1, 2, 3, 4... 155, 156, 157...

SteffiGiraffe — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:46:21 +0100

A few weeks ago I downloaded the Feist track. Now I really wish I hadn't wasted my 79p as Virgin Radio has decided it likes it. And when Virgin likes a song it really goes for it. So I'm never going to need to play it off iTunes, and I'll probably hate it by the end of the month!

My first blog post and I'm moaning. Oh well.

I do like Virgin - it's my station of choice out of all of them - but I do wish it wouldn't assume we listeners have five second memories! We have the radio on at work, like a lot of people, so we're listening for a good eight hours. What makes you think we want to hear 'She's So Lovely' several times over? I've nothing against Scouting for Girls but it is a very repetitive song in itself!

We have a little ongoing joke at work about 'I haven't heard it for ages'. The chosen song is almost always on the playlist, just not one of the regulars. We believe Virgin thinks they haven't heard it for ages because they've forgotten everything before the previous five minutes, and that must be the reason for the repetitive playing of certain tracks!

Out of all the songs that have ever been made - and there are a lot of good ones - why restrict the playlist to such a tiny pool of music? Ever wondered why Radio 2 is the most listened to station in the country? Maybe because the listeners aren't thinking "Oh, it must be the top of the hour again because The Hoosiers are playing". Radio 2 is NOT my cup of tea generally but I can see why it does so well. Repetitive programming makes listeners switch off, not on. As it happens, we (me and my colleagues) are finding it to be pretty universal in commercial radio, but it doesn't make it OK. It's good to be different!

SteffiGiraffe blog on Absolute Radio

1, 2, 3, 4... 155, 156, 157...