Geoff Barker

We had another play on the radio last Sat' (courtesy of a request - no less!) on the Geoff Barker show.

Geoff's an unusual beast in these post-Peel days 'cos Geoff champions bands. If you don't know who Mr Barker is try listening to his Saturday Rock "n" Roll Party on local BBC radio across the west of England.

Now, there are many d j.s who support up and coming bands who have a chance of success but, Geoff gives air time to bands he knows are never gonna be massive - he puts them on his show 'cos he likes them and they bash round the various small venues and festivals giving people enjoyment.

He puts the wrong track on now and again, loses bits of paper with requests on and gets the gigs a bit muddled up sometimes - but isn't that fantastic in this age of super slick broadcasting - it's a breath of fresh air! His programme gets a large national and international number of hits on the listen again facility so it's not just me who likes it.

I listen to commercial local stations at work and they never seem to feature local bands in fact unless they are sponsoring a local event they tend not to get overly involved with the music scene in the area at all. They also seem to have a fetish for mainstream eighties synth pop i swear 3TR f.m. or whatever it's called played "Don't you want me?" by the Human League four days on the trot last time i was on night shift in fact the whole night shift programming is so dull it's unbelievable but it's not always my choice what station we tune in to so i have to experience it.

They should hand over the airwaves from midnight to six to someone who really likes music and let them get on with it, at the moment the music is just there to fill in the gaps between their crappy wacky ads for carpets and plastic guttering.

So more like Geoff and less nights with Simple Minds broadcasting on a permanent loop.