I think it's one of the best possible versions with the DJs available. Have some minor complaints, but Aled did a great job after all.
Arielle: I like her a lot, especially her energy and her accent. They hopefully won't forget about her when a better weekday slot opens up.
Greg: I still miss Chris Smith, but as someone who've always hated breakfast show as a genre, I love Greg's. It's not perfect but I always switch off happier than I tuned in, that's a really big deal.
RMC: Now... I'm sorry but they remind me of an awful commercial breakfast show. It's like they's have a time limit on the links, always in a rush to play the next song and laughing on top of each others lines. They just don't fit on R1, at least not as a trio (when one of them was absent the show got a bit better). At least the music is not monotone and boring like it was on the nighttime show. Melvin is cool tho.
Scott: We can just take him for granted at this point, because he's leaving R1 next year since 2012, but still, here we are. Okay, nothing lasts forever, but as long as they're sounding this strong with Chris (this morning's "surprise" show was fantastic for example), I'll still be listening for the next 1/2/5/10/20 years. Even when Scott leaves the afternoon slot (probably around 2112 ), I hope he stays on the chart show or get a naughty late night slot.
Vick & Jordan: My first thought was that it's a waste pairing them together, because they're the best two of the new generation presenters, and two great shows are better that just one. After I heard the first show I've changed my mind, this was a brilliant move, they sound amazing together.
Clara: Kinda indifferent on her, love her voice, but nothing special. Wasn't listening that much. Not her fault, but I think the hottest record "rebrand" was a mistake. At least it's not a separate 5 minute show on sounds, but on air it sounds like it was and I don't like it.
Jack: Now this is how a specialist show should sound like. And it's on at a time when average human beings are still awake. Perfection.
Powerdown Playlist: If only it was live... or at least fake live... if only...
René/Annie/Benji: I'm just glad they're still on. Shows like this are what used to make R1 nighttime special, not lazy mixes recorded for repeating.
Adele: Weekend mornings are the shows that suit her the best imho, but I don't hear her that much to form an opinion.
Dean: The first impression was really bad, "be happy right now or else" vibes, so I avoided him for months. I gave him another chance in early December, but this he was actually fun and sounded professional. My favourite thing from him was the birthday hour for the poor folks (like myself ) who celebrate their birthday around Christmas time. Maybe he deserved all three weekend shows after all.
Matt & Mollie: They're still okay, I guess. Not really listening nowadays. I still prefer solo Matt though.
Dance Anthems: I wouldn't really mind Charlie, but throwing out the future hour for another classic one is such a sin from a new music station in my book, that I haven't listened once since M.I.S.T.A.J.A.M (that's how he spells it, right? ) left.
Anthems in general: (Rant alert!) Play songs in full! Whoever mixes them, clearly can't mix at all, so why bother. If i like a song, and it cuts off halfway through, I just switch off the radio and put on the full song. Also repeat less! Yes, Starlight, Flowers, 21 Seconds, Gotta Get Thru This and such are all classics, but maybe the last 2 decades have many many more brilliant but forgotten songs that deserved to be on anthems instead of yet another play of these.
Everyone else: Nothing specific, maybe I'll edit this if I have something new to say.
Bonus: The 10:30-1-15:30-6-8 schedule: I'm kinda fine with it now, my only complaints are that it's still inconsistent with weekends and weekday shows feel shorter than they actually are, especially drive, so I still prefer the good old 10-1-4-7.
(That's it for now, I'm back with another overly long post with broken english in another ~6 months. )