It's very quiet on the board

magpie

Any ideas how many people listen to xfm? I'm not being facetious, I'm just curious.

Coolz

never heard of it

dathi1

I'd say about 10

more than probably at weekends

magpie

So why are you losing out to Phantom so much?

BrianD

I wouldn't say that Xfm are losing out to Phantom FM no more than they are losing out to any other station. In a way, Xfm and Phantom FM compliment each other. Phantom positions itself as main stream indie and Xfm puts itself more left of centre, even verging - in my own opinion - on being obscurist. All of this is good as it gives the listener choice!

magpie

Are you following me?

dathi1

"obscurist" you took the words right out of my mouth!!! Xfm the obscurists music station is now our new moto!!
magpie since our inception in 1991 comparable audience levels are an irrelevance to our overall agenda.

left of centre

That fits the bill with the rest of the of the crew alright...but they would never consider me in that category

magpie

What's the difference between obscurist and obscurantist?

BrianD

Daithi the terms I used may not be perfect. BTW what is Xfm's agenda and would it be fair to say that back in 1991 when Alices Restaurant started that the station was more main stream (ah, I remember when you used to have French Disco by Stereolab in your overnight loop).

BTW, I've switched off my signature as it is a bit rude to promote another station in your forum!!

Brian D

dathi1

No I disagree..Alice's restaurant if you remember played what at the time was considered very alternative. Here's the playlist on opening day Nov 12th 1991:
Nivirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
Sheep on Drugs motorbike,
Blur yes... Blur!! and Oily water (unknown and unsigned at the time)
Fortran 5- XX21
Throwing Muses- Red Shoes
Moby :rolleyes: Go
The Breeders Safari
The Orb - Reefer Spin In The Galaxy
Kitchens Of Distinction- Innocence
Thrill Kill Kult- Leather Sex
Nine Inch Nails- Head Like A Hole (Clay Remix)
EMF- I Believe (Foetus Mix)
Lush-Tiny Smiles
Curve- Already Yours
This Mortal Coil- The Jeweller
Dead can Dance - Host of Seraphim

At that time there was literally no alternative radio stations (I think Radio Active came on low power a year later) and even Dave fanning wouldn't play some of the above. I think when phantom came on 1997 after its predecessor spectrum, they started to play some of the above and put more emphasis on the local scene. I'd say our audience levels now are same as then...we just stuck to the overall idea of an alternative concept without going down the commercial route- aspect of radio. I think Phantom even though its not my scene, does a great job overall and more power to them.

Ps...if you listened to Alice's back then you must be way into your 30's now??

magpie

Ah.. Safari by the breeders. What a cracking tune. Now where did I put that 12"?

pastis

Quite cool to see two station managers respecting each other that much.

Fair play to you Brian for coming onto Xfm's ground.

Xfm surely doesn't have as much audience level as Phantom. Not everybody knows Xfm but everybody has listened to or heard of Phantom.

Like other pirates, Xfm has probably lost quite a lot of regular listeners with the crackdown on the pirate stations, but before that, there might have been more listeners than we think.

Well, no, not thousands either.

BrianD

Dathi I shall disregard your last comment ... too close to the bone!!!! The irony is that we will probably have outgrown our "target audiences" by the time we get licences!!

Good mix of tunes - many standing the test of time - that I think really show that Alices Restaurant were right on the money when it came to cutting edge "alternative".