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No news is good news for Radio Teesdale
Mar 18, 2008
IN my last Blather I wrote about slow news weeks in Teesdale. Well, I can only imagine that last week was a slow news week around the world.
When Radio Teesdale presenter, Andy Greener, forgot to press a button, and pre-recorded music and jingles replaced the normal live feed during Wednesday's breakfast show, it raised a smile in the Mercury office, but we were hardly holding the front page.
Yet, following a page lead in the Echo, the story was published in the Sun, Telegraph, Times, and Mirror, and red-button pressers everywhere could read all about it on Teletext too. Even Pakistan's Daily Times and the American national newspaper, USA Today, found space for the tale.
Come Friday - despite it being days after the actual event - the presenter's misfortunes were considered worthy of page five in the Guardian.
Posters on media message board, Digital Spy, were as mystified as I was.
One wrote: "No doubt it's a hilarious front page lead for the weekly Teesside Chipwrapper, but why on earth is this on page five of a national newspaper?"
Another added: "It's a little mistake that doesn't mean much. Goodness knows why everyone is making such a meal out of it."
Still, it's all good fun and nobody got hurt. And, of course, it's fantastic publicity for our fledgling community radio station.
Station manager, Peter Dixon, will be rubbing his hands with glee.
I'll bet the audience ratings have doubled since last Wednesday.
Actually, I'm considering following Andy's lead by ‘accidentally' leaving the front page of the Mercury blank next week, to see if we can get a mention on News at Ten.
One minor irritation in all the coverage of Mr Andy's little mistake was the repeated assertion that Radio Teesdale is based in Teeside (sic). They may as well have just said ‘somewhere oop north'.
READERS will no doubt be relieved to hear that the dale's most maligned sheepdog is doing just fine. The dog in question was the star of that infamous small-ad in the Mercury "Sheepdog for sale, afraid of sheep," that I mentioned last time.
My remark that we had never discovered if the dog had recovered from its unfortunate phobia prompted a call from the plucky lady who replied to the advert and gave that poor pooch a home.
She rang last week to assure me that her pet is doing fine, and, yes, she's still afraid of sheep!
"In fact, she's scared of flies, loud bangs, just about everything," said counsellor/owner, Eileen Brown.
The dog is actually a bitch, and she shares her name with that famous cloned sheep, Dolly.
"She even runs away whenever anyone knocks at the door," Eileen told me.
Not much good as a guard dog either then.
Apparently, Dolly is not such a scaredy cat (or dog) as she was, but her misfortunes did not end once she found her new sheep-free home.
Poor Dolly, bless her, even failed when it came to producing an heir apparent.
As she is a pedigree, Dolly's previous owner asked her new family if she could become mum to a new generation of super sheepdogs.
They agreed and Dolly was paired up with a top- drawer stud muffin of a collie.
As planned, Dolly fell pregnant and hopes were high that she would make up for her earlier flaws by producing a litter of future ‘One Man and His Dog' contenders.
Only, this is Dolly, and when she went into labour, out popped... a batch of baby labradors. Naughty Dolly!
Fortunately, Eileen and her family, love their pet to bits, despite her Frank Spencer-esque qualities.
"She's completely dotty but we wouldn't change her," Eileen said.
First published in the Mercury, March 12, 2008