WhatsApp changed how listeners could contact Radio 1
Scott and Chris were genuinely excited by a fairly ordinary piece of technology.
Radio 1 could now receive WhatsApp messages.
The station’s traditional text number had worked well in the UK.
It was much less useful for listeners abroad.
WhatsApp meant somebody in Wisconsin, Paris or almost anywhere else could contact the show without worrying about international texting.
More importantly, listeners could now send photographs, videos and voice notes.
The first afternoon was full of people simply testing the system.
“Hey guys, test — is this working?”
It was.
Scott immediately liked the feeling that Radio 1 had become another contact sitting in somebody’s phone.
Voice notes took over almost instantly
The programme encouraged people to send spoken reactions rather than typed messages.
One listener sent a completely unnecessary test voice note.
Another sent audio simply because they could.
Scott and Chris knew the novelty would probably calm down eventually.
For the moment, hearing people arrive directly into the studio from all over the world felt like a major upgrade.
They even used voice notes to collect three-word reviews of a new song.
The radio show had effectively become a giant group chat.
Social media could expose a fake sick day
The day’s other major theme was being sold out by social media.
One listener knew somebody who had gone to Glastonbury after failing to get time off work.
The solution had been to ring in sick each day from the tent.
That might have worked if the person had kept a low profile.
Instead, the festival group carried a huge flag connected with Peter Crouch and his podcast.
Photographs circulated.
Crouch retweeted one.
The supposedly ill employee was clearly visible at the Pyramid Stage.
Work saw it.
The plan collapsed.
The full person behind the story would appear later in the week.
The Who Game remembered secret school languages
Monday’s Who Game returned with school memories among the nostalgia.
One entry involved the coded language some pupils used by inserting extra sounds into ordinary words.
Chris remembered girls at school speaking it fluently while he understood almost nothing.
The memory would become a full feature the following day.
Harvest Samba finally returned
Don’t Look It Up went back to school assembly.
Scott and Chris remembered songs such as One More Step Along the World I Go.
Then producer Amy played Harvest Samba.
Scott did not know it.
Listeners absolutely did.
Messages immediately arrived calling it the tune of their childhood.
The lyrics about harvest and fruit had been embedded in school assemblies across the country.
Scott had somehow missed the entire phenomenon.
The podcast title ensured he would not forget it again.
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