Digital Broadcast

Paul Gambaccini:
[Chapter 2. Fame] Fame is a reaction of other people, so it isn't for me. You're nothing to do with it. You provide the input by doing the program but you cannot control nor predict how people would respond. I know I have been surprised in both ways I had to have a big hit and to have that press needed therefore you can only be your best. And that's all you ever wanted to do anyway that's why you got into it. You wanted to communicate your love of music; you wanted to create a world in which two people exist. Of course you're hoping that the experience would be repeated many times over but in the end it came down to you and the person listening, and you wanted that to be such an inviting world that people wouldn't want to miss the program. People in the large sense wanted to tune in to share the experience and every one of my peers who had been a success managed to create their own world and they cannot be replaced. You could not remove Kenny Everett from your radio station and then have someone in coming to do the funny show because Kenny in addition to being the funniest person I ever known had his own personality and injected into the program his own knowledge into his program, he was as we all -emphasizing all- are unique and he can't be replaced and you couldn't choose anyone else and have the same experience you would listening to Kenny Everett. If you are someone who is blessed to have the opportunity to create this kind of experience and I can say that any of us can't do it in the magnitude of Kenny Everett because he was better he did something that the rest of us don't do; he uses his studio as an ally.

Alien Virtual:
Being mainly a BBC broadcaster, Paul has suffered the curse of most BBC broadcasters. A large amount of the public resent the "BBC stars" and since the advent of the web a large portion of the public has been finally allowed to post their anger. Paul has been plagued by vitriolic attacks on the web. Even a large amount of music bands and artists have frequently dismissed his "knowledge" as inaccurate and marred into self-publicity. The curse of the BBC being that " as a state-owned broadcaster funded by the tax-payer and a forced license fee with no voting rights for the public, the broadcaster can often do whatever it wants with very little accountability. The institution can even create its own ratings. " It is harsh but this is merely a reflection of the public anger on the internet. The media world in Britain, especially some newspapers have a too cozy relationship with the BBC to challenge its might and therefore have become irrelevant as a result. With the BBC you're either "in" or you are "out". It's a misconception that since the 1960s most artists made it "through the BBC". It has often been "in spite of". Most artists made it thanks to all the alternatives available at the time, from pirate radio stations and touring. For the film industry it is the same, only a handful can be filtered through the BBC. The web has become a major challenge for the BBC. Of course the BBC would say that the biggest website in Britain is the BBC website -before Google-. Paul Gambaccini is an odd species. Besides his proverbial robotic knowledge of pop charts and who's who, he does genuinely analyze the media industry with such a historical depth that can often be mind-blowing at times and extremely compelling for the listener/viewer. And that is very interesting about him...

Paul Gambaccini:
I was very lucky in that I achieved my earliest goals by the time I was thirty, thus freeing me to invent new goals. When I applied to Dartmouth there was a question on the admissions test, "where would you like to be in twenty years' time?" And I wrote, "I am an interviewer for an international show business magazine."

Paul Gambaccini:
In a sense that I have been so lucky, I'm just so glad of the friends I like, friends I love. There were times were I felt I got away with something I have to be honest I feel that I haven't been allowed to feel happy for a long time and that's a great privilege and I like it to continue.

Paul Gambaccini:
Everything that we say will be heard by someone. I know that because I remember things that I heard on the radio as a boy things that I'm sure those presenters forgot two seconds after they said them but for some reasons they struck a chord and I know that everything that we say on the radio will be remembered by somebody somewhere. It's a great responsibility and I always try to honour that. In the case of hearing their records for the first time on your programme or early on it does make an impact because it's part of their rise, part of their ascent it means a lot to them.