Radio 1 music boss tells The Killers’ Brandon Flowers: ‘You’re not too old to make the playlist’

George Ergatoudis says it was "really difficult" deciding whether to playlist La Roux's latest singles

George Ergatoudis, head of BBC Radio 1, has spoken about the station’s failure to playlist recent tracks by La Roux – and answered a question from Brandon Flowers about whether he’s now too old make the cut.

In July, a report in The Sun claimed that La Roux’s Elly Jackson, aged 26, had been “deemed ‘elderly'” for the station and “shunted off to Radio 2”.

Speaking in the new issue of NME, which is on newsstands now and available digitally, Ergatoudis said it was “a really difficult one” deciding whether to playlist singles from La Roux’s comeback album ‘Trouble In Paradise’.

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Ergatoudis said: “There were a lot of enthusiastic voices in those playlist meetings who felt passionately about La Roux. But when it comes to crunch time, we have to make difficult decisions. Blaming us [for the failure of a single] might be part of the story. Don’t rely on us.”

Ergatoudis is quizzed by a host of readers and musicians in the issue. One of them, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers, asked if he is too old to make the playlist at age 33.

Ergatoudis replied: “Not at all. It’s about how old we see a musician’s fanbase as being, not the artist’s own age. Everything’s judged on its own merit. There’s really no guideline on age or a cutoff point where suddenly someone’s too old… But you’ve got to be serious and ask where the average age of their fans lies – does it skew young or does it skew 30 and above?”

For the full interview with George Ergatoudis, check out the Christmas double-issue of NME.

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