coffeeandgin

Oh I shed no tears when she left but am just surprised they didn't try to put her in a duo as a last attempt particularly as they seemed to be big fans of making every weekend team a duo around then. Especially as she seems quite popular with a sizable contingent in the Radio 1 demographic.

My one would be that Mollie King is actually one of the best DJs on Radio 1 these days. The difference in quality now she's back with Matt compared to his shows with Jamie are night & day and she's shown she can host pretty well on her own too with both Future Pop and presenting solo sometimes when Matt is away. Also I can't say I particularly enjoyed her spell on Radio 1 but given how popular she seems with the Radio 1 demographic should Radio 1 have perhaps paired up Maya Jama with another presenter? She clearly struggled solo but a Jordan & Maya double act may have covered up her weaknesses a bit more with Jordan being much more creative.

One of the most loved features on the Breakfast show. And quite a few views on Radio 1 here are understandably quite widely-held e.g. Greg being one of the strongest DJs on the station, Jordan being a Breakfast DJ in waiting. So thought an unpopular opinion thread of our own might be fun (maybe even one for Radio 2 as well if people were up for it). 'Come and give us your unpopular opinion, something up til now that you're afraid to say'

Greg appears to be off this coming week with Matt & Mollie covering (with Matt solo on the Thursday due to Mollie's Future Pop show). Presumably they won't be presenting their usual show on Friday even though the schedule is currently still showing them on that slot too.

I sort of understand the 'Friday is the weekend' stuff - on shows like This Morning or say news channels the presenters for Friday (and the weekend) can differ to Monday-Thursday and it works well there. Plus I guess giving certain DJs Friday in addition to the weekend keeps them happier than if they were just on two days a week - I imagine it was brought in to throw a bone to the likes of Matt, Dev & Alice who'd been on weekends for ages and not had an opportunity in return. It gives Fridays too a different feel to the rest of the week and certainly I listen more on Fridays when it's Katie and Matt & Mollie compared to Monday-Thursday when it's RMC then Dean & Vicky. Plus some of the weekday presenters like Vick & Charlie already do shows on the weekend (Dance Anthems for Charlie/Life Hacks for Vick) so if you made them present on Fridays they'd either have to give up those weekend slots or do 6 day weeks. I'm glad though they got rid of the ridiculous situation that was calling the Friday Breakfast show 'Weekend Breakfast' on air - it sounded ridiculous. Very much seemed a Ben Cooper idea and made Radio 1 look out-of-touch with your average worker. Radio 1 do seem to like having that Friday 'dance anthems' type slot on before the specialist stuff begins with previously Annie and now Danny. The 'dance anthems' type show has been around for quite some time on a Friday whether it was called Party Anthems, Dance Anthems or Ready for the Weekend (whooooo) so presumably it must be quite well liked by listeners to stick around.

Also have to say as somebody who started to become a dedicated listener to Radio 1 around the time of the 'Superstar DJ' competition in 2011 (I'd listened a bit before to say Jo, Greg and Scott but wouldn't say I was an especially dedicated listener) it's been a pleasure to follow Danny Howard's rise on Radio 1 from the very start. He's very much put in the hard yards and been a feelgood story when it comes to Radio 1 and earnt the prominent role he now has on Radio 1's dance output. He really comes across well when he features on shows with the likes of Greg and Matt & Mollie.

Indeed the weekend specialist stuff starts at 7pm rather than 6pm so if Radio 1 wanted to do the 'Friday is the weekend' stuff they could easily do Matt & Mollie doing the 1-3.30pm slot then Jack on the chart in the usual 'Going Home' slot and then Jack sticking around for Party Anthems 6-7pm. The 3pm start time bothers me less than the chart following it - much like Sunday used to go from the Chillest Show to the Rock Show it feels a bit too much of a gear change.

With the regular line up come May having Jo Whiley, Zoe Ball, Scott Mills and now Vernon Kay Radio 2 do seem to be going for a Noughties type Radio 1 line-up. Vernon does seem to have been fairly positively received when doing cover on Radio 2 previously but given he's replacing such a radio icon in Ken Bruce the role does feel a bit of a poisoned chalice where whatever you do will be compared to Ken Bruce. Ideally what a DJ probably wants to be is the DJ replacing Ken Bruce's replacement - I'd say Greg James for example really benefitted from getting Breakfast after Nick Grimshaw had done it rather than if he had been Chris Moyles's replacement where he would have ended up constantly compared to Moyles.

Yep for some reason while it should be my cup of tea Charlie's Dance Anthems show doesn't hit the mark for me in the way that say Dance Anthems with Danny and then Mistajam did. Charlie herself is a fine presenter so it's not a criticism of her. I don't mind some classic dance tracks - indeed the Fridays they sometimes have where dance takeovers the daytime are great. However, it feels wrong having two hours of classics vs one hour of current tunes. Even when you do get to the current tunes it can feel like they rush through tracks a bit plus there are a few too many remixes in there sometimes for my liking - many of which are not particularly great. What's odd too is that while Dance Anthems on Saturday doesn't totally hit the mark for me, I love Party Anthems on a Friday which you'd think in theory would be near identical (especially to the last hour of Dance Anthems which is newer music). It manages to be a good halfway house between the mainstream dance and then the more specialist stuff the Friday night DJs might play and is normally an enjoyable hour each week. I don't even mind the early 3pm start on it necessarily as it's always a sign that the weekend is near - the only criticism is the switch from the usual mainstream playlist just before PA to proper dance then back again after to chart stuff only to then go back to dance again after with Danny is a bit jarring. Plus (though this just a temporary issue) as much as I really like the lightheartedness of Radio 1 and my bar for being annoyed by it is very high some of the links on Party Anthems by Matt & Jamie really have verged on the inane in recent times.

Given the post recently about Friday night radio, thought it might be a thread to chat about Radio 1's dance output. There have certainly been some big departures on that side of things in recent years in Mistajam (during 2020) and of course Annie Mac about 18 months back but I have to say Radio 1's dance output does feel in a good place at the moment. There feels a good mix still of Radio 1 icons, prominent DJs and also upcoming talent across the output. Pete Tong & Annie Nightingale are two undisputable Radio 1 legends and help the line-up not feel too inexperienced following Mistajam and Annie's departures. With both Mistajam and Annie Mac now having left Radio 1, Danny Howard was the obvious choice to lead the Friday night schedule - clearly passionate about his dance music and radio, great presenter and very happy to feature on the daytime shows to highlight the dance stuff on Radio 1. It's been noticable too how a lot of the artists & tracks Danny has championed have ended making it onto daytime which is a great sign. Sarah Story has settled in well to Radio 1 as well. Charlie Tee sounds great whenever I've heard her (particularly on NYE) and I've only heard good things about Jeremiah Asiamah too. Creating the D&B show for Charlie was a great way to get her foot in the door properly on Radio 1. Certainly if Pete Tong were to leave any time soon then Jerry or Charlie Tee would be more then deserving for a Friday night slot. Add in the likes of Charlie Hedges, Arielle Free and to a lesser extent James Cusack and the dance output feels in good shape.

Jamie mentioned on Friday that this coming weekend is his last week of shows with Matt (though the schedule doesn't seem to have updated to reflect that). Mollie has mentioned too that she's back on afternoons from March so presumably either she'll do the afternoon slot solo on Friday or if she's on Breakfast or away they'll get one of the usual cover DJs like Sam & Danni, Emil or James Cusack to cover that day.

Really like dance music so for me it's Party Anthems to begin then some of Danny's show. And if I'm cooking some dinner I'll stick on the Capital Weekender.

Surely no chance of Greg moving to Radio 2 to replace Ken - Radio 1 probably wants a bit of stability after the changes these last few years. Though if Greg were to leave Breakfast on R1 in the next year or two I can't see beyond Jordan & Katie being his replacements. Vick doesn't seem keen on the Breakfast gig full-time again and I can't see who it would be otherwise. Ken leaving R2 is massive news - many won't remember anybody but Ken in that slot. Big shoes too for whoever succeeds him to fill.

I feel for whoever takes over from Ken on Radio 2 - they'll have big shoes to fill and inevitably the successor of a major show is always compared to the previous presenter (see Nick Grimshaw on Breakfast post-Chris Moyles) - ideally you want to be the person after the successor. As for who that successor will be, Jo Whiley or Gary Davies both feel probably the safest choices - well known to Radio 2 listeners and both long enough away now from Radio 1 to avoid being viewed as (gasp!) 'another ex-Radio 1 presenter' (the horror!). An outside shout might be OJ Borg or Vernon Kay - both of whom seem to be fairly popular when they've done cover duty on daytime before. Interesting times ahead though at Radio 2.

Massive news in the radio world. Radio 2 will miss Ken that’s for sure - a great who makes it all sound so easy and has continued to sound as strong as ever in recent years. Many won't remember that slot on Radio 2 without Ken Bruce. With Scott leaving Radio 1 last year then Ken leaving Radio 2 this year it feels like the end of an era. Sadly unsurprisingly Ken’s departure has meant Scott is trending online and being piled on - as if Scott moving to Radio 2 had any impact on Ken leaving. It’s not the case for all of them but certainly a vocal minority of Radio 2 listeners really can hold a grudge and seem to not want Radio 2 to play anything from after the millennium. No doubt too many of the same people who are getting so upset about presenter changes on a radio station are the same sort of people who accuse other people of being 'snowflakes'.

Whoever eventually takes over would be well-advised to get what advice they can from Greg. During his stint at Breakfast he's had to broadcast during some pretty unique scenarios - after England winning football and cricket tournaments, presenting a Breakfast Show during a pandemic or being the first DJ on Radio 1 following the Queens Death. Situations where there are very few who have faced those scenarios and he got the tone spot on. Obviously DJs can and should be their own person but you'd be silly to not try and learn what you can from somebody as talented as Greg who has been on Radio 1 as long as he is and continues to be as good as ever. I very much hope Greg continues on Breakfast though for a while - he continues to be excellent.

I guess that is a possibility - though Aled does some to be a fan of pairing presenters together (Dev & Alice and Matt & Mollie when he was head of Programes and then as head of Radio 1 Dean & Vicky and Vick & Jordan). It all depends too when exactly Greg does depart - if Jordan's had at least a 2 year stint on Drive by then, he may be more likely to make the move to Breakfast.

Jordan & Katie feels the obvious option they'll go with. Since it's been nearly 20 years without a female host at Breakfast I can see them feeling now is the time to have a woman on Breakfast again. Add to it that Jordan very much feels like the breakfast DJ in waiting and regularly presents with either Vick or Katie & that Vick has repeatedly mentioned not wanting to present Breakfast full-time and it feels the sensible choice. Helps too that Jordan & Katie sound great together on air but also have done plenty of radio solo too over the years. Do wonder too if it were Jordan & Katie if the Breakfast show might move to Salford - Katie already does her weekend shows from there and Jordan does always talk about his Burnley/North West roots. It'd be a real statement for the BBC too with one of their flagship radio shows coming from outside of London (since they made a point a while back of wanting radio spread across the UK).

Very late change with James Cusack apparently in for Charlie Hedges on Dance Anthems today - after being last-minute cover for Nat O'Leary on Monday.