Ash101

I don’t totally understand where you’re coming from though. This is totally normal for any radio station? Of course cover presenters, or the next person in a big slow is going to already be on the station. Heart, Capital etc all do the same. Dev covers weekday shows on Heart because he works for them. They don’t bring in someone random for 1 week. I don’t see Radio 1 ever parachuting in someone brand new for Breakfast or Drive. It’ll always be someone known to the audience. The best example of this is probably RMC settling on Evenings before being moved to mornings.

Totally right. There were zero female candidates better placed for the role when either Grimmy or Greg took on Breakfast. Plus like you say, it should always be on merit. Yes it’s good to address gender balance but “for the sake of it” always risks undermining the talent you’re actually putting there. It’s a shame Alice has left as she would have been my ideal female candidate for either breakfast or drive.

Agree with this. But we’ve had Moyles, Grimmy & Greg. That’s 20+ years of solo males (by the time I expect Greg will finish). I would be shocked if we didn’t see a female presenter, even if co-hosting alongside a another, on breakfast.

Jordan must be unavailable. Going home on the 17th when restrictions allow seems only fair when he says it’s been since last Summer since he saw family. The only schedule hasn’t been uploaded for the Sunday yet? Do we know if they are double shifting. I agree RMC or Arielle covering Sunday morning would be better.

Isn’t that Eurovision week? So they’ll be in for Scott & Jordan, on air for 8 days straight?

Totally agree. Keeping it R1 works best & actually this station probably adds a bit more PSB value than R1 Dance does currently

Now then, RM&C on that slot is a bit of a strange move. As it’s traditionally been a more music heavy show, but clearly not anymore with a trio at the helm. Clara to Future Sounds makes the most sense! She covered it brilliantly last year. I presume Jack’s earlier show will continue as his does now & we’ve finally lost the more entertainment based evening slot after Charlie Sloth and RM&C?

Nice ideas. I really like the idea of Greg, Vick, Scott, Jordan & Clara all on in that order. Clara is definitely best suited as an Annie Mac replacement in the future, 100% agree. Although I would rather have Greg on a Friday, I don’t like the 4 day thing creeping back via your idea. Vick on a Friday too with the weekend starting at 1pm via Matt & Mollie seems a nice compromise

Any suggestions on what they could do to reverse this? I’m a media geek, so obviously view the BBC differently to the average 20 something. But I’m a fan of the Beeb. I watch lots of shows & listen to lots of Radio 1 & BBC Sounds podcasts.

Shortly after they announced they were leaving Kiss, their big boss there also announced his departure. I don’t think it was a coincidence they took the R1 show once they knew he was off. After all, new bosses like to put a stamp on things & they’d been doing the show for 12 years. As mentioned above, they would be fine content wise on a daytime show because they did breakfast for so long. But I get the impression (especially when it was 9-11) they enjoy the more risqué side of the show. The only slot I could see them moving into is 1-4, either weekends or weekends. (Jordan is the obvious choice for Drive & I can’t see Greg or Clara leaving before Scott or Grimmy). But they’re all around 40, so what’s the future for them on R1? Probably no longer than a future would’ve been at Kiss. But I honestly don’t think the UK has a radio station where they’d be on air in 10 years as a trio?

Being careful as in the BBC is open to huge scrutiny in times like these. I suppose all media outlets are, but the BBC especially should be seen to do ‘do it right’ as the state broadcaster. Broadcasting 1 programme across all BBC Radio left no room for errors. I can imagine the current Covid situation didn’t help things. Maybe the simulcast wouldn’t have lasted so long if staffing levels were at a normal level in the actual building. This decision wasn’t made in the 10 minutes between the palace’s announcement & the simulcast starting. For whatever reason, this was the plan. We’ll probably never understand the reasoning, but this would be exactly the protocol that the top brass had in place for this type of announcement. We haven’t seen anything yet. Things will last longer when the Queen passes. They won’t reverse decisions, it’d seem very weird to be more low key for the actual Monarch.

Biggest problem here is that the BBC is the state broadcaster for the UK. They didn’t air anything except news on TV last night, BBC One & Two showed the same. Four was suspended. They have a duty to announce the news in a respectful way, hence the simulcast. Maybe Radio 1 should’ve gone back to music earlier, but even if they did it would’ve only been instrumentals for longer. This has nothing to do with R1 management and would’ve been decisions made by the highest & the Beeb. From what I’ve read elsewhere today, these are plans that are in place way ahead of time. Stuff isn’t decided last minute. I get all the “should’ve done this to connect with the audience” stuff, but as state broadcaster the BBC has to be very careful. Commercial radio did offer an alternative yesterday, even sans adverts, so people had options.

I can’t see Charlie going back to a commercial station. She’s only recently taken over Dance Anthems anyway. I believe shortly after RMC left Kiss, the big boss there also departed. I believe the 2 are connected. They’d had a good run on Breakfast and probably expected some changes under new management. Rickie & Melvin have always done more TV together/solo than Charlie anyway. I can’t really see them splitting them up on a permanent R1 basis anytime soon.

Tulisa holding her arm up at the start of every X Factor live show to show her “The Female Boss” tattoo. Whoooooooooooo

To show it’s not London-centric and to be so called ‘better connect with audiences’. Ironically if you look into the details of moving most of the BBC News teams around, they’re going to spend a heck of a lot more money in years to come - even in areas they’ve just saved ?

Thought he sounded great this evening. Looking forward to hearing him cover drive later this week.

Agree. I don’t understand the value to the listeners, but seems to be another example of management suits making decisions for the sake of decisions. You’re also left with the situation where Radio 1 have enough studio space in London to broadcast 24/7. What happens there when certain bits of output are coming from elsewhere? I’m not sure they can downsize. Would they move Radio 2 across from Wogan House?

don’t think early breakfast counts, pretty sure it was said in the proposal a key daytime slot

Totally agree with this! Maybe not so unpopular this one, but I really miss Alice.

That’d be a Nick Grimshaw route if he does move into daytime I suppose. I would’ve tipped him more for the Annie Mac slot though, but actually maybe Clara or Sian would be a better fit for that in years to come.

Will Manning hasn’t been on Radio 1 has he?

Yes, not happy to have moved (I expect) but happy to still have the regular work. Looking forward to hearing him do the chart

I wonder if it’s a processing thing with Scott? R1 uses a lot of processing on presenters voices to match the music and overall sound of the station. Speech stations don’t necessarily need that

I would say a speed link is usually less than 30 seconds. But that’s the Heart format! I had him on again this weekend & feels like they’ve added a few more links per hour. His first weekend he was just speaking into breaks. Now there’s 1 mid section too.

Currently stands at 66 hours https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-marathon-hosting-a-radio-talk-show-(team) Probably reached a point where it’s unattainable