Radio 2 becomes 1! BBC station is accused of shunning Baby Boomer favourites for 1990s music such as the Spice Girls
- Radio 2 accused of abandoning listeners in bid to attract a younger audience
- Station said to be dialling back on number of songs played from 1960s and 70s
- Instead thought to be focusing on music from the 1980s, 90s and noughties
Radio 2 is facing accusations of abandoning the Baby Boomer generation amid claims it is getting DJs to play fewer songs from the 1960s and 70s.
According to BBC insiders, the station is trying to scale back the number of songs from these decades to attract a younger audience.
Former long-serving Radio 2 presenter ‘Diddy’ David Hamilton, 82, yesterday said many adults didn’t want to listen to the station any more – and claimed a lot of the presenters were not happy with the music they were now having to play.
It is claimed that Radio 2 is now targeting women between the ages of 35 and 45 as a key demographic, having previously given them the title ‘mood mums’.
It is thought to be focusing on more music from the 1980s, 1990s and noughties from acts such as the Spice Girls, whose hits include 2 Become 1.
t is thought to be focusing on more music from the 1980s, 1990s and noughties from acts such as the Spice Girls (pictured), whose hits include 2 Become 1.
One of the most obvious examples of the policy is the show Pick of the Pops, fronted by veteran broadcaster Paul Gambaccini.
The programme, which looks at the music charts from previous decades, has not featured the 1960s since September, according to the BBC Sounds catch-up service.
It is understood that BBC managers decided last autumn that the show would focus on music from the later years of the 1970s through to the noughties as part of the station’s policy to attract younger women.
Hamilton said: ‘I don’t think a lot of the presenters at Radio 2 can be happy with the music they are being asked to play.
Radio 2 is facing accusations of abandoning the Baby Boomer generation amid claims it is getting DJs to play fewer songs from the 1960s and 70s as the station is said to be trying to scale back the number of songs from these decades to attract a younger audience. Pictured: The Supremes
‘It doesn’t seem to sit with them, their style of presentation and their age group. I know there are so many people who don’t listen any more because they’re not getting the music that they want.’
He added: ‘What you’re doing is actually you are ignoring a golden era of music. It isn’t just people who were around in the 1960s who like that music – a lot of younger people like it too.’
Hamilton is a DJ for the new station Boom Radio which is specifically aimed at Baby Boomers and is hoping to attract many of these disaffected BBC listeners.
A Radio 2 spokesman said: ‘Radio 2’s target audience has always been 35-plus and that has not changed.
‘As listeners know, we continue to play a wide variety of music from the past seven decades, including from the 1960s and 70s, and in the coming weeks, fans of the music from the 1940s onwards can enjoy a new series of Barry Humphries.’