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Norman Batley (aka Norman B.) is a radio personality who has hosted and programmed award-winning shows for stations in the United Kingdom, Seattle, Washington and Tampa, Florida. He has also made design and music contributions to well-known restaurant concepts in the Tampa Bay area. Norman B. continues to program, write and edit the popular blogsite ("Life Elsewhere," ) a mix of rare music and commentary that draws visitors from around the planet, and in February 2013 launched the weekly program "Life Elsewhere" on Tampa public radio station, WMNF.〔"WMNF Returns to Drive Time Music," Walt Belcher, Tampa Bay Tribune, February 4, 2013〕 == Career == Norman B.'s career has spanned the worlds of fashion, food, advertising and music. After attending Twickenham School of Graphic Art in London in the late 1960s, he worked as a graphic artist for BBC News, creating black-and-white cards live in the studio. He later began working as Art Director for EMI Records, doing album covers for some of the top recording arts populating "Swinging London." He then left EMI to begin his boutique design agency called Norman Batley Associates. In the late 1970s, Batley crossed the Atlantic Ocean, bought a Cadillac and began exploring America, emerging in Seattle in 1979 as "Norman B.," host of his newly branded, "Life Elsewhere," an alternative rock radio show on the non-profit station, KRAB. "In the 1970s, KRAB played a critical role in fomenting the early punk rock scene in Seattle by being the first radio station in the Pacific Northwest to broadcast punk music on the air, mostly on its 'Life Elsewhere' program with DJ Norman Batley," writes historian Jeff Stevens in "Counterculture Seattle Remembers."〔"December 12, 1962: KRAB Goes on the Air," Jeff Stevens, Counterculture Seattle Remembers." December 12, 2012〕 For several years, "Life Elsewhere" would then cross the country as a popular syndicated program, going out to college stations throughout the U.S. It later became a permanent feature on the now-legendary station, KCMU (KCMU became KEXP 90.3FM in April 2001). During this period, Norman B. held a weekly residency at the alternative Seattle dance venue, “Tugs Belltown”. Along the way, "Life Elsewhere" morphed into a weekly show for the ground-breaking pirate station Phoenix Radio out of London. Back in Seattle, Norman B. launched the popular reggae show "Positive Vibrations" for KCMU. With a preference for lover’s rock, early dance-hall and rare dub, this untraditional show could be heard blasting out of radios all over Seattle on Saturday mornings.〔"Positive Vibrations," The Rocket, July 1996.〕 "'All things considered, 'Positive Vibrations' may be the best show on local radio," wrote Bart Becker of The Seattle Weekly. "The host Norman Batley is a chatty, funny, informative Britisher."〔"Radio Daze - How Discerning Listeners Can Overcome Dull Programming," Bart Becker, Seattle Weekly, December 2, 1987〕 Norman B.’s first foray into commercial radio was in 1984 for top-rated album-oriented rock station KXRX, where he produced and hosted "Seattle Blues," a Sunday night show that drew a large and devoted following.〔"Seattle Blues," Jim Kelton, Everett Herald, November 18, 1988〕 Bart Becker of The Seattle Weekly wrote that Norman B. was "stirring up the Sunday night radio waves" and "breaking the sound barrier."〔"Stirring Up Sunday Night Radio Waves: "Radio Rebel, Opinionated FM Deejay Norman B Breaks the Sound Barrier," Bart Becker, April 5, 1989〕 The ratings for "Seattle Blues" were so strong that he was lured away to host a midday talk show on KGW in Portland, Oregon, with the KXRX management flying the host back and forth between the two cities. Prompted by the success of "Seattle Blues," KXRX unveiled a new weekly new music show hosted by Norman B. called, "The Xtra Hour."〔"X-tra, X-tra, Read All About It," Seattle Weekly, February 22, 1989〕 In August 1991, at the peak of Seattle's globally renowned "grunge" music wave, Norman B. was hired away from KXRX to become drive-time personality on the newly launched alternative radio station 107.7 KNDD The End.〔"The End: Chapter 1 -- Seattle's Newest Alternative Station Is Still Very Much A Work-In-Progress," Kit Boss, Seattle Times, September 27, 1991.〕 Within six weeks of The End's first broadcast, three albums by local artists — "Ten" by Pearl Jam, "Nevermind" by Nirvana and "Badmotorfinger" by Soundgarden — were released, reaching the top of the ''Billboard'' charts, and KNDD was riding the wave. Within a year the new station was "defying history," as reported in the ''Seattle Times.''〔"The Beginning Of The End -- Alternative Rock Station KNDD Is Almost One Year Old And Going Strong," Ken Hunt, Seattle Times, July 26, 1992〕 "This spring's Arbitron ratings show KNDD in the top three stations among listeners aged 18-34," writes ''Times'' reporter Ken Hunt. "The station has become profitable and has become one of the most active sponsors of concerts and club nights around the area."〔"The Radio Graveyard - Why Progressive Radio Fails in Seattle and How to Revive It," Bart Becker, Seattle Weekly, January 9, 1993〕 ''The Seattle Weekly'' wrote that "In the past six months 'The End' has become one of the hottest stations in the city. Night guy Marco Collins has an annoying habit of cracking up at his own jokes, and morning jock Bill Reid often fashions a more-obnoxious-than-thou attitude, but leonine Brit and gentleman rocker Norman B makes an amiable afternoon companion."〔"107.7 The End," Seattle Weekly, January 4, 1995〕 "I loved all of the DJs," recalls blogger Michael Sutton on the occasion of The End's 20th anniversary. "Especially Marco Collins, Bill Reid (whom I remembered from KJET), British iconoclast Norman B. (a favorite of mine when he was upsetting KXRX’s bell-bottom crowd with an alternative weekly), and the late Bryan Jones. The eclectic mix of music – from the rave-fueled boogie of Big Audio Dynamite to the metallic roar of Soundgarden to the acoustic-folk melodrama of A Man Called E (later of the Eels) to the radiant glow of the Ocean Blue to the vintage jangle of the Beatles to the brooding intensity of Joy Division – was radio at its finest."〔"The End's 20th BDay - Kind Words From A 'Friend of The End,'" Michael Sutton, TheEnd.com〕 By the first part of the 1990s, grunge had made Seattle the center of the universe for popular music, The End its chief purveyer in the market, and Norman B. that station's highest-profile on-air personality. In 1993 readers of ''The Seattle Weekly'' voted Norman B. "Best Radio Voice," edging out Hall of Fame Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus.〔"Best of List: And the Readers Say..." Seattle Weekly, June 23, 1993〕 His "smooth British voice adds class," wrote Elizabethe Brown of the ''Bellevue Journal American.'' Norman B. also became a must-stop interview for recording artists coming through the Pacific Northwest. His unique, easy-going style and gathering reputation as one of the region's top musicologists drew exclusive and often strikingly intimate (interviews ) with stars like David Bowie, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow and Johnny Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten. He was also given the opportunity on The End to launch the first commercial version of "Life Elsewhere," entitled "Around The World With Norman B.," showcasing music often overlooked or considered unsuitable for radio airplay. In 1997, Norman B. left The End and journeyed across the U.S. again, lured by the highly rated WSJT in Tampa, Florida to anchor that station's format makeover. "The Norman B. Show," co-hosted by Maria Jannello, would premiere that year with a new music-intensive, personality-driven format, and soon gained a large following.〔'Friday Extra: Fed Up With Commercial Radio? You're Not Alone," Tampa Tribune, November 12, 1999〕 But just two years into his three-year contract, and despite strong ratings, the downward trend of local radio across the country soon befell WSJT and the station was forced to cancel "The Norman B. Show." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Norman B. (radio personality)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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