[peel] Hello? Izzis thing on?

[Sean Carolan]

On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:19:29 +0000, Martin Wheatley wrote
> 
> There are actually a lot of places for thePeel-loving iconoclast to get their fill of iconoclasm - ground zero atthe moment being WFMU (though Rob Da Bank's Christmas show this pastSunday was a hell of a lot of fun.)� Of course, none of them arePeel, but if he were here to see us dwelling in the past he'd behorrified.
> This is of course the great difficulty.�� Is this now a 
> historical group about Peel or is it a group about what Peel stoodfor
> because the two are by means the same
> 
> There is a case for saying that once most people interested in
> these things got Internet and especially broadband so they could 
> download things Peel's main purpose was going anyway
> As you say we no longer need Peel to find new things
> There is WFMU (which I listen to) Marcelle's prog (which
> I listen to) and many more.�� I can go on MySpace where
> many pages have the equivalent of a session on them -
> find a page by someone I'm slightly interested in and
> spend an evening 'following the friends' and find all sorts
> of new stuff.� We are all our personal Peels now
> The era of Peel may be gone in more ways than one
> 
> Of course there are quite rightly those whose interest
> is mostly Peel himself and I'd guess that many of the
> people who remain on the list will be amongst them but
> there are going to be few new members and in time it
> many whither away
> 
> I've wondered for awhile what the purpose of the list now
> was and maybe it needs a new definition
> 
> It's time this was discussed I think

Agreed, let's discuss...here's how I feel:

I don't think the two directions are in any way contradictory.� Put it this way: There are about four years worth of directly Internet-broadcast Peel shows, with an additional thirty-odd years prior to that.� Some of that's passed its freshness date, but an awful lot hasn't, and as they say on TV, if you missed it the first time, it's new to you.

I also think people's general tendency is to find a few people whose taste they trust and check out their recommendations - us hunter-gatherers who like to actually comb through and find new and worthy music (and who should probably stick together, frankly) spend more time on it than the average listener would like to.� Though I'm noticing that people like to retreat into the cocoon of their iPod, I'm also noticing that after a time, that cocoon gets a bit stuffy and needs a good airing out, and I think that's what the folks who hang around here are well prepared to assist with.

And so, if I were to vote, I'd vote for promoting challenge while never ignoring the legacy of the man who brought us here in the first place.

(In one way, I mean that quite literally - it's kinda gratifying seeing Tom's podcast slowly get longer, isn't it?)

-Sean
�Altrok Radio