briananderson.me.uk


“In a world full of people only some want to fly. Isnt that crazy?”  Seal


“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”  George Orwell


“We busted out of class had to get away from those fools.

We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school”  Bruce Springsteen - No Surrender

Someone asked me when they looked at my site for the first time  - “What are you trying to SELL?”


Are we all supposed to be selling something? 


So............. I have worked in many parts of our small planet spinning in this tiny fraction of the multiverse and have met and worked with some fantastic and sometimes inspiring people - and a few who were dangerous, stupid, and astoundingly greedy, some of whom were on ‘our’ side.


Seems that for a while I found myself in places that were deeply divided and desperately poor. Helping young people to make “free” broadcasting in places emerging from chaos death and destruction has been a wonderful and at times deeply moving experience.


Some of those I have worked with have been killed. I have heard bombs exploding and had a car bomb explode outside my apartment. Ive heard gunfire from Beijing to Kosovo and had a machine gun battle a few yards from my bedroom in Afghanistan.


Here in the UK we live in what we are told is a free society.


Having spent so much time in other parts of the world it is interesting to observe how things have changed at home.


When I first went to the EASTERN world in the late 1980’s,  people there were controlled and were NOT ‘free” 


Now many people in those places are more free than they could have imagined a few years ago although it is a pity that “democracy’ cannot be eaten.


And here? WE seem to be drowning in nonsensical rules and regulation……. and worryingly…… ‘self censorship’ 


Most of my life has been spent working in radio. Much - but not all - commercial radio in the UK seems to have mutated into some kind of accountants ipod plugged into a transmitter. The so called presenters sit in front of a bank of computer screens and have no say whatsoever in the music that is played and are either not allowed to or are incapable of interacting with ordinary people apart from ‘fun stuff’ often associated with an advertiser. They seem to live in some sort of “DJ Land”


There are ‘Local’stations with nothing local in the so called programmes between the computer programmed music apart from news bulletins which are becoming shorter and shorter. Some evening news is PRE RECORDED!!!! Presenters use Wikipedia and other internet sites to find ‘things to talk about’ in their ’show prep’


Its daft….. and it is dangerous for freedom of expression in what we are told is a free society.


The fear and paranoia in many of these places is weird and has to be experienced to be believed. Places that should surely be filled with motivated happy creative people who care about where they live and respect and understand their role as broadcasters within their community has been reduced to a sad paranoid collection of people too scared to criticize anything because they are worried about their mortgages.


I have met management who are incompetent, and the way they treat staff is sickening and disgusting. Its so tragic its laughable.


Most local radio websites seem to be made using online templates and are not exactly shining examples of switched on creative local media operations. The web surely is the future for much of what we have known as ‘broadcasting’ I often listen to KCRW on my iphone as im driving. It seems much local commercial radio is not exploring the possibilities of what the internet is capable of. Its potential for giving value-addedness to advertisers and a relevant and useful service for listeners is amazing.


Many 13 year olds can build better websites than the ones used by most local radio stations - Yes I HATE designing websites and have no wish to be a web designer but at least this site isn’t made with an online template!!:-)


But, as I said, there are some bright spots on the dial, and on the net.


We are incredibly lucky in the UK to have the BBC. Despite its many faults and its appalling coverage of Scotland it prevents UK broadcasting from descending into rampant commercialism on one side and intellectual cloud cuckoo land on the other. Having said that the radio air in Scotland has been given away without a fight to mainly foreign owned and certainly non Scottish owned media operations. England had 40 BBC local radio stations providing an alternative on the dial. 


Scotland with its diverse communities has NONE.


Freedom is a precious thing and the freedom to change ones mind is precious too. Another thing I have learned about Freedom and RIGHTS is that one of the most precious ‘rights’ of all is..... The RIGHT to be WRONG.


Am I selling something? 


Thank you for visiting….. Enjoy the Photographs the Video and the bits of Radio and Music on this site.


More will be added…… occasionally