THEGAYUK

Tag: Radio 1

All the latest breaking news on Radio 1. Browse THEGAYUK’s complete collection of news, articles and commentary on Radio 1.

  • BBC Radio 1 commits to not playing Fairytale of New York with THE homophobic slur

    BBC Radio 1 commits to not playing Fairytale of New York with THE homophobic slur

    The BBC has announced that it will play an edited version of the Christmas classic, The Fairytale Of New York.

    Without fail the song, which was first released in 1987 has caused an uproar every year in recent memory when it is played, in full, on radios in the UK, come to December-time.

    The song has long offended many people in the gay community and finally, the BBC has said it will play an edit of the song which does not contain the slur “Faggot” on its youth-orientated radio station, Radio 1.

    It will, however, continue to play the original version complete with the problematic lyric on its other mainstream radio station, Radio 2. DJs on 6 Music, will be able to choose from both versions.

    Fairytale Of New York will have its homophobic lyric removed by BBC Radio 1

    On Radio 1 DJs will instead play an edited version, with a different lyric sung by one of the song’s singers, Kirsty MacColl, the corporation said. The addition lyric was sung by MacColl on Top Of The Pops in 1992, eight years before her death at the age of 41.

    A BBC spokesman said, “We know the song is considered a Christmas classic and we will continue to play it this year, with our radio stations choosing the version of the song most relevant for their audience.”

    This isn’t the first time that Radio 1 has used an edited version of the song. In 2007, the station censored the offending word, but soon reinstated it after a public backlash. So it will be interesting to see if a similar backlash happens in 2020.

    What’s the problem with “Fairytale of New York”?

    The problem with “Fairytale of New York” is the line, “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot.”

    Some in the LGBT+ community find the word offensives, while others don’t.

    The one key element is that songs that contain other offensives slurs often use edited versions, which either bleep out a slur or have another word dubbed in. Up until now, the original version of Fairytale Of New York did not have an edit to play.

    Last year, there were hundreds of complaints after Gavin and Stacey characters Nessa and Bryn sung the unedited version in a Christmas special broadcast on the BBC.

    In 2018 the song was crowned the nation’s favourite Christmas song.

  • Nick Grimshaw’s radio rating slip even further

    The Radio 1 presenter’s morning show isn’t doing great.

    Since taking over the morning slot at Radio 1 in 2012, Nick Grimshaw‘s audience has slowly shed hundreds of thousands of listeners – but BBC bosses still maintain that Radio 1 is “the most relevant youth brand in the UK today”.

    Nick’s figures are the lowest for any Radio 1 breakfast show since Rajar, the research body who collects audience data, began. At its peak, the Radio 1 morning show, presented by Chris Moyles managed to reach 7.06 million listeners.

    Between July and September this year, the show had 4.93 million weekly listeners, down from 5.5 million listeners for the same period the year before.

    Controller Ben Cooper said that there was still a 10.5 million weekly listenership for the station, across all its output and that Radio 1 had 9.4 million subscribers on social media and 5 million YouTube subscribers.

    Traditionally listener figures are always lower in the summer months as people tend to be away on holiday or have different routines compared to the rest of the year.

    According to the BBC, a source at Radio 1 said, “Teens are addicted to their phones so you can see why Radio 1 does so well on YouTube and Facebook.”

    Big Earner

    Nick Grimshaw is open of the top earners at the BBC. Earlier this year it was revealed that Nick earns up to £399,999 for his roles at the publicly funded broadcaster.

    Earlier this year it was revealed that Nick Grimshaw was one of a handful of openly gay staff at the BBC to earn more than £150,000. Whilst Graham Norton topped the earner’s list with a salary of up to £899,999, Nick Grimshaw earns up to £399,999 per year for his roles at the BBC.

  • COMMENT | Radio One Did What To Madonna? Are We Living In An Ageist Society?

    As eternal gay icon Madonna prepares to launch her new album Rebel Heart, she’s on a promotional trail that includes interviews and performances at events such as the Grammy’s and the upcoming BRIT Awards. I’m looking forward to the new album and will no doubt mince along to the shops to buy it when it’s out, but I’m also finding myself becoming increasingly annoyed that it seems to be en vogue to hold ageist attitudes about Madonna.

    The great lady probably doesn’t care that people are being ageist towards her (B**ch, she’s Madonna), but from my point of view, it’s quite disgusting. I haven’t managed to watch Madonna’s recent Grammy’s performance, but when looking on Facebook I saw lots of statuses and comments about Madonna needing to ‘put it away’ and act her age. To be honest I’m not really sure how a 56-year-old should be acting. Surely as long as Madonna is happy and not doing any harm, she can behave however she wants to. In fact, I applaud Madonna for being so carefree and doing what she wants. I hope I’m just as ballsy when I reach 56.

    The latest act of ageism comes in the form of a story from the Daily Mail that Radio 1 has banned Madonna songs from their station. Radio 1 has since denied the accusations, stating that they individual songs on their merit and relevance to the station’s target audience. The Radio 1 spokesperson also stated that they do include older artists on their playlist and gave Paul McCartney currently being featured as an example.

    While I understand the statement that Radio 1 made, I would like to ask them whether they can give an example of an older female who is currently on their playlist or has been in recent times. I can’t think of any and the Paul McCartney example is pretty much void as he is only on the playlist because he features on a Rihanna song. If Paul McCartney was releasing a song that only he features on, I don’t think he would even be considered for the Radio 1 playlist.

    Although the Radio One refutes the Daily Mail story, it does raise questions about the prevalence of ageism and sexism. Ageism remains a big issue in society and is often coupled with sexism when you consider a number of women who are mocked for ‘looking old’ or not ‘acting their age’. I can’t think of any males who face the same treatment.

    When it comes to Madonna being a victim of ageism, I doubt she cares, but I think Shirley Manson from Garbage summed it up best when she said the following in a 2012 interview with Bullet Media:

    “The tabloids complain about Madonna looking old, and people laugh at her for that. Then Madonna goes and fixes her face, and they laugh at her for that. Even though they begrudgingly say she looks amazing, they’ll still laugh at her for trying to look young. Then she steps out, looking amazing, and the tabloids go and blow up a picture of her aging hand. Nobody’s doing that to George Clooney, blowing up pictures of his hands! I look at these magazines, and I want to say to them, ‘What’s your point? That she’s aged? Does that surprise you? Or is your ‘point’ an attempt to undercut what she’s achieved?’ I think it is, even if it’s on a subconscious level. … And you probably wouldn’t turn down those hands if they were grabbing you under the table, you f**king idiots!”

     

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