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Radio 1 denies Madonna ageism
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 18 February 2015
OK people, remember this, Radio 1 doesn’t ban artists from its playlists just because they’re getting old, in much the same way the tabloids don’t stop reporting that Radio 1 has banned aging artists from its playlist, even though that story is now getting very old indeed.
The latest report of Radio 1 ageism was in last weekend’s Mail On Sunday, which reported that the powers that be at the nation’s favourite had declared that Madonna was now way too old to be appearing on their playlists. Because that’s the only possible explanation for her pre-Christmas track ‘Living For Love’ hardly getting any airplay on the station.
But, said Radio 1 yesterday, in a post on the Facebooks, the social network of choice for oldies: “Radio 1 does not ban anyone – please don’t believe the papers. The tracks played on Radio 1 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 fifteen to 29 year olds tune into Radio 1 each week, an artist’s age is never a factor. In fact, Paul McCartney currently has two tracks – ‘FourFiveSeconds’ and ‘Only One’ – on the Radio 1 playlist”.
Of course that statement’s cheating slightly, in that those Macca tracks technically belong to Rihanna and Kanye West. But ignore that, the message here is clear: oldies are not banned from Radio 1. It’s just that they all make shit music, except when under the specific command of a youngster. And we’re glad to have cleared that up once and for all.
