RADIO ONE TRIES TO REMAIN WITHIN REMIT

We don't want to knock a fine-sounding idea, but Radio One's introduction of a new playlist category sounds to be like the introduction of extra codification where none is needed.

The 1-Upfront list will contain five songs from "emerging" artists (we don't know, but we'd guess it means whatever they damn well want it to mean). These five tracks will be guaranteed between two and four plays across the week.

The principle is good - guaranteed slots for new artists, hurray - but the question has to be: why, exactly, does Radio One need to have this sort of Soviet-era system?

Radio One head of music and live events Alex Jones-Donelly said: “In Radio One’s daytime output, we’ve never got the opportunity to play all the records we’d like to play."

But... but... if you'd like to play them, and they're worth playing, why aren't you playing them anyway? Have Virgin broken in and stolen them? Is there a secret BBC ban on playing certain records unless they're on a list? The only thing that, surely, stops Radio One playing what they want is the existence of a playlist at all. Trust your DJs, trust your producers, Radio One: don't introduce another mini-playlist - just scrap the list altogether. Then you can play all the records you'd like to play. All day. And forever.

If you haven't read The Nation's Favourite, by the way, you really should.

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