TXFM (formerly much missed Phantom) line up

The_Captain

Unfortuantely the market for 'proper indie' (yes I cringed typing that) is tiny. As a pirate they could get away with playing Crooked Rain Crooked Rain in full during the day

Even if you look at BBC 6 (which is pretty much the alternative/indie radio benchmark) it has a tiny share and is propped up by taxpayers money.

Only a matter of time until TXFM is (a) axed or (b) reformatted into a very slightly leftfield of the mainstream radio station

Birneybau

The_Captain wrote: »

Unfortuantely the market for 'proper indie' (yes I cringed typing that) is tiny. As a pirate they could get away with playing Crooked Rain Crooked Rain in full during the day

Even if you look at BBC 6 (which is pretty much the alternative/indie radio benchmark) it has a tiny share and is propped up by taxpayers money.

Only a matter of time until TXFM is (a) axed or (b) reformatted into a very slightly leftfield of the mainstream radio station

I find Q102 play one of the weirdest mixes of songs. They'll follow up 'I Gotta Feeling' by the Black Eyed Cnuts with 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack, maybe that's TXFM's future right there.

Anyway, how the feck was 'Rattlesnakes' by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions today's sneer or cheer? The song is a damn classic.

Oasis_Dublin

Radio play isn't decided by Joe or Claire or John. It's decided by the head of Music (John in the Phantom days) who is told what to play by the record companies. TX FM isn't the worst for playlisting, but it's still pretty bad. The (good) radio DJ is a think of the past, like cassettes and free water.

"Mary in Clontarf is looking for some Thom Yorke. Here's some Hozier with his beautiful new track 'Take me to Church' for you Mary." - Claire Beck

The_Captain

They've pulled that trick with me a few times :mad:


The Captain has requested Manic Street Preachers, here's Mr Tembo again



Why would you read out my request if you aren't going to play it?

K4t

The_Captain wrote: »

They've pulled that trick with me a few times :mad:


The Captain has requested Manic Street Preachers, here's Mr Tembo again



Why would you read out my request if you aren't going to play it?

lol

Birneybau wrote: »

I find Q102 play one of the weirdest mixes of songs. They'll follow up 'I Gotta Feeling' by the Black Eyed Cnuts with 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack, maybe that's TXFM's future right there.

BEP's at least have some artistic merit and some catchy tunes, it's really the likes of Niki Minaj, Rihanna, Inreque Inglesius etc. who repel me away from the mainstream stations and just knowing I won't ever hear them on txfm is what makes it so attractive.

Birneybau

BEPs have artistic merit? You must be kidding.

Pudsy33

Birneybau wrote: »

BEPs have artistic merit? You must be kidding.

I'd have them down as one of the worst offenders. Awful stuff.

K4t

Well I did attempt to qualify my statement by mentioning a few worse culprits. Regardless, where is the love is a decent song!

I simply cannot listen to the likes of Rihanna, Niki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Azaleah (is that even a person I just hear the name on the radio) so compared to these yes the BEPs do have some artistic merit imo.

Pudsy33

Some of those you mentioned would have similar or more artistic merit than the BEP in my opinion. Anyways that's not a debate for here.

Birneybau

Pudsy33 wrote: »

I'd have them down as one of the worst offenders. Awful stuff.

I honestly hold the position that William (I'm not fecking punctuating it) is an enemy of music.

Anyway, carry on.

Declan A Walsh

TXFM, just like in its previous guise as Phantom, has to grapple with a few issues.

It has to be sufficiently different from the other stations to make it worthwhile for the listener interested in alternative or indie to tune in. At the same time, it cannot be too obscure during the daytime because it is a very small niche market and it does not want to lose listeners that want their diet of alternative music to be palatable to the ears. So how do you bridge the gap? What we are talking about, during the daytime at least, is accessible music that is rarely if ever heard on other radio stations. I think this is the key.

Another point of difference I believe should be the attitude of the presenters. They should be first and foremost about the music and not into inane chat - there's plenty of that elsewhere. By all means have music-related competitions, as indeed the station does already. In fact, I think most of the presenters are passionate about their music. This will be become even more apparent if the musical content paragraph above is addressed.

Perhaps another important tool is advertising or marketing the station. I would have thought that anywhere or anything associated with the kind of music that TXFM plays would be ideal, for example music publications, music venues and so on. The trick is to give the station name recognition, an identifiable product brand and, last but not least, a "cool" image - the "goto" station for your diet of alternative music. This is a tough one I know - there are so many other non-traditional ways of getting that music.

There is also the question of who the target market is. Is TXFM interested in students, young adults or people of all ages with a healthy interest in alternative rock? This could have a major baring on the music mix too.

All of these issues (and maybe a few others I forgot about!) could make a difference to the listeners it gets and, following from that, what advertisers are interested.

Twizzler

Birneybau wrote: »

Anyway, how the feck was 'Rattlesnakes' by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions today's sneer or cheer? The song is a damn classic.

I could not believe that song was on cheer or sneer. It was picked as if nobody had ever heard of it! Really odd choice.

Twizzler

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

There is also the question of who the target market is.

I have tried to work this one out myself several times. Judging from info in texts sent in to various shows, there seems to be a lot of listeners in my demographic - mid to late 30s. I am not sure if we are the target audience or not, but we do seem to be a key component of it.
(Which I think is why Rattlesnakes got such an overwhelming 'Oh FFS, of course it's a cheer' reaction today! It would have been a staple go-to song of my youth, personally)

ghostdancer

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

It has to be sufficiently different from the other stations to make it worthwhile for the listener interested in alternative or indie to tune in. At the same time, it cannot be too obscure during the daytime because it is a very small niche market and it does not want to lose listeners that want their diet of alternative music to be palatable to the ears. So how do you bridge the gap? What we are talking about, during the daytime at least, is accessible music that is rarely if ever heard on other radio stations. I think this is the key.

well that's a nice thought, except for the fact that this "accessible" music which has got more and more prevalent over the last few years, has seen them lose sh1tloads of listeners.

it's complete nonsense that people will leave if they don't play Kodaline or Adele or Hozier and play something slightly more obscure instead.
those people don't listen to TXFM in the first place.

if something isn't working, stop doing it, don't double-down.

Declan A Walsh

ghostdancer wrote: »

well that's a nice thought, except for the fact that this "accessible" music which has got more and more prevalent over the last few years, has seen them lose sh1tloads of listeners.

it's complete nonsense that people will leave if they don't play Kodaline or Adele or Hozier and play something slightly more obscure instead.
those people don't listen to TXFM in the first place.

if something isn't working, stop doing it, don't double-down.

What I am suggesting is music that is not played elsewhere - music that has an edge but is still accessible. It is a tricky concept - that does not mean a non-stop diet of Kodaline, Adele, Hozier et al. You have reminded me of another component, which is missing during daytime in particular: a wide selection of songs in the mix, rather than playing the same relatively small number all the time.

Twizzler

I have to be honest and say that I've never heard Adele played on TXFM, and I do tune in a lot...maybe I've just been lucky! Adele would actually make me switch off. I listen to TXFM so that I don't have to listen to the likes of Adele.

ghostdancer

not since it's become TXFM, no, as she hasn't released anything recently.
in the Phantom days, Rolling in the Deep was probably played every 2nd hour for about a month when it came out. Someone Like You also got plenty of spins.

probably not as bad as Regina Spektor's "All The Rowboats" hourly outing for what seemed like 6 months, but not far off.

Birneybau

Twizzler wrote: »

I have to be honest and say that I've never heard Adele played on TXFM, and I do tune in a lot...maybe I've just been lucky! Adele would actually make me switch off. I listen to TXFM so that I don't have to listen to the likes of Adele.

Wot Ghostdancer said.

Twizzler

ghostdancer wrote: »

not since it's become TXFM, no, as she hasn't released anything recently.
in the Phantom days, Rolling in the Deep was probably played every 2nd hour for about a month when it came out. Someone Like You also got plenty of spins.

probably not as bad as Regina Spektor's "All The Rowboats" hourly outing for what seemed like 6 months, but not far off.

Ah. I do remember Phantom's obsession with All The Rowboats (which didn't bother me) but thankfully I missed the Adele thing. Or maybe I've blocked it out!

Max Headroom

Twizzler wrote: »

Ah. I do remember Phantom's obsession with All The Rowboats (which didn't bother me) but thankfully I missed the Adele thing. Or maybe I've blocked it out!

IMO they play a lot worse than Adele.....

Twizzler

Birneybau wrote: »

The constant playing of that Of Monsters And Men Song and 'Tongue Tied' by Grouplove (Coca Cola ad song) is beginning to get on my wick.

Delorentos - 'Show Me Love' is their latest 'played to death' song, IMO. At least it's a recent release though. 'Tongue Tied' was released in 2011!

K4t

Twizzler wrote: »

Delorentos - 'Show Me Love' is their latest 'played to death' song, IMO. At least it's a recent release though. 'Tongue Tied' was released in 2011!

And Noel Gallagher's 'In the Heat of the Moment'. Might aswell just play a classic oasis song instead.

Saruwatari

Twizzler wrote: »

Delorentos - 'Show Me Love'

That song is complete and utter ass. Rushes to a chorus before it's even begun and the lyrics are repetitive as hell. How many times do they sing the title of the song??

[EDIT]Was just thinking, Sun Kil Moon have announced a gig here and I was wondering have TXFM ever played anything by them or Mark Kozelek? That's the kinda stuff they need to have on

ghostdancer

Saruwatari wrote: »

That song is complete and utter ass. Rushes to a chorus before it's even begun and the lyrics are repetitive as hell. How many times do they sing the title of the song??

[EDIT]Was just thinking, Sun Kil Moon have announced a gig here and I was wondering have TXFM ever played anything by them or Mark Kozelek? That's the kinda stuff they need to have on

maybe he's on their radar now that he's having a go at The War On Drugs :rolleyes:

Birneybau

More dead air.

Have changed stations, might stick it on again in the morning.

Liam92

Huge amount of dead air early this morning around 5am (I work early shifts), and the reception was dreadful when it wasn't dead air.

Also, serious amount of musical muck they're playing at the moment. That Weezer track is awful, the St Motel one they're always playing, the list goes on.

Final rant, but they really need to update their playlist on a weekly or fortnightly basis, like BBC Radio 1 or 6 Music. How long do we have to hear Jenny Lewis or the majority of the tunes they have been constantly playing since the year zero?

(PS: Ray Lamontagne's Supernova still gets airtime, ughhh)

lordstilton

Could anyone tell me what the tune is in the TXFM jingle? Driving me mad trying to figure it out

ghostdancer

which one?
they were using "Caribou - Can Do Without You" for a while during the summer and on the rare occasions i'd tune in, i'd think "oh great, Caribou!" but then the TXFM voiceover would come on :mad:

lordstilton

Legend..nice one

Frankie Lee

ghostdancer wrote: »

which one?
they were using "Caribou - Can Do Without You" for a while during the summer and on the rare occasions i'd tune in, i'd think "oh great, Caribou!" but then the TXFM voiceover would come on :mad:

It is almost like false advertising.