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Cycling on Call Kaye - starts 8:50

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Cycling has been a consistent theme of the last 12 months and is a topic that's had a big response from listeners throughout the year. The Scottish Government want 10% of all journeys in Scotland by 2020 to be by bike (it's currently about 1.3%) and 2014 promises to be a huge year for cycling in the UK with the Commonwealth Games coming up in Glasgow, the Giro d'Italia kicking off in Northern Ireland (May) and the Tour De France starting in Yorkshire (July).
    Juliet Dunlop asks: How do we get more people cycling in Scotland in 2014? And would you welcome more bikes on our roads? Call: 0500 92 95 00. Text: 80295. E-mail: Callkaye@bbc.co.uk.
    Duration: 1 hour, 9 minutes

    "

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pc7yl

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. SRD
    Moderator

    Just turned it off. Couldn't take it this morning.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Thanks for confirming SRD. I normally avoid these things, and if it was enough to make you turn off I know that I've got way less patience with these things. I'd have been shouting at the radio.

    But, coverage is good. The fact this is being discussed more and more is encouraging.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. Nelly
    Member

    I am about to switch off.

    Usual guff.

    New year, same old crap.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. custard
    Member

    @SRD,Did the same.
    I'm at work and couldnt be doing with the same old,same old

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. Nelly
    Member

    Tuned back in again.

    Conclusions -

    Presenter was rubbish, keen to focus on the negatives surrounding RLJs etc.

    Callers - usual 80/20 mix of 80% bampots who hate cyclists reeling off their 'I was scared by a speeding cyclist' stories. The 20% made up of the ever sensible Alison Johnstone, a caller from edinburgh and one from glasgow who talked sense about everyday cycling.

    Alan Douglas - 'Road Tax, blah blah' 'we gave them a cycle lane next to the A9 and cyclists never use it' Ah yes, you mean the 'unuseable in many parts' A9 cycle lane. And this guy works for our national broadcaster??

    Obree - gave the Alan Douglases of this world exactly what they wanted to hear (paraphrasing but suggested that cyclists using road instead of cycle path are just arrogant - great stuff Graeme.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. crowriver
    Member

    But, coverage is good. The fact this is being discussed more and more is encouraging.

    Not necessarily.

    Are citizens of Bulgaria and Romania who are currently working or studying in the UK "encouraged" by the coverage in the media relating to them and their compatriots?

    "this is being discussed"

    It's not though, is it? Folk are just having a rant about something, venting their spleen and exposing their ill-informed prejudices about a minority group. All they contribute to the "discussion" is the "fact" that bloody cyclists get in their way even when there's a perfectly good cycle path provided. Oh and their blood boils every time one of those bloody cyclists jumps a red.

    Have the listeners learned anything from the "discussion"? Not much.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Okay, let me explain...

    Fine, 'discussed' maybe not the right word, but 'aired'. And things only get 'aired' when they are deemed newsworthy and likely to get an audience. They're only likely to get an audience if it's something which has become important enough to be aired. So cycling is becoming important. And it must be becoming important because more people are doing it, which is creating more debate/argument about it. So the more things are aired the more indicative it is that cycling is becoming a bigger issue, that more people must be doing it, and that the media outlets are taking care of it which in turn may eventually lead to those high heid yins in charge taking notice, at which point it can actually be 'discussed' properly, and in baby steps has been getting discussed properly.

    So (to my mind at least, but clearly not yours) the fact it is being 'discussed' (sorry, I'm sticking to that word) means that cycling is climbing the agenda, and that is encouraging.

    (to compare the position of cyclists to the xenophobic hatred directed at Eastern European is, to me, a little crass - yes, the coverage of cyclists can be horribly negative, and the views of commenters in the press is often totally barmy, but I don't feel hated and discriminated against in a way I'm sure many visitors to these shores do).

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. SRD
    Moderator

    @wc agree! Especially the way it was put here - identified as a major issue of this year's news/ discussion. Got to be positive, even if I couldn't bear to actually listen.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  10. chdot
    Admin

    @WC

    "must be becoming important because more people are doing it, which is creating more debate/argument about it."

    Agreed.

    "to compare the position of cyclists to the xenophobic hatred directed at Eastern European is, to me, a little crass"

    But perhaps only a little -

    "

    Britons ready to welcome migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, poll finds

    "

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/29/bulgaria-romania-migrants-uk-poll

    For the sake of this "debate" - cycling, like immigration, seems to get some people 'bothered'.

    Some media outlets feed the frenzy, distort the 'facts' and encourage the 'rabble' to air their views.

    This is fine, free speech and all that.

    The 'problem' comes when politicians pay (too much) attention to the media organisations with biggest web sites, and the most populist parties that might threaten them electorally.

    So part of me wants as little debate as possible!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  11. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Nah. Cameron and his cronies dancing to the UKIP tune can happily have a go at the immigrants knowing they've got no real say in the country and it's most definitely a populist measure; on cycling it would receive a little support from the EEN commenters and the like if the government were to say they are going to try and stop people cycling or whatever (which would be the equivalent of saying they're going to stop people coming inot the country or send others back home), but instead there's an occasional refernce to the possibility of a helmet law, and little else. Most of the cyclists in the coutnry will be British, and they've got damned vocal over the years - much more politically uncertain of the results of feeding the Dail Wail-esque thinking surrounding cyclists compared to Eastern Europeans.

    That may change if the Wail ever runs a headline front page story about benefit cheating illegal cyclists who killed Diana.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  12. crowriver
    Member

    The reason I made the comparison is because the ways in which the issues have been framed by the mass media are very similar.

    Essentially with both minority groups the media is reproducing the dominant position. In the case of EU migrants, a rather insular, distrustful and xenophobic position is put forward*. In the case of cyclists, the position of the non-cycling motorist is taken**.

    This fits with the way popular media works, it takes on what it perceives as the dominant position in society. The messages put forward in support of that position may be manipulative (Alan Douglas) but the audience takes them on if they agree with the dominant position in general***. As cyclists, of course, we tend to be more opposed to the dominant position regarding cycling.

    * - People may tell pollsters they are much more welcoming of foreigners than they are in real life.

    ** - This is despite the fact that in that particular Radio Scotland show, the presenter is a cyclist!

    *** - It can be more nuanced than that of course. See Stuart Hall.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  13. gembo
    Member

    Sometimes I think the media make the news. Not just reflect a dominant position but actually create it. The media are the establishment, most talk that funny RP way, many of them went to public school then Oxbridge.

    More radical opinions are rarely given airtime.

    Sometimes it goes the other way with me, I get cross because a minority view eg MMR causes autism is given equal weighting to a large body of well researched data.

    Looks like I am never happy with the media, tho of course I do enjoy shouting at the television

    Posted 11 years ago #

  14. crowriver
    Member

    Dominant ≠ majority, necessarily. Just reflecting the position of those in power (the establishment you referred to).

    Posted 11 years ago #

  15. LaidBack
    Member

    In the days when Lesley Riddoch was at the BBC they made sure they had a balance with 'experts' on opposing sides. The presenter was also armed with relevant stats and not just their own experiences.

    Budgets at Radio Scotland are tight so the researching of topics is maybe not done as it used to be? WC was invited on a few years ago when she was in charge of phone in but he spoke too much sense and caused agreement!

    Bikes are rarely seen in the media without a fund-raising, tramline gripping, red light jumping story.
    They've yet to become valued everyday items that do not carry a threat to 'business as usual' for the general population (it seems).

    Posted 11 years ago #

  16. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "WC was invited on a few years ago when she was in charge of phone in but he spoke too much sense and caused agreement!"

    That was an interesting experience. I was speaking with that Tory peer who had hit a cyclist as he passed on the pavement. I pointed out that I didn't think assault was a correct response to someone carrying out a misdemeanour and she agreed with me and we got on swimmingly.

    In those days they had a post-show podcast where Lesley, the producer and some other radio bods would discuss the show and they expressed (disappointed?) surprise that we had all got on. I never got invited back.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  17. crowriver
    Member

    Budgets at Radio Scotland are tight so the researching of topics is maybe not done as it used to be?

    I know for a fact that there was a swathe of redundancies at BBC Scotland about 5 years ago (I know several people who were let go). Most of the losses were in radio, mainly researchers and producers. This was caused by the licence fee freeze and also the policy of 'bi-media' production, ie. making one batch of content for use by both radio and television. Somehow television ended up with the lion's share of the budgets and staff resources...

    Posted 11 years ago #

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