Boom Radio, the station targeting disaffected Radio 2 listeners, is adding punk rock to its line-up in a bid to lure more of the BBC’s audience.

Boom plans to sweep up an army of “punk pensioners”, who once sported mohicans and pogoed to The Sex Pistols, but whose musical tastes are no longer being served by a youth-focused BBC, the station claims.

However, the BBC denied it is neglecting punk lovers, pointing to a series of new specials about the genre and its continued presence on its playlists.

Launched in 2021, Boom has built an audience of 700,000 loyal listeners over 60, playing the swinging pop classics from the 50s to the 70s, introduced by veteran ex-BBC DJs including David “Diddy” Hamilton. Since Boom’s launch, Radio 2 has lost two million listeners, as well as popular presenters including Ken Bruce, though it is still the UK’s most-listened-to station with an audience of 12.4 million.

Next week, Boom will broadcast a new documentary telling the story of Stiff Records, the independent label which released the first UK punk single, by The Damned, in October 1976. The BBC told the Stiff Records story in a 2019 radio documentary. The Stiff Records Story will air on Thursday 3 September at 9pm Boom Radio.

Stiff became home to punk, alternative and new wave artists including Elvis Costello, Madness and Ian Dury as well as heavy metal legends Motörhead. There is now a place for those bands on Boom, the station says.

Boom co-founder David Lloyd told The i Paper: “As the BBC increasingly targets younger listeners, we’re providing a home to music lovers whose tastes span decades, whether that be rock’n’roll, beat, glam rock or now – punk.”

Listeners who left Radio 2 to enjoy the likes of Cliff Richard and The Carpenters, following the BBC’s station’s shift to listeners under 50, might be shocked by the leap towards punk.

BBC and Boom battle over ‘punk pensioners’

But Lloyd believes Boom listeners are open-minded and will embrace the station’s noisy arrivals.

“Our audience is made up of a breadth of folk who were weaned on music in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and the vast depth of our playlist reflects that,” he said.

“And as those who were young teenage punk fans become punk pensioners, it makes total sense for us to illustrate the music from that time, and the many records on the Stiff Record label that they may have had in their collections.”

Punk featured prominently when the BBC launched 6 Music as a digital station celebrating the previous 40 years of “alternative music” in 2002. The station has recently adapted its strategy to include more electronic and dance music.

But the BBC said punk was as popular as ever on its stations. A spokesperson said: “6 Music regularly plays punk from all eras by artists such as Amyl and the Sniffers, IDLES, Patti Smith, The Slits, Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex, The Damned, The Stooges, New York Dolls, The Clash, The Ramones and many more on shows across the schedule.”

Chris Packham tells story of punk on BBC

Naturalist Chris Packham recently presented A People’s History of Punk series for Radio 4, telling how the movement shaped his life, following an eight-part series charting on BBC Sounds.

Boom’s shift follows the launch of a new BBC Sounds music stream Indie Forever, playing guitar rock classics from the 1980s to the 2010s, bypasing the punk breakthrough of the late 70s.

However, Ofcom rejected BBC proposals for a Radio 2 spin-off station, playing music from the 50s to the 70s and using shows from the station’s archive after Boom complained that it was already serving those listeners.

Punk exploded into the public consciousness after The Sex Pistols, the Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Clash played a “punk festival” at London’s 100 Club in September 1976.

Radio 2’s Sounds of the Seventies will mark the 100 Club’s festival this month with more 50th anniversary programming to come, the BBC said.