Sinister: Phillly disaster, XFM....

[padraic doorey]

i am still ultra devestated by last week's debacle.  i will write more
when i am no longer jet lagged and have actually been to my house to
regroup.

meanwhile i received this letter from the radio commission this morning:

=========================================
26 October 1998


Following your complaint - and others - the Radio Authority has
considered
the broadcasts of Xfm against its Promise of Performance.

In summary, the outcome is that Authority Members have fined the company
#4,000 (four thousand pounds) and we will be having talks with Xfm over
the
coming weeks.  The Authority will be looking at the position again in
the
New Year.

Members felt in particular the absence of the features as outlined -
notwithstanding any problems encountered during the re-location of the
studios - breached the spirit and, in specific instances also, the
letter of
the Promise of Performance.  These are features which would include
music
and information not heard on other, more mainstream, stations.

You will note that the Authority has welcomed changes made to the output
recently.  The present Xfm playlist may not be to the taste of every
single
alternative music fan.  It is, however, far enough from those of
mainstream
stations to demonstrate commitment on the part of Xfm that "generally
outside the mainstream" is the audience they do wish to address.

The Authority understands that specialist music stations attract, quite
obviously, the sort of passion not necessarily inspired by more
mainstream
stations.  For example, certain country music fans deride "line dance"
music
and say it has no place on country stations, and that country should
mean
New Country.  Others think Old Country should form the basis of
stations,
and anything else is just "spice".  Arguments rage about whether
artists can
remain alternative when they are popular.  What happens when an
alternative
track charts and becomes popular with people who don't normally follow
the
alternative scene?  Is it alternative or mainstream?  However, the
Authority
can only concern itself with one simple issue, which in the case of
Xfm, is
to ensure the station serves a market which is "generally outside the
mainstream".

We will continue to monitor the direction of the music and the Authority
will look again at the whole question of Xfm output again in the New
Year.

Yours sincerely


MARTIN CAMPBELL
Head of Programming and Advertising





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