by Dave Porter | 26th October 2019
Because of the unique way the BBC is funded … is a phrase that you often hear being used to explain why the BBC are making a programme, for instance, that a commercial broadcaster would not risk spending money on. The BBC is a public service broadcaster after...
by Dave Porter | 13th May 2017
This week, actually on Thursday 11th May 2017, Helen and I went to the Sage Music Centre in Gateshead to see Tom Chaplin in concert. Tom, if you don’t know, was the lead singer of the UK band Keane, who had hits with songs like ‘This Is The Last...
by Dave Porter | 27th December 2015
Back in the early 1960’s, music underwent a transformation. We had already moved away from the days of big bands and crooners, through skiffle and rock ‘n’ roll, to the start of something that is still with us now, and always will be, popular music....
by Dave Porter | 30th November 2014
Channel Four is, in my opinion, the best TV channel in the UK. They make the best documentaries on British TV, and have some of the most innovative and entertaining programmes. Who would have thought ‘Countdown’ would still be on TV today! ‘Sunday...
by Dave Porter | 24th May 2013
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that J K Rowling’s first novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, is a dark and somewhat depressing novel dealing with adult themes. Depressing themes such as drug addition, self-abuse, teenage sex, death – and...
by Dave Porter | 23rd May 2013
The irony of it is not lost on me. Just a couple of weeks ago Helen and I went to a party for my good friend Paddy MacDee, to celebrate his forty years in the radio industry in the North East. The great and the good, and the not so good, of North East broadcasting...