James Hampton

I did. Always have enjoyed a long drive, though clearly when I say ‘epic’ I mean ‘utterly stupid’ with regard to that trip. I was naive, thought I was invincible, knew it all, business to grow, staff to pay, etc, etc. Customer wants the impossible... sure, no problem and all that shite. Did IOM to Algeciras non stop in a 2.25 Diesel Series 3 Landy once too, but that was with another driver, for fun! The Gozo trip I was on my own on the way down, and working. Was there for a day, then drove home. Thankfully the customer turned not long after that. Set the lawyers to kill at any cost after I requested a change to the schedule before the trip due to the imminent birth of my daughter (request not met obviously). Only the lawyers won after that. But at least I was insured, had a bit of stuffing knocked out or sense knocked in if you prefer - and learned how to say no to people with big cheque books. Did me a favour really.

I hadn’t heard about this. Seems a shame in a way, likely to dilute the character of the place (same would be the case for the IOM I guess). There’s also something lost when places are easier to get to I think. I remember a factoid I was told about the amount of time people spent at the Grand Canyon before and after it had a road leading to it. IOM to Gozo non-stop was probably my most epic road trip ever, during my brief stint as an international cat smuggler.

Got to be said, the current crop of news hounds do seem to be on point at the moment. If they were given just a bit more rope I might even consider tuning in rather than just waiting for the good bits to filter through social media.

He’s asking for trouble even publicising it really. He’ll be lucky if they don’t turn him away at Ronaldsway as some sort of harbinger.

I fully agree Stu, MR has essentially the worst of both worlds - trying to be both commercial and publicly funded is a loose loose scenario really from the point of public perception, but that's government logic for you I guess. It would be a shame if it were forced to go fully commercial as the reality I would assume is that the basic format (a lot of presenter heavy content) is not commercially viable when compared to the likes of Energy and 3FM in the current market. I do think there is public service value in it though. Personally I'd love to see it go the way of subscriptions as is quite popular in the US - stations owned and controlled by the listeners, but I think that's unlikely unfortunately - it'd be out of government control then for one thing! I agree that as a station that needs to attract commercial revenue it makes sense for MR to be in the CoC, it's just the fact that my money is in that pot too that makes me feel slightly aggrieved I guess. If the BBC were to announce that they were funding unions or directors groups I think it would cause some questions - as noted it's the odd mix with MR that really muddies the waters. The only point I would have to disagree on is that the CoC is clearly not simply a traders association in the sense that you meant. Take a quick peek at their most recent strategy and objectives publication on the website - lobbying government basically makes up two of their big five objectives if you translate the jargon. The rest appears to be how to make more money to do that :-) I don't have a problem with that, they're perfectly entitled to their opinion on what's best for the island, perfectly entitled to lobby for that and I fully understand the difficult MR has in presenting a variety of views. To be fair the CoC vision of how the Island should be is probably what the majority want as they seem happy enough to vote in governments who agree. As already noted I'm probably just being a bit old fashioned thinking that public funded broadcasters should at least try to be seen to be neutral, even if the lobby group / political direction in question is the apparent mantra of the nation. I wouldn't question your word that you've never been lent on to NOT report something, but by the same turn I don't recall anyone going for the jugular on some of the larger advertisers who may also happen to be holding positions of national importance / economic control. Having said that it's a pretty rare occurrence with the mainstream UK media, or in fact any media, so that's not really a Manx specific observation and certainly not a criticism of MR presenters.

Evening Stu. I guess it's a matter of perception and assumption. My assumption would be that a national broadcaster funded by the tax payer would at least try to be seen to be politically neutral. Though I fully acknowledge that is in fact impossible to achieve, it's more about the perception than anything - which is why openly supporting a political lobby group seems a bit odd to me. Having said that I will acknowledge this is an assumption on my part, and a quick google brings up nothing to confirm that MR should be politically neutral - is there a constitution of sorts that covers such things? With regards the other commercial stations, I wouldn't make the same assumption in the first place. In fact I would assume the opposite - they are privately owned I assume and so will follow the political direction of whoever is in control, and of course being a member of CoC makes perfect sense commercially. If I read a newspaper I am aware of the political inclination, a commercial radio station is really no different in that regard. Of course the situation is slightly more convoluted on the IOM as MR is also a commercial entity, and so the political influence of those who pay for advertising has to be factored in, and then we have a broadcaster owned by a politician so I guess there's no point in me being so prissy! :-)

Right oh. I'll take that as a yes, you feel it is politically neutral. Fair enough. I can only assume that's because it's political agenda aligns with your own. I cannot see how any objective assessment would see it the same, but I don't expect you to agree.

I think the point here is that it's a national broadcaster the majority of people would assume must be politically neutral.

I'm not disputing who they are or what they do, but are you telling me that CoC policy is set by all people employed by those businesses, or by the people who control them? Are you seriously trying to imply that the CoC is politically neutral? I will restate that I am not commenting on their policies.

I should point out I have said nothing of whether I agree or disagree with their political objectives, the point was neutrality of a government funded broadcaster.

I notice you did not answer my question. I think I do. It's quite clear on their website if you want to look, and to be honest whether they are a minority or not is irrelevant. It's a political lobby group strongly pursuing a particular political direction - as stated on their website. The point is that if Manx Radio is supportive of that it is no longer politically neutral, and quite happy to be so it would seem.

Are the directors or beneficiaries of businesses not a minority on the IOM?

I don't think anything in the statement I've made contradicts what you have said. Are you claiming that that they are not a political lobby group? Or that they do not represent a minority group in society?

It doesn't really matter whether it's £12 or £12k does it? It's the fact that a national broadcaster supported by public money is apparently happy to be seen to be fully supportive of a distinct political lobby group, which openly seeks to promote the interests of a particular minority demographic - no? I've no idea if there is a statement that MR is supposed to be politically neutral, but it cannot be if this is the case. How would people feel if the Celtic League Isle of Man Branch became "POWERED BY" it's newest corporate member Manx Radio?

Yes, it was the 'sustaining' bit that caught my eye really. I assume this is marketing speak (like 'powered by'), that in real terms means 'paid for by'. So is that a government supported radio station using public funds to support a political lobbying group? Or am I missing something?

Can anyone translate this for me...? http://www.manxradio.com/community/manx-features/manx-radio-joins-the-chamber/