These are two short excerpts from my LBC show today. The first was part of an interview I did with Bernadette Smyth from the Northern Irish Pro Life group ‘Precious Life’. Now I have a pragmatic view on abortion issues, but I am not unsympathetic to the pro-life lobby. But this woman wound me up. It turned into the sort of interview that got Iain Lee the sack from the BBC.
The second features a caller called Peter from Stoke. He decided to try to give me a history lesson, although I am not quite sure it worked out so well for him. But make up your own mind. It escalated rather quickly.
The point is that I couldn’t have conducted these two ‘conversations’ on BBC radio. I never go into a programme looking for a confrontation or a row. But if they happen, so be it. I am not going to back away from them. I’m pretty sure that both of these clips would have had me in hot water if they had taken place on 5 Live rather than LBC. And that’s why LBC is such a great station to work on. You can take the odd risk without fearing the wrath of Hades descending on you. Of course it’s not a total free for all. You have to respect the constraints of regulation, but if you are constantly looking over your should worrying about what some mid grade BBC manager thinks about every word you utter, you shouldn’t be surprised if your listeners desert you for something more spicy. That’s not to say all BBC talk radio is boring. It isn’t. On 5 Live Nicky Campbell and Stephen Nolan push the envelope as far as they can. There are some excellent presenters on BBC local radio too. But I suspect all of them would prefer the LBC management approach to opinionated radio, rather than the one they have to operate under at the BBC. Or am I wrong? Perhaps I should ask La Fogarty!
