Radio One

[Aidan Warner]

Dear Feedback, 

I am writing to express my very deep concern at the sacking of Andy
Kershaw from Radio One. His dismissal is exemplary of the apparent
current Radio One school of thought: anything at all different should be
eliminated, or at least exiled to unlistenable times.

The majority of Radio One airtime is spent repeatedly playing the same
few tired, and tiring, records. This repetition makes playlist-time
Radio One significantly less pleasant to listen to; the station has an
excellent array of talented presenters, yet they are constricted and
detracted from by the incessant commercial-chart-pop of the playlist.

The nature of the playlist does nothing to promote new music (notably,
the Radio One slogan "new music first" was dropped a while ago), or even
provide a genuine public service -- the music on the playlist is very
similar to that which can be found on any number of independent
stations. I'm not opposed to the concept of a playlist, however I feel
it needs to be much expanded, with greater input from specialist music
programs, so that Radio One daytimes are more varied and interesting,
and the station genuinely stands out from the crowd.

Those who wish to listen to The Breezeblock on Radio One now have to
stay up until 4am on Tuesdays. Seems like a public disservice to me. I
don't believe there would be any harm in cutting back the amount of time
dedicated to playing music everyone's already heard, so that shows
dedicated to new and different music -- *which isn't catered for
elsewhere*, unlike most playlisted music -- could at least be aired at
remotely sensible times.


And I wonder whether Radio One can see the irony of Kershaw's dismissal
falling in the middle of BBC Music Live, an event intended to promote a
massive variety of music?


regards, 


Aidan Warner

tel. 07779 901 933