Nederland 1 Rebranding Madness

There must be something causing madness in the Hilversum water system. With a budget cuts of 300 million Euro being metered out, Dutch public broadcasting NPO has decided in its wisdom to rebrand its radio and TV networks. Out go Nederland 1, Nederland 2 and Nederland 3. In come NPO 1, NPO 2, and NPO 3. And the Radio networks will become NPO Radio 1, NPO Radio2, and 3FM will be NPO Radio 3, NPO Radio 4, NPO Radio 5.

The exercise will cost about 150,000 Euro according to the Dutch Telegraaf Newspaper, which is a fierce critic of anything to do with public broadcasting.

 But in this case, they have a strong point. Say Nederland 1 and most people immediately know this to be the public channel, in the same way as BBC One in the UK. A simple piece of public research would show this to be the case.

Henk Hagoort

All this seems to be coming from the NPO Director Henk Hagoort who seems to believe the NPO are following the same nomenclature as the BBC. Which means he has clearly not listened to BBC Radio. Yes, the full title is BBC Radio 1, but since there is no other Radio 1, they shorten it to Radio 1, Radio 2, etc.

Radio 1 from the BBC

If you were going to rebrand, at least try to pick a name nearer the beginning of the alphabet.

But why on earth is this a priority in the biggest depression since the big one....

Pete Myers Remembers BBC Radio 1

Enjoyed re-listening to this Media Network programme recorded in October 1997. Pete Myers was not only a famous presenter and producer at Radio Netherlands. He had a previous life in London being the main anchor for Good Morning Africa on the BBC External Services. But he also presented evening talk programmes on the new Radio 1 when it launched in October 1967. In 1997, he went back to London to the reunion and recalls what life was like at the Beeb. In the famous line-up photo, he's the one further to the right sitting behind John Peel. He always wore sun-glasses for this type of photo. I believe this one was made on the steps of All Souls Church next to broadcasting house. Golly, nearly fifteen years have passed since we made this. 

Summer Jingle Comparisons in the UK

Definitely interesting to compare how BBC Radio 1 is planning to revamp its Breakfast Show jingles at the end of September when Nick Grimshaw takes over the slot, and the approach taken by the sister station, BBC Radio Two. 

In the case of BBC Radio 1, it looks like the era of sung jingles is definitely out for the time being. But that doesn't come as a surprise to me. I agree with comments on the UK Jingles website JingleMad that the challenge will be for whoever wins the bid to make the package distinctive. And they don't have much time to compose anything complicated. It looks like there's not much money put aside for station imaging.

Contrast that with BBC Radio 2.

Steve Martin (of the fantastic monthly show Earshot Creative Review) did an in depth interview with Chris Reay who is in charge of BBC Radio 2's imaging and sound design. He tells the story of how they are building on an established theme but using fresh arrangements. And that includes full orchestras (while they are still around). A great listen. Highly recommended - and nice of Chris to share not only the music but the reasoning behind it.

Reminds me of two radio programmes I made about creating jingles in 1983 and again ten years later 1993. Unashamedly for enthusiasts of station imaging and jingles, we looked at how they were made then and what programmers in the early 1980's thought they were for. There were enthusiasts like Tom Konard who made vast collections of station idents and sweepers. Some are still on line - check this reference. 

This show was broadcast on December 29th 1983 and I remember the recording well. Technican Pim Wijmer thought it would be a simple mix and wondered why I had booked four hours of studio time. Today, you can make the same show on a laptop using free multitrack software. In those days you had to cut and splice audio tape and cue everything with yellow leader. There was more yellow leader on those montages than tape. Fun, nonetheless. 

Notice how Jonathan Wolfert of JAMS explains that jingles always go in phases, what's hot now is out in 5 years time and then everything old becomes new again. Sometimes stations overused them and there were periods when stations hardly used them at all. Disney understands that like no other (look at how they recycle old content to new generations in a 7 year cycle. But I digress. 

Finally I recall making a short video during the recording of the Europarade jingles used in the Radio Netherlands show of the same name. Recently put that back on the Interwebs, though it's rather crude by today's standards.

Making Jingles in 2002 from Jonathan Marks on Vimeo.