Colin and Jonny Greenwood say British radio is shutting Radiohead out

Colin and Jonny Greenwood have told Mixing It, Radio 3's programme for contemporary music, that British radio, Radio 1 included, is keeping Radiohead off the air by chasing younger listeners. I heard the controller of Radio 1 say the demographic for their station is now 14 or 15 to 25, so I think we are kind of excluded.²

The brothers went on the show to talk about the wider influences on their music, among them the jazz of Charles Mingus and the harpist Alice Coltrane behind tracks on Kid A. The programme is due to go out on Saturday 20 January, and the Observer, which reported the interview on Sunday 7 January, expects the swipe at the BBC to be cut by then.

Colin puts it down to the times, not to Radiohead alone. Artists of standing have put out albums in recent months only to see them fall out of the top 20s and 30s two weeks later. It is the nature of the times we are in.² Guitar music of middling quality is the safe commercial choice, the brothers say, and it takes up so much airtime that Radiohead are often left out. Jonny recalls the series of kickings² British critics first gave Kid A, which was nominated last week for the Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album.

A Radio 1 spokesman calls it unfair to single the station out, since it has made far more room for Radiohead than commercial radio has. The band had unprecedented exposure on Radio 1 last year, he says, including a live session and a DJ session, and Radio 1 was among the first British stations to play material from Kid A. Its attention to dance music simply reflects changing tastes.

The BBC has no station for rock and pop listeners in their late twenties and thirties. Jenny Abramsky, its controller of radio and music, plans five new digital networks this year, and one of them, codenamed Network Y, is meant for that age group. A Radio 2 spokeswoman was asked what it would play. I imagine that Radiohead will be right at the core of this new digital station's playlist.²