Bluestraw

Agree about Vick & Jordan, super-strong and I suspect there's a massive future for them at the station either together or separately. Also am a bit fed up with Granny Tinder, can only assume it 'tests' well among uni students (for example) which is why it's still on. Then again even a poor segment of Scott's show is a decent listen. I do like RMC but there's something about their morning show that doesn't quite work for me yet... Each link is a bit too scripted / packaged, and I don't yet see them taking advantage of having all 3 of them together. Yes absolutely they're better than 'safe pair of hands Clara' in that slot, but feels like there's a lot more potential there if they were given a bit more free-flowing latitude.

Bit of a car-crash into lunchtime newsbeat from Jack today ?. Think he forgot to allow time for the 'coming up at 1' trail. Still think he's awesome though!!

In the trails for drivetime it's got 'gong home with Vick and Jordan' as the tag - makes sense too they have a more unique name for what I presume will be a well-formatted show...

Completely agree that Lorna will have a good plan for him. Given Scott's nature and the fact he enjoys his work so much as to do 2 shows in a day sometimes, it would be a huge surprise for me to see him having a break (of more than a few weeks) between R1 and R2. As for the other poster's comparison with DLT... I guess it's closer than Peel due to the focus on entertainment than music, but he's nowhere close to DLT stylistically or in attitude or in any other way!! Not sure there really is a good comparison in R1 history actually, which is what makes him so unique. First non-specialist presenter with SUCH longevity and for him to be still on top form, both creatively and also winning awards, after all these years, is one hell of an amazing feat. Like others on here, during the Moyles / Mills days I found Moyles' show far superior (especially noticeable when Mills covered breakfast), but then Mills continued to grow / improve each year and is by far the best on the network - IMO at least ?

Yep a lot of R2 is definitely cheesy, completely agree with you there. Doubt I'll ever 'move' to R2 from R1... Maya's voice was OK on R1 IMO, but it was the words she said that were often ill-thought through. And let's not even think about her technical skills, even towards the end of her time there she was still technically poor which just made her show even more cringe-worthy.

Personally I'd separate Jo and Fearne into very different groups. Jo clearly has / had a major interest and understanding of new music, whereas Fearne was simply a decent R1 music presenter. I agree with you that Clara has an opportunity now on Future Sounds to either become hugely significant, or to 'just' be a competent presenter who - I agree - is inspirational for young black women.

Agree with you - and let's also remove Mary-Anne Hobbs from that list. Her R1 impact is - in one word - forgettable!

Fair point, I worded it badly. R1 management did nothing wrong as they were simply powerless. But I stand by my view that the BBC badly misjudged their plan for R1 and there was no need for the station to either simulcast news that afternoon nor stick with quite the music / tone it did after. But anyway, I realise this has gone massively off-topic!! Perhaps one more thing to fix is Fridays. It would make sense to me in September to put RMC on Friday mornings (perhaps with a bit more of a 'weekend vibe' to their Friday show if they still want Fridays to stand out a bit). Given that Scott does the chart (and enjoys it) I'd leave Matt & Mollie on afternoons as they are, and at least then the 'Friday is the weekend' starts a little more logically in the afternoon...

OMG I'd almost managed to block that from my memory. Can never think of another time R1 got things SO badly wrong... But yeah, let's not talk about that again ?

Completely agree with you that Radio 1 is always significantly better than the likes of Capital. And I'm not realistically expecting a return to how things were 20 years ago! But I still think the balance has tipped a bit too far away from the longer links... As proven here though, clearly some will think differently ? Aaron's point is excellent through - by design, RMC's move to mornings will improve the entertainment balance, so my 'one thing to fix' is, I guess, already being done!!

My one thing... Slightly rebalance the speech / music mix (add more speech / entertainment). I'm not saying things will go back to the many long links that were part of Scott's earlier Drive shows, but perhaps just add one additional decent-length link every 30 mins during daytime. I think it would help strengthen R1's distinctive output.

I think Scott would actually find it funny if he didn't win the 'favourite DJ' poll on a site bearing his name ?

Yep all is good ?

Exactly! I didn't imagine you did - just that the words come across that way sometimes and I'm certain that can be fixed... Anyway I figure the fact we're on here means we all have a love of radio in common, so let's get back to chatting about that ?

At the risk of inflaming this... @BBCAaron I think everyone on here likes and respects different points of view. But even the other day when you and I had a debate on the chat, another poster pointed out that you just HAD to have the last word... I am very familiar as to how ASD can drive certain styles of writing and thought processes. But please take this in the kind spirit in which it is intended - your posts can sometimes come across as antagonistic and harsh, and it may be worth re-reading and slowing down a bit before posting to think if there's a way to soften some of the wording. I'm sure you're not really meaning to appear that way, and I very much respect you for standing up and debating when your views are often widely apart from some others (like me!). But remember we don't know the real Aaron, all we know is the words in your posts, so that's why this has all come up and gotten a bit awkward!

Simply... Just no. In the 90s, the station was stuck in the past, with presenters who appealed to an ageing audience. It has widely been debated whether that radical shake-up was done well, or could have been just as successful if done in a much less abrasive way, and certainly some of the execution at the time was clumsy with some presenters brought in who lasted only a short while (since they simply didn't work at all). But this is entirely missing the point... There is NO need for a radical shake-up right now. The presenters and shows are not 'past their prime', apart from perhaps Grimmy who will most likely move on in the next year. The absolute WORST thing Aled could do right now is a radical shake-up. Listeners would desert in their droves, the reputation of the station would sink and all the hard work done in recent years would be thrown away. We're never going to agree on this, but for someone who claims to have the best interests of the youth market in mind, you seem out of touch with the reality of youth-focused broadcasting. Please don't try to use BBC3 as an analogy - indeed the BBC leadership have handled that badly, but it has nothing to do with the quality job that the team are doing at R1. As for the 'sound' of the station - it doesn't need to sound specifically like 'young Britain' in order to appeal to it, as long as the voices are diverse and inclusive, which they clearly are. There's simply no evidence of unconscious bias in recent signings at the station, and fortunately it has avoided the horrors of any 'box ticking' appointments. Simply put, many of the UK's top broadcasting talent work there, and the fact that some major stars clearly choose to continue to present at R1 despite offers of significantly higher wages at commercial rivals says all you need to know about the credibility and reputation it has. The evolution of R1 at present is something the BBC are, and should be, immensely proud of. Aled is doing a fantastic job, and nothing needs to change. So now to get back on topic.... my answer is still Matt & Mollie!! Though hopefully Greg will be around for a good while yet

At the risk of disappearing down this same rabbit hole as last time... There is - quite simply - no 'problem' to fix, and even more than that, improvements are being made all the time. The station has recently won a bunch of awards, there is more new talent than that has been for years, the presenter roster is diverse and inclusive.... Of course yes you could put MORE new talent on, or MORE diversity (e.g. Asian voices), but that's missing the point. The goal of equality should be to ensure everyone gets a fair go, and is not discriminated against. Clearly that has been happening at the station for a good while, and there is no need to 'force-fit' any further such changes - we can just let that happen naturally now as talent evolves and grows. It's also critical to keep a good focus on listener numbers, just as they are doing. It's idealistic to say that that doesn't matter and the station should push the boundaries further in daytime - quite simply without the strong figures, the station would be doomed. If anyone thinks the station sounds similar to commercial rivals in daytime, they really need to reconsider that view!!! R1 Dance / Relax are low-cost add-ons that will attract a few more people to the station, and they do offer a commercial-free option that is pretty unique. All in all Aled is doing a fantastic job, the station has rarely sounded better and has never had such a forward-looking presenter strategy!

I see your point, but... let's say that in 5 years time we had a schedule of Jordan for breakfast, Arielle mid-mornings, someone as-yet unknown in the afternoons, Vick & Katie for Drive and Clara in the evenings. Would it matter that the breakfast show was a male, given the amount of female talent throughout the day?

As others have said, Matt & Mollie seems by far the most likely if that were to happen. Jordan will be better served by going to Drive and building his career further there before being thrust into the breakfast spotlight, though it's certainly possible he'll get that show down the line. Not sure he needs pairing with someone like Arielle, he's a very strong solo performer, though I guess never say never...

I would be a little surprised to see Jordan back on Drive this year... Just a hunch that he won't present that show again until he gets it permanently (hopefully in January). Of course I could be wrong!

Yeah Life Hacks will live on (in some form or other) but it won't be Vick & Katie doing it when they move shows. Agree that as a PSB they COULD put Life Hacks type content on other shows in the week, but I'm guessing there's not such a demand for it compared with general entertainment. The proposed schedule looks good though I'd be surprised to see Scott drop the chart while he's still on afternoons.

Maybe just me, but I never thought that lineup was so strong. I am a fan of Matt, but neither Dev nor Alice alone really impressed me. The current weekend lineup is way better - albeit Adele is on the way out rather than the way up, and M&M are probably destined to remain weekend / cover presenters.

While my first hunch is to disagree about Moyles going on too long, I realise your plan would have avoided a Grimmy breakfast show, so maybe it would have been a better way

The comments you refer to were made way before he was axed... He was extremely popular amongst the youth demographic, so not sure the values aspect came into it. Grimmy was indeed a major change in direction but he was also very celeb-obsessed, which itself isn't exactly super inclusive. But I guess this is just part of the industry - different presenters will have different fan-bases and we can't all like the same! I'm not enough of a fan to follow him to Radio X as the music there isn't for me, but I do think he was exceptional during his R1 time and I didn't like the direction of the show with Grimmy. I realise many (like you) will disagree though, fair enough!

Agree with you about the current state - Aled is doing great work already, and it's no surprise really having heard him on air in the Moyles days it is clear he knows radio exceptionally well. Even decisions like keeping Scott & Chris on shows he's clear about the direction - he's just interested in what appeals to the youth market, he doesn't care about the age of the presenter! There is perhaps some work to do on evenings in the longer term, but I'm sure he's got a 5 year plan in mind (or several plans, as of course he can't tell who will choose to leave!) Indeed Ben Cooper claimed he was doing some 'big things' to appeal younger, like axing Moyles, but even that could have been handled very differently. He lost a major radio talent from the BBC simply because he wanted to be seen to be moving forward, whereas actually Moyles' ratings for the youth demographic were no worse than Grimmy's - it's just he also kept older listeners too. The station is fortunately no longer afraid of 'average listener age', as long as it's appealing well in the target demo. Not sure about the description of Moyles' style as dinosaur...He produced some exceptionally strong radio and I suspect his shows only feel 'old fashioned' these days because things have moved on so much in the interim. Back then, Scott's style was also different and he was noticeably the weaker of the two, but he's gown immeasurably since!