[Black Dagger]

I don't hate him as a person. Just as a musician.. he seems like a nice bloke.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Black Dagger

Look at Sam Smith. They are hyping him this year as their exciting solo male artist, so creative, so unique (he ****ing isn't) come next year, they won't give a **** and they'll move on to their next solo male artist.

Originally Posted by Marc

Any opportunity to hate on Sam Smith somebody has issues!

Taking personal dislike out of the equation though, he's absolutely right. It might be two years, maybe even three; but unless Sam Smith really captures people's imaginations (and as of right now I don't see it happening - he's not got the persona or stage presence to really captivate people for long I don't think) Radio 1 are just going to ignore him after they've pimped him for all he's initially worth. He'll have support for this album campaign and if his sales are good enough then he'll get it for his next one too... it's a very worrying state of affairs. Surely the point of radio play should be to encourage people to go out and buy that artist's music by supporting the artist in playing their songs, not playing it lots to begin with in the assumption that people will buy it and if they don't, then ditch playing that artist immediately...

[Jack_]

Originally Posted by Zee

I completely disagree with that entire post. Radio 1 abuses its position; it's precisely because Radio 1 has abused that position that stations like Capital have gained in popularity and have become a cooler alternative to Radio 1 because people are sick of Radio 1's manipulation of the charts. Radio 1 hammers the same handful of songs on its A List so I don't even know what you're saying in your final paragraph there; it's just as guilty of that as all the other stations out there but as the industry's leading radio station, Radio 1 can dictate how the others behave. If Radio 1 is playing a song, then other stations will play that too so as to not be out of the loop. If Radio 1 isn't playing a song then it's rare that that song will get rotations on other stations and even rarer for it to be a success. Recent example of that is Neon Jungle - Braveheart. Completely ignored by Radio 1 but still managed to hit the top 10 due to online promotion and plays from other stations.

Radio 1 gives all acts a shelf life. There is a reason there haven't been any musical legends in our era, and that's because Radio 1 won't let it happen. There is no Elton John or Kate Bush from the 90s-10s. Everything has become throwaway. You're right, it's a problem across all media, but Radio 1 has more power than most to change that. Robbie Williams was completely excluded by Radio 1 yet he still managed to find success due to his loyal fanbase. Shouldn't Radio 1 be playing what the public want to hear (i.e. an artist they've loved for two decades) instead of trying to make a one hit wonder happen? It's such a corrupt station.

I guess I can't really disagree with a lot of that, and I won't try to - mainly because, and as weird as this sounds, I don't actually listen to Radio 1 for music. I listen (or listened, the amount I tune in these days is decreasing with the schedule changes) for the DJs. The entire reason I liked Moyles' show so much was because there was little music, and most of his long-time listeners agreed...probably part of the reason he was moved on in the end. For anyone that is actually interested in how they compile the playlist though, you may find these Access All Areas videos that include interviews with Radio 1's Head of Music George Ergatoudis interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bzqvm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bzqtx

I do disagree with this part though:

Radio 1 hammers the same handful of songs on its A List so I don't even know what you're saying in your final paragraph there; it's just as guilty of that as all the other stations out there

You won't hear the same song on Radio 1 in any good three to four hour period, since there are no songs repeated within any one show. If you listen to Capital for more than 90 minutes, I can almost guarantee they'll start to play the same Rihanna and The Vamps songs you heard when you first started listening. Putting playlist selection and artist treatment aside, as far as music rotation and variety goes, Radio 1 is definitely the best in its target demographic market.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03tj2x8

[Z]

There's more than one show on per day though Jack; if like me you've worked in offices or spent entire days driving in a car, you WILL hear the same songs being played throughout the day because songs put on the A list get more rotation than on the B list and so on. It might be better than other stations but that doesn't make it good, either.