This week’s BIG NEWS is the new 10:30 music quiz replacing Popmaster on Radio 2 with Ken Bruce off to Greatest Hits Radio, Gary Davies trialling it today.
On Monday 6 March at 10.30am, Gary Davies launches Radio 2’s brand new weekday pop quiz – Ten to the Top, an accumulator quiz where it pays to answer the questions correctly in order. Ten to the Top will test our listeners’ music knowledge as they battle for pop supremacy.
- Each player will be asked 10 questions about pop music.
- Question 1 is worth 1 point if answered correctly, question 2 is worth 2 points, question 3 is worth 3 points, all the way up to 10.
- However, if a question is answered incorrectly the value of the following question goes back to 1 point again, then the next question is 2 points if answered correctly, and so on.
- Each contestant has a Joker to play, and for that question they’ll get double points if it’s answered correctly.
- The player with the most points wins a smart speaker, and if it’s a draw there will be a tie-breaker question.
I haven’t heard it yet and can’t listen until this evening, but here are my main thoughts going by that:
- I get why they’ve done it – feels a bit like Champions League Popmaster, adds a bit of jeopardy, but that feels like a lot of numbers to have to keep track of – question number, value of question, total score. On TV there are visual means to do so, on radio that’s going to sound quite complex.
- The joker gives a distinct disadvantage to playing first if the second caller can hear how the first player got on. You don’t have to make a decision, the first player has effectively set a target for when you need to play it.
- If you’re playing along at home and want to compare scores with others, are you meant to use the points the radio contestant is playing for or are you meant to keep your own accurate reading as if you were playing for real? How many are going to do that?
I suspect nobody is going to like it today, but it’s got a month to bed in before Ken starts up again and perhaps people will warm to it. What did you think?
Initial feedback I’ve seen, from both people who I think would instantly hate change, and from people who would have gone into it open minded, is that the playalong scoring is weird for them and doesn’t work. Feels like the Joker is an unnecessary overcomplication, although I can see how it got there.
Interested to see if people settle in. They might. There’s a world in which people develop their own habits for the Joker and compare those. And there’s a world where people just say how many out of 10 they got correct…
(Took me a moment longer than it probably should to realise the name is a play on Top Ten, but that’s on me)
Will Vernon be good at it?
I notice it’s a prerecord, rather than live – and that seems to be the BBC’s preference for such things now.
That’s important, as if Player 2 has any inkling how Player 1 did, they can gain a significant advantage with the Joker play, as they know what the target score is.
It just amuses me a bit that Popmaster was arranged as a direct answer to the vaguaries of the Accumulator Quiz Ed Stewart was running at the time, and now it’s left the BBC airwaves, they’ve decided to basically mate Champion’s League Popmaster with the Accumulator again, dodgy wording of questions and all.
“Popmaster” has been around for a quarter of a century. That’s older than some contestants. It’s unfair to expect a replacement to land perfectly on day one. Heck, the “Popmaster” we know and love took some years to evolve.
As a radio feature, “Ten to the Top” is sharp. There’s a lot of bangs and crashes. It’s fast and pacy, which might give us hints about Vernon Kay’s programme next month. The questions are very obviously not written by Phil Swern, which is both a plus and a minus; it’ll need to get a voice of its own quickly. The scoring system is interesting, and I’m sure I’ve seen it before – but don’t recall where.
Everyone’s right about the Joker, perhaps the contestant might call it before their answer – “Joker! George Michael!”. Everyone’s right about the advantage of going second, perhaps the player might have to *beat* the first player’s score, a tie goes to the first player. To be honest, I didn’t lose my place in the quiz – it’s a stream of questions that will end at some point.
We all need to hear it played by members of the public, not Radio 2 staff. From today’s demonstration edition, I doubt “Ten to the Top” will have the longevity of “Popmaster”. I can see it as a feature for a few years to come.
Agree with Weaver pretty much. Definitely not as bad as I feared it might be having just listened to the Podcast and actually I enjoyed it. Let’s be honest it’s probably been panic developed on the back of a cigarette packet. A friend of a friend told me Vernon genuinely didn’t actually get the gig until the day before he was announced so there is a lot of rushing in getting this to air with Vern probably only one of a possible couple of hosts in mind.
It does lack that strong play along factor Popmaster has, I did lose my way a bit whilst chopping my veg for tea, but not massively. I guess it’ll be a lot slower than Popmaster with Gary/Vern giving score updates to help the contestants and let’s be honest the listeners too.
The T’s and C’s indicate it’ll be pre-recorded before half 9 which gets round the Joker issue, just not very well demonstrated in today’s dry run and also a little sad it won’t be live. Gary did seem very keen to point out the joker could be played at any time so I assume that includes after hearing the question but we shall see.
It’ll certainly evolve, and whilst it won’t be a Popmaster beater – in terms of longevity anyway – it’s probably good enough for what Radio 2 need right now. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s replaced with something a bit more thought out in 18 months when Vern is bedded in and Ken is thinking if he needs the hassle of another multi year contract at 74.
Speaking of Popmaster, trails are running now on Greatest Hits for Popmaster’s return. The T&C’s on indicate it’ll stay at half 10 and be the quiz we know and love, although the official Popmaster account (not run by, but definitely associated with Ken and the commercial side of Popmaster) suggests “bigger and better things”. Reading between the lines I suspect they are looking at launching the new Popmaster Podcast prior to GHRs launch. How that will work God Knows but could be a good “spoiler” if it gets round Ken’s gardening leave. Hope GHR don’t run it into the ground
I assume they’ll be able to give out a better prize, though no idea if Bauer are as generous with the cash prizes as Global.
Haven’t listened yet – I’m round me da’ today and his cleaner comes on Mondays now – but the Twitter, or at least those sought out by the HuffPo, seem to be struggling to get aboard – the ‘more difficult to play along’ thing a common theme, the new quiz seemingly coming off as the Disventure Camp to Ken’s Total Drama…
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/popmaster-replacement-ten-to-the-top-ractions-twitter-radio-2_uk_6405cc18e4b0e45e2f8f83ce
And, although I doubt there’ll be any Rhythmix/Little Mix-style controversy, a quick Google reveals there’s already a kids’ learning game called 10 to the Top, who might not be very happy at being pushed down the algorithm by R2 rants…
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/298424/10-top-addition-game
I don’t mind change as long as it’s good change and not stupidity.but! I listened to it and thought it may appeal to the younger crowed but! It’s no pop master. But! It’s early days… I don’t like the fact it’s prerecorded but! Radio 2 seem to be doing this a lot. I think I’ll be sticking with pop masters thou.