Listening to the radio at work

I think a privately owned radio broadcasting to others is deemed as public broadcasting and is infringing a public broadcasting law.

That aside, I personally do not want to listen to other peoples radio's playing at loudness levels they are not designed for and distorting a radio channel I do not want to listen to is something that some people (me too) find objectionable.

If a group of workers all agree to listen to whatever, and it does not affect those outside their group, what's the harm.
But I will not sign your partition.

Mike,
Not just my petition, and if you read it you would have seen that it is asking for the law to be clarified on just this point - is it illegal or not? There is a lot of speculation - and the PRS keep demading huge sums just to let folk listen to the radio in work (yes, those that want to) but have yet to take it to court as it would cost to much for either side - a truly crazy situation. This is not about loud distorting music - but the actual right to be able to listen to the radio in the workplace.

OK Steve all fair points.

My old cmpy banned radio's & iPod type stuff on the production line as they were considered an EHS hazard in a number of ways
health (can't hear important stuff)
distracting (not 100% work focus)
mental hazard (annoying to others)
Yep, its all EHS krazy out there and big bro' knows best.

Good luck with your petition - I'm out

Remember "Music while you work" and "Workers' Playtime"? (Post war BBC wireless programmes).
Don, nostalgic downtown York

Don, AGREED, nice to see some people are still alive who remember the world was once black & white, workers worked with a smile, milk was delivered in a bottle by a horse, we listened to "the wirless" and bathed once a week in a tin tub in front of the fire.

Problem is EHS, the Nanny State & Big Brother have taken over the civilised world.

Eric Coates' Music While You Work

Really the piece is named, "Calling All Workers."

When popular music could risk having a tune! Be well played, and be without a hint of mawkish sentimentality!

I have never heard anything so fine as this on [ExVirgin] Absolute [Rubbish] Radio.

In fact being forced to listen all day to Absolute has completely turned me off the current crop of pop, which is actually making me depressed at the thought sometimes. On the sly sometimes I nip out an tune the radio to Radio Four when none is watching!

ATB from Geogre

I guess I have been lucky. I used to work in an office that had Radio 4 on all day, Test Match Special during the matches, and we stopped work when 'Just a Minute' was on.

Working on visuals in offices using computers, music is always on, except when the cricket is piped from the Sky box to monitors, or this was the case at YTV for the last ten years. Music in that case was a CD player, not the radio, but I think that would be deemed public broadcasting under the rules.

Fortunately there were only two of us in my office, and we were pretty amicable about the choices of music, I discovered a few new bands, but failed to educate my junior on the finer points of cricket.

I sometimes listen to Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 - an exceptionally effective tool in making troublesome folk around me look like the Dalai Lama.

Equally, Classic FM is a superb as:

1) a window into the ad mens ideas for investment opportunities for hard-bitten pensioners struggling to make their portfolio ends meet; and

2) to remind me to take my Harry Potter, Titanic or Crouching Tiger dvds back to the library.

I still enjoy Radio 4, but since the greatest jockey of them all stepped on rainbow a few years back...it's not very inspiring.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:
That aside, I personally do not want to listen to other peoples radio's playing at loudness levels they are not designed for and distorting a radio channel I do not want to listen to is something that some people (me too) find objectionable.

If a group of workers all agree to listen to whatever, and it does not affect those outside their group, what's the harm.

Mike

i completely agree with you here, at my place of work we very often have to put up with distorted live football commentary (blasted out of radio's which are not designed to be played so loud)... and i will never understand why football commentators need to gob-shout so loudly, they could for example speak with a sense of calmness (like they do with cricket) or better still they could not bother with broadcasting live footy and just calmly report the result after the match instead? ...heh, heh, heh ; >

Another problem we have at my place of work is more than one radio on at the same time playing different music stations. I have often been unfortunate to work in the middle of a 'triangle' of three radio's 20 to 30 meters away and each tuned into a different music station, and all competing for loudness... and as you are surely able to understand this mingling of different music played simultaneously is one heck of a brain-scrambler.

It can be okay with one music station playing but with so many thicko-football heads, and oinky people with bad musical taste we never never never never get to hear any classical! : (

Debs

Debs,
While I understand what you mean - the idea behind the thread is to get clarity in law as to whether your guys can actually listen to the (three?) radios in the workplace LEGALLY without paying the PRS a crazy amount of money in fees. The PRS would have you believe that it is completely illegal without said licence, but have yet to try it in law - as absolutely no barrister / lawyer will say it is or it isn't due to the way it is currently written. In the meantime the PRS constantly bully (this from a government commission) firms into paying (sometimes huge) amounts just so that the radio can be listened to. Not all places play music loudly or distorted, and some even agree on a station - but have to pay to do so.
It will have zero effect on me as I work with my wife in a private warehouse - so we can listen to what we like when we like. I have seen here before though that the PRS have upset a few so thought this may be of interest.

Debs (and all) I don't want to sound like a "Grumpy Old Man", but various radio's kicking it out on different stations is one thing, but just try playing the same station on an FM radio and a DAB radio, the digital delay will drive you demented.

quote:

Originally posted by Don Phillips:
Remember "Music while you work" and "Workers' Playtime"? (Post war BBC wireless programmes).
Don, nostalgic downtown York

Most people forget that you had to pay for a Radio License before TV came along.

I get bothered by the PRS every other week. They even phoned one of our outlets one day only to hear music in the background and I promptly got sent the usual demand.

Just phoned them up followed by an email and told them that the staff were banned from playing music.

quote:

I get bothered by the PRS every other week. They even phoned one of our outlets one day only to hear music in the background and I promptly got sent the usual demand.

I'm willing to bet they didn't ask if that music was coming via the internet or from a radio recieving a broadcast...
I read somewhere just how much the CEO of the PRS manages to get paid - I could be wrong, but the figure 0f 425k per year sticks in my mind. That would pay a few songwriters for a while.
I just think the UK has gone totallynutts in so many places - being politically correct is one thing - but taxed on taxes plus being asked to pay again and agin - kinda sticks in my throat.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:
Debs (and all) I don't want to sound like a "Grumpy Old Man", but various radio's kicking it out on different stations is one thing, but just try playing the same station on an FM radio and a DAB radio, the digital delay will drive you demented.

"Yep we Yep we know exact know exact ly-what ly-what you mean you mean..."