NME Radio vs Xfm

6:30p.m., Tue 23 Sep 2008

This was a Tweet, but rapidly got too long to be tweetable.

Here's the original story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/24/commercialradio.ipc

I find this ironic. And here's why.

Going back five or six years, NME was undergoing complete overhaul, the writing getting simpler and less analytical, it was fast becoming to resemble something like heat magazine or Smash Hits. There was less copy (MUCH less copy) less insight, more and bigger pictures and it seemed to be covering far fewer bands.

People were disappointed, upset maybe. Melody Maker and Select Magazine were gone (closing within two weeks of each other), Sounds was long gone. The music press was shrinking rapidly. The market was under threat so NME, fearing for its life, went in search of another audience. It went younger.

In response, other magazines rushed to fill the void that NME was vacating. X-Ray and BANG both folded within a year. Clash magazine stumbles on, supported by government grants, and there's the Observer Music Monthly, but I doubt that could stand on it's own feet.

I wondered at the time why magazines thought they could be the new NME, when the old NME was taking such drastic measures to survive.

So now, when Xfm is being stripped back to basics: now two stations after being four stations just eight months ago, and shedding over half its staff in the last few months, why is NME radio thinking they can do the same but more profitably?

There's the point I was trying to make. Too long for a tweet.

I guess the Guardian journalist has given the story "an angle". But I can well imagine NME Radio thinking along the same lines, that they're "taking on Xfm" . Their schedule features 2 shows hosted by ex-Xfm DJs in Claire Sturgess and Iain Baker and the music policy seems similar to that of X, if more wide-ranging and less reliant on indie classics.

This morning NME Radio played:

• Howling Bells
• Primal Scream
• The Verve
• U2
• The Kooks
• TV On The Radio
• The Stone Roses
• Kaiser Chiefs
• The Knack

from: http://www.nme.com/radio/we-played

This morning Xfm have played:

• The Zutons
• Biffy Clyro
• The Supernaturals
• The Cure
• The La's
• Johnny Cash
• Radiohead
• Black Grape
• Doves
• U2
• Oasis
• Kaiser Chiefs
• Manic Street Preachers

from: http://www.xfm.co.uk/onair/playlist/recent

Which makes a mockery of Xfm's claim that they play "the best new music". Maybe NME radio will force Xfm to raise their game.