Capital FM lifts One Direction ban

Capital FM in London has played One Direction for the first time in three months, seemingly putting an end to the ban on any airplay or website exposure for the group.

Global, which owns Capital FM, put an unofficial ban on One Direction after the band thanked rival station Radio 1 at the Brit Awards.

They were accepting the Best British Single award, which had been voted for by Capital FM listeners. See our earlier story here.

Capital have consistently denied any ban exists with their only public statement being 'we don't comment on playlist decisions'. However, the facts would seem to indicate otherwise; since the Brits, until last night there had been not a single song played, no website mentions, and no other content referring to One Direction on any Global station.

When asked about the principle of banning an artist from airplay, Southern Cross Austereo's Craig Bruce commented:

'It’s dumb. Plain dumb. That sort of stuff works really well in kindergartens, but in business you would think there would be a little more respect show to your key business partners.

Capital FM listeners were quick to pick up the change, with many tweeting about the airplay.

@xLaura16x: Got in the car with my friend and One Direction WMYB was playing on capital we both started fangirling like crazy!! 1st time since the brits

@HugMeHarreh: So did Capital finally realise One Direction are too good not to play? They are on now!!

@HugMeLouisT: I see Capital FM finally got their head out their arses and played One Direction for the first time in ages!

You can read the complete story at Radio Today UK here, and see our 10 Questions with Global Programming Boss, Richard Park, here.