TRUK: FAQ - * READ THIS FIRST *
a.r.u.t-r FAQ POSTER
Alt.radio.uk.talk-radio FAQ
===========================
-- Last updated on 25th March 1998.
[ THIS FAQ IS POSTED AUTOMATICALLY EVERY WEDNESDAY AT ]
[ MIDDAY, AND MANUALLY WHENEVER THERE ARE MAJOR CHANGES. ]
[ THE LATEST VERSION IS ALWAYS HELD AT ]
[ <URL:http://www.bishopston.com/alt.radio.uk.talk-radio/> ]
Disclaimer: This information is compiled by contributors to the
Talk-Radio newsgroup "alt.radio.uk.talk-radio", and
as such, is provided "as is". Nothing contained within
is to be taken as an official comment from the Talk
Radio station itself.
Personal Disclaimer: Although I put this FAQ together, I've tried to
represent the common feeling on the newsgroup.
Also, some sections have been contributed by
others. Therefore, I don't necessarily agree or
disagree with the views contained within. If you
feel something doesn't represent group feeling,
please let me know. -- Jamie, January 1998.
INDEX Last Updated
~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) How to post to this newsgroup 30-Jan-1998
2) Who created alt.radio.uk.talk-radio, why, and when? 24-Mar-1998
3) The purpose of this newsgroup (Newsgroup Topics) 24-Feb-1998
4) Newsgroup phrases 25-Mar-1998
5) Exhausted topics 10-Feb-1998
6) Station contact details 30-Jan-1998
7) Related WWW sites and email addresses 25-Feb-1998
8) Talk-Radio - the early years 17-Mar-1998
9) IRC 30-Jan-1998
10) Newsgroup regulars 25-Feb-1998
11) Who's watching us ? 24-Mar-1998
12) Whatever happened to........ 24-Mar-1998
13) Social gatherings 25-Mar-1998
14) Avoiding this message 30-Jan-1998
15) Trolls, crossposting, flames, and killfiles 30-Jan-1998
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1) How to post to this newsgroup (thanks to Merlin for this chapter)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To get around spammers and other unwanted shite, posters on this
newsgroup have elected to prefix all their subject lines with
TRUK:
That way, you can set your filters up to accept only those articles.
[ DETAILS OF HOW TO DO THIS IN THE MORE ]
[ POPULAR NEWSREADERS WILL BE PUT HERE. ]
[ (If anyone ever bothers to send me info!) ]
Most of the time, the volume of messages on the group is quite low, and
spam is relatively little. Because of this, you can usually get away
without posting with this prefix.
However, some people, whilst not killing such articles, sort them with a
low priority. Additionally, if we ever get another wave of spam abuse
(as in the psychic spammer which spurned this original decision), people
might start killing non-compliant messages again.
Therefore, to avoid your messages potentially being lost altogether, and
to avoid your messages appearing at the bottom of the list,
amongst all the other shite, and spam, and postings from people who don't
bother to read FAQ's ( ;-) ), it's best to get into the practice of using
the prefix now.
(If nothing else, it proves to other contributors that at least you've
taken the time and effort to monitor the group, and read the FAQ before
posting !!)
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2) Who created alt.radio.uk.talk-radio, why, and when ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The newsgroup was created by Jon Knight - a poster to the newsgroup
"alt.radio.uk", on 1st June 1995.
Ironically, he created the group not to start the forum, but to get
*rid* of Talk Radio chat from his group!
Here is the control message that created this newsgroup:
| Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.radio.uk.talk-radio
| From: jm...@cam.ac.uk (Jon Knight)
| Date: 1995/06/01
| Message-Id: <3qkmrd$6...@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
| Approved: jm...@cam.ac.uk
| Control: newgroup alt.radio.uk.talk-radio
| Organization: University of Cambridge, England
| Newsgroups: alt.config
|
| After discussion on alt.config, alt.radio.uk and uk.media which
| came to a general supporting consensus, alt.radio.uk.talk-radio
| is created for the purpose of discussing UK based talk radio,
| which has been recently overflowing the traffic on alt.radio.uk
| and is not sufficiently covered by any existing newsgroups, nor
| does it duplicate the purpose of any existing newsgroup.An alt
| hierarchy has been chosen because the parent group is in the alt
| hierarchy and the large numbers of European listeners make the uk
| hierarchy less suitable.
|
| For your newsgroups file:
| alt.radio.uk.talk-radio Discussion of UK based Talk Radio
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3) The purpose of this newsgroup (Newsgroup topics)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summed up quite neatly by a reply to a sensible post from a new poster from
Merlin, on 2nd December 1997 in article <ilWYgIAJ...@etinarc.demon.co.uk>:
"What do you think this newsgroup is? A serious debating forum? How dare
you come here with a reasoned argument and some valid points, making
barbed comments and observations yet leaving things open for discussion.
We will put something in the FAQ about this: No structured and critical
(positive or negative) comment on the newsgroup."
Of course, he is joking(!), but this sums up rather neatly the type
of jovial banter that exists.
In keeping with the spirit of talk-radio itself (note the lowercase),
you'll find that, generally, "anything goes" on this newsgroup.
Often, conversations are brought on by something that happened
(or was discussed) on Talk Radio, or simply by current topical events.
Often, there is no relevance at all! Newcomers would be well advised
to remain on-topic initially, until their name becomes more familiar -
no-one likes a stranger coming in spewing irrelevant crap - there is
enough of that from the regulars!
Newcomers should also be wary that there is a tendancy amongst some
regulars to "test" them - usually in the form of abusive or "clever"
replies to their initial posts.
One particular regular (who doesn't post with a real name) does this
particularly often!
Don't take the bait. Those who do, tend to moan about the clique,
snobby atmosphere, but should remember that we were all new to the
group at some stage - those "clique members" are just those that
stood their ground.
However, SPAM, scams, HTML, and indiscriminent cross-postings are not
tolerated. And, to quote Ian Collins, please make sure your brain is
in first gear before posting - fools will find themselves the
newsgroup "whipping boy" until the next fool comes along!
Newcomers, please read <URL:ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/rfc/rfc1855.txt>
for an introduction to "Netiquette" (how to write politely). If you don't,
it's possible that your article may -unintentionally- be considered rude,
as you may inadvertently break some convention.
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4) Newsgroup phrases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following is a list of phrases often used on the newsgroup, and their
newsgroup history.
o "You are ..... and I claim my 5 pounds"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Originally used on the newsgroup by Nick, derivatives of this
phrase often pop up from time to time by various posters.
As Nick explains as a reply to the comment "Nick started this" :
| From: Nick <ni...@voiceware.demon.co.uk>
| Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 18:34:02 +0000
| Message-ID: <OlHKwHAa...@voiceware.demon.co.uk>
|
| Perhaps I did, on here, but if so, only with reference to a marketing
| stunt of the early 60s. I don't remember the exact details, but I think
| it was the Daily Mirror. One had to spot their man in the street,
| somewhere in the UK, go up to him and say "You are Mr Money and I claim
| my five pounds."
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5) Exhausted topics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following list of topics have been done to death on the newsgroup..
Raise again at your own peril! :
o "Where is Caesar. TR should bring him back!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to "Imran Ghory" <Imr...@btinternet.com> (December 30th 1997):
| A year or so ago James Whales slot was covered by a bloke, known
| as Ceezar the Geezer, until one day he disappeared off the face
| of talk radio, and anyone who called talk radio and asked about
| Ceezar the Geezer was cut off, until one day someone managed to
| get on to Mike Allen shows and say there was a half page news
| story about him in some newspaper, and that news story was about
| CtG being sacked/suspended from TRUK among allegations of fraud,
| these were later proven and he went in to jail for a three year
| sentence.
|
| If you still want to know more go to the newsgroup
| alt.fan.caesar-geezer probably the only TRUK presenter to have
| their own newsgroup !
|
| Imran
o "Tommy Boyd is a wind-up merchant who argues for the sake of it" (!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes. This is fairly obvious. Remember those days at school, when
you had debating societies. A topic was given. One team had to
argue for, and the other against. It didn't matter what your own
personal feelings were - the skill was in opening your mind, and
coming up with all the pros and cons to support your teams stance.
It much the same on Tommy's show - except that he always takes the
less popular side. The show is so entertaining because of the
skill he has in doing it, and *more so* the fact that so many
gullible people take it seriously, and phone in to argue with him.
o "What does Carol McGiffen look like ? Are there any pictures of
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
her on the internet ?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The short answer is that no-one really knows. She is apparently
not as much of a moose as she implies on the radio. And as for
pictures, "No.". Draw your own conclusions.
o "Anyone want to buy a talkradio domain name from me ?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No. Despite contradictory evidence, we're not Talk-Radio anoraks.
No-one's interested.
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6) Station contact Details
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phone: Studio - 0500 105389 Office - 0171 636 1089
Fax: Studio - 0541 596979 Office - 0171 637 1229
Email: <not yet>
Address: Talk Radio
P.O. Box 1089
London WC1
UK
Managing Director: Travis Baxter
General Manager: Paul Robinson
Programme Director: John Simons (??)
Operations Director: David Atkey
Managing Editor: Martin Campbell
Cath Worrall
Thanks to Will Jackson from Metro Networks for emailing me the
following more up-to-date information (14th January 1998):
| Just a note to pass on that Jason Bryant (listed as PD in FAQ) is
| no longer at Talk Radio. I know this because he's working with us
| at Metro as a consultant!
|
| I think John Simons is joining Talk as PD from Century Radio in
| the North East - although I'm not sure whether he's started yet.
| Otherwise, head programming honchos are Martin Campbell, whose
| title is Managing Editor, and Cath Worrall - although she may
| only be there as a consultant until John Simons arrives.
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7) Related WWW sites and email addresses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talk Radio do not currently have an official Internet presence of
their own. However, in September 1997, Ian Collins did mention that
they have a computer setup they can use to access the Internet
themselves. Some presenters now have email addresses on an ad hoc
basis. Those that are *publically* available are listed below.
a) Official (Station)
------------------
o Talk Radio's parent company ("CLT") - http://www.cltmulti.com/
b) Unofficial (Station)
--------------------
o Talk Radio OnLine - http://www.intertype.co.uk/design/talk/
http://www.radiolink.net/talkradio/
o Alt.radio.uk.talk-radio - http://www.anomaly.u-net.com/arutr.htm
& #truk
o Jess' Talk Radio Page - http://www.jbhodges.demon.co.uk/truk.htm
o truk (Merlin) - http://www.etinarc.demon.co.uk/truk.htm
o Talk Radio Programme - http://www3.pa.press.net/tv/talkradiouk.html
Listings
c) Official (Presenters)
---------------------
o Nick Abbot Online - http://www.compura.com/nick-abbot/
o James Whale on the Web - http://www.the-whale.com/
o Sean Bolger - http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~seanb/
o Ian Collins - i...@talk.clara.net
o Kirsty Young - kirst...@aol.com
o Bill Overton - bill...@aol.com
d) Unofficial (Presenters)
-----------------------
o Ian Collins and the Creatures of the Night -
http://www.radiolink.net/creatures/
o Ian Collins and the Creatures of the Night -
http://www.talk.clara.net/
o Timo's "Unofficial" Nick Abbot Page -
http://www.w2s.co.uk/timo/nick/
o Timo's Nick Abbot mailing list - Just send a blank email to ni...@w2s.net
for an automated response providing
further information on how to subscribe.
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8) Talk-Radio - the early years
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From time to time, the names of Wild Al Kelly, and Chad pop up
on the newsgroup.
[ at this point, you are prompted to send me some info. to
include in this chapter! ]
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9) IRC
~~~
Every Sunday, at 9.30pm(ish) UK time, a number of people from this
newsgroup hang out on irc channel #truk, on "ircnet". If you have
problems, try connecting to irc servers "ircnet.demon.co.uk" or "irc.bt.net"
THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL Talk-Radio channel, but their staff are
welcome to join in!
It seems the only requirement is to be drunk, and to wear padded trousers,
as people are often kicked. Newcomers seem to be picked on more often in
what appears to be a sort of initiation ceremony. Don't take it personally!
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10) Newsgroup regulars
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here are some of the people who regularly post to this newsgroup:
NAME EMAIL WWW
~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~
Mad Dog Madd...@aol.com http://members.aol.com/maddog554/
Jamie Jones ja...@bishopston.com http://www.bishopston.com/jamie/
........... .................... .................................
........... .................... .................................
........... .................... .................................
........... .................... .................................
[ PEOPLE WILL ONLY BE ADDED HERE AT THEIR REQUEST ]
( Thanks to "Mad Dog" for being the first, and )
( apparently the only regular poster on the group! )
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11) Who's watching us ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following people linked to Talk Radio have been present on the
newsgroup at some stage or other.
It must be stressed that anyone mentioned below is not posting in an
official capacity, unless they state otherwise.
Similarly, their email addresses will not be listed here, unless
requested. In no particular order:
Sean Bolger - Long time Talk Radio presenter. Often contributes
to the group.
Sandy Warr - Ex-Talk Radio presenter. Used to be very active on the
group, but still pops up from time to time.
Nancy Roberts - Occasionally posts to the group... But who knows
how long she's been lurking ?
Carol McGiffen - Has proved in various emails to people that she
reads the group, or at least has someone forward
specific article onto her.
SpiceJock - Used to work in Talk Radio in the early days.
Production stuff I think.
Gavin Lawrence - Maybe one of the current production staff ?
"TalkSpy" - Who knows ? Apparently a current "insider" at Talk Radio.
Paul Gledhill - Nothing to do with Talk Radio, but he has popped up
as a presenter on various local stations from time to
time. Also, I mention him here to prove my point that
he doesn't read this FAQ as often as he claims.
- 26th Feb 1998 (Wink, wink, Sharon)
- 24th Mar 1998 - Still all quiet on the Gledhill front.
Kirsty Young / Bill Overton - Not directly, but they appear to monitor
the group via a third party.
[ Any others I've forgotten ? ]
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12) Whatever happened to......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following people used to post regularly to this newsgroup, but
for one reason or another, left to better things:
o "Kitty"
o "Pointless"
o "Paul Mapleston"
o "Howdy Doody"
o "Ed Walker"
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13) Social gatherings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is no regular social gathering amongst newsgroup members.. Most
of us hate each other too much!
However, there was a meeting once, held some time ago in London (Saturday
19th April 1997), but unfortunately, only 2 people turned up! (names
withheld to protect the guilty)
Paul Gledhill has arranged another meeting for 25th April 1998, at 7.30pm,
in "The Bath House" - Dean Street, London.
Further details, including how to get there, and a list of who's going are
available on his web page, at:
http://www.anomaly.co.uk/nightout.htm
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14) Avoiding this message
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now the geeky bit:
Each time this FAQ is posted, it automatically expires the previous
posting, so you should never see this message on the group more than
once at any one time, unless your news-server doesn't honour cancels.
The "sender" of this message is automatically set to:
"autofaq.<DATE-LAST-ALTERED>@see.end.of.message.com"
(e.g. From: autofaq....@see.end.of.message.com),
so if you put this address in your kill-file, based on the "From" line,
you will not see the faq every week, unless it gets updated.
If you don't want to see the faq at all, just put:
"autofaq.*@see.end.of.message.com" as the text in your kill-file.
[ DETAILS OF HOW TO DO THIS IN THE MORE ]
[ POPULAR NEWSREADERS WILL BE PUT HERE. ]
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15) Trolls, crossposting, flames, and killfiles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have had to put up with a number of trolls on the group.
Naming them would only further their notoriety.
For more information on recognising trolls, and configuring
killfiles, see:
http://digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html
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--
Auto-Faq posted by Jamie Jones <ja...@bishopston.com>
Please mail all comments/suggestions/topic ideas/advice to the above
address. I'm not taking editorial control of the FAQ - it belongs to
the group members in general. I'm just automatically posting it on
behalf of the group.
If anyone wants to submit complete new chapters, PLEASE DO!