Tuesday, May 29, 2007

XU started today.........

Waddya reckon? Me? It gets a big "Meh" from me, I'm afraid. Fragmented, feels like it's more sweeper and less tune. Oh well, give it time (Maybe)
How was your bank holiday then? I had a cold for the last half of it, which was a pain, but given the rapid movement of temperature from hot to cold, it was always on the cards.
Spent most of the train journey up to London this morning listening to this:

Always makes me think of the first time we toured Europe, it was glued to my walkman for most of the time, like a theme tune:
"Roam if you want to, roam around the world...."
Mike, Gen and Gimpo up front, then me on the seat next to the door, then Gaynor and Paul (merch and guitar tech) and Jez (asleep) Phil (crew) and Alan on the back seat. 1 Transit van, several european countries, countless miles, at least 3 mountain ranges (one of them in Blizzard conditions) and a rucksack full of gently rotting clothes. Rock'n'Roll, I gave you the best years of my life...

11 comments:

Tim said...

Yeah, I'll join you in "meh"-ing. I listened for about 30 minutes, then got bored of the same old playlist tracks being introduced by what sounded like an automated robot woman. Don't know why they couldn't have done XU with a proper DJ acting as some sort of anchor for all the apparent interactivity, though. And it seemed like there were loads of ads too.

The website aspect of it is slightly more interesting - looks like they're trying to create some sort of myspace clone...

Iain Baker said...

A lot of people must think i'm just being an Xfm hater, seeing as I left (not got dumped, left) but the truth is i'm just frustrated that they don't want to embrace the world of social media...
there is definately potential in what they're doing, but it'll get bogged down in a mire of managment hell.....

Anonymous said...

XU gets the big 'thumbs down' from me. I'm all for listener interaction but they could still do that with a DJ - it seems like it's purely a cost-saving exercise. Also, they keep asking listeners to text in whether they like the song or not. At 25p per text, that's ludicrous. If they want proper listener interaction then they're going to have to make texts at a standard rate charge.

Having said that, Alex Zane was sounding good on Breakfast. His friday shows usually involved a hangover and lots of confusion but he was well-prepared & pretty amusing this morning!

Iain Baker said...

@Rob, good point on the txt thing for rated/hated....aaaah, if only there was an easier way to do it..
Watch this space.
;)

Anonymous said...

I listened for an hour before I had to go out, and have only just got back in again, and now Ian's on. But that hour was awful. Ads, jingles, trailers, teasers, what sounded like pre-rec track announcements, the 'movie minute' every 20 mins, more ads, more jingles oh, and a few tunes.

It was truly soulless.

I had a chat with a friend of mine about the state of the radio industry, and it was really depressing. But I'll save that for a blog post of my own.

So yes, very 'meh', and then some.

Tim said...

Ha ha - just got round to watching the youtube video. That is an awesome song, and a shockingly bad video!!

Anonymous said...

the whole Xu thing just sounded completely empty to me. for a station which is about introducing new music to people having a computer voice just say 'editors - smokers outside hospital doors' instead of a presenter who has an interest in what they're playing hopefully won't keep people interested for long.
the music was actually more varied but i had far less interest in listening to it.
i actually hope they lose daytime listeners so that rajar reflects it and they go back to presenters.
for now though i think 6 music will be coming out of my speakers far more often!
you definately got out at the right time and i see sturgess has jumped ship as well

Anonymous said...

I had a quick listen yesterday, didn't get much chance to be honest, wasn't overly impressed but I thought I'd give them another bite of the cherry today...

An hour and a half in today, and yeah, you're right "Meh" kinda sums it up... Drab, lifeless, soulless...

It could have been a great idea if they'd kept a decent presenter and allowed the presenter a bit of musical choice... Oh hang on, that was the X-List when you used to present it wasn't it.

RIP Xfm, you will be sorely missed.

Anonymous said...

hi iain.. been a while since i cought up. although you may not remember me, its dan (aka Steels) long time xfm listener and one time board junkie.

sad day for xfm.. came into work on tuesday this week to have the Xu come on.. i am completely gutted, and i mean COMPLETELY gutted.. second day of listening and i cant take it anymore, im brining in speakers so i can use the comp to get Radio 6 as of tomorrow.

i started listening years ago (i think you were on drivetime back then), the music was ok, they played alot of stuff that just wasnt mainstream a decent percentage infact.. what made me stay wasnt just the playlist but the DJs, yourself, claire sturgess, kev greening, ian camfield.. it was the fact i could write in and get a response, something you never get on any other station, and it was a personal response not some generic reply, even with different presenters over the years you could connect and in turn i felt a part of the station, the online community was excellent and i still have friends from the people i met on there,.. this was what xfm was about, a music community with a common purpose to get new music out there and to entertain a bit while doing it.. but over the years as indie has got more popular they havent kept that proportion and now i hear nothing that catches me off guard, there was a time when i had postit notes full of bands and songs that xfm played and id never heard before, that hasnt happened for months and months.

this new Xu is the end for me, i just cant listen to it any more, there is just no soul, no character.. and more importantly i dont feel like i belong to the station anymore.. the xlist was ace, always different songs, and the musical highlight of the day, i even timed my lunch so i could listen properly for the whole hour.. although occasionally you get the 'classic' which is code for 'been played alot'.. so now we essentially have 6 hours of xlist.. that would be great if the people choosing the songs really knew their music, really picked varied and different songs but they dont, its just the same as its been for the last 12 months.

i am incredibly sad to say that i cant listen anymore, although marsha and JK will still be checked out as i still have faith in their musical taste, it seems they have sucked the life out of this station.. i dont think they'll U turn over it either.. has to be too easy to make money and improve ratings.. we need a guerilla station the 'Anti-Xfm' just needs to replace the daytime schedule and inject the personality back into a station i once loved.

cheers iain, keep up the good stuff

dan

magicmarzipan said...

its shit

you should request some tracks by phoning in and see if they play your voice back

haha i bet they're all actors anyway

Anonymous said...

nah it won't be actors, it will be staff in the office and whoever happens to be in for work experience that week!