Having first joined BBC Radio 2 in 1976, Sarah Kennedy was the last voice heard before the final closedown, before the station switched to 24-hour broadcasting in 1979. After spending a few years presenting various television shows in the 1980s, she rejoined Radio 2 to present a new weekday morning show – the Dawn Patrol – in 1992.

The programme was broadcast originally between 5am and 7am, which after a schedule change in 1994 was moved to 6am to 7:30am. The Dawn Patrol was moved back to its former 5am slot in January this year, and it has now been announced that Kennedy is to leave the station.

In other words – the sun has set on Sarah Kennedy’s Dawn Patrol!

She said:

After 17 years of early starts, the temptation of destroying my alarm clock has proved too much to resist and as I have been spared for this long, it’s time for a change. I shall miss my Dawn Patrollers – their wit, wisdom and warmth, more than I can put into words. After I’ve taken a long-earned rest, I’m looking forward to new opportunities, hopefully inside and outside broadcasting.

I have been listening to the programme since I started listening to Radio 2 in 2003; her show was one of the first shows I heard. Personally, I have enjoyed listening over the past 7 years. I have especially enjoyed hearing her talking about her cats on air a lot, and hearing comments from listeners who have tuned in online from all over the world.

Interestingly, one poster to the Radio 2 Message Board comments:

I wonder what’s triggered this? Sarah’s last show ended with her usual sign off – she obviously wasn’t planning to leave that Friday morning.

When most presenters are going to leave it’s announced and something made of their last few weeks – Sir Terry being the obvious recent example.

I hope Sarah is well.

Rob499
Posting on the R2 Message Board

So what’s going to happen in the future? Well, Lynn Parsons has been hosting for the last few weeks, and will continue to do so for the next four weeks. New plans for the morning schedule will be announced “in due course“.

So the website statistics for August… they’ve risen quite dramatically! The total number of unique visitors was 932, nearly 200 more than July and the highest figure this year!

There were 3856 visits, and an average of 4.38 visits per visitor.

Days of the Month

The average number of visits per day was 124.39.

In first place, with 186 visits was August 14. In last place, with only 93 visits was August 1 (NB there were no articles published on this day, hence the 404 Error Page when you follow the link).

You can view a full graph in .xlsx format.

International Hits

In August 2010, this site received visitors from 77 different countries.

The top 5 were the UK, the USA, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain.

The bottom 5 were Iran, Tanzania, Chile, Ghana and Belize.

Most Viewed

The top 10 most viewed pages for August 2010 were:

1. RSS Feed
2. German RSS Feed
3. Homepage
4. Comments & Discussions
5. Greek RSS Feed
6. Blog Post: Malcolm Laycock Quits Radio 2
7. Blog Post: Concorde’s Last Flight
8. Blog Post: Crete 2010: Kamisiana and the Katsikoulakis Apartments
9. Blog Post: Crete 2010: Eating Out In Kamisiana
10. Greek Homepage

Search Terms

The top 10 search terms which resulted in a visitor accessing the site for August 2010 were:

1. Fred Hart
2. Katsikoulakis Apartments
3. Fred Hart Editor
4. Kamisiana Crete
5. Botanical Park of Crete
6. Computer Keyboard
7. Concorde’s Last Flight Watch Online
8. Michalis Apartments Kamisiana
9. Jamie Lee Concorde
10. Eating Out In Crete 2010

And that’s it for this month. Back to college on Monday and September’s website statistics will be released on Friday October 1st.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been watching the Swedish police drama, Wallander. Based on the books by Henning Mankell, the TV series stars Krister Henriksson and Johanna Sällström.

The storylines are quite dark, being based on murder mysteries; for example Saturday night’s programme, entitled “Mastermind”, was based on a local murder and the disappearance of a policeman’s daughter. Kurt and his team realize that the two are connected, and as the investigation moves on it becomes apparent that the criminal knows every move they’re making and is practically controlling them! So perhaps its not the best programme to watch if you get nightmares easily…

Wallander is set (and filmed on location) in the city of Ystad, in Southern Sweden. The city is considered one of the best preserved cities in the Scania Province, and it is said that few cities in Sweden can match its picturesque old houses and streets.

According to Wikipedia, the “Y” is believed to be a link to an old name for the Yew tree, while “Stad” is the Swedish for town or place. I find this interesting, considering that Stadt is also a German word!  Perhaps more interesting, is that “Ja” is also a Swedish word – can you guess what it means!??

Now, I don’t learn the Swedish language, but its interesting to listen to what’s being said, because you soon realize that there are some similarities it shares with German; one is a North Germanic language, while the other is a West Germanic language. So they’re distantly related.

In fact, I found a map on Wikipedia which shows where in Europe different Germanic languages are spoken; the dividing line between North and West Germanic is just North of Germany, which borders Denmark (by land) and Sweden (by sea)!

Its only because there are subtitles in English that I can understand it – which Dad doesn’t like because it gives him a headache. I don’t mind them, in fact subtitles for me a perfectly normal.

That’s because I watch a lot of Greek TV where dubbing a film isn’t standard practice. Therefore, a large majority of films, some children’s TV shows and even clips on the News featuring non-Greek speakers broadcast in Greece are in English with Greek subtitles. Even one of my Yes, Minister DVDs has an option for Greek subtitles!

So Wallander returns to BBC 4 on Saturday night, for episode 7 of 13, which is entitled “Den Svaga Punkten“. Tune in at 9, if you have time. Alternatively, watch last week’s episode on the BBC iPlayer.

Last month (it was before I went to Greece, hence why I haven’t mentioned it sooner), I saw a post on James Cridland’s Blog which featured his suggestion for the future of BBC Local Radio. It got me thinking about how the BBC’s local radio stations could work in the future.

His plan was simple: close down all English-language BBC Local and Nations radio stations, shift BBC Radio 4 to broadcast on the local radio frequencies (so that’s 95,8 in Cirencester), close down their current FM transmitters entirely, and redesign the clocks for their programmes to incorporate opt outs for local content – at least 20 minutes every hour would be presented by the current BBC Local Radio presenters (so Radio Gloucestershire’s Mark Cummings still gets to tell local people what’s happening in Gloucestershire).

He adds that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland you add local output – instead of having a Scotland-wide programme, you make it specific to the area – such as separate programmes for Cardiff, Newport and Swansea rather than a Welsh-Wide broadcast.

James finishes by writing:

In one fell swoop, you’ve significantly reduced the BBC’s frequency allocation on FM; and you’ve ensured that the BBC invests correctly in local DAB multiplexes. You’ve reduced the BBC’s required local studio infrastructure, and local personnel. You’ve increased radio’s quality, by cutting its quantity and resourcing it better.In raw money terms, you’ve potentially cut all £8.8m from BBC Radio 4 distribution; 10% of Radio 4′s content costs (£8.6m). You’ve potentially cut 50% of local radio’s content costs (£55.1m); and 50% of nation radio’s content costs (£26.2m) – plus some local radio infrastructure, too. That’s around £100m you’ve saved – almost a quarter of the entire radio budget. [Source: BBC Annual Report, page 33 of financial bit]

You’ve ensured that a much larger percentage of radio listeners now listen-to, and appreciate, local radio content, and you’ve restored pride in local communities: filling a void left by some commercial radio operators. You can even let Londoners fill their Radio 4 output with boring things about the tube and Crossrail, which rarely get discussed on Radio 4 for fear of appearing Londonist.

You’ve safeguarded the future of BBC local journalists and local BBC buildings. You’ve ensured that the BBC is still in every local area, but also ensured that good, well-resourced local radio gets the share of ear that it deserves.

You’ve created radio for West Yorkshire.
You’ve created Radio 4 West Yorkshire.

Of course, this is a totally bonkers idea. Isn’t it?

(NB: ideas in here are in use at public service broadcasters round the world; particularly CBC Radio 1, NPR, and ABC local radio).

James Cridland
BBC: how to save 25% by making radio better

Take particular note of the “This is a totally bonkers idea, isn’t it?” In theory, it could work. But as one of his commenters points out, the BBC Local Radio audience is very different to the Radio 4 audience:

A generalisation – but the R4 audience is social class a/b, whereas the local radio audience is mostly c2/d/e. Most of those audiences, I think would be lost to the BBC entirely – and wouldn’t necessarily have anywhere else to go. Again generalising, they are mostly older (not served by the Heart network etc) – and mostly unloved by advertisers. But they do love their local areas – and their BBC local radio stations.

James Wickham
Commenting on James Cridland’s Blog

The next comment interested me – Steve Martin says that a model which works outside of the UK is that each local station has total editorial control, but each chooses (at will) certain ‘network’ programmes from BBC World Service and other broadcasters.

This is something I could see working for BBC Local Radio, and to explain why I’ll use BBC Radio Gloucestershire as an example.

Weekday programmes consist of an Early Breakfast Show (5-6), a Breakfast Show (6-9), a Mid-Morning Show (9-12), a Lunchtime Show (12-2.30), an Afternoon Show (2.30-5) and a Drivetime Show (5-7). For 6 hours from 7pm, all BBC Local stations in the West of England (Glos/Wilts/Bristol/Somerset) share programmes, and then at 1am 5 Live takes over.

So what if, at 5:40am, the BBC World Service Sports Roundup was broadcast? Just because someone lives in Gloucestershire, doesn’t mean they always want to hear what the local teams are up to.

In the afternoon, David Smith’s Afternoon Show has done features on gardening, answering questions from the listeners. Similar to Radio 4′s Gardeners’ Question Time, which is broadcast on a Friday. The one I’ve linked to is gardeners in West Yorkshire – perhaps when they do a Gloucestershire edition Radio Gloucestershire might take it.

Maybe during the evening, take an hour for 5 Live Sport, or on a Tuesday they could take an edition of Radio 4′s In Touch, which is aimed at the blind and partially sighted?

Of course, the timings that the national programmes would need to be revised slightly to allow for the locals to fit them in to their own schedules (or they could use recordings, if necessary). But it would mean that when something related to the local area comes up on the BBC World Service, Radio Gloucestershire’s listeners would hear it when previously they possibly wouldn’t have even known about it.

So Radio Gloucestershire is still its ‘own’ radio station, they could keep their current schedule so staff don’t need to loose jobs – notice how I haven’t picked anything longer than an hour when most peak time shows are 2-3 hours long? So BBC Local Radio would always have programmes about the local area, even though they’re not necessarily programmes broadcast from that local area.

I haven’t filled a whole schedule with programmes from Radio 4 or 5 Live – that’s deliberate (not be being lazy). As a Local Radio listener, I’d still want the majority of the content to be a presenter in a studio not too far away from me. There’s still time to have music (because Local Radio listeners do enjoy hearing or choosing their favorite tracks), and the Breakfast Show isn’t simply a re-broadcast of the Today programme.

So by allowing the local stations to choose which network programmes they have, costs are reduced. During the time Radio 4′s Gardeners’ Question Time is on, the BBC Glos. journalists can be preparing content for later in the programme, or a programme coming up later in the day. During the hour of 5 Live Sport, music isn’t broadcast. So costs are reduced because they’re not having to pay money to the music copyright people for the music they’d normally play during that hour. And most importantly, as far as the listener is concerned, the programmes have improved through reducing costs, rather than got worse in quality.

In summary – I could see a system where BBC Locals and BBC Nationals sharing material working; each station keeps its identity and staff need not loose jobs.

Not its your turn. Use the comments to let me know what you think of the suggestion (good or bad – just don’t shout at me)!

I haven’t been to a couple of meetings, because I was on holiday for one and it was Dad’s birthday for the next. But I’ve been reading the minutes so I know what decisions have been made.

Perhaps the biggest is that a date for the next broadcast has been set. So the next Corinium Radio broadcast will take place in November. We will be on air on Thursday 25, Friday 26, Saturday 27 and Sunday 28. This is the same weekend as the Cirencester Advent Festival, and we are hoping to do another outside broadcast from the event.

A schedule hasn’t been decided yet, but our new vice-chair (Alex T) has sent out via e-mail the programme proposal forms. So if you’re reading this and have a programming idea, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

We don’t care whether you’ve got a full running order or not – if your idea has so far only reached the stage of “I’d like to make a programme about….” then that’s good enough for us! If you haven’t got a clue how to go about making your programme, we can give you all the guidance you need.

You may be reading this, thinking “but none of the listeners will find my programme interesting” – but remember: if you find a topic interesting and can get this message across to the listeners on air, the chances are that someone listening to the broadcast will find it interesting as well!

So if after reading this you think you have an idea big or small, please get in touch with us. You can download a programme proposal form from the website, or contact either myself (fred.hart@coriniumradio.co.uk) or Alex Tallon (alex.tallon@coriniumradio.co.uk).

However I could still hear the audio from my computer playing through the speakers, so the problem was not my computer. It was the monitor.

My monitor is a (now discontinued) model by Nikkai, which I beleive is a Maplin brand. As well as being a computer monitor, it also has inputs for an aerial (for analogue TV), SCART, AV and S-Video – so I use the monitor as a TV with my Freeview box plugged into the AV inputs. In fact the Freeview box I use is my Grandmother’s old Humax one which is also now discontinued – but that’s not broken (yet).

As its a discontinued product, we decided it would be better to replace it. Using Dad’s computer downstairs, I started looking up possible replacements.

It was much easier to find TVs with VGA inputs for a computer, rather than computer monitors with AV inputs for a Freeview box. By Friday afternoon, we’d narrowed it down to the Technika 15.4″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview, and the Technika 19-919 19″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview.

We went to our local Tesco store to see if they had them in stock – and they didn’t. So we returned home and decided it would be better to order them online as soon as I get home after my Greek lesson. So I went to Greek.

When I got back, Dad had been playing with the monitor to see what the problem was: he’d taken it apart, couldn’t see anything so put it back together and then plugged it back in to found that it worked! I then pointed out that he was using the power supply for my external DVD burner. After testing it with the original power supply, we’d diagnosed the problem to the power supply. The actual monitor itself was fine.

So then we started the search for a 12V 3A power supply with the correct socket to fit my TV:

• Maplin does a worldwide one for £16.99, but I don’t really want the EU, USA and Australian power sockets that come with it. Its a bit of a waste of money unless you’re going to need that sort of power supply regularly in all those countries.
• VirtualVillage.co.uk do exactly what I want for £7.49. The trouble is, it says “out of stock”.
• There’s one on Ebay which might be useful – but only with a US plug. I’ve never been to the US, and I’m not planning to either.
• So we eventually decided to go for the High Quality New 12V 5A AC Adaptor on Amazon. Although its not 3A, it can be used instead of one.

Mum ordered it online this morning. So hopefully it shouldn’t take too long to get here. Meanwhile, I’m using Corinium Radio‘s laptop for all my Internet and e-mail access!

But I don’t see why the manufacturers don’t standardize the sockets. Why does every single monitor available seem to need a different power supply unit? Everyone in the UK has the same plug sockets on their wall. All computers by now have USB… All monitors connect to a computer using a VGA cable… All sets of speakers connect with a jack lead.

So why have power supplies which are unique to one particular make of monitor!?

In July 2010, there were 744 unique visitors. The total number of visits was 2765, an average of 3.71 visits per visitor.

Days of the Month

The average number of visitors per day was 89.19.

In first place, with 128 visits, is July 18.

The day with the lowest number of visits was July 5, with 59 visits – there were no articles published on this day, hence the 404 Error Page you get when you click the link.

The full graph is available as a .xls document.

International Hits

In July 2010, this website received hits from 61 different countries.

The top 5 were the UK, Ireland, the USA, Russia and Canada.

The bottom 5 were Peru, Slovak Republic, the UAE, Nigeria and Argentina.

Most Viewed

In July 2010, the top 10 most viewed pages were:

1. RSS Feed
2. German RSS Feed
3. Home
4. Greek RSS Feed
5. Comments and Discussions
6. Blog Post: The Upgrade to DAB Digital Radio
7. Blog Post: Malcolm Laycock Quits Radio 2
8. Blog Post: Concorde’s Last Flight
9. Blog Post: A Very Successful Radio Broadcast
10. Blog Post: Recordings of My Shows

Search Terms

The top 10 search terms which resulted in a hit to the site for July 2010 were:

1. Concorde’s Last Flight Narrator
2. Fred Hart
3. S2Blue
4. Mo Dutta
5. BBC Sussex Jingles
6. DAB Digital Radio
7. Corinium Radio.com
8. Mcasso Packages
9. Zorbas Restaurant Telendos
10. Mo Dutta Axed

That’s it for this month – August’s statistics will be released on September 1.

On Saturday (7 August), we drove East to a town on the other side of Chania. Lake Kournas (Λίμνι Κουρνά) is Crete’s only freshwater lake, and isn’t very far from the border with the county of Rethymno (Νόμος Ρεθύμνου).

There are tavernas at the side of the lake, you can swim in the lake by the beach (sunbeds are available), or you can rent a pedalo for an hour; we swam from the beach for a little while. There are lots of people there, but its not crowded because people are spread out.

We rented a pedalo for a bit as well – and we went out into the centre of the lake where it is deep and dived in! A pedalo for 2 people is €7, or for 4 its €14.

We looked in the shops for a bit (I brought a Cretan T-Shirt) and then we drove to the town of Georgioupoli, a tourist town located 48km East of Chania and 22km West of Rethymno. It is the head town of the Municipality of Georgioupoli.

There are tourist shops, supermarkets, ATMs and tavernas. We ate lunch in one of the tavernas, and then went to one of the beaches. There are two. We went to the smaller one, near the bridge. The water is very cold because of the river which enters the sea nearby!

After, I went to buy some postcards and stamps in one of the supermarkets. The owner was very impressed with my Greek and was keen to know how I’d learnt the language, to which I replied: «Έχω μία δασκάλα στην Αγγλία που έμεινα στην Ελλάδα». (“I have a teacher in England who lived in Greece”).

Georgioupoli isn’t very near Kamisiana, but its all on the national road (motorway) so its not too bad. On the other hand, when we tried to get back on the motorway we found it was closed. A policeman tried to speak to Dad in Greek, not knowing that he didn’t speak Greek! After returning to England last Tuesday I found this:

Record Dance – 7 August 2010: Thousands of Cretans are to join hands this evening in a human chain that will form on the side of the road from Chania to Lasithi, which stretches for 200km, in bid to break the world record for the longest dance. The dancers, who are to convene at 7.30pm are aiming for a place in the Guinness World Records book.

News about Sfakia, Crete

The police had closed the road and stopped all the traffic already on the road!

To see where Georgioupoli and Lake Kournas are, go to Google Maps.

So that brings to an end my weeks worth of articles about Crete. Back to normal tomorrow – I still need to post the website statistics for July!

Elafonisi (Ελαφονήσι) is a beach located in the Municipality of Innachorio (Δήμος Ινναχωρίου) on the South West corner of Crete; its quite a long drive from Kamisiana, but there are a couple of good places to stop at along the way. We visited on Friday 6 August.

To get there, we got on the motorway A90 at the Kolymvari junction, and headed West towards Kissamos. Don’t go all the way to Kissamos though – there is a crossroads just after you come into the Municipality of Mythimna, signed Nopigia in one direction, or Elafonisi in the other (obviously, you want to go towards Elafonisi).

As you come out of the village of Topolia (Τοπόλια), you drive along the edge of the Koutsomatados Ravine. There is a place to stop and take photos by the side of the road (see above), before you go into a tunnel which takes you through the mountain.

On the other side of the tunnel, is the Cave of Agia (Greek for St) Sofia. Its one of the largest caves on Crete and you can park by the side of the road and climb up the steps, past the taverna and gift shop, and go in – for free! For the disabled, one downside is that its not wheelchair friendly. Also remember also that the cave is a chapel, so therefore please respect the Greek Orthodox religion… if you’re one of those men who takes their shirt off when its sunny, they’re probably not going to like you that much.

At the entrance to the cave you’ll see the flag of the Greek Orthodox Church alongside the Greek and EU flag (I’ve never seen a Greek flag without and EU one next to it) – and when you go in you’ll see how big the cave is! Have a walk around, take some photos, and enjoy being out of the heat of the sun for a while. Then, head back down the steps, and maybe have a drink at the taverna.

After a short walk around, we got back in the car. Next, we drove down to the village of Elos (Έλος); by this time it was lunch time, so we stopped at one of the tavernas to eat. You can either have a full meal, or have something like a gyros (γύρος). A gyros is sort of like Greek fast food, but not necessarily very fast!

Then, we got back into the car for the final part of our journey towards Elafonisi; about another 30 minutes drive away. At the village of Vathi, you will find the turning down to Elafonisi. We eventually got to Elafonisi at 2pm – nearly 4 hours after leaving Kamisiana. Of course, we’d stopped 3 times and one of them for a whole meal, so if you drive direct it’ll probably take less time.

Elafonisi is a large, sandy beach. Its quite busy, because its very shallow so excellent for those with young children. You can walk across to an island in water no more than knee-deep (ankle-deep for the majority of it). Its still quite busy on the island, but you can follow a path on the island to some beaches over the other side where it is quieter, and you can access water deep enough to swim properly in. There are lots of rocks as well, so this far side of the island is a good place to go snorkeling.

We’d actually turned up at Elafonisi at quite a good time, because within a couple of hours there were more people leaving than arriving; Elafonisi was the sort of beach where both tour operators and the local bus company (ΚΤΕΛ Χανίων – Ρευύμνου Α.Ε.) run regular trips; they all leave at around 4pm so its slightly quieter after this time.

We stayed until around 5pm before starting the journey back. It only took 2 hours, as we reached our apartment shortly after 7pm.

We went back a slightly different way, choosing the coastal road from Vathi instead of heading up towards Elos. Along the way there is a taverna on the mountainside, which is a good place to stop for either a meal of something like an ice cream. You get a good view looking down the mountainside to the sea below and also the village of Livadia.

Elafonisi can get a bit busy; especially during high season. We went on a Friday and it was busy. Sunday is usually the day when the Greeks go to the beach, so I’d recommend avoiding it then. But don’t avoid it alltogether. Go during the week, when the Greeks are at work. If you’re there in low season I expect it wouldn’t be so busy.

Return tomorrow to read my last article about Crete. I’ll write about the town of Georgioupoli and Lake Kournas. And don’t forget to visit Google Maps to see where all the places mentioned today are.

Finally, here is some video footage I shot at Elafonisi. Note that there is no sound for the first half.

Last Wednesday (4 August) was the first day with the car, and we spent it at the beach. From Kamisiana we drove West on the old road to the beach at Falassarna (Φαλάσαρνα).

The old road is quite slow, but as you come down the mountains heading towards Kissamos you get a good view; once you get into Kissamos itself the road improves as the new motorway meets the old road.

To get to Falassarna, you drive through the town and continue heading West. At the village of Platanos (Πλάτανος), turn right; its well signed and I think there are a couple of turnings – just in case you miss one.

You will make your way down the mountain through a series of hairpin bends; you get a great view of the coastal plain below, where the local farmers use plastic greenhouses to grow things like tomatoes and melons.

There are actually two main beaches at Falassarna – the Southern one is the largest, or if you follow the road until the car park at the end then you can walk through a taverna towards the smaller beach. Take a look at my Google Map to see exactly where Falassarna is.

Sunbeds are available if you want, or go to the end of the beach if you’d rather sit away from the crowds.  It can get crowded during high season – especially on Sundays, when all the Greeks are out and half of Chania’s population head to the various beaches in the region! But it is sandy, and shallow for quite a way out, so good if you have young children.

Here’s a video I took at the Northern end of the beach:

After a few hours at the beach, it was lunch time. There are tavernas next to the beach itself, or you can do what we did – get in the car and drive back up the mountain. There are a range of tavernas all the way back up the mountain heading towards Platanos.

We ate at one on the mountainside with a good view of the plain and the sea down below… Unfortunatley, I can’t remember what its name was, but I enjoyed my meal and they were very pleased when we spoke to them in Greek.

On the way back, we drove on the new road – the motoway A90, which was a lot quicker – Kissamos to the Kolymbari junction took less than 20 minutes!

So that’s it for today; tomorrow I’ll be writing about Elafonisi and the interesting route we took to get to there.