Rock music's not for girls

[msrisotto]

So, I found out that my preferred radio station (after Kerrang shut down) is relaunching and rebranding to provide: "the first truly male-focused, fully national music and entertainment brand for 25-44 year olds".

It promises the "best fresh rock and guitar-based music", and will launch with Moyles at 6.30am on Monday, September 21.
Article here

Is this real life trolling?

Girls can't listen to rock music? Chris Moyles back on the radio? "Great Britain needs great banter"?

I actually felt a bit gutted, silly though it may seem. It's just so stupid but I like my guitar based music and don't need a bunch of boys pushing me out. It just made my day that little bit worse.

What do young sorts of people listen to these days? I guess they consume it all via apps / downloads and stuff?

(Not listened to anything new for 10 years emoticon)

So is radio an ageing population anyway?

I can't find another station either. Do you still get pirate stations these days? How am I going to find out about new stations?

lol @ all of us not knowing how to operate modern life

We need to ask some youths.

Why is no one kicking up a fuss about this bollocks?

I've tried Planet Rock but it's a bit.... pedestrian. Too much Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd and whatnot. Radio 1 does occasionally feature some decent stuff (Architects, Lower Than Atlantis etc) but it's sporadic.

I can't be bothered Jean.

They're a commercial station what can you do. If they want to stick 2 fingers up to their entire female audience that's up to them.

Complaining will only be met with "well it's not actually illegal for you to listen you know, you don't have to stop".

Put on the other thread about how it reminds me of an article I read about marketing computer games and how women and girls were deliberately excluded as an active part of their campaigns. I'll see if I can find it.

Well Radio 1 pushed out all the old listeners because the BBC Trust said they weren't providing anything for the youth. So now R1 is all about YouTube and celebrities etc. There are still decent specialist programmes. Listeners left in their droves over the last few years, but I think it's picking up again now. I imagine young people don't "listen to the radio" these days, but may have the radio running on an app in the background while they are doing something else. I don't think it's like the glory days when there was nothing to do but listen to the wireless.

There was a fuss about ageism when Radio 1 said they don't want listeners over 30 but they said "meh, we have to work to our remit, old fogies have R2". Commercial radio would care even less, they'd say

"the market forces are calling for a station aimed at men, and men like rock music"

"but what about women who like rock music? Or men who don't? "

"Don't care, market forces".

Meh a quick google doesn't throw it up and it's bedtime (bed at 10.20 = rock n roll hardcore honest)

Ugh I had a rant about this in the comments under the article on xfm's own page. There was about a 99% consensus that they were off their rockers and everyone would switch off. It's not like men are some poor overlooked niche market!

What should we do with PJ Harvey?

Marketing person here. What gets me is that none of these decisions will be made on a commercial basis. Companies are always producing products and services 'for blokes' and then getting surprised when women consume them. Look at all the nappy & aptimil ads on Dave. The consumer is a default man and only when something is completely 'feminine' is it marketed to women. Women make up 50% of gamers and the majority of crime / horror consumers - but you would never know that to look at the marketing.

I agree with almost everything you've said togoboldly I don't like Moyles but feel I have to admit he is successful

Moyles doesn't really do music, he just talks.

Eugh i've got a bloke on twitter telling me that he doesn't think it's a problem. Oh well, i'm glad I have a sensible man to tell me to stop worrying my pretty little head about it. Knob cheese.

"It's a bit stupid, but Heart and Magic with chart hits and 80s power ballads = for the birds, XFM with cock rock = for the blokes."

I used to go to rock/metal clubs in the early 90s and the music which packed the dancefloor with women was the cock rock - the Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison, Kiss, GnR, etc. which I always thought was horribly misogynist but apart from that I didn't like the music anyway.
But it appeared to be most popular with women.

MrN, for the avoidance of doubt I don't believe in bird/bloke music . I have an appreciation of the 80s power ballads as well as classic rock, there is a place in my heart for all.

Do you mean the fact it was mainly cock rock bands and not female artists being played in the clubs was misogynist? Or the music itself?

I don't need a cock to listen to rock Good article, awesome headline

"Do you mean the fact it was mainly cock rock bands and not female artists being played in the clubs was misogynist? Or the music itself?"

The cringy, awful lyrics by those bands, all about cherry pie, getting rocked, being sticky and sweet, urgh. Not the music (which I didn't like either) but the lyrics. And the behaviour of the bands - cameras zooming in for "tits out" and Guns 'n Roses concerts, etc.

Two of my favourite bands from then were L7 and Babes in Toyland, but they weren't that popular.

*at Guns 'n Roses concerts.

Planet Rock radio is a good station. I've listened to it for years. It's a DAB and online station. Women DJs as well as some men. I haven't liked Radio 1 since prior to it pretending to be cool when I was little.

I used to listen to KLAC online. That was pretty good.

I used to listen to Rock Radio/Real XS a lot, but it got a bit repetitive. It's a bit more 'old' rock, lots of Thin Lizzy, Led Zep etc during the day. The adverts are all for motorbike leathers and Salford scrap yards.

I started the other thread. Some has pointed out on that thread that Heart - XFM's sister station is marketed at a similar aged female audience and this was 'just market segmentation'.

I just posted this (with minor differences) in response to that comment as I think its worth thinking about.

I don't know the answer to this question but is Heart Radio marketed as 'for women'? Or is it marketed for the music?

I think the problem with this change is the fact that this marketing campaign is reinforcing the message that guitar music isn't for women through its sheer aggressiveness and focus on this angle and therefore is making me feel pushed out and marginalised that is the real key here.

Whilst it may be trying to attract certain advertisers, if the way to do that is to force out women as lesser listeners then I do think there is a problem.

Especially if the marketing for Heart isn't on a parallel.

I don't have a problem with market segmentation. I do have a problem with outright trying to marginalise women in order to create a brand from a product that was previously marketed as 'for everyone' and didn't have these made boundaries of male and female territory. A brand that was not in need of changing because it was failing and was proving itself to be healthy and doing exceptionally well in a challenging and changing market. And the previous licences were given on this basis and now radio frequency is being given to a station which is actively trying to marginalise a large part of the audience that used to tune into that frequency.

Given that Ofcom's remit is to set and uphold certain standards for broadcast and to ensure that licences are issued in order to benefit socially because of the limited number of broadcast frequencies and its existence was to deliberately prevent radio and television being at the mercy of pure unregulated and rampant commercialism, their are certain questions this move does raise.

It is very different to other communication mediums like print and the internet for this reason. Hence the need for regulation in the first place.

Oh, don't get me started OP, a similar one here or there was.
DD loves Jazz not only listening but playing as well.
She is learning how male dominated professions target their marketing and education to men.
It got so bad at one time that her Dad bought her a 'girl can't what" t shirt with the appropriate picture. Zazzle do them, they are really good if anybody has a sport, pastime etc. Can thoroughly recommend.

Ah, male focused "banter". Fairly sure that's code for lazy offensive humour which attempts to be controversial but ends up being, well, shite.

Anyway, I'm 22 and the only time I know of people my age using the radio is in the car perhaps.

I didn't listen to the radio before I started working. Now I listen to the radio in the car and there's often something on quietly in the background of the shared office. But up until I was 23/24 I found new music in other ways.

You might have found music in other ways but XFM did a huge part in supporting bands early in their career before they got found by a wider audience. They did a lot of sponsorship of gigs in Manchester which, no doubt, will be lost in the move south.