While it carries a motto expressing their devotion to new music, is Radio One really supporting the music in this country that actually matters?
On July 16 this year, it was announced that Jo Whiley was leaving her 10-12.45 daytime slot and being replaced by Fearne Cotton, 17 years her junior, increasing speculation that the station is eager to concentrate on drawing in younger listeners – rather than having anybody with any musical knowledge whatsoever. With the likes of Chris Moyles, Scott Mills and the aforementioned Cotton being so self-obsessed and desperate to be famous, it sometimes makes it an uncomfortable listen.
To some the departure of Ms Whiley came as no real surprise or upset but the loss is a lot grater than some may imagine. She was the only person left (other than Zane Lowe) that really promoted and supported new and exciting, yet sometimes unusual, talent. She is involved in the Little Noise Sessions that are held annually at the Union Chapel in London in aid of Mencap and have showcased better known British acts including Snow Patrol, Noel Gallagher and Amy Winehouse. The line up also champions fresh bands of the time, for example the View, Jamie T and Bat For Lashes in 2006, Cajun Dance Party and the Courteeners in 2007, and more recently Skint & Demoralised, the Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, Everything Everything, the Low Anthem and Golden Silvers. All of which you rarely ever hear on daytime Radio One.
The play list consists of four separate sections A, B, C and an Upfront List. This is where the songs you hear on the irritating daytime loop are chosen from. Taken from when it was last updated (25 November 2009), there are 48 songs to choose from – out of which, to my horror, only 20 were British and shockingly only nine were in the non-urban or euro-dancey-pop category. Those nine, that I will name as it will not take long, are Take That, Robbie Williams, Muse, Artic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Florence And The Machine, Mumford And Sons, Pixie Lott, Prodigy and Delphic. As you can see only four acts are under two years old. How is this in any way helping the British music industry?
These isles produce some of the best bands in the world and Radio One has the opportunity to kick start careers of the newest talent. Instead they seem to concentrate on too many bands from outside the UK or the ones that are doing some kind of concert for the BBC, whether it’s Children In Need, Big Weekend or the Electric Proms. In other words you only seem to get played if you scratch their back first. Gone are the days where DJs, such as John Peel and Steve Lamacq, used to put in lots of time finding unfamiliar sounds.
Over the years the station has become so Americanised and has turned into more of a style magazine rather than a place to love music. Their target listener age is 16-29, but with the presenters mostly talking about late night drinking sessions, X Factor, football, celebrity gossip and fashion, it’s an insult for any 29-year-old that I know. I think the BBC are completely out of touch with modern culture and what the public actually desires. The people and the music in this country deserve a whole lot more.
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8 comments
Brian says:
Dec 3, 2009
I can see what you’re getting at with this article but at the same time I don’t know if I necessarily agree with the idea of Radio 1 ‘killing’ music.
Sure they play a lot of crap on there – but to make a comparison, BBC1 shows wall to wall bilge during the day and then show more interesting shows in the evening. Radio 1 still has some genre pushing shows that play interesting music, Rob Da Bank and Gilles Peterson spring to mind and the addition of iPlayer means that these more nocturnal shows are available whenever you like. I remember being a kid and having to tape the late night shows I liked to listen to later so things ain’t changed that much.
Though I find the playlist system on Radio 1 depressing and the back scratching situation is very much in effect. But I wonder when this halcyon time of Radio 1 when they played interesting music all day long was?
I think the main issue I have with this article is the suggestion that Jo Whiley was some sort of bastion of indie cred on daytime radio. The fact that you say that means you never listened to her show, which was filled with garbage music and endless chatter about what she’d watched on TV the night before. Yes, she does great work but rarely for Radio 1 in recent years.
Finally:
“with the presenters mostly talking about late night drinking sessions, X Factor, football, celebrity gossip and fashion, it’s an insult for any 29-year-old that I know. I think the BBC are completely out of touch with modern culture and what the public actually desires.”
Interestingly I think it may be you who is out of touch with what the vast majority of the public want as those are the sort of things the majority of people are into – hence their rampant popularity.
Anyways, I enjoyed reading your article, just thought I’d throw my tuppence in….I’m not a fan of daytime Radio 1 at all, but the idea that it can bring interesting dynamic music to people is lovely – but the sad fact is that most people don’t care about hearing it.
Mitchell says:
Dec 3, 2009
I agree with the above comment. That Radio One is “out of touch with modern culture” by openly discussing modern culture just screams of a desperate argument plucked out of thin air with no substance or proof. So what if Chris Moyles talks a lot? That’s why his breakfast show has helped Radio One attain strong figures and increase the morning ratings on the whole from when he arrived, and why people actually give a toss about the breakfast show still. If it became the Jo Whiley or Zane Lowe breakfast show, the ratings would die quickly and painfully because most people don’t want that type of radio in the morning, hence most stations don’t provide it.
I don’t particularly care for the music playlist myself, but then I don’t listen to Moyles for it. I’d actually be happiest if he got rid of it completely and made it a full speech show, and that’s genuine because I love that kind of radio (Howard Stern is my favourite presenter, so go figure my tastes). But no, I’m not too fond of the music they do choose to play. But I also understand why they do it – they have experimented with certain new music before and, for whatever reason, some of it just hasn’t been well-received by the listeners. I used to ask for more Metallica and Slipknot, but apparently it attains negativity from the audience responses and therefore they tend to avoid it. Shame, but how it is.
tom arkell says:
Dec 3, 2009
I would never say that Jo Whiley was a bastion of indie music but just feel that she was the last one that actually cared! I totally agree about how her show was but she could only play what she was told to play and talk about what she was told to talk about.
Night time radio is alot better but personally I would choose The Radcliffe and Maconie Show on radio 2! Another little gem is Dermot O’Leary on a saturday afternoon too!
Thanks for taking time out to read the article and gladde that you enjoyed it.
Craig B says:
Dec 3, 2009
Radio 1 daytime has had nothing to do with music for years. All the DJs who actually care about music ‘did one’ to BBC 6 Music long since. Apart from a couple of annoying individuals on 6, they do know their stuff (Grrrrrr George Lamb)
jambo says:
Dec 4, 2009
The problem is that although Whiley, Bowman et all played some indie music, most of it was landfill trash.
6 music has given Radio 1 a get-out clause. They know people who are serious about music will listen to 6 instead so now don’t need to appeal to anyone apart from the very lowest common denominator.
jack horton says:
Dec 4, 2009
Murray is still at Radio 1, isn’t he? It’s been a while since I’ve had the reception to listen to it live, or the will to listen to it at any other time (as I’ve always found the internet a much more ready source for discovering new music). I was just checking out his recent playlists, and whilst there is some dirge in there, there is at least some interesting stuff like the Lips, Cash, Waits, etc.. Disappointingly there is comparatively little new music, but, eh, that’s the way it’s going as far as I am concerned.
What with last.fm, iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, &c., there seems little or no point in mourning the loss of a former institution. The radio is a dying breed of entertainment, and has been too slow on the uptake in embracing the ‘internetisation’ of music as a whole.
I agree with the article, but do not care as much as the author seems to. I don’t think I could name you two ‘personalities’ on radio 1 that I can actually bear to listen to (names like Lamb, Chung, Zane, Bowmen, Moyles, Cotton make me shudder something rotten). Annie Mac, and Laverne would the two that I enjoyed most, and eh, what with the things I’ve laid out they just can’t keep up.
Yesterday afternoon I opened Spotify, and listened to 4 of the albums it recommended to me as ‘new’ or ‘you would like’. I enjoyed 2 of them, one of them enough to add to one of my playlists. Unbelievably, if I open radio 1 livestream I get Casablancas’s ‘I wish it was Christmas today’, but fortunately it then goes on to say “I wish it was Christmas today, not in three weeks [...] now let’s talk about 50 cent.” Thus proving my point. Shame, I missed “Twiggy” doing “innuendo bingo.”
Sigh.
Mike Brazier says:
Dec 7, 2009
Why should all radio stations be about the music? Now, I’m a huge music lover with tastes from all over the music scene, but I enjoy Moyles and Mills on Radio 1. Talk radio can also be entertaining and I have no problem with Radio 1 converting to that format. Why not ask radio 5 to play songs? If I want to listen to real music I have more than a few outlets to to listen to some.
I agree Cotton should not have been given Whiley’s spot but I also believe it was Whiley’s decision to leave her spot not people forcing her out. If you want to say a station is killing music you should look at the local stations. They pick out 10 songs a week and play them again and again, changing one each week, its depressing stuff.
1000YardStare says:
Dec 9, 2009
‘I don’t think I could name you two ‘personalities’ on radio 1 that I can actually bear to listen to (names like Lamb, Chung, Zane, Bowmen, Moyles, Cotton make me shudder something rotten).’
Applauding this loudly!
George Lamb is the a great example of dumbing down on radio.