Friday, October 06, 2006

In praise of Colin Murray

The reaction to Colin Murray's new Radio One show hasn't been universally bad: Guardian radio critic Elisabeth Mahoney was quite positive:

What's interesting is how the station is expanding the accessibility of its evening programming, with Murray and Jo Whiley in the line-up, gently blurring the division between the popular, mainstream success of the daytime schedule and the strongly demarcated specialist shows after dark. This is a good move, and I'm sure I won't be alone in tuning in more in the evenings now that Murray is a happy creature of the night.

Which is true, but misses the point of Radio One somewhat. If the network wanted to make daytime and nighttime less distinct from each other, surely the way to have gone would have been to give Bobby Friction an afternoon show rather than taking Murray into the evenings - giving the daylight hours a stronger injection of the new music they supposedly trust in, rather than bringing more Top 40 and oldies into the specialist schedules.

Mahoney's pledge to join others tuning in after the curtains are drawn does little to reject the feeling this is more about audience figures than supporting new bands.

[Earlier post: Our review of the new show]


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Colin Murray show is bad and I agree R1 are just pushing anything worth listening to (or even slightly challenging) later into the night. Maybe one day Rob da Bank will be doing Breakfast! The INMWT hour shows are however terrible. Jo Whiley especially sounds like she is just reading a script and they all sound more like documentaries that could have been presented by anyone who could read into a microphone. What's the point in having specialist djs to find us some vital (as Jo would say) new music and then have them play some rubbish we'd all heard of this time last year?

Anonymous said...

Why listen to R1 when John Kennedy's xfm (10pm-1am) show is better than anything on there?

Stewart Smith said...

I recall Elizabeth Mahoney describing Zane Lowe as "the most exciting broadcaster in Britain". Scottish readers will have the dubious pleasure of being able to read her column in the Herald. Truly some of the most inane lifestyle tosh out there.

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