Hi,
Okay, here we go.
Firstly, anything that can make this site a better place for its visitors is a good thing – and a positive step.
Early on in this site’s history – before most of you were around - I had a meeting with Chris’s management team (at the time Andy Thompson and Bruno Brookes) with a view to making the site the ‘official site’. After some discussion this didn’t happen, but we kind of went for a compromise. BBME created their own site (chrismoyles.co.uk), which essentially sold t-shirts, but linked to here (we had some space on their site in which I posted the ‘headlines). I, in turn, provided a link back to their site. One of our big problems at the time was that although they managed Chris, most of what he does is for Radio – specifically Radio One. A while after this they (Chris and BBME) went their separate ways.
Aled wrote:The reason for duplication in my mind (even though it appears wasteful) is that, all it would take is for BBC Online to take a different course of thinking in 1/3/5 years + and take all the old stuff off the BBC site and you lose it all. What were to happen if Chris was to leave the BBC? I doubt BBC Online would keep stuff on the Radio 1 website then. So it probably would be for the best for you to mirror the content as well.
Aled makes a great point here, and one I was trying to put across above. This is a Chris Moyles site, not a Radio One site. Whilst nobody thinks that Chris is anywhere close to leaving the station – one day, who knows. Until that time, it’s obvious that most of his interaction will be through Radio 1 – which means that anything we can do to work more closely can only be a good thing.
The largest problem we have is one of content. Scott and his colleagues are ideally positioned to collect content that compliments features and activities involving Chris and the show. We, on the other hand, have much more resource and time to make use of this material (that’s with your help, folks …). We also have the flexibility to become involved in activities that involve Chris, but not the BBC (the TV show was an example of this). It goes without saying that the other huge thing that the R1 site can give us is traffic (which is broadly a great thing).
This does kind of link into a separate problem we have, which is one of server capacity. We really do need either the funds to allow us a dedicated server at a hosting firm - or some kind soul willing to host one for us. We kill the server everytime the site is mentioned, which in turn kills the other sites hosted on the same machine (which are nothing to do with us). This is my problem, not yours of course ...
Looking at things the other way, there is actually a large amount of material here that should be of interest to people visiting the R1 site – the sounds, the news aggregation, as well as, of course, the reviews. The reviews are certainly something central to this site, but there’s no reason they couldn’t be syndicated in some way – or the people involved couldn’t do something similar. You can see from the archives that by the end of this month there will be four years of show reviews on the site, which is fantastic.
Aled wrote:There are a few hurdles to overcome - permission of using BBC stuff e.g. I'm sure you're aware that strictly speaking the sound clips you have on the website are breaking the law 
And I would be breaking BBC guidelines if I were to give you the clips. So this would need looking into.
This is something we continue to be grateful for – the Sound Vault is a major area of the site – the most popular part, in fact. Apart from some initial hiccups, we’ve been largely untroubled for hosting the material. In part I assume this is due to the fact that they actually serve to promote Chris’s show – something that is in the best interests of Radio 1.
This, however, is the biggest risk for us – we wouldn’t want to do anything that could jeopardise the content of the site. Could the BBC be seen to be working with a site offering such material for download?
There are ways around this (such as spinning the Sound Vault off onto a separate site, which we link to). There is currently work underway to re-categorise, rename and create accurate descriptions all of the clips in the vault to make it even more useful for visitors.
Aled wrote:I fear people on here are too quick to see the negative all the time. Scott on behalf of the BBC has offered this hand to some of Moyles' most loyal fans and he's getting a closed door in his face! Shocking.
Scott, for the record, is a very helpful guy. I actually had some interaction with him before he joined R1.
Independence to us is important. Irreverence is fun, but we’re all here for the same reason. Whatever we can do to improve both site experiences should be investigated.
Everyone clear now?
chrismoyles.net
Much like the New Top of Pops. Wondering what the reviews will be like?