Virgin 1215AM

I have been listening to Virgin Radio for about 5 years. I'm getting quite cheesed off with it these days. It started out as a refreshing change from the local stations that had far too cheerful presenters and bling, bling music (the sort of music you can imagine Wayne & Colleen enjoying...God help us! The sort of music they used to play at the tacky nightclubs in and around Northampton, where you'de only get up and dance after six or seven bottles of Becks) It was also better than Radio 1, which seems to want to be trendier rather than listenable. It also had Pete & Geoff, and for a while Chris Evans!

These days Virgin Radio seems to have lost it's way. I listen to it more than I care to admit. It's the station that's playing as I write this at work (inbetween very busy periods of IT Support of course!.. 'Have you tried Rebooting it?') The DJ's all seem to be pretty interchangable these days. Apart from Geoff (from Pete & Geoff), Al Murray, Suggs, and Christian O'Connell everyone else just melts into one big cheesy DJ from yesteryear. Even Ben Jones is too polished for his own good. He will never admit that a band is pants.

I really miss Pete from Pete & Geoff. He had a cynicism that was refreshing on the station. Without him Geoff seems to be a little bit too loose, needing someone to rein him in (and Annabel just isn't up to it, she laughs far to hard at stuff that just isn't that funny). Geoff does have some very funny moments, but it's not half as good as the old team.

Ahh - What I still listen to the station for! They're playing 'The sound of silence' by Simon & Garfunkel. Occassionally they amaze you and play something unexpected (this is more likely to happen during Geoff's or Sugg's shows). Though this doesn't happen very often anymore.

And my main bone of contention at the moment... They play far too much MOR stuff (middle of the road). It's like hell listening to it sometimes. I swear I heard the same Jack Johnson song 4 times in the space of about two hours one night. And just as I write that sentence guess who has come on? Yes the devil's own himself... I can't even bring myself to write his name... James B, B, B, Blunt.... Yuck. They absolutely love him. And I suppose so do large sections of the public and the USA. I do not hate him because he is popular and has women throwing themselves at him (or do I?) No, I hate him because of his nasal whine and silly lyrics, his stupid swearing on album tracks and all the nonsense about him being so brave and driving tanks in the desert. The silly hair, the smug grin. The fact that I hum along sometimes without realizing what I'm doing (Arrgghhh!).

I wrote to Virgin radio a few months ago asking them why they were playing James Blunt so damn much. I asked them if they had financial investments in his success? Obviously they didn't reply. They just kept on spinning his discs.

But for all the bad, they do some good. They are one of the few stations that plays Stairway to Heaven and Whole Lotta Love in there entirety. They play Beatles tracks (not many stations do!) They play stuff I really like! I'm not quite ready to give myself up to Radio 2 (though Jonathan Ross' show is very good!) they play far too much pipe and slippers music (much as I love Terry Wogan, Franz Ferdinand were right to question his deferance).

All I can say is that Virgin continue to slide further into mudanity then I will switch off and implore my co-workers to follow suite.