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Xfm considers dropping all daytime DJ's

 
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gfloyd



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:11 am    Post subject: Xfm considers dropping all daytime DJ's Reply with quote

Xfm is understood to be considering a radical plan to drop DJs from its daytime schedule as part of a revamp of the alternative music network.
Management from parent company GCap are due to announce details of the restructure to station staff this afternoon.

One option under consideration is a DJ-free "all music" daytime schedule interrupted only by station jingles and advertising. It would run from the end of the breakfast show at 10am to the beginning of the afternoon drivetime show at 4pm.

Earlier this year, Xfm launched an online version of its station allowing listeners to choose their favourite songs uninterrupted by DJs or advertising.

The service, called "Mi-Xfm", launched in February and was billed by GCap as a "unique interactive online radio player".
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That would make them just an ipod with ad's.
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Rachel
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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We've all considered dropping a few DJs; some from the schedule, and some from a great height.
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Lord Evan Elpuss



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:06 am    Post subject: Re: Xfm considers dropping all daytime DJ's Reply with quote

gfloyd wrote:

That would make them just an ipod with ad's.


And berluddy annoying. I want someone to tell me what the track I've just heard was, especially if it's a rarity, and these days singles are such a 'here today-gone tomorrow' thing that they are soon forgotten once they leave the chart / playlist. As I remember Johnnie Walker once saying on Drivetime, What's the point of playing records to the public if you don't tell them what they've just heard. You might as well play your own CDs. I hope they don't go down that road. I should imagine that would lose them a lot of listeners.
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gfloyd



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:14 am    Post subject: Re: Xfm considers dropping all daytime DJ's Reply with quote

Lord Evan Elpuss wrote:
gfloyd wrote:

That would make them just an ipod with ad's.


And berluddy annoying. I want someone to tell me what the track I've just heard was, especially if it's a rarity, and these days singles are such a 'here today-gone tomorrow' thing that they are soon forgotten once they leave the chart / playlist. As I remember Johnnie Walker once saying on Drivetime, What's the point of playing records to the public if you don't tell them what they've just heard. You might as well play your own CDs. I hope they don't go down that road. I should imagine that would lose them a lot of listeners.


Radio purists might want this. But the evidence is that 95% of the general public just want radio as background entertainment during work hours.
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Behind Geddon's Wall



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ernie,
That's probably what management want, the workers get no say. Mad
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gfloyd



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Behind Geddon's Wall wrote:
Ernie,
That's probably what management want, the workers get no say. Mad

it depends who their audience are. Nothing will be please everyone. If this message board has taught me one thing....................
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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 9:38 am    Post subject: Re: Xfm considers dropping all daytime DJ's Reply with quote

gfloyd wrote:
Lord Evan Elpuss wrote:
gfloyd wrote:

That would make them just an ipod with ad's.


And berluddy annoying. I want someone to tell me what the track I've just heard was, especially if it's a rarity, and these days singles are such a 'here today-gone tomorrow' thing that they are soon forgotten once they leave the chart / playlist. As I remember Johnnie Walker once saying on Drivetime, What's the point of playing records to the public if you don't tell them what they've just heard. You might as well play your own CDs. I hope they don't go down that road. I should imagine that would lose them a lot of listeners.


Radio purists might want this. But the evidence is that 95% of the general public just want radio as background entertainment during work hours.



95%!!! Wow, that is really high. Personally, I couldn't stand that - surely we all like a bit of banter inbetween tracks.

I think all of us here listen to shows constantly not wholly because of the music (although that is a major factor for choosing which station you listen to) but because of the DJ.


And yes - I'd quite like to know what I've listened to too!
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Lord Evan Elpuss



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 9:49 am    Post subject: Re: Xfm considers dropping all daytime DJ's Reply with quote

gfloyd wrote:

Radio purists might want this. But the evidence is that 95% of the general public just want radio as background entertainment during work hours.

I wouldn't really call myself a radio purist but if I hear a piece of music that interests me, I'd like to learn about it. Title, artist etc. I used to work in a factory where tapes were piped through the tannoy system. How tedious that was. It drove me mad. I was glad when I left that place. They weren't even well recorded, you got to know where all those pregnant pauses etc were. Then comes Christmas. I'll leave you to imagine what that was like. Shop workers have my sympathy! I'm not really of the 'Bah humbug' persuasion but that was the nearest I've been to it. The run-up to it became something to dread as the stock couple of tapes were dug out & were as cheesy as hell.
Contrast that with another factory I worked at before then, when a radio station (complete with DJ's! the late Roger Scott being one of them) was piped through the system. And at Christmas? I remember school choirs were invited to record carols which were played on air. Much better!

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PJ in Kent



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The real reason?

Xfm is a commercial station, and running an automated DPS playlist for 6 hours a day is a hell of a lot cheaper than employing 1 or 2 presenters to cover the same gap.

Their Finance Dept must have been wetting themselves with joy when they came up with this little scheme Rolling Eyes
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Best way to lose more listeners don't have dj's presenting on it, or try a sell it off. There are so many automated music digital stations around playing all types of music.
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Xfm has confirmed it is axing daytime DJs as part of a radical revamp that will throw open its playlist to the listeners.

As predicted by MediaGuardian.co.uk, the GCap-owned alternative music network will broadcast a DJ-free "all music" daytime schedule from the end of breakfast at 10am until the beginning of the drivetime show at 4pm.

The six-hour segment, which is being branded "Radio to the Power of U", will play songs suggested by listeners via text, phone and on the Xfm website, where users will be able to compile playlists, join debating forums and vote for their favourite songs.

Today's changes will affect all three Xfm stations in London, Scotland and Manchester, with a total of six DJs losing their daytime slots. The new schedule will come into effect on May 29.

A GCap spokeswoman said the changes were not a cost-cutting exercise, and said none of the presenters or production team would lose their jobs. The DJs affected will be moved to other slots, although the total number of hours they are on air will inevitably be reduced.

The Xfm managing director, Nick Davidson, said the station was handing over control of its airwaves to its audience.

"Our listeners are used to being able to control what they watch or listen to as these days people are inundated with choice," he said.

"Allowing them to shape their own content seems the next logical step."

Xfm listeners will be able to compile their playlists from the full Xfm music library, accessed via the Xu microsite on the main Xfm website, www.xfm.co.uk. They will also be able to record messages to be broadcast on air.

Shows outside 10am to 4pm will continue as usual, including Music Response, XPosure, and the drivetime show with Ian Camfield. Station bosses chose Alex Zane to replace Lauren Laverne at breakfast last month.

The GCap station, which will be 10 years old in September, won a fourth regional licence in south Wales earlier this month.

The broadcaster's London station bounced back from a poor set of audience figures in the final quarter of 2006 to post an average weekly audience of 630,000 in the first three months of this year.

Xfm London's first-quarter 2007 performance was marginally up on its audience of 622,000 in the same period last year.

However, Xfm's Manchester station has struggled to build an audience since its launch in March last year, with 113,000 listeners in the first quarter of this year, down from 133,000 the previous quarter.

Xfm Scotland has also lost listeners over the last 12 months, down from 347,000 to 282,000.

Media Guardian
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gfloyd



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PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PJ in Kent wrote:
The real reason?

Xfm is a commercial station, and running an automated DPS playlist for 6 hours a day is a hell of a lot cheaper than employing 1 or 2 presenters to cover the same gap.

Their Finance Dept must have been wetting themselves with joy when they came up with this little scheme Rolling Eyes

They still need someone in studio to play the music, as it will not all be pre-programmed.

I think this would work for some stations. I mean Magic & Smooth DJ's barely speak anyway (can they?) but Xfm was always more of a muso station like 6Music where the listeners want to hear about the wallpaper on the hotel room of the artist on the day he wrote the lyrics, blah blah blah
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mark occomore



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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

gfloyd wrote:
PJ in Kent wrote:
The real reason?

Xfm is a commercial station, and running an automated DPS playlist for 6 hours a day is a hell of a lot cheaper than employing 1 or 2 presenters to cover the same gap.

Their Finance Dept must have been wetting themselves with joy when they came up with this little scheme Rolling Eyes

They still need someone in studio to play the music, as it will not all be pre-programmed.

I think this would work for some stations. I mean Magic & Smooth DJ's barely speak anyway (can they?) but Xfm was always more of a muso station like 6Music where the listeners want to hear about the wallpaper on the hotel room of the artist on the day he wrote the lyrics, blah blah blah


Most of the time they dont need anyone at the contols as it's all on a automation rotation with adverts and jingles added in. The problem is if they continue to repeat the same songs twice or three times over that 6 hour period which will happen.
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Lord Evan Elpuss



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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And which some do in the overnight period. If I was a night worker, I'd want R2 or 6 music on, human beings presenting the music rather than some berluddy computer churning out the same 10 tracks that you'll be hearing all day on ILR. As Tom Petty said in 'The Last DJ' or Mark Germino in 'Rex Bob Lowenstein'.
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Cherskiy



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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just another media organisation jumping on the bandwagon of "getting the public involved to the nth degree".... we have filler masquerading as rolling news programmes constantly soliciting us for 'our views' via e-mail and text instead of, er, reporting the news.

Now we're to get a radio station that the listeners decide the playlist, so it'll be a 'popularist' line-up rather than an eclectic one. Instead of having this 'do-it-yourself' station, listeners might as well not bother and just listen to their MP3 players.

Progress?
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Lord Evan Elpuss



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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 11:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cherskiy wrote:

Now we're to get a radio station that the listeners decide the playlist, so it'll be a 'popularist' line-up rather than an eclectic one. Instead of having this 'do-it-yourself' station, listeners might as well not bother and just listen to their MP3 players.

Progress?

And that's most likely to be manipulated & shaped by the major corporation pluggers etc. Regress more like. It certainly wouldn't do for me. About as entertaining as a wet weekend.
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gfloyd



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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 1:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lord Evan Elpuss wrote:

And that's most likely to be manipulated & shaped by the major corporation pluggers etc. [/quote]

And the pluggers dont have as much if not more influence on stations with DJ's? What about say, Radio 2 then, where they plug the same limited "favourite" artists repeatedly?
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Cherskiy



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PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They have less, presumably. If it's a free-for-all, who's to stop block voting for certain tracks?
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Mark Mayhew



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PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For what's it worth imho have to say this is bad decision-not to have any daytime dj's at all-certainly don't think will be very popular with the listeners in the long run.
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PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some so-called radio stations are computer-driven to the point where even the intros and outros are sequenced from the hard disk. I have heard examples of this in the USA. So the computer stores the voice intro for particular track and also the out line, then when the playlist is built those bits are included either side of the track. Then all you have to do is to drop the trails and commercial traffic in and around it all and you have a radio station.

A bit like the majority of local IR stations now - they all seem to be presented by robots - so maybe they are!

I will stick to my iTunes collection and put it on shuffle. Much better!
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