Stuart Pinfold

Radio 1 on BBC3

Now, come on. We've already proved that sticking a couple of TV cameras into a radio studio and broadcasting it doesn't (a) make good television or (b) make good radio. In short, it doesn't work.

So a big 'boooo' to whoever came up with the idea of bastardising another radio studio, this time Radio 1, to create a television show on BBC Three. What could be better than watching a group of 4 people in a radio studio, producing and presenting a radio show? Err...

To be fair, its saving grace is that it shows the music videos from the songs that Scott Mills plays - otherwise it would be absolutely unbearable, watching a group of radio-types milling about a studio for 4 minutes at a time.

There are good reasons why the BBC webcams only update every 5 minutes or so, and those same reasons are why some radio groups refuse to have a studio webcam at all. People who have never been in a radio studio during a live transmission might think it's a hub of activity, with overworked staff running around preparing for the next time the microphones are open. In reality, most of this is figured out before the show even goes on-air. That's not to say that nothing happens in-between the records, but all that does happen is a couple of button presses, a bit of off-air listening to get levels and timings, and maybe a quick discussion between the producer and presenter... it's got even more efficient now that all the audio is stored on computer and available instantly to the presenter. Do we really want to watch this on TV?

Thankfully, during the music videos, it's restricted to a small box in the corner of the screen - and, true to life - all you see is some people lounging around not doing much, and then the links from various camera angles - in front of the presenter, behind the presenter looking at the producer and BAs, the side of the presenter, and even on top of - yes, above - the presenter. Wow. The height of visual entertainment...

Of course, there might be some occasions where it's nice to have video from someone in a radio studio; an interview with a big guest, perhaps - or maybe a video exclusively for the station's website - but these are hardly the nicest surroundings to show in the background, and definitely don't warrant an hour-long programme on BBC3.

I suspect that the only people to have watched this - especially with its 0230 timeslot - are radio geeks. And, if you're going to get petty about it, having just written 450 words on the subject, I guess that includes me too.

My defence? I was on a night shift, guv'nor.

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Outsourcing Spam

It's something that I've never really had a problem with for my BBC email account, but I know loads of my colleagues who get a few dozen emails every day offering viagra, a chance to reactivate their online banking accounts or a 25% stake of a few hundred-million pounds from the son of a murdered sultan.

So, there was excitement when, last week, everyone got four emails (errr...) tellling us that we were going to get a new spam filter (Postini) 'within the next 30 minutes', that the new spam filter was now in operation, an emailed request to click to setup a password for the spam filter, and then another confirming that our password has been set. We've then been getting an email every day with a summary of our spam emails, with a link to a website where we can delete them altogether, or have them delivered to our mailbox if they're useful emails.

Which is all very well - except that, as soon as the changeover from Spam Manager (an in-house piece of software launched in mid-2004) to Postini happened, emails going to or coming from outside the organisation took 45 minutes to get anywhere.

So, this morning at 03:00, 'with permission and agreement from BBC Technology, Siemens and the BBC', we reverted back to Spam Manager, and - surprise, surprise, all is well again in the email world.

Of course, this wouldn't have anything to do with Spam Manager being developed in-house by a team of clever people before BBC Technology was sold off, vs Postini being bought off-the-shelf and trying to be installed on what is probably one of the biggest computer networks in the UK, with 21 buildings in London, 13 in Scotland, 5 in Ireland, 5 in Wales, 42 across England, and countless internet connections via journalists' laptops across the world. The standard Windows XP software has been customised for the use of the BBC to enable it to run special programmes and run customised scripts on logon. To get a connection at home, you have to obtain special permission as it costs a few hundred pounds (which now goes straight into Siemens' pockets) to buy the software which communicates with the BBC servers.

There are other departments in the line awaiting outsourcing, including BBC Resources. I'm now waiting for the day when the new company buy lots of updated, brand-spanking-new cameras for the television studios, and then realise they're incompatible with the studio galleries.

Who says outsourcing is good value-for-money?

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