Ash101

As we head into 2022, just my few thoughts on the new line up. In short: it's fantastic. I don't think there have ever been more shows on Radio 1 that I actively want to listen/catch-up with. Vick & Jordan are really growing into the drive slot. Sadly it just shows how poor Grimmy's show was when you compare just how much speech/content/fun they manage to squeeze into the show. There's plenty of different weekly features, they've got the daily staple in the 'Something Songs' & the 'talkers' always feel quite natural and generate some good stories. Basically they move the show on every 15/30 minutes & the hard work of the production team really does shine through. It's a shame it doesn't have a Scott Mills Daily style podcast to make catching up easier. I'm growing to like the pairing even more - sometimes I do feel Vick's humour doesn't quite work with Jordan. She kind of stunts his jokes and the way he plays up the whole Northern thing (but I guess I am comparing this to Jordan's podcast with William Hanson who just knows when to sit back and let Jordan be the fool). Katie is great cover too, she works with both Vick & Jordan so should keep the show sounding consistent all year round. RMC: I like them. I really enjoyed the evening show they did, because it was a little bit naughty & had plenty of games, even if the music wasn't always to my taste. Personally, it does feel like they've not translated this very well across to the new slot. I loved night night nonsense (a different game every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday where Rickie/Melvin/Charlie each host one night and the other 2 play), if they did something similar (midday madness? 😂) it would really lift the whole show in my opinion. The daily features they have started aren't that strong: Random annoys me, Skive lounge is fun but maybe not as often & Melvin's Live Lounge guessing game just sticks out (why are they only doing it 1 day a week when they do LL rewinds every morning?). It just feels like they have been pinched a bit too much on talk time & when there is 3 of them on the show it feels a bit of a waste of talent. Of course it shouldn't be as fast paced/packed as Breakfast or Drive, but I think Scott & Chris show that the 'content filled' shows do work outside of peak. My biggest wish for 2022 is that they can inject a bit more fun into this show. Shout outs are fine till 11, then the Live Lounge, but some different good features every half hour after that would be great. Greg James and Scott & Chris deliver the 2 most consistently great shows on radio anywhere in the UK, in my opinion. Obviously not too much to say here because they weren't new for September 2022, but they have certainly kept up their game alongside the new additions to the line up. I hope neither change for a good while to come. Reinstating Greg on a Friday was probably one of the best decisions of the year. My one niggle with Breakfast is that I wish they made more of the 9:30 till 10:30 slot. I miss the daily madness of the 6:30 till 7am bit. Evenings - I don't listen to them as regularly (I used to catchup with RMC) but whenever I have heard Clara, Jack & Sian, it really does feel like they are in the perfect places on the schedule. They each love the slot they do & it shows. Just a shame we have lost an entertainment based evening show. Even if it was 10-12, so it could be naughty again with Powerdown at 12am. Weekends - Adele is a pro and very much suits the weekend Breakfast slot. It doesn't need to be as fast paced as weekdays & I think the past few years of having the 2 different duos on then just shows what a waste it can be, especially on a quiet morning like Sunday. I'm still not 100% sold on Dean, he is good but I did prefer Jordan in that slot. As has been mentioned here before, I wonder if it's too much too soon. Should he be on Early Breakfast with Arielle at the weekends? My personal choice would've been RMC on a Friday, Dean on a Sunday & someone new on a Saturday - gives a slot to another ex-Xmas/Friday EB presenter too. (I'd pick Sam & Danni. Saturday, so they are still free to cover life hacks on a Sunday). Matt & Mollie are sounding the best they ever have. The move back to weekends really did 'reset' their show and the stuff they do is on a par with the duos on Monday to Thursday. Some really great games and the 'talkers' they do are also generating some of the funniest stories too. Again, it's a shame they don't have a podcast. They could probably get away with a pretty beefy weekly one?

Good point. Like I said, I would love for them to do something like that again. Wasn’t it usually NYD for Moyles, something like a “12 hour breakfast” with a different month in every hour? Feels like Scott & Chris have enough highlights for a day like this too.

Can’t see that schedule being real either? Why is Best of Breakfast only on for an hour? As much as I’d love to see a return to that sort of stuff at the end of the year (didn’t Moyles have a whole day of highlights?), it probably won’t happen because of the Christmas intake of presenters?

Surely this is fake because in previous years the new presenter Take Over has been for all shows between Boxing Day Breakfast & about 4/5pm on NYE?

Yes, saw Charlie’s Instagram post and was shocked to see it on BBC Four. Really doesn’t fit in with the channel overall? They could easily make it a monthly or so show on BBC Three & include some retro performances on months when they don’t have enough new content.

Agree, it’s nice to see some credible people doing Radio 2 cover instead of just random celebrities!

Seems they’re really cementing Scott as Ken’s cover over on R2 then? That’ll bring him up to about 4 or 5 weeks this year?

Interesting how in those stats that both Scott’s podcast & main show appear? Which must split the listeners and those stats (he’d be higher if only 1 was available?)

Hopefully this’ll change when BBC Three relaunches in January? Can dedicate whole evenings to festivals and the earliest slots to something like Out Out?

I think overall these changes are fantastic & the station is sounding the best it has ever in my years of listening. I'm struggling to pick when to 'not listen' during the day & want to catchup with as much as possible when i'm out/working with headphones on. As has been said above, Greg James and Scott & Chris are absolutely top of their game. They are the 2 shows I enjoy the most on the station. Greg's breakfast show is perfect for the time of day & even time of life when everything is a bit uncertain because of the last 18 months. Scott & Chris continue to be consistently good, RE Granny Tinder, I haven't heard it since the show went back to 1pm - so has it been rested for now? RMC: I loved the evening show, having never really listened to them that much on Kiss Breakfast. It felt the right amount of naughty and had some great games (RIP Night Night Nonsense). It does feel like they're not quite doing 'enough' to warrant the 3 presenters on for 2 hours and 15 minutes, in my opinion. They really could do with mixing the features up - I was never a fan of 'Random' when it appeared on NNN, so hate that it's now a weekly feature. Charlie's Drive Thru is probably the best one of the week. Melvin's Guess the LL is a pretty non event and the Skive Lounge has its moments. Personally, I'd have these 'weekly' features alongside a Night Night Nonsense style game from each of them - it just really helped with the variety & when you have 3 presenters it totally works have 1 hosting a game amongst the other 2. Vick & Jordan: They're strong. Both great presenters separately and both deserving of a better slot on Radio 1. However I am still slightly struggling with the pairing - but maybe this is because I love Jordan's humour and it seems to be a stifled by Vick trying to one up him or not make it funny (for example, when she basically eye rolls whenever he does the "have I mentioned I'm northern?" jokes). The features are great though, 'something songs' just works as a great music feature & has thrown up some brilliant choices over the last 5 weeks. 'I have a problem' and 'Judge Jordan' are great too (although JJ suffers from the above Jordan vs Vick issue). I think it was mentioned somewhere here that Matt & Mollie's old producer has moved over to Vick & Jordan and this shows from the segmented feature based show. It's a shame both M&M and V&J shows aren't released as daily or weekly podcasts as there are so many great features there.

I notice the new Asian Network schedule doesn’t mention Newsbeat & that the 3-6pm show will be debate/news based.. so I wonder if they’re going to reverse the Lockdown news changed with this in October? The only real change that R1 still has is simulcast news at breakfast, I wonder if that’ll change? But Greg is such a pro that to clock starts each half hour aren’t too jarring anyway

Agree, I always found the entertainment news bits quite laboured and unnecessary. If it's good enough then a presenter should probably be talking about it anyway! 'Entertainment news' for the sake of it benefits no one. The only positive part of Grimmy having it at drive time was the interaction he had with Sinead. But now with every show having multiple voices there really is no need.

Yes I thought that, no noticeable different in audio & no drop outs like they’d have in the evenings! I know they all came in for a few days then but one was usually in a Newsbeat studio, not sure that’d be possible during the day…

Listened to all the show's yesterday and just a few thoughts... Greg - It's such a great show, always has been & it has just felt right with helping settle in this new schedule. This morning he had Charlie, Sian & Vick all on for different reasons (live lounge promotion, 'top of the shops' game & a listeners review of drive time - respectively) promoting their shows and just giving Radio 1 that friendly family feel. My only criticism of Greg's show is that I wish they'd do something with the 10 till 10:30 half hour. It's basically just a re-hash of the "latest things" round up from just before 8am. Which is fine because I doubt many people will listen to the whole show like I do, but maybe a different game or daily feature would help finish the show off nicely. I do miss the craziness of when he show was on 6:30 till 7. RMC - I think they'll settle into this show really well. It is obviously different to what has come before when presenting the live lounge, but I like the idea of a bit more chat during the morning. I wish they'd carry over the 'night night nonsense' games from their evening show, as this added some nice variety (whereby they each come up with a game for the other 2 to play)... but it's early days so let's see what is to come. Scott - You can easily see why he is still on Radio 1. Yesterday's show was very entertaining, a good Whooooo game & some brilliant responses to the new WhatsApp number being added. He just understands the target audience, hence the longevity. Vick & Jordan - I was a little bit nervous upon hearing the announcement of this show, mainly because I felt Jordan was strong enough to take on a daytime show himself. But yesterday was a great debut. I really don't think this will turn out to be a Simon & Jo on Radio 2 situation. They connected really well, didn't really talk over one another (which is always a risk with new duos) and it all seemed really natural. Sounds like they've got some good features planned too, plus Jordan North asking what everyone is having for their tea is the MOST Jordan North drive time feature.. Vick being very sensible & organised vs Jordan's calamity lifestyle I think will really help the dynamic here... I dipped in a little bit to Clara, Jack & Sian too - which I think is a strong 'everyone in the right place' evening line up. I'm a little bit sad at the loss of the evening entertainment show, but I wonder if the increased cost of the daytime line (2 presenters left shows there to be replaced by 5!!) so it is understandable.

It's a tough one that, because yes personally I was/am not a massive fan of the 3 day weekend idea. But you can understand the logic. At the time, you had Dev, Alice & Matt all pushing 5+ years on the weekend line up, so this move managed to give the schedule a shake up while giving them a 3rd day on air. 4/3 split does seem much fairer on presenters and production staff wanting to earn a 'full time' wage. However - I do think the better idea would've been to start the weekend at 1pm on Friday. Scott is already displaced by doing the chart, so having Matt & Mollie on that slot works fine. I'd like to see RMC follow on from Greg on a Friday now. But I don't think that will ever happen, as they'd have used this week's changes as the time to realign that.

Are RMC all back in the studios together? With no one at home? Don’t think it’s been addressed on air and from their Socials yesterday it was only Charlie & Rickie in the main studio together…

Oh yes! I do remember that week now, as they had to simulcast 1Xtra’s 9pm shows as they seemingly had no cover.

Have RMC actually covered for Scott? I only remember them stepping in for Clara? It would make sense for it to be Matt & Mollie, seeing as they’re unlikely to land a full time daytime slot.. lots of cover is a bit of a sweetener! Could even then see Arielle or someone from Friday Early Breakfast covering their Saturday & Sunday slot.

Looking down the BBC Sounds schedule for Monday now, it literally leaves Ricky, Melvin & Charlie and Scott Mills as the only shows without Radio 1 in their title. (Newsbeat doesn’t either, but that’s a 1X & Asian simulcast)

I’d be shocked if RMC & Vick and Jordan are off together for more than a few weeks a year. They’ll surely just cover themselves by dropping down to a duo/solo. Matt & Mollie have covered for Scott as well as Breakfast this year, so maybe we’ll see that happen?

I believe the guidelines set out earlier this year actually state that all station’s breakfast shows will be staying in London…. which feels like a strange decision as, like you say, a northern duo doing a future breakfast up north would be a real statement. I’d probably put money on the next afternoon show to be the one that relocates. Cannot see it being the Live Lounge (logistics with artists coming to London), or drive time if they’re planning to mould Vick & Jordan as the next breakfast duo. I think Radio 2 is a more interesting conversation for which of their shows will move out of London? As that lineup isn’t likely to change anytime soon! To me, the most logical would be a successor to Jeremy Vine & move it to Salford to use 5Live’s resources..

Yes, I think it would’ve been mentioned if they weren’t going to be London based (like Dean). I do believe the requirement to have a daytime show outside of London isn’t for a few more years anyway…

I think this is a bit harsh on Greg. He wouldn’t have decided to make Himself “front of stage” with this event. It’ll be the breakfast production team and the wider Radio 1 producers. He is presenting the biggest show on the station, so it does make total sense to have these things involve him. Getting Dean on board would’ve just confused things. He’s largely irrelevant until he starts properly & then eventually does more daytime cover.

I totally agree, there’s no point slating Radio 1 because they weren’t in control. I think we all agree things got better once they were on the Saturday daytime. It’s difficult to say RE the protocol, because the next time it will be even worse in terms of disrupting normal schedules, as it’ll be the Queen. I believe the BBC on TV can’t show comedy programmes until after her funeral, so will Radio 1 have to tone it down/ditch the entertainment until this point too?

Jordan getting Drive is definitely the right move. I am not quite sold on partnering him up with Vick though. Nothing against her but Jordan does great radio on his own.