The white flag
Xfm Launch Xu: Radio To The Power Of U, Apparently
So, that's it for commerical radio, then. Xu is the "groundbreaking radio first" (except for all the digital stations that do it already) that sees Xfm, the one-time "Alternative" radio station, handing over control of its airwaves to the listeners between 10am and 4pm, in other words, sacking the daytime DJs to save money. Every weekday, Xfm now asks you, the dwindling band of listeners to "interact via SMS, phone and online". They're dressing it up as an interactive revolution - why wouldn't they? - but it's an act of commercial surrender. I am no radio insider, but I do know that many Xfm presenters were pissed off at the hours they were being forced to work. Lauren Laverne, who's just hopped it, was doing the breakfast show and a weekend show, although her defection may have as much to do with a desire to go full-time telly. GCap, who own Xfm and Capital (aren't we lucky in London to have two radio stations that play Keane and Snow Patrol?), seem to have been squeezing their DJs dry, hence the recent exodus. Unless, of course, they saw the writing on the wall and got out before they were pushed. The powers that be must have seen the healthy figures for "jukebox" stations on the digital dial, flipped their flipcharts, drawn a line with a squeaky marker pen and come to the conclusion: WHO NEEDS DJs?
As a sometime DJ, I think it's a crying shame that a high profile radio station would ditch the personalities altogether for six hours in the middle of the day. Surely, if you want to "compile your own playlists" between 10am and 4pm, you could, hey, listen to your iPod? For which you wouldn't require the services of (and I quote the press release again) "the crack Xfm studio production team", who are "on hand to send your choices straight to air." No pesky DJs getting in the way, though. Telling you what time it is, talking to you, making you feel involved, giving the station a voice, that kind of quaint stuff.
The big joke is, many of the jukebox stations are moving towards more "content" ie. people actually speaking between tracks. GCap seem to be swimming in the wrong direction. I hope it saves them lots of money and that their shareholders, who don't listen to Xfm anyway, are very happy for the thousands of pounds saved over a fiscal year.
The other big joke is, just like a constrained commericial radio DJ, your choices on Xfm will be limited to tracks from "the full Xfm music library as used by the Xfm producers to compile their playlists." Such freedom! Still, Xfm Managing Director Nick Davidson says, "Xfm has always been an innovative radio station ... [it certainly was before Capital bought it] ... and we really felt that we were ready to push the boundaries again. We are all excited about handing over the airwaves of Xfm to our listeners - it's a new era and we can't wait to see what kind of playlists they come up with." Nothing too risky, let's hope, eh? Plenty of Snow Patrol would be ideal. With some Linkin Park for variety. (I will never forget Lucio, now also departed, once playing a listener request, When Doves Cry by Prince, and saying, "See? We'll play anything on Xfm!")
posted by Andrew Collins @ 10:35 AM
25 Comments
Contact
Andrew at
25 Comments:
I'm fascinated by the fraudulence which has completely taken over music radio. A few years ago I was in a Magic studio as a DJ took ten minutes to record about eight hours worth of links which were to be slotted into the overnight output by the computer. I was told that nothing on Doctor Fox's request show on Capital, in which listeners called up and had their favourites apparently plucked out and played live, was actually live. He was recording the next listener as the previous one was played out. Listeners were being told which of ten records they could spontaneously ask for. But here's the funny thing. Capital's in a tail spin at the moment so the appliance of all this science hasn't done them much good.
Can you imagine if Radio 1 or Radio 2 took their DJs off the air for six hours in the middle of the day? I know. Unthinkable. The listeners would desert in droves. Can Xfm really have so little regard for their audience?
But then again those stations are paid for out of a tax, whereas commercials have a business model where you take the entire budget, pay 75% of it to the breakfast DJ and let the devil take the hindmost. And they're facing the grim truth that their core audience is probably watching TV in the morning. This is just like Wilde and Whistler, isn't it?
True, but how come millions tune in loyally to Radio 1 and Radio 2? Not because of the unique way in which they're funded, but because they connect. For all the money Capital will save on DJ salaries under this new scheme, surely they risk losing what little connection they have with their daytime audience.
Also, new breakfast DJ Alex Zane can't be on top dollar, surely? He must be delighted to be asked. (He sounds it, actually, which is endearing.)
Being commercial is one thing, but without listeners, advertisers walk away. Isn't that the basic model? (Come to think of it, most of Xfm's adverts are for singles or albums by bands who are already playlisted on the station, which always strikes me as a waste of record company money. And most of them are voiced by Steve Lamacq off the BBC - another own goal for Xfm!)
It's shocking, but just another sign that any form of expertese isn't valued any more. I'm of the generation of people whose musical tastes were formed by David Jensen's underrated Radio One evening show and John Peel, and their knowledge and passions still echo with me today. Hearing Brian from Golders Green's request for Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol for the 94th time today just won't have the same appeal.
I've been discussing this on a music-related board recently. What the merry heck is the point of requesting a record anyway? If you like it that much, you surely own it already. Go put it on.
If your motivation is to get other people to hear it, play it to your friends. Hell, hang your speakers out the window. Then at least you'll see a reaction.
I can only presume the true motivation for requesting a record is to foist your musical taste on the world, in a way that allows you to presume everyone then said "wow whoever requested this has great taste", rather than "turn that shite off or I'll come up there and get medieval on yo' ass".
I think it's probably a knee-jerk reaction to say that the motivation for this is to save DJ's salaries. That figure pales into insignificance with the money they will lose if the audeince plummets after this move.
I think it's far more to do with commercial radio being in a moment of crisis where they see their revenue model damaged by the increasing march of online advertsiing. They are trying to transfer their radio stations in to multi-media beasts where they can make money from listeners/users "interacting" at their website. By creating a method where listeners can "create" an hour of programming, the idea is that you make the listener relate to the station far more closely than if he just sits there and has someone tell him the time. You can then sell them tickets and downloads and, probably, iPods.
Of course, it's a pretty shitty model because, as you say, the ability to shape the programming in any meaningful sense is hugely limited. Even if you take their Xu website at face value, they will be picking [i]one[/i] listener-generated hour per day, and you are "recommended" to load your list with playlist regulars (there is cope to add "one or two" free choices to the list). So, what you are left with, even if they do play genuine free choices, is them playing half a dozen "requests" a week. It's not really a quantum leap, is it...?
Meanwhile, the genuine quantum leap in programming at Xfm really did happen this week, when they finally launched a Listen Again player onto their website. (Commercial radio has lagged behind the BBC in this, although I think Kerrang! and Kiss already have similar players.) Now you can listen to informed presenters playing music from beyond the playlist at a reasonable hour at last by listening again to the night-time output. Of course, the timechecks are wrong but just as the idea "Xu" is defeated by the rise of the iPod, aren't timechekcs made redundant by the rise of the watch??
What I want to know is how will the listeners know what they are listening to? If you hear a song and like it but don't know the name how can you request it? How is new music ever going to succeed on daytime Xfm now? It really will be Keane, Chili Peppers and some Stereophonics from 1997 over and over and over.
Xfm used to be a great vibrant, exciting station. Gary Crowley at lunchtime. Ricky Gervais on Sundays. I have a tape somewhere of Quickspace Supersport being played at about 2pm on a weekday. This was obviously before Capital turned it into CapitalIndie.
And I know this is quite a sweeping generalisation, but to be honest, if you were the sort of person who could stomach daytime Xfm anyway you probably won't notice the difference.
I've always felt that listening to a radio show is to inform and educate as much as entertain. If the power comes back to us, doesn't that limit us to our own tastes, rather than introduce us to things we may or may not like. And the interaction will be lost. As hated as he may be, Chris Evans is a master of engaging the listener, and your old mucker Stuart is doing a grand job in his absence. Then there's Mark Lamarr, who rarely plays material that is formed solely on the station's playlist.
I don't profess to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of music, so I like it, when a current track and a track fifty years old generate the same positive reaction.
Xu is only good for one thing: nine straight points in Scrabble.
Radio's all gone to hell. Radio 2 at a push, but frankly I'd rather put my ipod in the speakers and set to shuffle. At least it's playing music I like.
The Human League predicted all this 25+ years ago, on 'WXJL Tonight'. I always knew Phil Oakey was a prophet.
I'd love to know how much money is being saved by firing a lot of DJs. Not much, I fancy. Ten years ago (God, I sound like the Ancient Mariner mending his nets) I was witness to a conversation between the head of radio at a large media owner and the head of music at the BBC. The former was lambasting the latter for the amount of money they were paying to on-air talent, which was having an inflationary effect on the private sector. Commercial radio's attitude has always been, outside of breakfast time we pay peanuts. That's the nub of the Jonathan Ross salary argument. Could he really get that in the private sector? And how much blood would they want if he did?
The point of making a request always seemed to be to get your voice and/or the name "loved one" on the air. However those reasons won't be valid for this.
Last 4th July my wife made a request on Christian O'Connell's Jukebox which was American themed for obvious reasons (and my wife is American) for Jimi Hendrix playing "The Star Spangled Banner" but it wasn't played.
About an hour later she then received a call from Ben Jones, who presents the request show "Most Wanted" later on in the afternoon, saying that he'd like to record her making the request for inclusion on the show that afternoon as it was also going to be American themed and they wanted some Americans requesting songs.
However they couldn't play that song but she could request "All Along The Watchtower" instead.
So she requested that song instead...sell out!
There's music on the radio, you say?
*fires up BBC7, again*
Just in time for CBeebies on BBC7 eh, Betsie..? Actually you get a surprisingly reasonable mix of records played on that.
As with the equivalent TV music channels you have to ask yourself just how many requests Xu would get in an hour and how many tracks they can play in that time. Presumably the difference between the two is fairly large. Certainly it should be sufficient to ensure that nothing too exciting need be allowed out of the playlist pool. I assume the texts are free if your request isn't played.
XFM has gone down hill so much over the last couple of years - at times it's virtually indistinguishable from Virgin, which is a terrible thing to have to say ;)
Also, I wouldn't be suprised if Lauren's leaving has something to do with the fact she's pregnant - getting up to do an early morning show can't be much fun when you're pregnant...
Ah yes, forgot about Lauren's forthcoming baby, Nikki. I much prefer a conspiracy theory, but fair point.
On a OHMIGOD Prince related note, this week's NME (Only bought for The White Stripes vinyl, great new album I'm saying makes them rock band of the decade.) has a piece on him and the front cover blares "Prince? In the NME?"
Conspiracy theories are fun.
We should put one about that the DJs are being replaced by aliens. That's why they're putting out that the listeners are choosing the tracks. They can't admit that aliens are controlling the airwaves...
Dave mentioned similar tv channels and raises a good point. There's been lots of press recently about phone-votes and phone-in quiz scams, but for a long time (well since I first got freeview) I've wondered just how these music video channels operate (The Hits etc) and what the motivation would be to pay money for a jukebox that may never play your requested track in the timeslot allocated.
There again having had the misfortune to see these channels through the night and the moronic "Love Heart" text messages I clearly fit a different demographic and am happy to not worry about ease with which fools may be so easily parted from their money.
(Cripes - I'm starting to sound like Katie Hopkins...)
It feels as though Xfm was cursed from the start. I remember when it launched full-time in 1997 after various RSLs, and although it had a good line up of presenters including Gary Crowley from GLR and a very eclectic mix of indie and new wave, and indeed classic alternative hits, it suffered somewhat from everyone else in London and the South-East going a into mourning for Princess Diana.
The buyout by Capital and the move to being a slighly less edgy Radio 1 didn't help either.
On a more depressing note, a similar thing seems to happening over at the lovely 6Music these days at daytime, with only Gideon Coe still clinging to the original feel of the station. Blimey, I really am turning into a grumpy old man these days.
I think 6Music's weekday schedules are pretty healthy right now. It's the weekends that are hit and miss for me right now.
Which reminds me, they played Goldfrapp's Fly Me Away and Jackie Wilson's Higher And Higher on CBeebies on BBC7 on Saturday afternoon. OK, they were the only two decent records in three hours but it's a better average than XFM. And they have Charlie And Lola too.
Scrapping the DJs. I'm in two minds on this and it comes down to what I want from a radio station. Yes, it's all about me.
On the face of it my knee-jerk reaction is to think that it's a bad idea. Initially the idea of 'Jukebox radio' shouldn't work, but then again I use lots of sites where users suggest tunes and they're very good and I discover new things.
If there's a choice between "professionals" in a room dictating what a radio should broadcast as opposed to the great unwashed public then i'm pretty sure i'd err on the side of the public.
But DJs could be good. Of course on stations such 6Music and the like they're either intrinsically bad or they're just not allowed to be free enough to be any good. (I appreciate this is a generalisation and of course there are exceptions on the station.)
Why hire someone and then give them a playlist? If at the end of a show I’m none-the-wiser as to what music they like there’s absolutely no way I’m going to have been swept on in their passion.
Are radio stations relevant? No, at the moment I don’t think they are. Are people relevant? Of course. People are the best filter to find out what’s out there. Sadly the radio stations don’t want to hire people with musical opinions.
DJs tend to sell you music in exactly the same way they would sell you a Big Mac.
At the end of the day (sorry, horrible cliche there) - I'd prefer a song I was less keen on but was thrown at me with great excitement by the presenter than a "popular" song just thrown in with complete apathy.
Of course the management don't worry about music listeners anyway and just want the most pairs of ears - which is absolutely understandable from the point of view of their own career progression, but doesn't make for a great radio station.
I'm not a fan of playlists but I can see that even the most passionate of DJs is going to struggle to fill 15 hours of radio a week with music that excites him or her. I'd rather Gideon Coe played, say, a Razorlight record he hated (very) occasionally than that he played a Clash record he loved everyday. (Not a Clash fan.) Imagine what it would be like if Liz Kershaw found an excuse to play a Bruce Springsteen record every bloody week... That'd be awful.
It would be nice if 6Music DJs had the freedom to replace any and all playlisted records on their shows with their own choices. This might at least avoid them pointlessly playing records they can't even pretend to like.
But a good DJ is ultimately someone you actually want to hear speaking between the records. They add value. They're company. They're entertainers. Good music radio is about much more than just playing records. And if the various listener choice slots on 6Music are anything to go by then I'm glad they don't determine everything that gets played.
That said, I think 6Music are missing a trick with the generally rubbish 6Mix slot. I reckon 6Music listeners are more into making compilation tapes/CDs than mix tapes. I'd be more interested in hearing, say, four half-hour listener "compilations" (carefully sequenced and segued of course) than some semi-pro mobile disco DJs running other people's remixes together. Brief introduction for each half-hour from a presenter. Details on the website. No embarrassing interviews. No dedications. No "Hi Asha, I'm taking a dump and really enjoying the banging choons! I won't need to wipe!" It couldn't be any worse anyway.
I wonder how much money GCap will be making from these phone calls, texts etc? They can't be making very much from advertising and sponsorship at present, and fleecing the purse of the general public does seem to be in vogue with the meeja at the moment...
Anyway, who cares? I've got "all the hits and more" on my iPod (at least until the humidity kills it for the rest of the summer). In fact, I've got more than five times as much music on it than Capital has on its playout system. Plus both of Blodwyn Pig's albums, and when was the last time you heard those on Capital and XFM?
Post a Comment
<< Home