For a radio station that parades itself as 'the nation's favourite', 2003 has been a grim year so far for Radio 1. The Rajar (Radio Joint Audience Research) results for the first quarter of this year make glum reading for Andy Parfitt and co. With a weekly reach of just over ten million listeners (only seven thousand more listeners than its all-time low two years ago), the station's audience share has sunk to only 7.9%, well below your dad's favourite, Radio 2 (15.7%), and even coming in behind the home of the Archers, Radio 4 (11.8%). Where, o where, is it all going wrong? And more importantly, is Wes Butters really going to make it right?
Regardless of the big figures, I have my own personal quibbles with Radio 1. I am, and have been for the past two years, convinced that at least two thirds of the female DJs have been recruited purely on the back of Lisa I’Anson’s successful voice-over career. At some point in the late-nineties, as Ms I’Anson’s throaty tones announced compilation CD after compilation CD, trendy TV show after trendy TV show (Ibiza Uncovered, for example, class-fest that it was), Radio 1 wanted a big piece of the action. So what did we get? We got Nemone, we got Sarah HB, we got Vicky Marsden, we got KC. Mediocre middle-of-the-road toe-the-line playlist DJs. But hey! They sounded cool!
Talking of mediocre, let’s look at the Dreem Teem. Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to fill the Sunday morning hangover slot with three imbeciles who can barely string a sentence together between them, and seriously need to back off the mic? If you didn’t have a post-Saturday night hangover already, a few minutes listening to them and you’d have a headache from banging your head against the bedpost in sheer frustration. But remember, they’re big wigs in the UK garage world, so sod quality DJing, they’re cool!
If husky girls and thick-as-two-short-planks guys aren’t doing it for you, why not try Mark and Lard? Oh no, actually, hang on, it’s not 1996 anymore and it really is tedious to keep the same format, and the same jokes, for the best part of seven years. And changing the Cheesily Cheerful Chart Challenge (oh the hilarity!) to the Son of Cheesily just doesn’t count. If self-indulgent post-big-night-out dissections are more your thing, Chris Moyles will do. Crass jokes in the morning? Sara Cox. Incomprehensible Celtic babble? Colin and Edith. Ham-fisted agony advice? Emma B. Sycophantic interviewing? Jo Whiley. And if you’re going for the highest quota of
Well, frankly, yes. So what more is there? Ah yes, the music. Tired as I am of Radio 1, even I have to admit that it’s hard to find another station to rival the quality of music. If you’re prepared to stop up half the night for your particular genre of choice, there’s going to be a specialist show for you. In fact, it was a specialist show (Bobby Friction and Nihal Presents) that secured Radio 1 its one measly Sony award this year. And unlike your local commercial station, Radio 1 tends not to bombard you with such classics as Aswad and Ace of Bass, which is always a bonus. I do, however, have bones to pick with the playlist. Firstly, it seems to be dominated by poor American RnB and no-brained euro-pop trance-dance crap. Where is the wealth of musical talent our country is supposedly producing? In answer to those who have criticised Radio 1 for its policy towards playlisting British acts, the station’s editor of music policy, Alex Jones-Donelly said “It's a useful debate to have but the key point is that Radio 1 has to play the best music for its audience whether it's from the UK or not.” So where exactly does Radio 1 research what is the “best music for its audience”? In the Palais in Mansfield on a Saturday night, if the playlist is anything to go by.
All credit to the station for their recent Unsigned Playlist week, where several unsigned acts were given primetime airplay. But given the overall outlook, you can’t help but feel it was a bit of a token gesture. From the brief and rather half-arsed canvassing of opinions I’ve done, the most striking thing I have discovered is that most people much prefer the evening schedule, with its specialist shows and lack of playlist, to the daytime schedule. Now, Andy Parfitt, are you sitting tight? Here’s a suggestion - is it time to get rid of the Radio 1 playlist? The notable resentment with which certain DJs play playlisted songs, merely because they’re required to, doesn’t exactly make for a particularly comfortable listening experience. Who really wants to hear Chris Moyles play half a bland pop offering, cut it off, say it’s crap and then get back to discussing how many pints he had last night? We want to hear people who are passionate about what they play, who know their stuff and who genuinely want to entertain you with what they believe is good music. I’m not a big fan of the girl myself, but Jo Whiley’s halfway there. She gets to play her own obscure things from time to time, but when these new and exciting bands she’s single-handedly discovering are interspersed with DJ Sammy and Lasgo, it all starts to get a bit annoying.
One thing’s for sure, if audience figures continue to slide, something’s going to have to give. To get back to the pivotal question, Wes Butters may have increased the reach of the Official Top 40 by 113,000 listeners, but even that isn’t enough. Hit 40 UK (previously known as the Pepsi Chart Show, and still unfortunately presented by the rotund and offensive Dr Fox) outstrips the Radio One Chart Show every week by nearly one million listeners. People still prefer Dr Fox, bad adverts, outdated commercial airplay (I tuned in briefly this week to find Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’ and Avril Lavigne’s ‘I’m With You’ still riding high in the charts) and loud cries of ‘Crank up your knob!’ to Wes Butters. It’s not looking good, is it?
Kate Skelton.
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