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Artist News Media
Radio 1 again forced to deny ageism claims
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 13 March 2015
BBC Radio 1 has again been forced to issue a statement to say that Madonna’s age played no part in its decision to not include her latest single, ‘Living For Love’, on its playlist. Rather, the station thinks it’s a bit shit and its core audience doesn’t even know who she is. I’m paraphrasing slightly.
“I thought it was so discriminatory and unfair”, said Madonna in an interview with The Sun this week, when asked about not being played by the nation’s favourite. “We’ve made so many advances in other areas – civil rights, gay rights – but ageism is still an area that’s taboo and not talked about and dealt with”.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Radio 1 responded: “Radio 1 do not ever ban artists and Madonna’s track ‘Living For Love’ has been played on the station. The tracks are chosen on musical merit and their relevance to our young audience on a case-by-case basis, and whilst around 40% of the country’s 15 to 29 year olds tune into Radio 1 each week, an artist’s age is never a factor”.
The station issued pretty much the same statement last month when this issue was first blown up by the anti-BBC newspapers. Except on that occasion it noted that old, old man Paul McCartney had two tracks on its playlist at that time (albeit as a guest to younger, younger artists).
