One of the more pleasant experiences for a commissioning editor must occur when a major recording artist — or, more likely, their “people” — pitches up in reception and begs for a bit of airtime in which to plug their latest platter. How great the temptation must be to say no, in revenge for all the “I want to be alone” stuff that was dished out when Product was not there to be Promoted.
Of course it doesn’t happen. A famous name is a famous name, and if you don’t have it in your programme it will pop up on someone else’s. And so you bite your lip and say yes, of course, you’d be delighted to have them in your studios for a great wodge of free publicity. And if enough producers say yes, then the airwaves are jammed with the great and groovy giving it some hard-sell.
This being the start of the run-up to Christmas, the schedules are more stocked than usual with marketing opportunities masquerading as documentary/ interviews. The World Service has the best — the two-part Franz Ferdinand diaries (the second is on Monday at 9.30am), which entailed a bit of work on the part of the foppish and talented Scots as they recorded their impressions during their recent world tour. The Franzes will also be appearing in concert on Radio 1 the same night, from 9pm.
Meanwhile, Paul McCartney is punting his first decent album in ages (see review). Disregarding the lesser stations — don’t fall sick or you might well find him gladhanding hospital radio, too — Sir Beatle is to be found on Monday’s Ken Bruce show (Radio 2, 9.30am) and Tom Robinson’s Evening Sequence (BBC 6 Music, Wednesday, 7pm).
It would be nice, if unlikely, if either show gave him as great a grilling as the one he experienced recently from Radio 4’s John Wilson during a Front Row Special devoted, all 30 minutes of it, to Macca’s songwriting gifts.
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McCartney did his usual thing of pretending that all he does is turn on a tap and genius comes pouring out. Wilson was having none of it. Macca noodled something melodic: “I don’t know why, but it sounded to me like something from the Deep South,” he opined.
“Yes,” said Wilson. “It sounds like Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready.”
Long pause. Then McCartney: “So you mean I nicked it?”