Jonathan Woss quits
Posted by: Mike-B on 07 January 2010
Jonathan Woss to quit as TV and radio host with the BBC
Praise de Lard
Praise de Lard
It certainly ain't me. Bye bye wossy! 
Posted Fri 08 January 2010 23:48 Hide Post
I'll look forward to July when I will be able to listen to the radio 2 in the car again as I go about my saturday morning travels.
I CONCUR
I'll look forward to July when I will be able to listen to the radio 2 in the car again as I go about my saturday morning travels.
I CONCUR
quote:Posted Fri 08 January 2010 23:55 Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by BigH47:
Get a DAB set and listen to the bonkers Rick Wakeman.
Planet Rock?
OH YES......
quote:Originally posted by Jet Johnson:
"If I try really, really hard I'm certain I will think of at least one who will miss him".
"No, I have to give in. I actually cannot come up with a single person".
HI THERE FOLKS!....I reckon his departure is bad news ....and the really annoying thing about is that the reactionary feeble minded "moral majority" have got their pound of flesh which doesn't bode well for those of us who like their broadcasters to have a bit of spunk about them.
....JR got it wrong with "Sachsgate" but he has never pretended to be Terry Wogan and there has to be a place in our media for someone not afraid to push the boundries at times.
...His Saturday morning radio 2 show was pretty much essential listening until the cowardly beeb decided to make him pre tape it. (any national morning radio show that has kicked off with The New York Dolls or the Sex Pistols is ok in my book)
I agree that his Friday Night Chat show had run it's course but people who understand JR take his apparent arrogance with a pinch of salt ...they totally miss the whole tounge in cheek approach he has always had.
His salary IS OTT but there are so many other examples of such ludicrous salaries amongst bankers, footballers, rock stars, etc. etc. he isn't out there on his own by any means -
(And at least he has the viewing/listening figures to back him up)
I reckon he's a decent family guy beneath the bravado and will be more missed by the BBC than they will ever admit.
Interesting perspective there Jet. The BBC is a bit different from some of the examples you mention above, as it's funded by us, the great British public. In these straightened times it is completely unacceptable for someone to be paid £6m a year from the licence fee. If ITV or Sky or CBS or another private company wants to pay that, then fine, but it was a catastrophic PR blunder for Auntie to shell out that much (mind you, would any of you have turned it down?).
Even more catastrophic for Ross was his offhand remark - at a time when hundreds of drones were getting laid off at the BBC, and thousands more hacks were being made redundant in the local and national press - that his wages "could pay for 1,000 BBC journalists". This meant that the vast majority of hacks up and down the land suddenly had it in for him.
Compounding this was the fact that Ross refused to do any research for his chat show - which contributed to its decline. You never learned anything about his guests, most of whom rarely got a word in anywat as Wossy insisted on blathering on about himself all the time. (When he wasn't indulging in crass sexist leering over female guests, or toadying to Hollywood A-listers, etc). It was all getting unbearably smug as well.
The film programme I thought was generally quite good, apart from the interviews, which were - again - quite excruciating in their sycophancy. He was passionate and well-informed about the movies (although his enthusiasm for Adam Sandler films was pretty inexplicable). The Radio 2 show was also good in patches.
Sachsgate was of course unforgivable but it wouldn't have been as big an issue if he wasn't the highest-paid broadcaster in the country and the BBC hadn't handled the whole thing so ineptly. Don't forget, only two people complained. It was only after a hack on the Daily Mail (which has been rabidly anti-BBC since the 1920s) noticed this, that Dacre and his flunkeys launched a witch-hunt, leading to thousands of people to complain to poor old Auntie.
One of my friends has worked with Ross many times over the years and knows him quite well; she says he is in fact a very sweet, courteous and generous man - a lot of what we see on the telly is a persona. And, as Jet says, he is apparently a family man who loves his wife and kids - although if I was his missus I would feel very uncomfortable with his on-screen leering, even if it was an act.
As for his departure: AFAIK, the Beeb gave Ross the chance to announce that he was leaving - a massive face-saving exercise for both parties. I actually thought Ross handled it very well, and came across as rather dignified.
I'm sure he'll eventually reappear somewhere else, but not on his previous wages
I can understand why people don't particularly like JR. If you have a national profile then that's inevitable, and the likes of the Telegraph and Mail have been plotting his downfall for many a year. I quite liked JR. His radio 2 programme along with the Mark Radcliffe show and Mark Kermode's film review on radio 5 were the only things I went out of my way to listen to. Many on TV and radio are not especially bright, educated or witty and JR is all of those. I don't see any signiifcant chat show talent coming through and with the exception of Kermode he won't be easily replaced as film reviewer (again knowledgeable and passionate about the topic). Sadly, I expect significantly more safe broadcasting on tv and radio to come and encouraged by this success I suspect any slightly edgy presenters coming through (especially if they get a decent / obscene amount of cash for their travials) will be similarly hounded by the right wing press.
He would have been a better replacement IMHO for Terry W than Chris E
Andy
He would have been a better replacement IMHO for Terry W than Chris E
Andy
quote:Originally posted by BigH47:
Just look at the previous posts for peoples opinion.
JR on every friggin' morning NOOO!
Film xxxx good until it came to an interview and then smarmy a-hole creeper emerged.
No it's better all round that he's gone.
That's Ok I can stand have a different opinion to other people