Radio Who?

I'm fully aware that my ability to remain an impartial and non-biased writer on this subject is limited, so I'll just cut straight to the chase and be done with it. I'm an Iron Maiden fan. And not just a cursory 'I like loud guitars and that 'Run To The Hills' song is good' fan, but a nailed-on, been to the gigs, got the albums, know the various line-ups, and even bought The X Factor album kind of fan.
So that meant it was a great surprise that Maiden won the Brit award for 'Best Live Act' of the year, given that Maiden have never picked up those sorts of accolades, despite having a career longer than most artists could hope for (they've been going longer than Lily Allen has been alive), and selling millions of albums in the process. It was an even more particular surprise given the circumstances that it came about with. The award was actually voted for by Radio 2 listeners, and was shortlisted against Coldplay, Elbow, The Verve and Scouting For Girls. Each of these artists was played on air in the weeks leading up to the award, and the 4 other bands had specific songs played on Radio 2's mid-morning, lunchtime, afternoon and driving home time shows. In other words, the shows that most people listen to. Iron Maiden were played on Radcliffe and Maconie's evening show, which, good as it is, simply can't match the listening figures of the daytime shows, purely because its on during primetime TV hours. Nobbled from the start, I felt. The prospect of that being a simple coincidence fell when the 'music news' section of Radio 2's mid morning show gave them a single, one line mention after the awards night, before going forth to spend quality broadcast time on playing clips of fans going gaga at Gary Barlow, and a good section from Coldplay's Chris Martin on how they hadn't won anything.
I wouldn't be unduly alarmed at the lack of coverage of what is, after all, a heavy metal band, and Iron Maiden will clearly carry on unperturbed at the award, but what has really stuck in my throat is that that very specific award was the one voted for by Radio 2 listeners, and Radio 2 proceeded to give it less than lip service. Had Coldplay or current R2 darlings Elbow won, I have very little doubt that interviews with the respective bands, as well as playings of their records would have followed. But the on air response seemed to be a very embarrassed 'err.. Iron Maiden won, and you've all picked the wrong band...' which, quite frankly, treats the listening audience with the sort of contempt Robert Mugabe seems to have for International Independent Voting administrators...