The First Show
Hope you enjoyed it. We had a wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who appeared on the show in one form or another; special guest Carol Thatcher, hostage negotiator Max Vernon, podcaster Tim Kretschmann, Clare Baskott our competition addict. Not to forget hearing about Will Self's secret life, Mark Thomas' inheritance tracks and of course our poet Elvis McGonagall.
Don't forget you can tell us all about your 'Inheritance Tracks' or tell us why you want to become a 'Guerilla Reporter' Get in touch here
Can't wait for next week!
And if you missed and item you can listen again to the show.
Actually, I'm glad someone enjoyed it. I never thought anything could make me long for Giles Brandtreth.
Too cosy, too dull.
Hope you mange to warm it up, and maybe when the 'features' bed in it will be better, but it'll take some major radio 4 guilt effect to compel me to tune in again.
Complain about this postI normally switch off at 9am but I stayed with your show and enjoyed it - a quick and talented poet (get him back), Will Self (excellent), the negotiator (honest interesting interview without any of the I did this and I did that..), carol thatcher (ok..but not really exploited enough).
Well balanced and flowing programme, and dare I say it ..refreshingly..not too high brow and self-congratulating like previous Saturday morning efforts.
The inheritance tracks music idea was novel and thought provoking - suggest you copywrite this idea it could easily make a tv show (ie witness Room 101)
Could I suggest that you also provide a slot for alternative appraisals of British pastimes - ie the dangers of jam making, what exactly is morris dancing, etc
Anyway, good first show - keep up the good work and don't be put off by the negative comments that you will no doubt receive from those retired people living in Tunbridge Wells.
Complain about this postHello Fi
Great first show, and I look forward to the next one!
Will you/the ´óÏó´«Ã½ be releasing the show as a podcast, as I can't guarantee to be able to listen to the radio at the same time every week?
All the best, AlanLB.
Complain about this postI turned the radio on at 8.15 only to doze off again and then woke up at just after nine because there was this irritating noise in my ear.
Please tell me this only has a six week shelf life and that it will then be consigned to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ archive.
Complain about this postShow was dire this morning. Just another chat show.
Bit about the hostage negotiator was so clearly pre-arranged and unspontaneous - nothing live or original about the show at all. Why on earh did you scrap Home Truths.
Really wanted to like this show - prime time radio. So disappointing
Complain about this postWhat a great show. Fi, you are a brilliant broadcaster.
Great to hear someone who can handle a serious interview (Iranian embassy story), drawing out the interviewee, as well as interviewing a US podcaster (ironic and funny without him realising it), plus all the other items.
The occasional slip up as with the time at 9.22 or the instruction not to dwell on the conflict with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ only added to the relaxed and light atmosphere.
It was also refreshing to hear a broadcaster who did not feel the need to appeal to the 'yoof' market but who could just be herself.
The best thing since John Peel.
Thanks a million and we look forward to many more episodes.
Complain about this postOnly caught the second half (will 'listen again' to the first half later), but was great fun. Nice one!
Inheritance Tracks is an inspired feature - I have a 3 month old daughter Io and have already found myself singing a variety of the songs from musicals that my father adores (not my normal music listening) - not sure which THE track is but likes of "Good Morning", "Moon River", "They cant take that away from me" are featuring heavily. However my dad is looking to bypass me altogether - the first time we went to my parents' home with our daughter , she was subjected to hours of Al Joston with running commentary and performance from my dad. Surprisingly she happily gurgled throughout and my dad was in heaven with a new enraptured audience.
Really need to find my own tunes to pass down but find that Radiohead have not yet captured the joys of fatherhood or a baby's bathtime. Come on, Thom, we need to save my daughter from a white man wearing boot polish!
Looking forward to the next show, now that fatherhood means that I am awake so early on a saturday morning.
Complain about this postSorry, but after the bit I heard this morning (that ghastly toe-curling piece about the American Beauty Queen blog), I shall not be listening again.
I though Fi Glover on BH was great; her brand of humour and the laconic delivery were just right. What I heard of her this morning made me think that she was not at all comfortable.
There must be some way of filling this slot which is not 'Home Truths' (brilliant at its best but wearisome eventually) or Radio 1, but which gets 'the listening public' involved without making the rest of us cringe.
I suppose the powers-that-be will let this run until the figures convince them that they've lost the plot. What a shame!
Complain about this postSaturday Live? Saturday Dead.
Banal, boring, and Fi Glover's dull monotone is a big switch-off. Sorry Ms Glover you might think you are being funny but you leave me stone cold.
Complain about this postI loved the programme fi.
I kind of went off broadcasting house when you stopped appearing on it, so am very pleased to hear you brightening up Saturday mornings now.
Is it the same man who abolished the early morning Radio 4 theme tune who created the chance to do this? If so, he is certainly doing some thing right.
Here's the latest political joke, just received from New York, to further brighten your day:
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed President Bush this morning. He told Bush that three Brazilian soldiers had been killed in Iraq.
To everyone's amazement, all of the colour drained from Bush's face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost whimpering.
Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld: "Just exactly how many is a brazillion?"
I laughed so hard at this I nearly flushed myself.
best of luck
Crispin
Complain about this postParticularly enjoyed Will Self's Bekonscot feature as I lived for many years in Beaconsfield and still visit my parents there.
Incidentally, in Fi's biog it states that her career "took her ... on a trip around various local radio stations before settling at GLR where she ended up presenting The Breakfast Show."
I seem to remember the Saturday edition of this being called "The Pile of Cack Show", hosted by Fi and Gideon Coe (now on 6 Music). It was all a bit anarchic, but fun. GLR was great back then.
Keep up the good work!
Complain about this postOh puh-lease! Don't do this to us!
Saturday Live sucks, it is in need of emergency surgery before next week. Don't patronise us, Fi.
I don't need to be told ahead of Will Self's piece to 'sit back and enjoy', I can decide for myself what I like and I am telling you in no uncertain terms that you have misjudged the Saturday morning listener badly.
We didn't like Home Truths after Peely passed away, hello? David Stafford turned it into a whole other, and very inferior, show.
Why did it become intolerable? Well maybe because it was smug, fey, silly and above all it patronised and talked down to the listener. Only Peel could carry it because he was one of the greats.
Fi, you were OK on Broadcasting House. Last week's show was pretty much unlistenable...and that execrable 'poet'...don't get me started...
Complain about this postThe one bright offering was Will Self's return to the Beconscott Village. I really enjoyed his wit.
Did that chap Max bore the hostage-takers into submission? If I'd have had to put up with his egotistical ramblings, I would have immediately released people and then walked out with my hands covering my ears. Why didn't he like the ´óÏó´«Ã½? No one bothered to ask the obvious.
The pod-cast was plain daft about the American Radio Show moth and it was at that point I went back to sleep.
Did I miss anything?
Complain about this postListening to Saturday Live just made me long for HomeTruth even more.
Complain about this postBring back home truths.
Complain about this postMore evidence that you can't please everyone...
I'm a big Fi fan but thought BH was more your speed. In fact, this show is effectively BH Lite (and BH was itself effectively Today Lite) and as such is barely palatable. The Inheritance Tracks segment was the best bit but was reminiscent of Desert Island Discs - or perhaps, to continue the theme, it was DLD Lite. The on-the-spot poetry was also impressive but will begin to irk very quickly.
There's no point in whinging that nothing will ever replace John Peel (nothing will, but somehow I doubt he'd want an hour of dead air every Saturday morning in his memory). What we really want is something with more substance to it, even if we're back to looking at local and personal issues.
Along those lines, can I point you towards the excellent "This American Life" (https://www.thislife.org/) as the sort of radio we'd like to hear? Obviously it would be silly to broadcast TAL itself but something to capture the serious mundanity of British existence in the way that Peel-era Home Truths did would be very welcome indeed.
Complain about this postHopefully Carol Thatcher will not be a regular feature and agree the poet was dire, but liked the Will Self item and I'm sure that the excellent Fi will turn this into exactly what's needed for this slot.
Perhaps the new show it needs an underlying narrative (is that the right word? sounds good to me). Home Truth's narrative was smug middle aged women from Woking twittering on endlessly about the non-amusing antics of their teenage offspring, forgetful husbands etc. (OK, perhaps I don't mean narrative).
Whatever it is that its’ called, maybe what Saturday Live needs to do is to play to our national strengths and remorselessly take the piss out of everything. My dream team would include Fi anchoring with Bill Bailey and Will Self as permanent side kicks doing a nice-guy/nasty guy routine. Guests would only be there to be humiliated and there would be mass executions of sscred cows. What do you think?
Complain about this postI am afraid we will not be listening to this programme ever!We were so pleased when Fi Glover did not return to BH - we just hoped she would not return to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ at all! Sorry!
Complain about this postJust what we need, another hour of vacuous London chit-chat. The words "... and here's Carole Thatcher" guaranteed I had time to finish reading the paper once I'd hit the 'off' switch. Shame, as it seems to me that Ms Glover is a witty and interesting broadcaster marooned in sea of metropolitan inanity - from which I hope she is soon liberated.
Complain about this postI'm rarely motivated to post a comment, but when I read some of the negative views expressed by others, I felt I had to redress the balance a bit. Everyone is entitled to their views of course, and if they don't like the show I assume they won't be listening to it in future which is excellent news for the rest of us. Speaking personally Fi - I thought it was the best new show I've heard on Radio 4 for yonks. Keep it up.
Complain about this postWhen Home Truths was axed our radio fell silent on a Saturday morning as there was just nothing to fill the void, but then along came Saturday Live, give it a go turned into, well YES this is good, worthy topical and amusing.
I know it is difficult to please all the people all of the time but Saturday Live is an excellent compliment to BH on Sundays ... it is good to have a giggle in the morning or even a titter at times, a smile and a laugh are better than any tonic ......... Good luck :)
Complain about this postWelcome Fi Glover and Saturday live, an inspired bit of programming for what had become a bit of a tired slot. Great start - will become a Saturday morning must hear in my household.
Complain about this postFi, I'd like to join the other seven people who listened to you and Gideon on GLR in welcoming you back.
Complain about this postAnd for having a poet on the show who isn't Ian McMillan.
Complain about this postHello Fi - I'm really suprised by some of the comments here: Ruth Bishop is obviously some dreadful old biddy. I thought it was great; obviously there were going to be longeurs in the first one, but I have no doubt the show will find its own rhythm. You're a really good host and it's a canny acheivement to bring the kind of urbane wit you possess to diverse and sometimes frivolous subject matter. Please keep treating your audience with the same respect you did on BH and things will turn out grand. No more Carol Thatcher though.
I have a question about living in the Antarctic - where does all the poo go?
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