This is a radio station pitched at men. Why would they put in any minimal effort to play female musicians?
This is what upset me when they rebranded. They decided that the female market and listenership were unimportant and were not part of the culture of this type of music.
I have always been very much a part of the scene. I used to go to lot of gigs. Over the years I've been to hundreds and hundreds. The crowds were always dominated by men and the artists who were most successful tended to reflect that.
I struggled in my late teens and early twenties with this. Women who went to multiple gigs were regarded as 'groupie' whose interest in seeing bands was based on sexual attraction. It was a particular problem if you did get lucky enough to go back stage and as such I was never particularly comfortable in this situation because of the prevailing attitude. I also was left with a feeling that women didn't 'look right' on stage. They didn't have the same stage presence.
Reflecting back, a lot of it was to do with sexist attitudes within the industry and the opportunities that women were given.
This list is a retrospective look back to the past at how there were fewer female artists who were given those opportunities in the past, were less successful because of who bought music, how now the history of music is written and by whom and by who radio stations which play rock music is pitched at. It basically institutional and I don't think you can look at in any way that's different.
'Women's music' is always regarded by the industry as pop. There are lots of radio stations that are pitched in this way and this market. Radio X was part of that decision by the stations owners to attract advertisers by creating distinct radio stations which were deliberately gendered. It was a conscious decision to do it and they were unapologetic about it. Men in their 20s and 30s are the most lucrative market for advertising space and this is what the owners were chasing: higher revenue.
For someone who loved XFM because it put music and the listeners before advertising considerations I find it very depressing. I was always a minority in the audience, and the rebranding of Radio X marginalised me further.
At the same time, I also understand that the radio sector is struggling financially to make ends meet and continue to run as a viable business. Though in the case of XFM they had consistently had high listener figures. The owners just thought by gendering the station and broadening its playlist to be more popular rather than niche (which a lot of female artists would fall under) would bring in even more listeners. And the decision to do this, has indeed actually achieved higher listener figures.
At the expense of women.