Taste, Protest And the Singles Chart

Michael Hedges April 15, 2013 Follow on Twitter

News broadcasters and publishers always prepare carefully for the passage of significant national and world leaders. Archive material is catalogued, stories written, analysts scheduled. Proper recognition and tribute can be delivered when the time arrives. Such is the world of news. Planning only goes so far.

This past week UK editors, print, broadcast and web, went into hyper-coverage following the death of Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, on April 8th. For public broadcaster BBC – and its new Director General Tony Hall – it has been another moment to rise to. During her tenure in office and leader of the Conservative Party, Mrs. Thatcher was, among other controversies, a critic of the BBC.

Off in the periphery, away from the retrospectives and analysis, is the Sunday mainstay of BBC Radio 1: the Official Charts Show. Each Sunday afternoon for more than a generation Radio 1 has broadcast a music countdown by UK single sales, updated recently to include online purchases. The show is a national institution, now compiled for the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association by market researcher Millward Brown for an independent supplier known as the Official Charts Company.

Mrs. Thatcher’s legacy within the UK is notably divisive. Supporters, including Rupert Murdoch, have been effusive in praise: others not so much. Again, Lord Hall, commanding the BBC troops, faced a challenge.

A semi-organized effort to bring critical reflection to Mrs. Thatcher’s legacy launched a campaign to elevate “Ding, Dong, The Witch Is Dead,” from the classic 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz, to a weekly national chart position and forcing radio airplay.

By Friday (April 12), sales of the tune, less than a minute long in its original version, had reached number three on the UK top 40 pop chart for the week, meaning it would figure prominently on the Sunday Radio 1 chart show. The vexation of Thatcher legacy guardians, without coincidence regular BBC critics, reached apoplexy.

“They are letting the charts be hijacked for political purposes,” said former Thatcher political aid and campaign fundraiser Alister McAlpine.  “I'm absolutely astounded that they are even considering playing it. It's another example of how out of control the BBC is.”

“This is a serious test for Tony Hall,” said Conservative Party MP Gerald Howarth. “This is the state broadcaster and it has a duty to show good taste and decency. It is still a tradition in our country that we respect the dead.” The BBC – by Royal Charter – hasn’t been “the state broadcaster” for decades despite efforts to bring it to heel by politicians of all stripe.

On the other side were voices the BBC not be “censored” and allowed to treat the little ditty as it would the usual fare of new singles. Pop tunes – from the Beatles “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” to the Sex Pistols “God Save the Queen” - were banned from British airwaves in the day when the BBC was the nations only broadcasters. Not wanting to be tarred with the “censor” label several politicians merely called the episode “disrespectable” and waited for the next news cycle.

“I think that Margaret Thatcher would be horrified having helped free millions of people in eastern Europe and been the symbol of freedom around the world that she could in any way have censorship in her own country,” said Conservative Party MP Rob Wilson, quoted by the BBC (April 12). “The BBC has had a very difficult decision and it's come up with a very British old-fashioned fudge.”

Lord Hall made the “difficult decision” late on Friday and let Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper do the explaining. “Nobody at Radio 1 wishes to cause offence but nor do I believe that we can ignore the song in the chart show, which is traditionally a formal record of the biggest selling singles of the week,” he reported. I’ve therefore decided exceptionally that we should treat the rise of the song, based as it is on a political campaign to denigrate Lady Thatcher’s memory, as a news story.”

“Ding Dong” did appearing on the Sunday chart show in its entirety, just five seconds, eventually placing number two for the week. And the show’s host did not introducing it. A newsreader was called in to give context.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Public Broadcasting - Arguments, Battles and Changes

Public broadcasters have - mostly - thrown off the musty stain of State broadcasting. And audiences for public channels are growing. But arguments and battles with politicians, publishers and commercial broadcasters threatens more changes. The ftm Knowledge file examines all sides. 168 pages PDF (March 2014)

Order here

The BBC

Few pure media brands transcend borders and boundries to acheive the iconic status of the BBC. The institution has come to define public service broadcasting. Yet missteps, errors and judgment questions fuel critics. The BBC battles those critics and competitors and, sometimes, itself. 119 pages PDF (February 2012)

Order here