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Wossy ate my podcast - an explanation
By Martin "Sorry seems to be the hardest word" Kelner
Aug 27, 2010 - 2:10:09 PM

The fickle finger of suspicion (not the whole finger) falls on Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand when we try and explain the death of the PPP at episode 226. 

Very few, if any, of you will have heard the radio show in which Jonathan Ross revealed that he had f**ked Russell Brand's grandmother or someone, in a three-way around-the-world with the chap from Fawlty Towers who used to speak with a silly Spanish accent (comedy foreign accents - sheesh, that stuff went out with the ark).  And possibly Julie Andrews, Brian Blessed, and the late Dennis Compton as well. 

Well, following that broadcast, late at night on a BBC digital station, none of the four listeners complained, but somebody at the Daily Mail became aware, and enemies of the BBC seized upon the incident, saying it was symptomatic of a terminal decline in the organisation.

The upshot is that the BBC is now extra careful about giving its enemies sticks with which to beat it, and is looking more closely at what its people say and do.  As I am now one of those people, following my appointment to the prestigious BBC Radio Leeds breakfast show (text me now with your favourite Two Ronnies line ever) this sadly includes the PPP.

So why have I become one of those people?  Firstly, I like it there.  There are some lovely talented young people to interact with, and after working with Edouard for four years, it makes a nice change.  Also, I am a professional radio presenter (when did that sh1t start, you may ask?), and given the utterly dire state of commercial radio - Talksport and Mansield 103.2 excepted - there are limited places I can work in my twilight years. 

I did try and keep the podcast going for as long as possible, but I am reluctant to alienate the BBC further as I love doing Fighting Talk and BBC Leeds. 

An additional factor is that I have been commissioned to write a history of sport on TV for Wisden/Bloomsbury publishing, which must be finished by Christmas, and as my wife has already spent the advance on a supposed state of the bloody art kitchen, I am having to write the damn thing.  This leaves little time to fight the battle for the Podcast, and more importantly, to source the comedy-style material to keep our standards as damnably p1ss poor as you subscribers demand.

When the book is finished at Christmas, or at such time as I get sacked, I hope to give more thought to some kind of Podcast outlet that might be a replacement for the PPP, which will satisfy the low expectations of subscribers without compromising the BBC.

Promise.  Watch this space.  And once again, really sincere thanks.


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