U2 Airplay on UK radio?

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necklover29

Babyface
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Messages
22
Location
Nottingham, UK
This question is mainly aimed at British based fans. I was wondering how much airplay U2 songs get on Various Radio Stations here in the UK? Whether it be on national stations like Radio 1 or 2, or on the local comercial stations.
Here in Nottingham we have Trent FM which we have on at my workplace (not my choice) and they never play U2, particularly songs from NLOTH. When I get home though I put on the far superior (in my opinion:lol:) Absolute Radio and they do play U2 on a fairly regular basis. So what about elsewhere? Can anyone here in the UK shed some light on this?
 
Local radio in my area Lincs Fm(shit station hardly listen to it) play tracks such as Beautiful Day but have never heard anything from the new album. Radio 2 had Magnificent on its playlist but Radio 1 didn't.
 
We have radio 2 on in our work,and they always play the new U2 singles with great fan fare. But after a few weeks they slip off the radar again. But a couple of week ago steve wright played mysterious ways,and i never hear that on any other station!
 
It's a pitty UK radio does not play them that much. Here in Australia they get quite a bit of airplay. In Adelaide you usually get the normal bunch of songs like Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Mysterious Ways and One but i've even heard tracks like Wild Horses, The Fly, Everlasting Love and When Love Comes to Town on Triple M. Believe it or not Australian radio plays Everlasting Love crap loads of times!
 
Radio2 went through a phase of playing a lot of Rattle and Hum stuff a year or so back - was slightly strange, but not complaining!
 
Radio stations tend to have a playlist and a core.

Certain new singles will be selected for a short playlist which lasts for example - ten weeks, with one new song added, and another taken away each week.

After that they will be dropped

The core is a few hundred songs that have been tested on that stations audience, and are likely to contain a few U2 classics.

In due course, some of the playlist songs will make it onto the core, though that's not inevitable.

The reason that you don't hear a huge variety of songs on radio stations in the UK, is because the average radio listener, only listens for approx 15 mins. It makes sense therefore, (particularly for independent music stations) to have a short playlist of songs which is rotated quickly - that way, more people get to hear the most popular songs.

Some stations may allow presenter / producers to add their own songs, however on mainstream daytime programmes that's highly unlikely, and presenters would probably get a good bollocking if they do, unless there's a valid editorial reason.
 
I have some radio 1 stats (based on their official last.fm) in the last 3 years and 3 months

U2 are radio 1's 84th most played artist, with 399 plays overall
They are 63rd with 217 plays for the last 12 months
They are 30th with 180 plays for the last 6 months
They are 105th with 29 plays in the last 3 months
They have not been played at all in the last week

Get on your boots is the 224th (71st for last 12 months, and 27th for last 6 months) most played song overall with 122 plays
Vertigo is 436th with 77 plays
Magnificent is the 223rd (100th for last 3 months) most played song of the last 6 months with 26 plays

On BBC radio 2
U2 are tenth most played overall with 532 plays
5th for last 12 months with 284 plays
2nd for last 6 months with 234 plays
12th for last 3 months with 88 plays
31st for last 7 days with 4 plays

Get on your Boots is the 74th (26th for last 12 months,13th for last 6 months, most played song with 83 plays
Magnificent is the 105th (40th for last 12 months, 22nd for last 6 months, 20 for last 3 months) most played song with 74 (57 in last three months) plays
The Sweetest Thing is 427th (340th for last 3 months) for the last 6 months with 9 plays


So U2 do get a lot of radio play in the UK overall
 
It's a pitty UK radio does not play them that much. Here in Australia they get quite a bit of airplay. In Adelaide you usually get the normal bunch of songs like Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Mysterious Ways and One but i've even heard tracks like Wild Horses, The Fly, Everlasting Love and When Love Comes to Town on Triple M. Believe it or not Australian radio plays Everlasting Love crap loads of times!

I reckon, they seem to like Everlasting Love a lot. I've heard Even Better Than The Real Thing as well, on MMM.
 
The other week I deleted Heat, The Hits and Smash Hits from my freeview digital box in a fit of anger because that keep on playing that awful song that leaves Bono red faced. So now after the BBC radio stations my system shows Magic, which plays a lot of 80's Whitney ballads and Louis Armstrong's A Wonderful World.

Oddly they play GOYB a lot on Kiss which is usually designated for dance music only. It's also been played on Kerrang, which is supposed to be a heavy metal station even though its magazine has featured Green Day and Eminem on the cover. The DJ said that at last Bono has grown some balls (ie: he didn't think Bono had balls before). He said that you can tell they've been listening to death metal from Boots.
 
They keep playing One 'duet' over-and over. They all seem to have the same playlist. Mel C's I run To You (9 years old), Dane Bowers and Victoria Beckham's Out Of Your Mind (also from 9 years ago), Shapeshifters Lola's Theme (out in 2004) and I Like To Party (out 6 years ago). It's like they've got a mutual agreement between them that will only ever play crap.
 
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