XFM Manchester

[mayer]

Started today. Got it on the headphones. It sounds identical to XFM London in sound and style (expectedly).

Early days, but I'm already thinking "utterly wasted oppurtunity". Shame that.

[Cack Hen]

Oh right, so, is it a completely different broadcast? I just assumed it meant the broadcast from Capital would be available up in Manchester.

[mayer]

No no, they're talking about Manchester throughout, and the Bez Maracas-a-thon which is going on in Albert Square (if he turned up in the end).

And they just played a clip of the opening minutes..."Stone Roses!!! Ressurection!!!! You asked for it! We played it!"

XFM - You asked for it, we played it!!!!!

*shivers*


The 5th Avenue of Radio Stations, and in its first minutes too. I'm easily pleased, honest, but it just seems like they're not even trying!

[poor fool]

1 female presenter? Welcome to North Britain.

[no_offenc]

There was apparently an XFM Liverpool for about a month as a trial.  Not that they fucking advertised it, and I only saw a poster on a bus about a fortnight after it finished.

It was probably shit though.

[Labian Quest]

According to the website they're going to have 'informed, irreverent presenters'

[La Tristesse Durera]

There was apparently an XFM Liverpool for about a month as a trial.  Not that they fucking advertised it, and I only saw a poster on a bus about a fortnight after it finished.

It was probably shit though.

Similarly, I think there was a Kerrang! in Manchester for about two weeks, some sort of promo trial thing. I only saw a poster for it weeks after it had passed and remember feeling glad I missed it.

Not that I would have accidentally listened to it or anything, but.

Today's Xfm launch explains the handful of promo items I had thrust upon me outside Oxford Road station this morning. I was having a distinctly iffy morning, and it actually cheered me up in a strange way, being handed a bunch of 3D adverts. The keyring is beautiful.

I'll have to give the station a listen when I'm home over the weekend, although I kinda stopped listening to the proper Xfm on the internet about two years ago, so I dunno what use it will be to me.

Without having heard a second I can probably say that they need to localise it more.

[mayer]

Having decided to stick with it all day, it's fucking awful.

[chand]

Are there interesting non-playlist shows on XFM? The bits I've heard of the London one online were just a depressing procession of basically the same shit that's on the rest of the radio (Kaisers, Arctic Monkeys, Hard-Fi, Franz...), except with less variety. Is it like Radio 1 where they have more interesting specialist shows at night?

I dread the idea of a 'regional' XFM which sounds like it's just gonna be the same as the London one except with more Oasis, Smiths and Stones Roses every day.

[mayer]

I dread the idea of a 'regional' XFM which sounds like it's just gonna be the same as the London one except with more Oasis, Smiths and Stones Roses every day.

Were you listening today as well?!?! That is XFM Manchester, on today's evidence.


XFM was good, briefly. And it wasn't the Capital buy-out that changed that, it went slowly shit for a while, and the buy-out just put the varnish on the coffin.

[chand]

I dread the idea of a 'regional' XFM which sounds like it's just gonna be the same as the London one except with more Oasis, Smiths and Stones Roses every day.

Were you listening today as well?!?! That is XFM Manchester, on today's evidence.

No, I was working. I'm pretty much judging it off your description, my knowledge of the London version, and the noises they'd been making about Manchester's musical history, I figured it'd be similar but with twice as much Doves. Sounds like they want to make it self-consciously regional in order to give it an identity and a justification for not just being the London broadcast, which to be honest sounds crap. I just want a station that's gonna play some stuff that's good, not stuff that's from people I might conceivably see in town.

[Detective John Kimble]

According to the website they're going to have 'informed, irreverent presenters'

Oh, gawd.  Informed means that they'll know the names of all the Coldplay albums and nothing else, and irreverent means that they'll say "Monkey" every other sentence.  I grieve.

[Labian Quest]

According to the website they're going to have 'informed, irreverent presenters'

Oh, gawd.  Informed means that they'll know the names of all the Coldplay albums and nothing else, and irreverent means that they'll say "Monkey" every other sentence.  I grieve.

Yes, it doesn't bode very well does it? the running joke yesterday was calling this woman who had been to some gigs the 'gig pig'

[23 Daves]

In an honest world, "A Wasted Opportunity" would be XFM's slogan.  As we don't live on that kind of planet, however, one of its slogans has been "breaking new music".

I've always found this interesting, because I cannot think of a single band in at least the last six years XFM has ever tried to break off its own back, without the pressure of major label PR and pluggers or the NME picking up on them first, and I challenge anyone else to name one.  The last example that springs to mind is Action Spectacular back in 2000 – a band on an indie label I personally wouldn't have focussed that heavily on, but never mind, they had some nice tunes and I didn't begrudge them the exposure.  They also had one track that was superb, the anti-nine to five anthem "I'm A Whore", but I don't think that got any airplay.  

Since then, XFM have made some rather bold claims about being partly behind Snow Patrol's success.  Now, whilst this in itself is nothing to brag about, it's also something of a questionable claim.  Snow Patrol only got daytime airplay on XFM following signing to Polydor – for the years they were stuck on indie label Jeepster, they barely got a sniff. Therefore, XFM only really bothered with them at precisely the same time the big-gun PR and plugger push came along, and after the band had gone a bit Coldplay.

The management at XFM are basically just cowards.  They haven't broken new music in years, their playlist has just consisted of the most popular tracks off Shine Vols 1-15 combined with whatever vaguely mainstream sounding alternative bands are in the Top 40 this week.  Even when The White Stripes first started getting press, you almost never heard them on daytime XFM – the albums had to start shifting units and the band had to shift to a larger label before they even bothered.

Chris Moyles takes more fucking risks with new music than XFM do – in other words, not many, but then at least he's not trading on the notion.  If it had been up to me, they wouldn't have been allowed to open a station in Manchester.  I'd have given the slot to something else entirely.  There's just no conceivable need for them, and they certainly don't achieve what they claim to set out to do, a fact which has become glaringly apparent to everyone in recent years.

[The Culture Bunker]

Well, I'd have to agree with most of what 23 Daves said up there. While I'm on the topic of Manc radio, does anyone know any stations/shows round here that play music from local bands? Just wondering.
I met a XFM DJ once. I knew this because he told me what he did as he introduced himself. He then looked a bit annoyed when I replied that as I was only visiting London, I'd never listened to this show and therefore had no idea who he was.

[chand]

Since then, XFM have made some rather bold claims about being partly behind Snow Patrol's success.  Now, whilst this in itself is nothing to brag about, it's also something of a questionable claim.  Snow Patrol only got daytime airplay on XFM following signing to Polydor – for the years they were stuck on indie label Jeepster, they barely got a sniff. Therefore, XFM only really bothered with them at precisely the same time the big-gun PR and plugger push came along, and after the band had gone a bit Coldplay.

I don't know if they played 'Run' before Radio 1 did, but I suspect the huge push it got off Radio 1 (I remember Colin and Edith going ape over it) did more for it than XFM did. The video for that song was all over the TV ages before it came out as well, it seemed like a concerted push by all the main media outlets rather than just XFM. Besides, it was hardly a big risk promoting a record like 'Run' in a climate so friendly to big heartfelt indie anthems that even the largely-forgotten and recently-dropped Embrace managed to become a massively saleable proposition.

[Nuts 'n Gum]

it was also advertised heavily during XFM's advert breaks as well when it came out, and didn't it come out fairly early in the year, January? Might be wrong there, but it had lots of airplay everywhere.

XFM is pretty poor really, like someone said, it'sa like a less varied Radio 1 but you've got the sense that the station's output is supposed to be cutting edge, which it isn't, it's appealling to the same old mainstream bands and people who are just getting into 'classic' records because people told them they were good and everyone's a "legend".

[mayer]

PERSONAL JESUS - DEPECHE MODE

"The funny thing is, Depech Mode's PR was on the phone to us, telling us to play the new single... and we said... nah!!!!!              Not yet anyway....


... and this is The Strokes with their brand new single, out in the shops soon! So go and buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Heart In A Cage"


XFM Manchester sucks balls.

And they play LOADS of U2 and Snow Patrol.

[chand]

And they play LOADS of U2 and Snow Patrol.

Maybe U2 was to do with St Patrick's Day, I saw one or other of those free music TV channels was promising a whole day of Westlife, U2, Boyzone and The Corrs in celebration. Gee, thanks.