DJ swerves off the playlist – too much Cliff Richard?
1June 23, 2004 by Colin
A DJ for the British Classic Gold digital radio station has been suspended for repeatedly straying from the approved playlist. The Guardian got their hands on some internal emails:
We shouldn’t be playing Cliff Richard,” [Program manager Paul] Baker wrote in an email sent on Tuesday. “As I said on Monday, we might carry out research on him, but for now we have a policy decision that he doesn’t match our brand values, he’s not on the playlist, and you must stop playing him.”
“Requests is [sic] not an excuse,” he added.
An unrepentant [Tony] Blackburn read out the email at around 8.20am this morning then tore it up live on air, threw it in the bin and played two Cliff Richard tracks back to back, thought to be We Don’t Talk Any More (.mov)and Living Doll.(.mov)
And here for you, the dedicated Sir Cliff Richard fan, is the secret of his Dick Clark-like eternal tan and taut skin. (RealAudio)
You may be interested to know that Classic Gold have now sorted the problem with Tony B, who has been reinstated. The staggering comment by Head of Programs that “We have to listen to our listeners, or they won’t listen to us” blows the mind – where do they get these people from ??
If I were Tony I’d now be organising a “50 Golden years of Cliff” program
See: http://www.classicgolddigital.com/main/news.htm