RADIO REVIEW: The Matt & Joe Show Breakfast.

The Matt and Jo show airs on Fox FM from 6 - 9am weekdays.

Matt & Joe are pretty funny people. I don’t like Matt for some reason, I don’t know why, maybe it’s the arrogance in his voice. BUT these two work really well together, they can have fun and muck around, as well as be very organised when they are conducting interviews. When their regular gossip king Adam Richard comes on they do have a lot of laughs as he tells all the latest gossip.

There is a lot of listener contribution making the listener feel included. Today they had people call in and suggest who would be on Melbourne's A list, as well as having a tattoo artist to answer that delicate tattooing question.

The show was okay, I wouldn’t rush back to listen to it, but besides my somewhat confusing anger and dislike towards one of the hosts, the show was alright and most people aged 16-25 would probably like it a lot.

Keep the good times coming.
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: Fifi & Jules Drive Show

Fifi and Jules work really well together. the show is very casual with lots of laughs. They both tend to tell stories about themselves as well as people they know, which can turn out to be very funny and give the listener an insight into their lives.

Their is a lot of listener participation during the show with listeners given plenty of opportunities to call in and have their say. They have a regular segment called 'Is it Amazing' where listeners call in to test out a story on Fifi and Jules before using it on their friends and Fifi and Jules decide whether it is an amazing. Today the started the segment with celebrity chef Curtis Stone telling one of his embarrassing stories which was found amazing.

Overall, this is an entertaining, easy going show. I recommend it for anyone looking for a bit of light hearted humour to unwind on their drive home from work.

Keep the good times coming.
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: Breakfast with Tom & Alex.

Hosted by Tom Ballad and Alex Dyson this breakfast show air weekdays from 6 - 9 am. The boys spend most of their time joking around with each other and their guests. Alex quite often doesn't sound all that enthusiastic, especially first thing in the morning but Tom is a lot more into it.

There is a lot of listener participation through texts and calling in. Sometimes it seems too much, with it sounding like the listeners are doing most of the talking.

The boys quite often refer to things that have happened previously during the week, which is great for regular listeners, but as a first time listener I had no idea what and who they were talking about.

Overall, the show is very relaxed, but it's kind of too relaxed and the boys often sounded like they haven't put any thought into what they were going to say. Then when they were talking it wasn't really about anything and I just found the whole show quite boring and I don't plan on tuning in again any time soon.

Keep the good times coming.
Tim Bolch

RADIO REVIEW: MONDAYITIS AFL 12/6

Step one: create amazing intro theme. (check)

Step two: talk about the best sport in the world. (check)

Step three: engage me as a listener. (cross)

Going for a walk this afternoon while listening to this podcast I was excited to listen to a show about my most loved and favourite sport on this planet, Australian Rules Football. From previous experiences listening to footy shows I had a standard that I though was going to be met. How wrong I could be.

The program started with the 3 hosts talking and having a crack at each other. They talked about the bye and how the short round was a 50/50 in excitement. I expected them to go in to detail and analyse the 6 games, but they really only talked about the major things that any joe bloe could have noticed.

Listening to a footy show I expected a detail breakdown of the major key points that wins football games. Or at least them talking about the major elements of this great game (contested ball, efficiency & pressure). But I was given three aussie blokes who from what I thought had little knowledge of the game chatting about irrelevant things that a normal footy analysis wouldn’t even look at.

BUT, this could just be me being a classic footy fan, who loves the real nuts and bolts of things, who likes to hear about important moments and players that change games.

In my opinion the show was pretty poor and I DEFFINATLY will not be listening in again.

Keep the good times coming.
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: Tripple J- New Unearthed Music 3/6

The show begins with an ubeatd song, and a voice over lets the fact known that the show plays the best new music that’s crossing the airways.

Host Dom Alletio explains that the show will have five fresh new hits from the triple j unearthed website.

He introduces the first band (Tiger Town) and there song “lions and witches”. He explains that it’s a 6 peice band from Brisbane that is very drum and vocal heavy. The song is a great layering of voices and has great levels of intensity. To make me enjoy the song even more, the beautiful sounds of fading brass comes in which turns into strong horns, and if you know me, you know I love a good fading horn.

Vegas Aces is the second band also out of Brisbane and is a hip hop/ R&B duo and their song “hard to breathe” is a great power lifting song and the deep, heavy waves of sound creates a great feeling for the lyrics which arnt to bad.

Dom goes on to review the last 3 new performers and gives his opinion about the artist and the track. The show is a great venue for new artists locally who have a fresh beat that want some air time. I like how dom talks about each song and artist and that it seems like he is genuinely interested and excited about the new talent that is coming each and every week.

Again I will probably be listening back to hear the newest songs from acts in our great country.

Keep the good times coming.
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: The Planet- ABC National Radio

The show started with the presenter (who’s name I missed) talking about Willie Nelsons new Album, Heroes.

 He talk about Willie Nelson’s new album, saying Heroes, is all over the shop, with guests ranging from Snoop Dogg  to Merle Haggard and mostly his son Lukas Nelson, who wrote three of the album’s songs.

His tone suggests that he almost despises the album and the way he speaks shows that he really is having a dig at poor old Willie.

 He notes that Willie contributes only one new song – Hero -  a tribute to Texas singer/songwriter Billy Joe Shaver

The show was a very opinionated show and really was critical on the album. The “in your face” truth and reality of the show is very intriguing to me and I really liked the honesty and realism of the program.

The show itself was great and its made me want to listen to more of the reviews.

Keep the good times coming
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: NEIL MITCHELL TALK SHOW

Sitting down to listen to Neil Mitchells show alone today, I realised, that from experience, I was going to get bored… quickly.

The show opens with Neil raising the issue of legalising drugs and the affect it will have on the community, a guest on the phone whose name I failed to catch delves into the issue and picks it apart from many different angles including the view from the public eye and from the eyes of people involved with the government and the reaction that could follow.

Sadly the next few issues and topics raised also failed to grab me and bring me into the conversation to a point where I can stay focused. While relatively trying to keep up with Neil, I tried my hardest not to draw moustaches on people in the herald sun in front of me.

Neil goes on to raise many more issues including a Goat in Dandenong who is being evicted, to dogs and actors being classed in the same boat. By that he means if you teach a dog to sit, it will sit, if you teach an actor to act. They will act. I found this a very insulting and a poor comparison. Being an actor myself, as small and unimportant as I am, I found it extremely insulting that he would say it because acting looks easy but it is fairly challenging. Being compared to a dog did not help me relate to the show or make me want to keep listening.

The show was very boring for me and I was not engaged with the 2 hour show at all except for my anger towards his statements on acting. There is no chance I will be listening in again.

Keep the good times coming,
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: THE HAMISH AND ANDY SHOW 30/3

Being a frequent and avid listen of the Hamish and Andy show, I couldn’t have thought of any other show to listen to and review for my radio assignment.

Since the show bounce from 5 days a week to just once a week every Friday, Hamish and Andy have a lot of spare time during the week to prepare for their show.

 Funnily enough the show began with the two funny men talking about how lucky they are to work only once a week for two hours. They go into a method they call “social eject buttons” which basically is if you’re out late at night and want to leave, but you really don’t want to be stuck there for long, you spring a social eject button for work for an excuse to leave. The get listeners to call in and tell them perfect examples of perfect social eject buttons, people calling in giving them answers of being a hair dresser, fishermen and a paramedic.

The two both have such a great knowledge of each other and their humour that they bounce of each other so well and combine amazingly to create very entertaining segments.

The boys have many reoccurring guests on the show, one being Andy’s roommate, Horgs the inventor, who calls in once a week and gives the boys thoughts of inventions that he believes would be great. This week Horgs idea of a “move/icebreaker” called the “mid-speecher” is basically having a conversation with a female for about thirty minutes, then somewhere during the conversation, you just lean in and kiss the girl as a surprise. With horgs giving them a 100% successful strike rate. Hamish and Andy find it very humorous and really give Horgs a bit of a ribbing.

The guys end the show with the all famous “jazz chat” which is the two just catching up and having a chat, to the lovely beat of jazz music. Today’s show includes such great lines as “would you be sad if I cloned myself, and the clone died?” which Andy replied with “no” and “lord Hamish, you and I are going on a gap year to Europe, I was thinking of buying a castle, would you like to audition to be the jester?”

The show is a humorous take on the weeks news and is a great way to spend your Friday afternoon. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys being happy and STILL I will be listening and following the boys every week.

Keep the good times coming,
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: THE BOTTOM LINE WITH EVAN DAVIS ON BBC 23/3

Sitting down to listen to this show on my iphone I was immediately thrown into confusion with the amount of safistication and business chat that was being brought up. Obviously things I lack as a person.

 The show is introduced with the main topic of the day which was “being ruthless in business” and the main question being raised, when is it right to be tough at the top? With Evan and quests Jasmine Montgomery, Michelle Giddens and Dido Harding discussing the pros and cons of being ruthless in business.

Customer service is brought up as one the very big problems with the fact that it is so slow and why do the people have to go through such a large ordeal for something as simple as customer service. Harding states that more jobs are being created to improve customer service with 24 stations across England to be created to aid the problem.

 Giddens brings up that ruthlessness is a weapon of last resort and she would only use it if there was no other option and if the competition uses dirty tactics to try and get the edge in their field of work.

Montgomery and Harding get into the degree that to be ruthless you cannot show pity towards your opponent to get the upper edge but they both agree that there is no place for ruthlessness in business but it can be easily confused with decisiveness.

As I tried to pay full attention to the dull and simple program, I noticed that the show was horrible. In my opinion, because for me, I am one hundred per cent not interested in business and ruthlessness in business, and I find the show to be a complete twenty-seven minute waste of my time. But I bet there are grown up, mature people who heavily disagree with me.

The only positive I found form the show was that Evan Davis was actually a good presenter and I didn’t mind the sound of his voice. He raised the right questions and kept many angles open for conversation. But be that as it may, I will not be queuing up to buy the audiobook for the bottom line.

Keep the good times coming,
Tim Bolch.

RADIO REVIEW: 774 ABC Melbourne, Red Symonds and Red Saturday 18/2/12. (Rings in Cows, Psychics, Vegan Body Builders & Extreme Ironing.)

Hey Timers,

If there is one thing I can certainaly know that is going to happen every morning its that Red Symons will be blasting throughout the house from 7 untill 8. This has been the case for the last few years in the Bolch household and it was easy to choose a station to review.

Red Saturdays are the best snippets from the passing week that got most of the attention from the listeners and that were great for discussion. Listening to each peice it is interesting to analyse how Red goes about issues and stories raised and how he converses with the people that call in or he interviews. Opening with a story about a cow named Yogi swollowing a wedding ring and years later it being discovered inside one of Yogi's four stomachs I found my self instantly hooked because of the bizzare comination that, to be honest, I would have never expected. Red's Humour going back and forth with the farmer who discovered the ring, Will Gelbert, shows his feelings about the comical issue and how he finds it humerous that it is news worthy.

There are numerous stories brought up in the show including the 2012 Victorian psychic of the year award, vegan body building and extreme ironing underwater world record that hits Red's funny bone and show his comical veiw on the issues in the country and around the world.

Red Saturdays is a great way to wake up with a even combination of humerous and interesting stories from around the world with a great point of veiw that sometimes many people do not expect from throughout the week. Red's approach to certain issues keeps the listeners waiting and wanting more.

keep the good times coming.
Tim.