To see just how far Xfm has fallen.
Take a look at the page on their site for the "DJ Homepages". Twelve little thumbnail photos. Where, only a few months ago, there were so very many more. And of those 12, five of them relate to DJ's who only do single shows. Just one show a week. A further two are links to DJ's (Ricky, Adam & Joe) who haven't worked at Xfm for AGES, and are unlikely ever to work there again.
All that's left are the 4 DJ's whose job it is to shoulder the majority of the schedule. I'm not bitter about leaving Xfm, nor am I looking for revenge, but I'd love it if those fools who destroyed a once-great station were to be summarily removed from GCap headquarters, and were prevented from ever wreaking this sort of havoc at any other radio station, ever again.
4 comments:
Hi Iain- I thought I'd share my X-list memories.
I've just finished uni as of last May at Portsmouth, and one of the first things I bought when I first went to uni was a spanky digital radio (new technology in 2003). I was blessed with a good signal reception, free time and for the first month of living in my house (until they cut us off for not paying the bill) Xfm through the telly downstairs when I was in the kitchen.
The X-list at 1pm sharp and THAT trip-hop jingle was one of the key points of the day. It was where I stopped whatever essay I was doing, kicked back, picked up the guitar and murdered whatever song I was trying to learn that week whilst filling my room with the music that was being played. I've always felt the Xfm playlist to be too contrictive, and whilst the X-list was guilty of playing a bit too much Stone Roses and Smiths (and I love the Stone Roses, but they only had two cd's so you can reach saturation quite quickly), it was certainly a welcome relief from Snow Patrol-Maximo Park-flashinthepanindieband-Libertines-Snow Patrol-Max...
By the time it got to drive-time, if I was still in the house I felt incredibly guilty so hit the essay again. Although I lived on the beach so it wasn't often.
The X-list introduced me to such bands as Rilo Kiley (you were banging on about the track The Execution Of All Things for a while), Sleeper (I was 10 in 1995 so I caught the last days of Britpop) and The Breeders - Cannonball and Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach were bona fide staples of the X-list.
I think I left uni and embarked on the world of Office Life (I'm typing this at work now, don't tell anyone) at just the right time, as now that I no longer have access to daytime radio the DJ's have been crowbarred out the door anyway. Shaun Keavney leaving was also a blow, as well as the departure of Jimmy Carr, JLC and Adam & Joe who at one point were all on air at the same weekend. I think they, along with yourself, Christian O'Connell, Keavney and Adam Longworth (who I understand from Wikipedia is returning, but we know how reliable wikipedia can be) were the golden age.
However I can't knock the new Alex Zane show, he once gave me tickets to an Idlewild Xfm session at the Islington Academy in 2005 (which I believe you compered).
Lastly, and I did text a couple of times to ask but given that the show was so tightly packed I realise my chance of getting an answer were severly limited: What's the name of the jingle you played at 1pm every day when the X-list started. It was a stuttering, trip-hop jingle where you would give a round-up of the forthcoming fun. Surely you must have an mp3 of it somewhere for old-times sake.
I think its fairly evident that I enjoy reading this blog. I tried setting my own up back when I could afford an internet connection and had some free time. I'd share you my musical writings but I'm loathe to give the link out as I never put the website on the internet proper, I hosted it on the back of a website that contains a lot of old embarassing photos as I never got round to buying some more webspace. Email me at mikeofthejungle@gmail.com and I'll happy email you the link. It deals with fairly broad topics so I'd imagine it would prove an inspiration for future topics, if only because I was so closed-minded when I wrote them.
Thanks for the memories,
Mike
Mike,
I'm touched.
Cheers for that :)
and I really think I owe you something for the kind words. So, check out the next post on the blog ;)
Keep in touch,
Iain
I don't listen to Xfm anymore either coz it is total shite!!! Was there from the 1st day but now pin my colours to BBC Radio6's mast. Good blend of music,oldies and plenty of new undiscovered bands. Caught the news on Xfm this morning and it sounded a lot like Chris Smith?? Any idea where he is since being made to walk the plank at goodship Virgin??? Andythefireman.
Anon you can find Chris Smith quite easily on Facebook - he has anew project. And yes, it was him reading the news!
rachel x
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