Rave Up with Arielle Free

[Jono]

Ben Cooper is in the Guardian today talking about ratings, the possible BBC Three and Radio 1 merger, and his plan to offer a Netflix style radio service.

It's quite a comprehensive interview, mostly he's on the defense.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/03/ben-cooper-radio-1-up-against-minecraft-young-audiences

[forde52]

That makes for an interesting read. I'm not sure how I would feel about a BBC Three and Radio 1 merger, it's not broken so don't try and break it(i mean fix it).

[bensteele]

I read this and the comments. Radio 1 really needs a rethink from the top down. 

For starters, I'm sorry, but look at Ben Cooper's age. They need to start by hiring a young, energetic controller. Then they need to make their station attractive and decide WHO is going to listen. Weekends sound like they're tailored to a 10 year old, weekday mornings sound like they're aimed at 13 year olds, Clara's show is aimed at nobody in particular and weekdays sound more like they're aimed at 25 year olds. 

Then, they need to figure out what "the kids" like. I don't think many of their TA are turning OFF R1 in favour of their iPad or "Minecraft" (WHOOOOOO?!) otherwise we'd also see ratings drop across the board for Capital, Capital XTRA, KISS and the BAUER Three network. But we're not. 

So the final step is to realise they're doing it somewhat wrong. They need to work on their branding and marketing.

 

[Ant L]

I think the issue I have with Radio 1 is the desire to bring down the listening age so much. I don't see why Radio 1 shouldn't be appealing to listeners aged 25+ when the official remit is 16-29. Radio 2 serves those 35+, so what about us in the 25-35 category?

Also it's all very well saying that RAJARs don't mean much and that YouTube views are so important, but the clue is in the name - Radio 1. Radio first, everything else should be second. RAJARs not including listeners under 15 is irrelevant - they aren't in the remit.

[bensteele]

On 05/10/2016 at 5:29 PM, Ant L said:

RAJARs not including listeners under 15 is irrelevant - they aren't in the remit.

Absolutely spot on - and besides, the remit is from 16-29, so you could argue, why should they be included? 

Does feel like they're doing everything to avoid the blame actually being with themselves rather than the listeners. 

[bensteele]

Let's put this in perspective of a coffee shop. 

If you suddenly saw a significant proportion of your customers not returning, but seeing little change in other coffee shops in the area - would you lay the blame on somewhat irrelevant factors (the internet, the weather, the "way people consume" coffee)? 

No. If you knew anything about business, you'd adapt your business because you'd notice that you had less customers. 

Ben Cooper, think it's time you did the same!

[DC]

On 10/05/2016 at 5:29 PM, Ant L said:

I think the issue I have with Radio 1 is the desire to bring down the listening age so much. I don't see why Radio 1 shouldn't be appealing to listeners aged 25+ when the official remit is 16-29. Radio 2 serves those 35+, so what about us in the 25-35 category?

Radio 1 minus Scott's show, hasn't appaealed to me on the whole since 2004 really. I was 16 years old then. It's been happening for a long time now, and as a 28 year old I hardly give the station the time of day now.

 

Radio 2's problem is that the start of their age range is much higher than 35. Apart from Simon Mayo, who I do listen to from time to time due to the fact he's a great broadcaster and I recall him from the latter end of his Radio 1 days. The rest is unbearable. I find Vine annoying, Steve Wright stuck in the 80's and Ken Bruce stuck even earlier in the 70's. I've never been a big fan of Evans anyway so I guess that's out of my point.

 

Leaves people like me in no mans land, too old for Radio 1. Way too young to listen to Dr Hook on Radio 2.

[Jules67]

As an old boy (really old!) I tend to drift between radio 1 and radio 6. Radio 2 I find painfully dull. I'm nearly 50 and from when I was 'radio 1 age' the music I was into was the tail end of punk into new wave and then IDM. Radio 2 seems to have bypassed all this and plays the aforementioned Dr Hook!
So I'm going to muck up the Radio 1 demographic and stick with it (at least while Scott and Greg are still on anyway).


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