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1. iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Jun-2018 04:56:00 EDT iona 🐝

   Something I missed while away - excellent article on the local TV stations of questionable quality that have popped up in the UK over the past few years: https://www.buzzfeed.com/markdistefano/revealed-how-britains-biggest-local-tv-company-has-gamed

   Surprising no one, it turns out that these stations consisting of dodgy old films and endless hours of people talking about nothing in front of a wall are, in fact, a scam to hoover up public money.

   1. iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Jun-2018 05:08:58 EDT iona 🐝

      in reply to

      Related Twitter thread by an unpaid "employee" of the That's TV operation: https://twitter.com/ElleRudd_/status/1005044201921372160

      I came across Dan Cass a few times in a previous life and he seemed slimy back then, too.

      1. iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Jun-2018 05:17:10 EDT iona 🐝

         in reply to

         It's the same in local radio too. Unless you're listening to one of the big guns like Global, chances are that at least part of the output you're listening to is being put together by unpaid people or people on min wage.

         Bauer, operator of Kiss/Magic etc, had unpaid *presenters* on a *national* digital station out of Manchester for a long time.

         I can't stand the dross that Heart/Capital churn out but at least they treat their employees reasonably well.

         1. iona 🐝 (iona@social.coop)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Jun-2018 05:20:15 EDT iona 🐝

            in reply to

            The Bauer arrangement was "do unpaid shifts on our digital-only stations and when there's paid cover to be done on [the much more popular] Key 103 FM you'll be first in line." Needless to say, the cover never came.