Were you listening to the same station? They did the WOIT at about 7.50am and it was Starship -We Built This City.

Unless they do it twice a show....

You're quoting a post from yesterday. Problem solved.

Oh yeah. Duh

Is this a press release?

Based on one, without a doubt.

So they played Talking Heads did they? Let me guess.

Pyscho Killer or Road To Nowhere?

If they had a milligram of cool, they'd be playing the new Roots Manuva which is a thing of utter beauty. Funny innit? Ashley's other radio stations are allergic to guitars, whilst his "geetar" station won't play anything else!

I bet he has fish fingers for tea EVERY day

Radio X is a guitar-based indie rock station from Global Radio.
Xfm was a guitar-based indie rock station from Global Radio.

They are the same station, with the same studio, producers, programmers and schedulers. Radio X is merely an evolution of Xfm with a slight re-positioning (still male-skewed) and an expanded coverage area. That's all. Even the Radio X logo is just a variation on a theme.

There are still plenty of Xfm references on-air... and most of them by Chris when referring to music policy (and in particular its reception in Manchester). Even on his first show Moyles said that he thought that Radio X was an evolution of what went before it.

'Personality radio' is not even new to RadioX. Ricky Gervais, Jon Holmes, Josh Widecombe and Jimmy Carr have all provided this role at various points in the stations history, there's now just more of it and it fills more of the schedule.

RadioX/Xfm simply stopped trying to pretend it was in anyway 'alternative' and embraced the fact that it's been playing mainstream rock-light and indie tracks for ten years or more.

It sounds better for the new found honesty... But there is (Capital/Global's) Xfm running through its DNA.

You are wrong on Talking Heads, proving the point that the Platinum Hour selects tunes outside of the mainstream and usual Radio X playlist, which does not feature Talking Heads anyway as far as I'm aware.

The track was Burning Down the House, the obvious thing would have been to play the Cardigans version but they did the right thing and played the original.

Whilst I agree XFM did personality based shows this was 1 per day (weekday breakfast and weekend mid morning), they have significantly increased the number of personality based shows you now have breakfast, mid morning and drive weekdays and breakfast and mid mornings at weekends.

The switch from stereo to mono is a clear indicator of this change in direction, if your going to focus more on speech than music than dropping to mono aligns with this strategy.

Yes I know it's still in stereo in London and Manchester but for the rest of the country where we used to get XFM on DAB in stereo this is now mono for Radio X.

Hmmm. Not their finest moment, IMO, but I'm slightly surprised. Would have preferred Love -> Buildings on Fire meself (they had a thing with burning houses!).

So the great Radio X plays A WHOLE HOUR of tunes outside of the mainstream, eh?

Now, what was it you were saying about "new, fresh, etc"?

Radio X also has Xposure Monday-Thursday 10pm-1am, Communion Sunday 11pm-1am for more music focussed show not covering the mainstream.

This really is a station that appeals to all fans of fresh rock and guitar based music covering everything from the mainstream to alternative. Plus a great lineup of presenters who do so much more than just introduce the music.

Finally a commercial radio station prepared to be bold and realise personality radio is not just the remit of the BBC.

Is trying to persuade hard bitten cynics on DS part of your Global job description? If so, I advise you spend your time more profitably for Ashley & Co. It is, after all, all they care about.

It is not a station "that appeals to all fans of fresh rock and guitar based music", otherwise 6 Music wouldn't have 2 million listeners. Like many, I prefer my presenters to be knowledgeable, entertaining and not talk to me like I've had a frontal lobotomy. Why is why I detest the loathsome Moyles with every molecule in my being.

Intelligent, challenging, fresh, variety, are words that may well be in Global's mission statement, but it's lip service. They wouldn't even start to know how. Only the BBC understands.

Oh, and give my regards to Dr Dick. Ask him if remembers phoning me up way back in the day, to explain how he was going to improve the original Xfm. It was a life changing experience for me, and maybe I should have sued at the time.

Btw - did it hurt when you had the chip inserted? It's been so long, I don't think Richard remembers.

I think that they need to allow Moyles to be topical and sometimes go away from their ethos to adapt with topical culture. For example, this morning EVERY radio station played Adele- Hello at 08:00. I know that Dom did the Fay Kadel act and it was funny yet I wanted to hear the song. This meant for the first time in 5 weeks leaving the show and going to Radio 1 to hear it. I have to say for once Grimmy did a great interview and I have already seen in the UK and worldwide news have lifted quotes from it such as Good Morning America and the Metro/Heat. Similarly the same thing happened with Sam Smith-Writing on the wall. I am not saying go OTT and make a massive thing but play the song at least. Radio X know that their Breakfast show audience 99% are there for Moyles and not for the music so do what the audience wants.

The Platinum Hour is still very poor compared to other nostalgic hours such as Freewind on Free Radio, Reheat on Heat Radio, The Time Tunnel on Heart etc: as it has no sing along anthems to get you in a good mood!

Playlist wise- has it been updated this month? We are still having Florence&The Machine etc played everyday

Then when they launched, why did they choose 'Get into the music' as their strap line. And if speech is top dog then why would their head of music spend so much time vetoing Moyles' music picks for the Platinum Hour?

Switching from local to national D1 coverage actually shows an investment in the channel. They have gone from patchy local coverage in 'selected cities' to solid national coverage - and they have paid Arqiva handsomly for it.

Sure, it's mono right now, but that is all the bandwidth that was available at that time. But that is about to change and I would expect Radio X to be bumped to 112/128kbps JStereo as soon as capacity comes available. It was important that the station got launched, before Virgin and on a national basis.


I think then that we can agree that there's always been an element of personality and 'edge' in their speech output. They've done it at other times in the day in the past before. Eoghan McDermott's afternoon show was personality-led, so was Richard Bacon and Adam and Joe before that.

I'm not trying to pick a fight over how different Xfm and Radio X are - I'm just trying to highlight that the two guises of Global's generic rock station come from the same template.

Was surprised they didn't take Adele (though pleased, her music bores me!). They used to playlist her.

With Xfm/Radio X there's always been a snobby curse of becoming popular. Adele, Ed Sheeran and the like have all been considered Xfm 'A' List material at some point or another.

As soon as they get 'promoted' to the playlist on a Heart or Capital station then X pretend never to have heard of them!

Exactly and you can not hold that snoberry on the breakfast show when listeners want to hear the latest Adele/Ed/Emelie Sande track. It does not need to roll out to the rest of the output but make an exception for Breakfast as they have done with the news once an hour and the adverts, music should be the same. The audience would enjoy Taylor Swift and accept having guitar tracks aswell. This means a bigger playlist and less repetition which they are struggling with. The fact that Vernon struggles daily with the playlist when talking to Moyles is already a bad thing five weeks in...imagine this six months down the line

If I worked for Global there is no way I would have allowed the launch of the biggest national radio station since 6Music to have been in poor quality mono. I'd also broaden the playlist, ignoring the new Adele song is a mistake as she is one of the biggest artists in music and credible not manufactured which I understand they want to avoid.

I mostly agree with what you are saying. Though I do think that keeping tracks broadly on a theme is probably the best way to go.

Taylor is (more that a little bit) outside of the Radio X remit. To be fair it kind of works that he says he wants to play her and the management say no. Adds to the us (Moyles & the listener) vs them (the bosses) ideals of rebellion and Moyles does it well.

His first song was Girls Aloud though... If he really wanted to play Taylor he could.

This is where the new Virgin radio covering rock and pop will have the upper hand over Radio X, but they will be doing it with one arm tied behind their back on by being on crappy D2.

Music news just come on at 4:30, main news is Adele, yet they don't play her, ridiculous!

I"d agree that Adele is credible, and having her played on X would be no bad thing.

However, Taylor Swift or Emilie Sande have no place on X, wouldn't exactly fit their licence. Global have chosen Moyles for a station licence by Ofcom as 'A ROCK AND ALTERNATIVE MUSIC STATION TARGETED AT 15-34 YEAR-OLD LONDON LISTENERS'. He's not on Radio 1, nor Heart or Capital.

Well your quote is wrong as Radio X is a national not a London station, plus I thought the target was 25-45 aiming older than Radio 1. The whole point being to pick up the Ex Moyles listeners who've outgrown Radio 1. The 15-24 year olds are all Grimmy/X factor fans.

That's taken straight from Ofcom's website. Radio X Manchester has 'Manchester' replacing London, but otherwise identical. Regardless of what Global say they are targeting, that's what they are licensed to do.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radio...logue-main.htm

I wouldn't read much into that, it's just paperwork for the licence, this is what Global actually stated in the press release at Radio X launch, clearly targted at 25-44;

After a summer of speculation with more gossip than there was sunshine, it’s finally here!
Today we have put an end to all the rumours as we confirmed the launch of the most hotly anticipated new radio station across the UK in recent years, and the long-awaited return of one of radio’s biggest personalities.
On Monday September 21st Chris Moyles will be back on the air from 06.30-10.00 a.m. to give the nation its first taste of Radio X, a brand new national radio station playing the best fresh rock and guitar-based music across the UK.
We can also confirm household name presenters Vernon Kay on mid-mornings, Johnny Vaughan at drive and Kaiser Chiefs’ front man Ricky Wilson at weekends will join the all star line-up. This concludes several months of guesswork from the media industry, with more big names mooted than there have been rumours about Oasis getting back together. Together with Chris Moyles at breakfast, they will inject a huge dose of personality into the new station.
The station will replace XFM and add significant firepower to Global’s portfolio of radio brands giving the group, and the commercial radio sector, the first truly male-focused, fully national music and entertainment brand for 25-44 year olds.
Ashley Tabor, founder & executive president here at Global, said: “I’ve had a great summer hearing some of the funniest rumors I’ve ever heard. I’m pleased we can now confirm the industry’s best kept secret, we are indeed launching a brand new national radio station on Monday September 21st. Radio X will focus on fresh rock and guitar-based music alongside huge personalities. And personalities don’t get any bigger than Chris Moyles! Chris is a broadcasting genius and as Global makes a multi-million pound investment in launching Radio X on a national scale, I couldn’t think of anyone better to host the station’s breakfast show. Along with Vernon Kay, Johnny Vaughan and Ricky Wilson, the UK has never had a radio station like Radio X before.”
Richard Park, group executive director & director of broadcasting here at Global, said: “With new acts like Hozier and James Bay enjoying phenomenal success, and iconic rock acts Muse, the Foo Fighters and the Arctic Monkeys returning with great albums, there couldn’t be a better time to launch Radio X. We know there’s a gap in the market and a massive audience across the UK waiting for a radio station that caters for them – Radio X will be bold and uncompromising in its promise to deliver music and entertainment for this audience. I’m delighted the time has finally arrived for us to launch this great new station.”
Stephen Miron, group CEO at Global, said: “I’m proud that Global is launching Radio X today and that we’re able to bring a completely new national music and entertainment property for 25-44 year old men to the market. Radio X will be a one of its kind radio station and the first time the commercial sector has catered for this hard to reach group. We’re excited about working with our clients and agency partners to connect them with this audience through Radio X. Our investment in a national platform, an unbeatable talent line-up and a heavyweight advertising campaign speaks to our ambition for the brand.”
Vernon Kay, Radio X mid-morning presenter, said: “I’m excited to be getting back on the radio. The launch of Radio X is the dawn of a new era in radio. There is a real buzz around the station because we know that this is going to be a lot of fun… It’s going to be a real honour to have Chris Moyles as my warm-up, bringing his unique style of broadcasting back onto the radio waves.”
Johnny Vaughan, Radio X drive time presenter, said: “They say there’s nothing better than that ‘new car’ smell. Well there is… it’s the smell of a brand new drive time show on a brand new radio station being listened to in that brand new car! Great Britain needs great banter and I can’t wait to be back on air five days a week talking to people up and down the UK as we get them home with a bit of a laugh and some awesome music!”
Ricky Wilson, Radio X weekend presenter, said: “XFM was the first station to invite me and the band down for a session, way before we were even called Kaiser Chiefs. They were right there for us and many, many other bands from the very beginning of their histories, through all incarnations, career ups and downs, break ups and come backs. Even talking recently to other bands and musicians about the station, everyone has very fond things to say about it so it makes me both proud and excited to be right there at the beginning of a new chapter as Radio X launches as the new rebel of the airwaves.”
Radio X will be home to the world’s freshest rock and guitar-based music playing the biggest songs from these genres. Regulars on the playlist will include Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Blur, Arctic Monkeys, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Maccabees, Radiohead, Nirvana, The Smiths, Royal Blood, Kasabian, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Kings of Leon.
Radio X will champion new music, taking over from XFM, which has been instrumental in breaking acts including Royal Blood, The xx, Arctic Monkeys, Jamie T, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Everything Everything and Biffy Clyro.
Radio X will launch right across the UK on Monday September 21st at 06.30 a.m. with a new multi-million pound national advertising campaign. In the coming months, Chris Moyles will hit the road with some of his favourite bands and artists to bring listeners across the country a series of exclusive live music events. The strapline for the brand new Radio X is ‘Get into the Music’.
Radio X will be available all across the UK on the digital radio platform D1 as well as on 104.9FM in London and 97.7FM in Manchester from Monday September 21st 2015. Its brand new mobile app will launch before September 21st.

Their ego knows no bounds, does it?

"Instrumental in breaking"? What planet do they inhabit? NOTHING gets played on any Global station until it's been picked up elsewhere and well on it's way. They take no risks whatsoever, play it completely safe, and thus couldn't break an egg.

They are legally bound by the terms of their licence and their format.
A press release on the other hand is marketing fluff.

Marketing fluff that they spent their first week distancing themselves from.

Aren't they misleading their advertising customers by saying the target up to 44 when the reality is they are targeted to aim lower.

Is Moyles going to get axed again because his audience is too old and doesn't meet the OFCOM age target, sounds like Radio 1 all over again, I bet Moyles thought he'd left that all behind at the BBC.

What is the Radio industries obsession with age? All other entertainment sectors (Movies, TV, Gaming, Music, Sport) just focus on bums on seats not narrow demographics why is Radio different. If you have a huge audience that's all that matters age shouldn't be a factor.