Mark Moulding's Blog

How do you feel?

2009-08-15T00:21:00.002+01:00

I love the fact that NBC's network of owned and operated local stations are now giving you the chance to vote on how you 'feel' about stories in the news. Emotional connections are, as far as I'm concerned, what broadcasting should be about.

However, it's more than a little bit worrying that, on this story, nearly a quarter of voters (at time of writing) were, apparently, laughing.

Compassion, anyone?

Drivetime is on the road

2009-06-09T09:55:00.003+01:00

Well, as first shows go, yesterday's Drivetime was pretty fantastic. Everything went remarkably smoothly - which probably means we've set the bar ridiculously high for today.

You can listen to our debut here for the next 7 days. And don't forget to tune in from 4-7pm today!

Who's gonna drive you home tonight?

2009-06-08T09:27:00.003+01:00

It's a big day - as we're launching a new Drivetime show on BBC Wiltshire this afternoon. It's presented by Lee Stone, and produced by me (who'll also be the new voice of sport on the show). We've got big plans for it, so can't wait to get on air.

Hope you can join us between 4 and 7 every weekday. If you're not in the area, you can listen online at bbc.co.uk/wiltshire.

What's New?

2009-05-31T14:45:00.002+01:00

Well, seeing that the last time I found the time to blog was September, I think you can safely assume that you're getting value for your licence fee.

Since then, we've seen the rise of Twitter - empowering us to blog in bite-size morsels. So, while this may clock in at slightly more than 140 characters, here's a brief update on the site.

I've been working on the 'Listen' page - replacing the dizzying array of rather old audio clips with some better-produced Demos to download. So far my new Presenter and Newsreader Demos are up - with a sample of my recent reporting to follow shortly (I don't get the chance to get out of the office much nowadays, so this may take a little longer to compile). Go ahead and have a listen!

Something else is 'new', and very exciting, too - but you'll have to wait a few days before I can tell you...

The definition of public service broadcasting?

2008-09-12T08:41:00.002+01:00

America's hurricane season may be nearly over - but mother nature certainly intends to go out with a bang this year. A couple of weeks ago I was glued to the New Orleans tv stations' coverage of Gustav - and as I write, I'm watching streaming coverage of Ike from KHOU in Houston.

It's at times like this that you really come to realise what public service broadcasting is all about. All the local stations (on TV and radio) are broadcasting round-the-clock coverage - not to sensationalise the story, but to tell local people what they need to know in order to stay safe.

During Gustav, a viewer emailed in to one of the New Orleans channels to thank them for their coverage. They said it was a welcome contrast to the way some of the national media were doing the story (focussing on how bad things could get).

I urge you to check out some of this coverage because, quite simply, it's public service broadcasting at its best:

KHOU | KPRC | KTRK | KRIV

The word on the street

2008-05-04T16:03:00.004+01:00

Easily the best thing overheard by anyone all year (sadly not by me, though)...

"I really don't want my child to grow up with an irrational fear of Adrian Chiles"

Sometimes it's good to come last

2008-03-02T13:17:00.004Z

It's funny how things work out. Not so long ago, American States were clambering over themselves to hold their Primaries as early as possible - lest the winners emerge before they got the chance to influence the outcome. It's a decision that may still prove costly for Democrats in Florida and Michigan.

Yet, as we head into yet another Super Tuesday, the race between Clinton and Obama is still way too close to call. No-one expected it to be quite as exciting as this - which, in itself, is pretty impressive, seeing as expectations in the excitement stakes have always been pretty high.

So, while many people expected the tardy Ohio and Texas Primaries to be too late to matter - they might just end up being the most important of all.

What's love got to do with it?

2008-02-14T18:26:00.006Z

As featured on this morning's Breakfast Show, here's an amusing selection of some of the most shameless attempts to cash in on Valentine's Day - harvested from the multitude of press releases I've seen in the past week. The last one is my favourite...

"The slush and romance of Valentine's Day can be too much for singletons.
Why not avoid the naff roses and fluffy toys and send your mates an Alpen Groove bar?"

"Almost one in three of the UK adult population admits to having no sex over an average 90 day period and one in five has slept alone throughout that entire period.
It seems the single life is not all it's cracked up to be in the 21st century - married and unmarried couples have twice as much sex as singletons (at least that's what they claim!).
To mark the launch of a new and unique '90 Day Love it or Exchange it' mattress policy, IKEA uncovered what really goes on in the bedroom in 90 days."

"Fancy a Valentine's feast with a difference, something a bit more stimulating?
You could try the usual aphrodisiacs like oysters or asparagus - or you could start your day with something that'll slip down a little easier and tick all the right boxes on its way, because this year's food of love is... porridge.
Rude Health's Fruity Date porridge, to be precise."

The Blog Is Back

2008-02-08T10:34:00.001Z

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, but there's a good reason - honest.

Not long after my last post, I became one of the producers of BBC Radio Wiltshire's new Breakfast Show, presented by Graham Seaman. We launched at the start of October - and our first four months on air have been a lot of work, but it's all going pretty well. (I'm the day producer, so I don't even have to get up early...)

I hope you'll check the show out - you can listen live between 6 and 9 am GMT, or on demand whenever you like. Here's the link to our bit of the BBC iPlayer.

As always, I'd love to hear what you think. We've been trying to do a few things differently, so it'd be great to get your thoughts.

A whole different level

2007-08-16T18:20:00.000+01:00

This time every year the A Level exam results are out... and this time every year, the breakfast shows wheel out a couple of cherry-picked students to open their results live on air. And every year they get straight A-grades. Not suprising really, given that the whole thing relies on their colleges making their results available early.

Well, not on my watch. I made the decision several months ago not to do that on the BBC Radio Swindon breakfast show this year. Not only is it predictable, but it isn't real (and I speak as someone who flunked my A-Level History and only got into my first choice University thanks to a generous admissions tutor).

So, instead, we found ourselves a 19 year-old who was retaking her exams after a disappointing set of grades last year- and for whom this was really a last stab at going to University. Our radiocar reporter spent the show at her house - capturing all the tension of the most important morning of her life. No slick choreography - and not a results envelope in sight. Just a slice of real life.

And the story that unfolded after the show - when she eventually got her results - is utterly compelling. She missed the grades again - and had to make some big decisions very quickly. So we've got a great story for tomorrow now, too.

Who'll continue Harry's magic?

2007-07-24T18:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I've finished the final Harry Potter! Probably the fastest I've ever read a book - partly out of sheer obsession, partly to escape the paranoia of wondering if every web page I looked at would spoil the ending.

I won't give anything away other than saying that it's amazing. But what's just as amazing as the book itself is the appetite and enthusiasm it - and all the others - have generated.

This, sadly, is an age when books don't normally get crowds of people so excited that they camp outside shops waiting for them to open at midnight. Yet the Harry Potter books have moved people to do this. We're not talking about spill-the-beans autobiographies, or the latest offering from a celebrity chef - but a good, old-fashioned, lovingly-crafted story.

It's great to see such euphoria caused not by a games console or mp3 player, but a bundle of printed pages. Something that encourages kids and adults alike to sit down and read - at a time when we're always being told that so many people aren't bothering to do that any more.

So, now Harry's story has come to an end, which writers have enough literary magic to recapture the world's imagination on such a grand scale - and make sure that books, like new technology, continue to spark a craze?

If I was on The Simpsons...

2007-07-09T10:56:00.000+01:00

...this is what I would look like. Or thereabouts, at least. It's a great little feature on the Simpsons Movie promo site. Check out the site and click on 'Create Your Avatar' to make your own one from the selection of identikit features. Personally, I'd have liked a little more hair than I had to opt for - but I'm still pretty pleased with the result!

Radio silence

2007-06-25T17:33:00.000+01:00

My wonderful Wi-Fi Radio will be slightly less wonderful tomorrow, as many internet radio stations in the US are staging a day of silence. It's the latest salvo in the long-running Save Net Radio campaign - protesting against new legislation in the States that would see an increase in royalty rates that the internet broadcasters pay for playing music.

The legislation's due to come into effect on July 15th. The broadcasters say it'll put them out of business. The music industry's argument is that the current system means the big netcasters like Yahoo aren't paying their way.

Regardless of who's right, my view is that internet radio has a big part to play in the future of the media. Let's hope a deal can be done - to keep things moving forwards, not backwards.

Remembering Bob Atkins

2007-06-01T16:07:00.000+01:00

I'd like to say a few words in memory of Bob Atkins, my Journalism tutor at Cardiff University, who sadly died suddenly but peacefully this week.

Bob was a true legend in his field - with a CV that includes some of the most important TV and radio programmes of our time. He worked on That's Life for BBC TV, and PM and The World At One for BBC Radio 4. He was an Executive Producer at the BBC World Service, and Editor of BBC Radio Wales.

But the reason I knew Bob is because he dedicated the last fifteen years of his life to teaching the Broadcast Journalists of the future at Cardiff University's School of Journalism. He helped me - and half the industry - learn the trade, and find a job in one of the most competitive professions around. And he did so with the greatest wisdom, intelligence and passion.

The thing I'll always remember Bob for is his complete and utter intolerance of mediocrity - in the best possible sense. Never one to mince his words, it was Bob's frank criticism of my early efforts that made me employable. But Bob's harsh words never made myself - or anyone else who knew him - love him or respect him any less. We always knew he was doing it to bring out the best in us - and we could always rely on him for all the support and reassurance we needed.

The fact is, Bob, you never fooled any of us for one minute. We all knew you were a warm, kind and wonderful person, and we love you for it.

Microsoft gets touchy-feely

2007-05-30T18:04:00.000+01:00

My Dad always told me that one day you'd be able to send emails from your fridge. Well, now Microsoft have come up with a computer that doubles up as a coffee table. And very impressive it is, too.

Microsoft's Surface doesn't come cheap - but it does respond to your touch, and recognise wireless devices that are sitting on it. It even has the potential to recognise your credit card, so you can buy things by simply dragging them onto it.

After watching the videos on the site, I was trying to work out what it reminded me of. Thanks to TechnologyExpert for making me realise that it's just like something out of Minority Report.

I have one question, though: does it tell you off if you don't put your drink on a coaster?

Facebook a fad? Computer says no

2007-05-26T12:27:00.001+01:00

Poor BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. His first foray into the world of Facebook wasn't particularly fruitful. And one question he asks is: "Is it just for the under-25s?".

Well, I say it isn't. I discovered Facebook at 25 - and have recently passed beyond that age (and, somewhat disturbingly, out of Radio 1's target audience). And my overwhelming impression is that Facebook actually gets better the older you are.

When you're a young'un and your network of Facebook friends consists mostly of people you see on a daily basis, where's the fun in that? But when someone you haven't seen for 10 years finds you on Facebook - or vice versa - now that's exciting stuff. And after we've been reunited through the wonders of Web 2.0, my 'status' updates even inform them that their old school buddy is "settling down to watch Midsomer Murders with a nice cup of tea".

And Facebook has its other myriad benefits. For starters, I discovered that my sister had a new boyfriend when she changed her 'relationship status' - a whole 2 days before she texted me to break the monumental news. Now that's progress.

Studio 60 heads off into the sunset

2007-05-15T13:22:00.000+01:00

It's not really a surprise, but I'm still very sad to hear that Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip won't be coming back for a second series.

If you're in the UK and haven't yet seen it - it could very easily have become one of your favourite TV shows. It's due to start on More 4 in the next couple of months - and it probably will still get shown seeing as they've paid for it. But sadly it'll be a brief encounter.

It's a real shame the show didn't make it in the States - but expectations were so high that it never really stood a chance.

Making Panorama out of a crisis

2007-05-15T13:00:00.000+01:00

If you haven't seen last night's edition of Panorama - which investigates Scientology - it's well worth taking a look. Thoroughly interesting viewing, especially after the Scientologists released a video of reporter John Sweeney 'losing it'. The incident was included in the final programme.

Subject matter apart, the programme's raised some really interesting issues about journalism and editorial accountability.

Who needs a Hi-Fi? I've got Wi-Fi!

2007-05-14T10:06:00.000+01:00

I have a new favourite toy - a gadget that, in all honesty, is changing the way I listen to radio. It's a Wi-Fi Internet Radio.

It looks like any other radio, with a speaker and volume knob. But this is a radio that lets me listen to pretty much any radio station on the planet - sorted by continent and then country, just to make things even easier for me.

What's all the more impressive is that it also lets me listen to on-demand shows like the ones from the BBC - and actually lets me rewind and fast forward through them better than the actual BBC radio player does. And it's hooked up to a database run by Reciva, so I can register it on the site and add my own streams, which then get downloaded to my radio.

Of course, it has its frustrating moments. Sometimes streams aren't available - or keep rebuffering. And at the moment it defaults to a lower quality stream of some stations which my PC plays in 128k.

But what else can sit on my kitchen window ledge and let me flick between French pop and American talk as easily as if they were both on the FM dial? It's an impressive piece of kit, and I'll be very interested to see how the market for this kind of thing develops.

Bank Holiday randomness

2007-05-07T17:44:00.000+01:00

As both a francophile and an election junkie, you can imagine how excited I was about the second round of the French presidential elections this weekend. Even though the whole thing did pan out exactly as the opinion polls predicted - resulting in a level of suspense akin to that of an episode of Postman Pat.

So this - and having a bit too much time on my hands - led me to ponder the question: what if we weren't allowed to publish opinion polls during an election campaign?

The thought was originally inspired by my rather shallow desire for more election night excitement. But then I started to think slightly more seriously about how we might view a campaign differently if we had no clear perception of a 'front runner'. Would we listen more to the campaign issues if the polls weren't there to distract us? Would more people vote for the smaller parties if the poll numbers didn't make them look like a lost cause?

What do you reckon?

How's this for irony...?

2007-04-18T18:28:00.000+01:00

There's a very good reason why I haven't been blogging lately. It's, er, blogs. As crazy as that sounds, I'm currently working on a big project on blogging that's going to run across our radio and online output - and it's taking absolutely ages.

But it's all worth it. I've been out and about meeting lots of fascinating bloggers from Swindon and Wiltshire - and you'll be able to hear from all of them in due course. Plus I'll be looking at some of the wider issues surrounding blogging - like how it's changing journalism and politics.

Once I've finished all that, I should have a bit more time to spend with my own blog!

Current TV: It's the future

2007-03-14T16:16:00.000Z

Current TV, Al Gore's television channel, has launched in the UK. It's a British version of the American channel, which runs on user generated content - or, as they like to call it, VC2 (viewer created content).

I have to say I was expecting it to be like YouTube on the telly - videos of dogs doing funny things and teenegers miming to Britney songs etc. But it isn't at all like that, and it's actually pretty addictive stuff.

All the 'pods' are bite-size chunks rarely more than 5 minutes long - so you can dip in and out whenever you like. And the mix of stuff is so random that I've found myself watching for ages without getting bored.

In half an hour's viewing I saw a piece following journalists in a war zone, was introduced to the phenomenon of 'bouldering' (climbing rocks and buildings with just your bare hands), and caught a clever and genuinely funny cartoon set in the White House. Eclectic stuff, and well worth a watch.

It's on Sky Digital channel 229 and Virgin Media channel 155.

The Heroes of the hour?

2007-02-22T10:51:00.000Z

The best media news I've heard in a while is that the Sci-Fi Channel in the UK has made the first episode of the fantastic Heroes available to watch online, in high quality. By no means rocket science, given that they're owned by NBC, who already have a top-notch 'watch online' service up and running for viewers in the States.

The big question, though, is whether Sci Fi will do this for every episode in the series. Let's hope so, as the channel has the potential to put UK television on track in an area where it's lagging behind its American counterparts.

So, do Sci-Fi want to be Heroes - or Villains?

UPDATE: Sadly they haven't made any other episodes available online - a missed opportunity if ever I've seen one.

Channel Hopping

2007-02-03T13:30:00.000Z

Naturally, the UK news channels are spending a lot of time today covering the outbreak of H5N1 Bird Flu in Suffolk. But, refreshingly, it's not entirely wall-to-wall...

On a random flick-around this morning, I noticed that BBC News 24 was rolling with Bird Flu - whereas Sky had broken away for a debate entitled 'would you like to live forever?'. Irony is a wonderful thing.

Why TV isn't like chocolate

2007-01-30T10:45:00.000Z

There's no doubt that, thanks to the internet, the world's become a much smaller place. Except when it comes to television, that is...

I'm finding it more and more frustrating that, in this day and age, someone living in Britain can't enjoy the same TV shows as someone living in the States - at least not quite as soon, and in quite the same way. If you're reading this is the USA, clicking here will bring up the latest episode of CSI, in broadband quality - for free. If you're reading this anywhere else, you'll be politely told that you're not allowed to watch. Naturally it cuts both ways, and the BBC's on-demand shows are blocked to anyone outside the UK.

Of course, there are plenty things I can do in America that I can't do in the UK. I can't buy Mountain Dew and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in Britain, as much as I'd like to. But it's not quite the same thing, is it? This is like having the Mountain Dew and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups right in front of me in the supermarket, but locked in a glass case.

Obviously TV is big business, and this is all about rights. If NBC was allowed to let someone in the UK to watch the latest episode of Heroes on their site, then they might not watch it when BBC2 finally starts showing it later this year. But - and here's the thing - UK channels aren't even allowed to make big-name American shows available for free online.

That's the reality - but is it really an excuse? Isn't this just a case of old media holding back new media? There are, of course, numerous ways to circumvent the rules (and naturally, by this, I mean getting friends in the US to send me tapes...) But I'd say it's time for a total rethink of how shows are distributed - beacuse, in reality, not much has changed since the days when people were watching first-run episodes of Bonanza.