As previously posted, we've started having the radio on in the office. Inevitably, nobody wanted to listen to whatever was on in the first place and it came down to listening to one of the two stations: Radio 1 or Xfm.
Now, personally, this is like having to choose between being stabbed in your left or right hand. Both are painful, but I do a lot of useful things with my right hand, so my vote went to Xfm and so it's that station which currently buzzes away in the background.
What I have noticed in a short time is how well it sticks to a format. There's the 'modern classic' bands who get their greatest hits played (Oasis, Foo Fighters, Green Day) alongside the likes of the Killers and Kings of Leon. Even Franz Ferdinand are getting a couple of plays, and I thought their moment had long passed. I actually had my first exposure to Florence and the Machine - I preferred my ignorance.
It's depressing how incredibly safe it is, which I would hazard a guess is down to commercial reasons. People want to hear songs they know, especially in the daytime to provide background sounds to a workday. It reminds me of those MOR or AOR stations they have in America - except we're told this is 'alternative' music that we're having thrown at us over the airwaves. Of course, the alternative is always swallowed by the mainstream, the same way large department stores sell punk themed t-shirts. Being a proud music snob, my temptation is always to stop one of those student types with the Ramones shirt and ask them to name five of their songs. Terrible, perhaps, but just the way I am.
To hope for anything else may well be unrealistic. The Oldham-based station Revolution attempted to plug local bands and work on a less obvious playlist (I heard the acoustic version of the Chameleons' Swamp Thing on their daytime show once, which staggered me) and ended up with minimal listening figures. Hence why I, and I would guess many people, can thank the development of the Ipod or Mp3 player that can hold more than enough songs to get you through the day.
On the plus side, Xfm does not have DJs so irritating they make you want to rip out your own eyeballs with a screwdriver and use them to stuff your ears up to cease the pain.
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in the past, i've found student-run university radio stations a blessed relief from the dreck that's usually played over the airwaves. i just took a look at the schedule for CITR - (radio station for my alma mater) . . . shame that "Generation Annihilation" should fall on a saturday time-slot . . . all the screaming and discontent would be a fitting score to a friday afternoon at the office . .
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