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Eddy Says
Eddy Says: The Remix takes over
By Eddy Temple-Morris | Published on Monday 19 April 2010
So did you hear Remix weekend? In the words of the marvellous Andy Malt: “It was brilliant, I didn’t realise they’d play so many!”
The official rotation is three tunes per hour on any themed weekend, be it Blur, Oasis, or Arctic Monkeys, but we managed to lift that to nearer four, with some remixes of current playlist tunes, that I urged them to programme, for flavour. I found the whole thing quite humbling, and immensely entertaining. To hear such fine work, by such talented producers, who go largely unsung, and to hear it in the daytime, was quite something.
The most interesting thing to me was how galvanized it made the station sound. Normally there is a sense of detachment in daytime radio, because you know that DJs are playing a lot of tunes that they don’t feel strongly about, they may even hate what they’re playing, and even the ones they love, they have to play so many times in the course of a week that they may end up hating songs they liked in the first place. It was incredible hearing the levels of enthusiasm about the music soar to volcano dust cloud level.
It’s obvious, yet subtle at the same time: Specialist shows are so great because there is a direct link between the host and the music they play. More often than not, the show becomes an extension of that person, and if, like me, you only play what you really like, or love, then the presenter cannot fail to sound enthusiastic.
I’ve never heard Dan O’Connell so audibly excited, Marsha, too, was glowing on air. Dan told me it was his favourite radio show he’s EVER done, and that is amazing, and because of such a simple reason… he loved the music. It was DIFFERENT. Radio programmers and bosses take note, the audience loved it, too. Xfm was bombarded with texts in support of Remix Weekend, people excited to hear something a bit different, but at the same time a bit familiar (which is the whole point of the Remix show concept).
I heard so many references to Pendulum fans, Prodigy fans etc being so excited to hear these tunes on the air at a time when they were actually listening to the radio. The Friday night time-slot has always been uncomfortable for me because most people who WOULD listen to a show like The Remix, are OUT, like any self-respecting lover of our kinda music. Sometimes I feel my live audience is a tiny fraction of those who tune in via the ‘listen again’ player – workers, parents, revising students and the like.
The whole experience left me with no doubt that Xfm should support the specialists more, in much the same way; imagine if me, John Kennedy and Ian Camfield, picked a track, each week, and did a little intro to it, then it was scattered about through daytime, weekdays and weekends, to promote our shows and the music we play. It’d sound great, and again, get daytime DJs excited about playing something of unquestionable quality and interest.
While we’re on the subject, I think there should be MORE specialists, like the old days. I’d have a hip hop show, a reggae show, Flomotion back in the fold, and put some excitement back into late nights and weekends. If you guys all get in touch with the powers that be at Xfm, they would, I think, give this a serious look. Come on, we got Rage Against The Machine to number one and we actually have a chance of getting Nick Clegg into Number 10. Amongst all this excitement, let’s sort Xfm out in the process!
eddy X
Eddy Says from this edition of the CMU Remix Update.
