When worlds - and words - collide

Eddie Nestor: BBC London
Nick Ferrari Show: LBC
Archive on 4: R4

"People say, 'What's the point in protesting?' But water's going to run out, oil's going to run out, food's going to run out. I find it bizarre that no one's going to do anything different. There's all these protests going on and on TV, it's the same old story, they're just focusing on the trouble." So said Gerry, a caller on Eddie Nestor's drive time radio show on BBC London on Wednesday. "Financial Fools' Day," as Eddie had it.

"Well, I hope you don't think we're sticking to the same old story," said Eddie, reasonably. And they weren't. G20 was a big moment for London's local radio stations and they were enjoying every second. Eddie's show was extended for an hour to cover it all: breaking news, political implications, bananas callers.

"I listened to Gerry and I yawned so hard I almost swallowed my own head," said Dave, the next listener to phone in. "If you want to do something, then wait till that bloke gets out of prison and then have him." (Madoff? Huntley? Me neither.) "Name me one thing that has changed through protesting!"

Just for a moment, Eddie was stumped. "The suffragettes?" he offered. "Rosa Parks?"

Out and about, news reporter Carla Prater was in the thick of the action.

"There's a large number of police vans heading towards the Bank of England," she said breathlessly. "The police are lined up and the protesters are gathering. It's hard to get close for the sheer volume of police, but there seem to be scuffles and a few arrests." A pause, then: "Just up the street is the peaceful climate change camp." She clearly hadn't wanted to move.

Earlier, Jane from Stop the War was upset because they'd been staging marches for months, across the country, "but the media are directed to suppress any information. They never report on them afterwards." A common complaint, but this time, there was more than enough coverage, and radio was the best place to get it.

Even the next day, on LBC's breakfast show, hosted by the irrepressible Nick Ferrari, things were still lively. A man called Skunk was on the phone. "Skunk?" sneered Ferrari. "Were you christened that?"

"Well, of course I was!" answered Skunk. Skunk was from Class War.

He actually had a few salient points regarding police crowd techniques, but Nick was having none of it. "Do you think you got your message across? What is your message, in one sentence?" he asked, disdainfully. "Capitalism kills," said Skunk cheerfully. Nick went in for the kill, but then was forced on the back foot by Skunk's admission that he worked with adults with learning difficulties.

"Well, that is an admirable job," said Nick, grudgingly. Come on Nick, get into the media swing!

Just a quick mention for Monday's Archive on 4, Beat Mining with the Vinyl Hoover, a fantastic 45 minutes about sampling old vinyl records, presented by the never less than excellent Toby Amies. Though it was all great, the best bit was Coldcut's remix of Eric B and Rakim's "Paid in Full", played all the way through with Coldcut explaining exactly where they got the samples: "That's 'Bang on a Drum' off a Play School record. That's got to be one of the most obscure breaks ever." Quite made my week.

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