The BBC Radio London Playlst - It's Ironic how bad it is!

Sums up my feelings

I am going to start by saying I love BBC Radio London. It is 'my station' and has been since Robbie Vincent hosted the Crisis program and then Late Night London in the 1970's. Over the years, it has had some of the best presenters and best shows. As a music lover, the likes of Vincent playing soul. Charlie Gillett was a big champion of Ian Dury, as well as Elvis Costello and Grahame Parker and the Rumour. David Rodigan was highly influential in the Reggae scene, with his reggae rockers show, before defecting to Capital Radio to present Roots Rockers. These guys were essential listening when I was growing up and totally shaped my musical tastes. Along with John Peel on BBC Radio One, they were what we now call mega influencers, helping completely redraw the music map of the UK. 

In more recent times. Gary Crowley's show was a massive part of the rise of Britpop. I absoluletly love Crowley and his ability to alway be positive and excited about new music. When I was managing Britpop band The Sway, Gary was the first DJ to play their records (The band release a new EP after 30 years tomorrow. I'm no longer their manager, but they are well worth a listen - I well remember the band excitedly tuning in to listen to Silk on his show. They all went up to The Engineers pub after to celebrate with their mates!). His show was on a Saturday evening that was a bit inconvenient at times, but I always listened when I was in. 

Then there is Robert Elms, I have spoken many times about Elms here, so I won't go on too much, but he helped launched Amy Winehouse, giving her a first radio play. I'd say that at least 50% of the new bands I have discovered over the last 30 years, I've met through Robert's show. 

Now none of this would matter too much, if it was only about me and my particular musical taste. However, the UK music industry makes a huge contribution to the economy, over £5 billion a year last time I checked. People do not realise just how much music is produced and how much is used. Apart from the music on the radio, we have music in TV shows, music in films, music in games, live shows, etc. All of this helps employ people and generates huge amounts of cash. The UK punches far above its weight in the world music scene. However, this only can happen when there is a constat stream of new artists and new music coming through. 

Which brings us to the current music policies of BBC Radio London. I have no qualms with any of the presenters. All have been very supportive of my band The False Dots. with Elms, Eddie Nestor and Carrie and David Grant all kindly letting me plug my shows. Elms has a slot on his show on Sunday, when there is an hour dedicated to Londoners plugging events. However, over the last few years, the management of the BBC have come up with the worst idea ever. They have imposed a playlist on the station. Given that BBC Radio London is a public service broadcaster, funded by taxpayers, to my mind, the primary mission of the station should be to support London. If it is going to play music, they should trust presenters such as Elms to play what he sees fit. The primary focus should be playing music that has some sort of relevance to the city they serve. I run a music studio and I hear all manner of artists making great music, releasing fantastic songs, touring and playing hits from this and the last decade. All of these have a strong London link as they regularly use or have used our studios. There are similar studios and similar bands across London. Here is a playlist we made up of songs by artists who use our studios, just to illustrate the point. 

It was really brought home to me yesterday. I was driving to the gym, after my shift at the studio. I was listening to Jumoke Fashola's show in the afternoon. What song was played? Ironic by Alanis Morrissette, a single by a Canadian artist from 1996. I burst out laughing, what could be more ironic than that. Jumoke knows her onions. She's a working Jazz singer and hosts music events. I have no doubt at all that she could play absolutely amazing music if allowed to, but what do we get? Tracks that bear no relevance to the show, are not current, have little or no relation to London and worst of all for me, generate no PRS income for local artists.

What most listeners don't realise is that every time a track is played on the radio, the artists gets an amount of money. This helps pay the bills, supports the costs of rehearsals and future recordings, but the people who run Radio London do not seem interested in supporting up and coming artists. I know what their response is "Ah well, we have Jess Izzatt who does BBC Introducing". Yes Jess does a stirling job and I think she's amazing, but pushing new music to the margins is really counter productive. Artists need far more exposure and when new artists make great records, they should be played regularly. Instead, we get established artists being played non stop until you are completely sick of the song. 

The BBC should do what it's charter says and serve the community that pays its bills. The management of BBC Radio London are massively failing London based artists. This disrepects the talents that are their amazing DJ's. I have this question for the management. Do you seriously think that BBC Radio London would have it's legendary status if the likes of Gillet and Rodigan had been forced to play music chosen by someone else. It is hard enough being a musican in London, but the complete lack of support from the management of our local station is something I can't stomach. 

This year I've probably seen in excess of 100 up and coming bands at London gigs, 36 of which have played on the same bill as us at gigs we've performed. Some of them have been absolutely brilliant, yet I've not heard a track by any on BBC Radio London. Nearly all of these bands have music released. If it was just the False Dots and the BBC thought we were rubbish, I'd have no issue at all, but it is everyone. Given that I listen to the station (and it's rubbish playlist) every day, it breaks my heart. And for clarity, I've seen just about every genre of band, soul, reggae, punk, blues, rock, ska, jazz. Even Madness, who are mainstream and totally London, were hardly played when they released their amazing new album. 

Of course, the management will totally ignore me. But sooner or later someone will see sense.