Chris returned to a very different Radio 1
Chris had taken a long weekend away in Devon.
He returned wearing a moon boot because the football injury had still not properly cleared.
Scott had spent the previous show inventing reasons for Chris’s absence, but the truth was far less glamorous.
He had simply gone away for a break.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest Radio 1 announcements in years happened while he was off.
Annie Mac was leaving after 17 years
Annie Mac announced that she would leave Radio 1 in July.
Scott replayed part of her announcement.
Annie did not want the departure framed as something sad.
She wanted to leave smiling, celebrate the years at the station and move on while she still felt excited about what came next.
Scott understood the sentiment.
That did not stop him finding the news emotional.
Annie had become synonymous with discovering and championing new music on Radio 1.
For listeners who had grown up with her programmes, the station without her would sound different.
Clara Amfo was taking over Future Sounds
The announcement also included the next step in the schedule.
Clara Amfo would move into Annie’s evening new-music slot.
Scott played old Clara clips and praised her ability to move between major events, interviews and music programming without ever sounding forced.
He had no doubt she would make the programme her own.
Still, the handover marked the end of a substantial Radio 1 era.
Chris Hughes supplied the perfect equine parallel
Then Chris Hughes called.
He had heard Scott and Chris discussing Annie.
Hughes was closely connected with racehorse Annie Mc, a horse whose near-namesake relationship with Annie Mac had already amused the station.
His news was extraordinary in its timing.
Annie Mc was also taking a break.
The jump season was ending and the mare was being turned out in a field for a couple of months.
She could run around, get muddy, relax and then return to training later in the year.
Scott loved the image.
Annie Mac was preparing to leave Radio 1 for a new chapter.
Annie Mc was going into a field for her summer holiday.
For one afternoon, human radio schedules and horse-racing schedules seemed strangely aligned.
Blow Your Own Trumpet included a spud cropper and anxiety win
Tuesday’s trumpet returned.
One caller was halfway through planting an enormous potato crop and received a fanfare for the progress.
Another listener, Anna, had challenged her anxiety by travelling to London alone, getting a coffee and returning home.
Scott and Chris treated that as exactly the sort of personal victory the feature existed to recognise.
The episode ended with big changes at Radio 1 and very small individual wins receiving equal enthusiasm.
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