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11 August 2022: Scott and Chris sat above Fistral Beach and talked honestly about friendship, radio and saying goodbye

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11 August 2022: Scott and Chris sat above Fistral Beach and talked honestly about friendship, radio and saying goodbye

 

This was not a normal edition of the podcast

Producer Amy introduced the recording with a warning that the conversation contained stronger language and more adult themes than the ordinary show.

Scott and Chris had gone to a cliff above Fistral Beach after food and a couple of drinks.

The production team simply pressed record and left them to talk.

They were not sure at the time whether anybody would ever hear it.

The point was to make sure they did not reach the final Radio 1 show with important things still unsaid.

Newquay was where the friendship properly formed

They went back to the beginning.

Chris had been a student in Southampton and worked as a resident DJ.

Scott, who came from Southampton, regularly returned to DJ at university events.

That was how they began spending time together.

Chris admitted he had originally been a particularly big fan of Chris Moyles, even recording parts of his show onto tape, but he also listened to Scott and gradually became part of his orbit.

Trips to Newquay followed.

Chris remembered how extraordinary it felt to stand beside Scott at packed club appearances when crowds treated a Radio 1 DJ like a rock star.

Scott had encouraged Chris before there was any guarantee it would work

Chris remembered sending Scott early student-radio material and asking for advice.

Scott introduced him to people in commercial radio and reassured him after disappointments such as the Student Radio Awards.

Chris had once believed winning those awards was almost a requirement for getting anywhere near Radio 1 because presenters such as Greg James had followed that route.

Scott told him it was not the only way.

Looking back, Chris realised how much that encouragement mattered.

Their differences were part of why the show worked

They talked about how unlikely the pairing could look on paper.

Scott and Chris had different backgrounds, personalities and life experiences.

None of that weakened the friendship.

It made the programme more interesting because the conversations were genuine rather than a manufactured radio partnership.

They had shared huge professional moments, ordinary nights out, family milestones and difficult personal periods.

Radio listeners heard only part of that relationship, but enough of the real friendship came through to make people invest in both of them.

They wanted listeners to talk to their own friends

The most serious part of the chat moved beyond radio.

Both had received messages over the years from listeners who used the show as company during illness, grief, loneliness or dark periods.

They also knew people who had struggled without talking.

Chris said he hoped listeners would have the sort of honest conversation with a friend that he and Scott were having on the cliff.

Scott agreed that even one conversation or one laugh can alter somebody’s day when things feel bleak.

The Sunset Chat therefore became more than a farewell interview.

It was two friends trying to explain what the friendship had meant, why the radio partnership worked and what they hoped people might take from it after the show ended.

They finished by telling each other they loved each other.

Listen to this episode

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