Helen Razer has been sacked from 774.
I’m a reasonably frequent listener to part of her Sunday morning show, only because I’m often in the car driving at that time.
She can be reasonably entertaining. I don’t remember hearing the controversial interview with Stephen Berkoff, but regardless of whether she deserves her fate, I wouldn’t mind if ABC Radio rejigged its schedule.
At 10am on a Sunday morning, I flick between the AM stations looking to get informed.
3AW has their inflammatory Sunday morning crew (self-described as “arrogant and argumentative”), interspersed with ads. How does 3AW rate so highly? Some of their programmes are okay, but the ads just annoy me, and I look to commercial-free stations instead.
[Disclaimer: On the odd occasion, I have been interviewed by 3AW on Sunday mornings. This recent instance is online — jump to the 30 minute mark; includes that discussion on Hamer Hall.]
NewsRadio has Weekend Halftime, a regular hour-long sports report at that time which bores the hell out of me. (I don’t mind a little bit of sport, but let’s face it, Tiger Woods winning another tournament is not Real News.)
Radio National has Artworks, which can occasionally be interesting, but isn’t quite what I’m looking for.
And 774 has (for now) Helen Razer, also talking about arts — though she often dips into pop culture and general chatter too.
Couldn’t RN or 774 shift their arts coverage so they don’t compete? Then arts lovers could tune into both, and news junkies like me would have something to listen to at 10am. If they were to shift Background Briefing back an hour, that’d be superb.
Yet another little thing that might be different if I ran the world. Maybe it’ll happen once Helen’s left.
(And how come RN and Newsradio have web sites that can be navigated easily, while 774’s is still a complete mess?)
11 replies on “Helen gets the razor”
Hm, Sunday Morning is all Insiders, and Inside Business for me, though that can be boring and a bit annoying as well. In a slightly Daniel related tangent, I have regularly seen both Barry Cassidy and Alan Kohler on public Transport, I think they both live near me in Hawthorn.
Also somewhat on a tangent . . .
I just bought a ‘portable’ radio so that I can listen to RN when not in the car. I drive so infrequently that I getting RN withdrawal symptoms.
I was ‘tramming’ thru Kew recently and kept seeing this great looking retro radio in a shop window (Mr Audio, 10 Cotham Street, nice folks, I thought) just like the one I grew up with at home, as a kid. In a fit of (tail-end baby boomer) nostalgia, I went and bought it.
Bush TR82 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_Radio.
They have a 60’s retro model there too.
I won’t miss Helen Razor – I enjoy her writing and her general philosophy on life, but find her radio manner quite annoying.
My Sun morning radio is pretty much RRR – starting at 9am with Radio Marinara (marine and coastal issues), followed by Radiotherapy (health and medicine) and the Einstein A Go Go (Science). All are informative and entertaining.
What do you listen to if you wake up earlier on a Sunday. I can’t stand Australia all Over with Macca, and have never understood why it is broadcast on 774 instead of radio national – it seems totally irrelevant to a Melbourne audience.
And finally I’m totally with you on 774’s website -what a disaster!
Helen Razer’s recent piece in the Big Issue hinted at fairly major life hiccups occurring behind the scenes, which I wouldn’t be surprised to find as a major contributing factor here …
Nothing. Absolutely nothing….is worst than hearing local radio shows about football.
I am 38 and have been an ABC local radio listener in 3 states over the last 14 years.
The only presenter I have ever consistently had to turn off, has been Helen Razor.
At first I thought “Ooh! This is refreshing” but two weeks in, I was over the schtick and she was just annoying. Every question of her more interesting guest, would involve 14 self-deprecating tangents about herself. And when Mothers and Fathers day broadcasts involved getting her parents involved (more than once!) I was well over it.
Daniel: didnt respond to your last mention of the new ABC local radio websites but oh my god! That website was certainly designed to the purpose of the ABC and not the listener.
Altissima: I fully agree on your comments about Macca. Sometimes I forget to turn off my radio alarm on the weekends but I tend to sleep through it because my real alarm is my mobile phone. However, when he plays that frickin ‘bush noises’ thing, with the cockatoos and frogs and shit going off, I wake up bolt upright! I’m a city girl who lives on a major road. I cant sleep with all that noise!
Tony H: Dont you live in Japan?
*This* Tony is in Japan. However, I still keep in touch with the ABC via streaming, podcasts and vodcasts thanks to fast unlimited (no caps) Internet. I watched the vodcast of MediaWatch which featured the Razor spot – I’d not listened to her on the ABC, but I’d always found her a bit grating and the Berkoff bit was pretty hard to listen to. She’d clearly dug herself a hole, and she wasn’t prepared to back off. Pity.
As for me, I grew up with the radio fixed to the ABC c/o of a father who could listen to nothing else. While he was pretty much a 3LO peson, but in my teens I geeked out and got into (the then) 3AR (now RN), and expounded on the brilliance of Williams’ The Science Show and other gems to my high school friends. Winner! So, still glad I can get access to most of the programs here.
Did I mention I love radio? ;)
Oops! Sorry Tonys! Now I’m with it.
I’m loving live streaming too, TIJ, it’s saving me from moments of boredom at work plus keeps transmitting shows when the cricket takes over on local radio.
Shell – no problems. I shall listen to a bit of streaming right now. :)
What are the major life hiccups? I’m keen to know…cos I’m nosey and wonder if it is linked to what happened to her at JJJ.
The Wikipedia article talks about a delusional stalker during her JJJ days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Razer