Virgin Radio Listeners Vote The Beatles Off The Air
According to the Metro.co.uk Web site, listeners to the nationwide UK radio station Virgin Radio stunned the station’s morning show host, Christian O’Connell, by voting for Virgin Radio to remove The Beatles from their playlist.
The movement started when a listener called O’Connell and pleaded with him to boycott Paul McCartney’s music. (McCartney was given the Outstanding Contribution To Music award at last week’s BRIT Awards in London.) O’Connell then asked Roger Daltrey of The Who his opinion on the idea. Daltrey replied, “I didn’t like all their music. I can understand that everything has its sell-by date.” O’Connell then put the potential Beatle ban up to a listener vote. Thousands of listeners responded, and the majority wanted The Beatles taken off of the station.
When the final tally was in, O’Connell told his listeners, “I love The Beatles. I’ve always been a big fan of Paul McCartney, and as a station we’ve always supported them. I’m surprised and disappointed by the decision but it’s my duty to honor it.”
To read the full article, go to http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=106294&in_page_id=7.
This morning, however, O’Connell defied the ban and played The Beatles’ “Revolution” on his show. It’ll be interesting to see if the station’s other jocks stick to the ban and, if they do, how long it will last.
While O’Connell may have been surprised by the vote, I can’t say that I am. I think that people are really tired of hearing the same songs repeated over and over on the radio. I mean, do we really need to hear “Hotel California” or “Stairway To Heaven” on the radio ever again?
Surely part of the reason that satellite radio here in America is signing up new listeners every day is that they offer choice to listeners that they just aren’t getting on the over-the-air commercial stations. I’d really like to know who these so-called consultants are that the over-the-air stations hire to tell them that listeners can’t get enough of the same songs and artists played over and over again. These stations are throwing their money out the window. They’d be much better off (and probably would save a ton of cash) by just conducting focus groups with listeners of the station and ask them what THEY want to hear. It makes sense to me. Just look to the debacle that occurred when New York oldies station WCBS-FM changed to the “Jack” format about two years ago. Most of their old listeners tuned out, and not many new ones came on board. When the oldies format was returned to WCBS-FM this past summer, the station’s ratings soared.
I wish K-Rock in New York would run a listener vote similar to the Virgin Radio Beatles poll, and we could vote Aerosmith off the air forever. Dare to dream!
February 28, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I’m happy to hear thatRoger Daltrey can understand why everything has it’s sell-by date. So why was I not surprised when I heard “Who Are You” as the theme song in a trailer for an upcoming Dr. Seuss animated feature film? How many times have they sold that one song? And why are you still listening to K-Rock?
February 28, 2008 at 5:03 pm
hawk:
Yeah, I laughed when I read that Daltrey comment as well. I’m a big fan of The Who, but I’m really tired of hearing “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and “Who Are You” played over and over. The Who have been around for over four decades and have a very deep catalogue. It’d be nice to hear some of the deeper cuts on the radio from time to time.
I don’t listen to K-Rock that much. I haven’t got HD radio or satellite radio, so I do listen every now and then, if I’m in the car or washing dishes and need some tunes to listen to. When I’m on the computer, I usually listen to the UK stations like XFM or BBC 6 Music. They both blow away any American station I’ve ever heard.
February 28, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I wouldn’t take such a poll seriously. The people who bothered the vote are the sorts of people who would waste their time voting in a radio poll. Probably a lot of young people who haven’t really bothered to listen to the Beatles beyond a few songs they’ve heard here and there.
I would also much rather hear Hotel California and Stairway to Heaven than a lot of the crap that’s been put forth in pop music in the past 10 years over and over again. Not that I need to hear them everyday – but these are classics for a reason.
February 28, 2008 at 6:11 pm
The new Gatorade commercial where Derek Jeter is walking on a cobblestone street that transforms into a baseball field uses one of the instrumental track “Sparks.” They were right when they put out the album: “The Who Sell Out!”