And the point of the comment was? Do you not have any valid feedback?
I hear where you are coming from though, CPFC, it must be hard living in a country where everyone judges you on the colour of your skin, I put my hands up, us chalkies are completely to blame for the lack of ethnic social integration in this country, and throughout the world. It's not your fault you have a chip on your shoulder, it's Wellies. I understand.
Eh? Who said anything about me being a man of colour? I'm not actually!
And my "valid feedback" can be seen throughout this thread. I thought I was soothing your online ego but I was obviously mistaken. And just been browsing the Lounge, you do make an awful lot of posts, my friend. I prefer to get out and communicate face to face, unfortunately, not many people are interested in TV idents...
I'm willing to change my opinions slightly here, because there are things you've thought about that I havn't, and I'm taking those points on board.
Certain types of music don't mix. On the rare occasion that somebody in Bristol starts a pirate playing Drum and Bass, House, Nu Skool breaks, Hip Hop, Garage and other forms of dance, that is the station that I listen to, and I don't listen to any other station until that pirate gets raided. This is because I like these forms of music, and I don't like chart stuff like Travis, Destiny's Child, The Darkness, Kylie Minogue, etc. I don't like having to grit my teeth and bare these songs whilst I wait for a tune that I like to be played.
I am willing to give more alternative and interesting new music a go though. If Radio 1 changed so that it didn't focus on commercial music any more, and didn't play the same records round and round in a loop for 6 months solid, I'd listen to it alongside a pirate station that played the stuff I'd normally choose to listen to.
Radio 1 should change so that it still plays some of the stuff it plays at the moment, but also plays more new and different stuff. People that like chart music can listen to any local ILR station for that anyway. That way, people who listen to Radio 1, will become educated about the alternative stuff out there, and the standard of chart music might eventually go up, instead of the charts being full of boy band crap, and pretencious "shcmindie indie". Even the Hip Hop, Soul and Dance in the charts is the wrong kind of Hip Hop, Soul and Dance. I'm sure less people would switch off than you'd think. This includes more Black music and Asian music as well as the less exposed genres of Dance and Rock/Metal.
However, the BBC should start more specialist stations like 1xtra and Asian network, to compliment Radio's 1 to 5. We need a station that plays underground Rock. Metal and Punk. We need a station that focuses on the wider range of dance music out there other than the charty House and Trance played by Radio 1 during the day.
It's not about race at the end of the day for me. I think I got too caught up in that in my other posts really. It's about having a wider range of music on the main stations and having other stations that cater for specific genres for those of us that want to escape from music we don't like now and again.
On the race issue, I think the BBC market 1xtra in the wrong way. Instead of saying "Black Music" or "Urban Music", they should just say "Reggae, Soul and Hip Hop". OK, 1xtra doesn't just play these types of music, it plays Garage and DnB too, but then I don't think they fit into "Black Music" anyway. Sure, they partly originate with Black people, but they also originate with white people just as much. They should have given us a Dance station too, and the Garage and DnB would fit in there. If there are news items and programmes aimed more at Black people than people of other races, these would still fit in on 1xtra because you'd expect a lot of Black people to be listening. Also, things happening amongst black people in this country don't just affect them, they affect other people too, so I'm sure there are people who want to hear about those things but arn't black themselves.
Also, I don't see it as special treatment, there are plenty of stations for racist coppers to listen to. It's the start (hopefully) of leveling things out and giving more music air play. If they just stop where they are now and don't apply to have more specialist stations, then you can say it's special treatment.
You can't do much with Asian Network, as all the music and programmes are purely Asian orientated. I know of white people that like Asian music though, so maybe they should not say "radio FOR Asian people" but "radio FROM Asian people".
The digital / analogue thing will sort itself out when analogue is switched off and we all have DAB, then there will be no problems with specialist stations only being available to those that can afford to upgrade.
I know, I ramble on a lot. But I'm quite passionate about all this kind of thing.
I was with you all the way until you started to diss Indie/Alternative music.....
Like any other musical form, it has its good stuff and the crap too. If you're trying to tell me that the like of Sigur Ros and Cornelius have no credibility you've lost me I'm afraid....
Sorry, I didn't mean all of it, just the stuff that sounds like they are trying to have a hit record, rather than just putting down what they feel like. Stuff like Oasis and and Travis doesn't really appeal to me, because it just sounds really fake. Anthemic music is better when it happens by accident, otherwise it just sounds really over-done and designed to be anthemic so that it sells more records. There is still some stuff I like out there, like Beck for example and the Foo Fighters always come up with good tunes. Travis just makes me swear. I've heard many a good thing about Cornelius from my mate, not heard a lot of it yet though.
