Dan Atkinson

Why 2K?

Welcome to another decade (and millennium depending on who you speak to) of broadcasting excellence from the hallowed halls of Lancaster University.

It's now fashionable to look back to the 90s and sum up all the events in it into some coherent stereotypes. So how are we going to remember the past decade in years to come?

In terms of music, the 80s were remembered for electronic pop, rock, big hair and dozens of talentless bands created by the music industry to earn a quick buck.

The 90s in contrast will probably be remembered for Rave, Dance, Trance, Indie, House, Hip-hop and dozens of talentless bands created by the music industry to earn a quick buck.

Elsewhere, while big hair was the style of the day in the 80s (and appears to largely still be the case in the US) here in the UK the 90s heralded a backlash against the big hair phenomenon. The 90s were also the decade of combat trousers, the sudden end in the early 90s of the yuppie high jinx of the 80s with the Global Recession and a subsequent boom in the Global North, widening the economic gap with the Southern Hemisphere.

In terms of technology and media, the mid-90s onwards saw the real take off of the Internet into the massive entity it is today. Satellite TV took off pretty much in 90s, and along with cable is now enjoying around one third penetration of households in the country. Digital everything arrived in the late 90s and dozens of companies will either make or break on the new technology's back. Meanwhile, back to basics clockwork technology represented that the hi-tech new media boom was by no means a global phenomenon.

Global warming is now widely being accepted as a reality of the next century, although some scientists predict that it will be another Y2K disaster and just not eventuate as expected. Fox hunting may be banned in Britain, the seas and oceans will continue to be overfished and the rainforests will continue to diminish in size.

Russia may stop being an economic black hole, Microsoft may be broken up as an illegal market monopoly and who knows, the US might even start making some decent TV.

Meanwhile...

DotComGuy
A guy who has to live off the Internet for a year, gets watched by thousands over the 'net doing it and promote e-commerce and his sponsors at the same time. American Corporate Capitalism at its most mildly irritating.

Mike the Headless Chicken Day
In the 1940s a chicken had its head cut off in order to become festive food. Undeterred the chicken continued to live and thrive for another 18 months, so a small town in the US now celebrate the life of Mike the Headless Chicken in May.

97FM
Community Radio Station in New Zealand. Install the plug-in and chat with one of the hosts if he's on-line.

And so ends another day

Dan Atkinson,
News Editor & Webmaster, Bailrigg FM