now an absolute 70s and classic rock listener...more my era!

@hellswelshy

I'm a 6music listener, so my faves are Lauren Laverne, Cerys Matthews, Radcliffe and Maconie, Giles Peterson, Guy Garvey (when he's on), Liz Kershaw on Saturdays. I'm afraid Mary Ann Hobbs drives me mad though with her gushy style and recent love for hard-core dance music at 10am

I rarely get more than 15 minutes into Mary Ann's show without shouting FFS and turning it off, shoving a CD in or just turning to radio 3 to restore some calm.

Nobody will ever top Ken Bruce. He's the best of them all. But I also love Sara Cox, Steve Wright (I get why others don't but I do), Michael Ball, Liza Tarbuck and Elaine Paige. I'd gone off Graham a bit because he sounded quite fed up with doing the show. Zoe is quite annoying but I prefer her to Chris Evans.

I'm in my 50s and we are a large demographic. I don't understand why the BBC is so keen to ignore so many older listeners and chase younger people. It does make me want all stations to be pay as you go, then maybe they'd be interested in us. More listeners = more money. You don't want all stations playing the same stuff but R1 used to be for teenagers and young adults and radio 2 was more retro

Hate Steve Wright. Too self satisfied by far and all that jocking nonsense

Agree Bryan Burnett on Drivetime on radio Scotland is excellent

I do like Liza Tarbuck. She runs a tight ship, she never struggles to keep things ticking over, but she sounds genuinely warm and is engaging without trying hard. I think she'd be lovely company in real life and I want her in my pub quiz team.

@fridgepants

"I cannot stand Sarah Cox. Surely, surely her voice is put on for the radio? I cannot believe that anyone sounds or talks like in real life. It just sounds like she's putting on a comedy piss-taking voice!"

You'd need subtitles if you went to where I grew up.

I've heard her refer to the village pub her parents kept! No it wasn't, it was the local underage dive on at a major junction of two busy A roads!

@TalkToTheWind

I have found the older I get, the larger the number Radio station I listen to. Talked about this with DD (mid 30s) today as she is now a radio 2 listener! Tbh I am now an absolute 70s and classic rock listener...more my era!

My daughter has started listening to Desert Island DIscs podcast on her run, she's learning at last.

I think part of the problem is that Radio 2 is expected to cater for anyone over the age of 30, which is a vast and diverse demographic.

As much as I wouldn't want it to go back to its late 80s/early 90s incarnation, where even Cliff Richard records were sometimes banned for being too rocky, I'm really not too struck on its current line-up. Zoe Ball is far too excitable for early mornings (although I was never struck on Chris Evans for precisely the same reason), Ken is brilliant - he's managed to move with the times without losing the essence of who he is. For me, he epitomises the best bits of Wogan and Ray Moore - gentle, whimsical piss-taking without real malice.

JV irritates the hell out of me (although I don't mind him on Eggheads). It's the faux naivety, the endless use of "I guess" and "I suppose" and the fact that he's always coming up with convoluted scenarios, especially related to COVID. Steve Wright is a total relic of the Smashie and Nicey era who should have been pensioned off at least a decade ago (at least Gary Davies has moved on from that).

I'm also rather sad that the Sunday night shows like Claire Teal and Don Black appear to have been shunted off. Whilst I don't imagine they got huge listening figures, they clearly had a loyal following, and it's the sort of stuff the BBC does really well and that commercial stations struggle to.

I loathe Sunday Love Songs. It's so schmaltzy and fake. Actually I don't like Steve Wright at all. I'm not keen on Michael Ball either.

I love Rylan though, and Lisa Tarbuck and Paul O'Grady, and Elaine Paige on Sundays (although agree about her weird laugh).

As me and DH are both WFH we tend to have Ken Bruce on in the morning, especially for Pop Master, and then a mix of Smooth Radio, Scala Radio or Absolute Classic Rock, until we get fed up with the adverts and then we link my phone with the Alexa and play from my library (which is very eclectic ).

Clare Teal is getting a new show on Jazz FM so I might see what it's like. I enjoy it when she sings on FNIMN too, so I hope she'll still do that.

My DSis treated herself to a very nice new radio recently that plays internet stations, and I'm very jealous! She swaps between all sorts of things now (Radio Elvis broadcasting from Sweden anybody? )

Actually, this thread has spurred me into action — I'm going to e-mail and say how much I've enjoyed the repeats of Friday Night is Music Night (on Sunday), and how much I'm looking forward to them
coming back as live shows in the future. Just so they know at least some people are listening!

This thread is really interesting reading-I hope someone at BBC radio reads it too! I am a big fan of Radio5 drive time programme with Anna Foster and Tony Livesey-less pompous than radio 4 but intelligent comments on the days news, features and best of all both presenters interview people as if they're really interested in what they have to say rather than enjoying the sound of their own voice.

@foodtoorder

Doesn't help you for the mornings but greatest hits radio has Simon Mayo on drive time! Same concept as when on r2 with Matt the sports guy and confessions. Only started last week but it's made my year so far! 😂

Also lots of the older radio2 crew do various shoes through the week also.

Brilliant! I used to love the drive time show. Especially confessions! You've made my day

Oh and next week on radio 5 drive I think Clive Myrie is sitting in for a week so will be interested to hear him

I'm such a radio flirt, I skip around for the different shows throughout the day. Why stick with one channel when there are so many! :)